PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | Episode 49 – How Can We Change The World? - Part 15
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
Podcast 49 - How Can We Change the World- Part 15
Rocky: Welcome to the podcast, FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy: Hello ladies, good to be with you again. Perhaps you are listening for the first time. We are currently doing a series called “How do we change the world?” We are finding that we don't change the world by being ordinary, by being normal, by being the status quo. No, we have to go beyond that. We are up to point number 15.
No, 15. WILLING SERVING THE LORD
We don't just serve the Lord, we willingly do it. In fact, today, we are going to find out even more ways that we can serve the Lord. Last time, we looked at that wonderful Scripture in Proverbs 31:13, which says that this woman works willingly with her hands. Now, we see two things here.
We see, first of all, that she works and that really is another name for serving, isn't it? Because when we serve, we have to work. You can't really serve somebody by sitting on the sofa doing your own thing. You have to get up and serve. Today, the words “to serve” and also another word that starts with S, “to submit,” are not very popular words today. It's more popular to serve yourself, to be independent, to look after yourself, but that's not the Bible way.
The Bible way is often opposite to our way. Usually, we think our way is best, so we go along with our way. If only we could realize that God's ways are the ways that work. I have always been challenged, all throughout my life by Mark 8:35 where Jesus said: “For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s shall find it.” We think that we will find our lives by saving them, by looking after number one, by looking after ourselves, making sure we are looked after, and everything is nice for us. We don't have to do too much, and we don't have to pour out our lives for others. That's not how we find life. We actually find our lives by losing our lives in others, by pouring out our lives for others. As we pour out our lives and serve others, we find our lives. We find fulfillment. We find joy. We find blessing. We live an overcoming life. That's how it works. This comes right into our home, right into our motherhood experiences. Once we begin this journey of motherhood, we know it is going to be a serving experience.
We can't be a mother without serving. We can't be a wife without serving. It takes going beyond ourselves. Serving another person, pouring out our lives for someone else, for others, our husband, our children and as they grow, to others outside the home. That is the whole ministry of a woman, pouring out her life for her family and for others.
This is in every woman, even single woman. Women who are not able to have children of their own can still fulfill their great calling of motherhood as they pour out their lives for others. We always think of mother Theresa, don't we? Such a great example but there are many, many other examples too. She was a woman who poured out her life for others. She didn't marry; she didn't give birth to children of her own, but she mothered more children than we will ever dream about. She brought life and sustenance and nurturing and care, and the love and compassion of God to thousands and thousands. She was willing to pour out her life. She forgot about her own life; she poured out her life for others. This is what serving is all about. Whether we like it or not, we will need to serve in our families, but how do we do it?
Do we do it with joy? Do we do it with a willing heart? I think what we need to do is to realize that this is what Jesus did. I think this is our most wonderful example, Jesus, the Son of God. The one who left the glory of heaven, and He was willing to come to this earth, not only to come to this earth, to leave the glory of the eternal world but to come and die.
What did Jesus say in Mark? Let's have a look at it here. Mark 10:42-45. Jesus was speaking here, and he says: “Whosoever desires to become great among you shall become your servant, and whosoever among you desires to be first shall be slave for all. For even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus, who was the son of God, didn't come to be waited on and served. He came to serve, to serve others, and lay down his life. That is what serving is; it's a laying down of your life to bless and serve others. If Jesus could do that, if He lives in us, surely, we will want to do this too.
I know many times as I was mothering my children it seemed as though all I did was serve, serve, serve, all day long, and sometimes I thought, “Goodness, I'm just a jolly servant.” Then the Holy Spirit would come to my heart and say, “Nancy, isn't that what I came to do?” Once again, I would get into perspective. Yes, this is what Jesus came to do. He came to serve. He lives in me, so this is my life. Praise the lord. We see another example of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-8. Here, Paul is writing to the Philippians, and he says: “Let this mind or this attitude be in you.” In other words, have the same attitude Jesus had. “Let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.” Did you get that, ladies? And took upon him servanthood. He took that upon him: “And was made in the likeness of man and being found in the fashion of a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
This is another challenging Scripture. I often think, if we were only allowed one Scripture in the whole of the Bible for us to know how to live a successful marriage, this would be the Scripture. Of course, we have been given so many more. If we were to take this one, just this one, and we thought to have the same attitude that Jesus had who was willing to lay down his godhead, who was willing to become a servant, to humble himself, who was willing to become obedient to the Father's will, I don't think we would have any problems in our marriage. Don't you think that's right? If we could just have this beautiful serving attitude. Because this is the heart of Jesus. This is the attitude of Jesus.
