Acts of Grace 27
REWARDS OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP - Part 1
By Ps. Henry

Let us be reminded of our theme for this year: Power to Empower Completely. Not only has God empowered you to accomplish your dream and fulfill your desire to bring glory to God but you also have the ability to empower others. So it’s not a selfish world, it’s about ‘we’, ‘ours’ and ‘us’. It’s taking others with you. It’s being a blessing to others. You can’t live all alone by yourself in this world. So if we will learn to serve, we will be served in return. If we will sow into the lives of others, then others will also sow into our lives. It may be challenging and at times, painful but there will be a harvest. This is a law of God.

SERVE - it’s all about serving others. People don’t want to serve because everywhere, they are teaching you how to become leaders, successful leaders. Jesus, the Son of God, came to serve and not to be served. He says, “In the world, it is about power and position, but in my kingdom, he who bends and bows and serves, is the leader.” It is different from the world and it is so sad to see the church of God running to the world to get worldly ideas to bring into the church so that we can be another multinational corporation. Many multinational corporations will collapse because their leadership is out only to control, manipulate and make money. But the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is not to rob, steal or take from others but to serve the people. It is for this purpose that He came. Jesus says, “In my kingdom, which is the only eternal kingdom, my leaders serve.”

So we need to be reminded that the Son of Man came to serve, and not to be served. He set the example: if we can die to ourselves, we will find ourselves; if we are willing to give, we will receive; if we are willing to lose, we will find. These are divine principles and I will highlight to you some prominent lives in the bible.

Let’s look at Jacob. Jacob became successful because he learned to serve his father-in-law, which was a most difficult thing. Jacob was a crook, but his father-in-law, Laban, was a bigger crook; Jacob was a cheat, his father-in-law was a bigger cheat. The scripture says Jacob served his father-in-law for many years, the first 7 years, to get the hand of the first wife, Leah and another 7 years, for the second wife, Rachel. He served him for a total of 20 years and 10 times, his father-in-law cut his salary. But Laban himself said, “Because of you, the Lord has prospered me.”

For everything that Jacob touched, the Lord prospered. And when Jacob wanted to leave, God said to Jacob, “Now is the time you can leave because for 20 years, you served your father-in-law and all the blessings I poured upon you went to your father-in-law. Now is the time I will give you your own ground so that when the blessing falls, it will fall on you and your children and your children’s children. Because you have served your father-in-law who is a very difficult boss, faithfully, and because you were faithful in another man’s work, now you are qualified to have your own.”

This is a divine principle. God will not give to you what is yours until you learn to be faithful in another man’s field. This is a key. For Jacob to become the great man that he was, he had to serve someone. That was his school. That was his training. That was where his heart and his life were broken but God turned it around to bless him abundantly.

Then there was Joseph. Joseph had many dreams and when he shared them with his brothers, they put him into trouble but he submitted to them. He served his brothers, and he served his father. He was then taken and sold as a slave to Potiphar. He served Potiphar and Potiphar trusted Joseph with everything in his life except for his wife. It’s not that Potiphar did not trust Joseph but he couldn’t trust his wife. When she tried to tempt him, Joseph said, “I serve my master, I will not touch you.” He ran away from her. He was tested. He was tried. But he was faithful in serving Potiphar. For being faithful, he was arrested, falsely accused, put on trial and sentenced to life in prison. And he goes down again into the dungeon and there the jail man in charge of the jail, saw that this man was faithful, and he lifted him up to be the head. Hallelujah! Then later, Pharaoh brings him in and he became like a son to Pharaoh. Pharaoh became a father to him. By the end of the story, we are told that Pharaoh gave Joseph charge of the land. For 72 years, Joseph ruled Egypt. Egypt at that time ruled the world. For 13 years, the Lord tried Joseph and then he picked him up to save his family, the nation of Egypt and the world. And if you go back to history, they are still talking about the great pyramids and how great Egypt was, but they don’t tell you it was a Jew that made them great. So, you see the reward - Joseph served others and God raised him up to his great position to rule the world for 72 years.

Then you have Moses, serving Jethro, his father-in-law for 40 years. The father-in-law was a great blessing to him and then God said, “Now the time has come for you to be the man that I wanted you to be.” So, you see the reward of serving. Joshua served Moses: when Moses was in the mountain, he was with him. When Moses went through the 40-day fast, he was fasting with him, he was praying with him. He was like the servant of Moses. When Moses died, God raised up Joshua to lead the nation. From a servant to a leader of the nation, Joshua had learned to serve.

If you have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? This is very important and this was what the Lord Jesus was speaking about. In other words, God is saying: until you prove yourself faithful under another person, until you are interested in another person’s affair, until you learn to make somebody else successful, you will not get that which is your own. You may rob, you may steal but you will not get that which is your own. This is a divine principle. So, serve because God is watching. Serve because you will be rewarded. Hallelujah!