The other day, I was posting a message on Facebook as I do each day. I hope you get on to these messages, Above Rubies Facebook. I write little posts each day to encourage you as a wife and a mother, and I was writing about the different characteristics of Jesus and are these characteristics in us? Of course, one of these characteristics was a serving attitude. I'm looking for a picture. That's usually my most difficult thing in posting a post on Above Rubies. That is finding a picture to go with the article. I was looking and looking, what am I going to post?
I found this lovely picture of a wife serving her husband. Her husband was at the table and she was serving him his food. I thought, what a beautiful picture of serving. It was an old black and white picture, and I thought, isn't that interesting? I couldn't find a modern picture of a wife serving her husband. It's not a thing done today. Back then, it was normal.
I think back to even when I was a child, that was a normal thing for a wife to serve her husband and to have a meal ready for her husband when he came in after a day’s work. She didn't say, “Oh, you're home, better get something out of the cupboards, or fix yourself something.” No, it was her joy and delight to have a meal ready, waiting on the table, ready for her husband. That is a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful serving ministry of a wife to her husband and to her family.
I remember when I was courting my husband, or should I say, he was courting me, and I was visiting his home in a different city. Their grandfather had a bush farm way out, and sometimes he would come by to see them. He would always turn up at a mealtime because, being on his own, way out in the bush, he didn't often have very good meals. As he was coming past the window, he would call out, “Pour out the gravy.” because back in New Zealand, that was part of our normal evening meal. It was usually roast lamb and roast potatoes and pumpkin and parsnips and always gravy with your meat.
What was he doing when he said that? “Look, I'm here, it's time to put the meal on the table and pour out the gravy.” I think some women would feel most offended if their husband said that as he came past the window or even in the door. That was normal back then. He wasn't doing anything that was abnormal. It was expected and why shouldn't it be expected? God created us to be helpmeets to our husbands, to be helpers to them.
That is definitely not an insignificant thing because that word “help” in the Hebrew is ezer. That word was first used to describe women, but that word is also used to describe God, the one who is our Help and our Shield who comes to help us. It's a character quality of God Himself. In embracing that, we have the privilege to be like God, and we are as God to our husband as we serve him. The Hebrew word even takes on more meaning. It's a word that means to save, to be strong. It's a woman of strength and honor who has that grace to serve her husband. She's not some little three-year-old, some immature person who hasn't even grown up yet and has to have her own way and do her own thing and can't serve anybody else. That is immaturity because serving comes with maturity. Have you noticed that, ladies? Serving comes with maturity.
Little children don't really know how to serve. They are very self-serving. We are having to look after them and they are self-centered, and it takes time for them to learn to go beyond that and not be taken up with themselves as they get older, to see that the world does not revolve around them. We have to teach them that.
I hope you are teaching your children that the world does not revolve around them, and they should not get everything they want just when they ask it. Every time they go to shop, “Can I have that?” If they don't, they throw a tantrum. No, we teach them when we go out shopping, they don't ask for anything. You are going to bring home all the things we need for the family, to feed the family for the next week and maybe you'll even bring home some surprises for the children. You don't want them to ever get into the habit of thinking, when they see something, that they can have it. That's training them to have an entitlement mentality which so many people have today. It's destroying our nation.
We are training our children out of that; we are training them for maturity; we are training them how to serve others, and we are training them for their future marriage. Remember that, precious ladies. Think of when you're giving into your children, when you allow them to have what they want because they want it and so on, how that's going to help them when they are married. Instead of being someone who's mature and knows how to serve, they only know how to serve themselves; they are going to be self-serving. We don't want to train children like that. We are training children to maturity, to be servers. This is a sign of maturity because Jesus revealed it, and certainly, He was the most mature of us all, wasn't he?
I think of Psalm 40:7-8, and this is a prophetic word of Jesus, and it's looking to the future. He's still in eternity. And it says: “Then said I, 'Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of men, I delight to do thy will, oh my God.'” I often contemplate how that Jesus, who was the lamb of God, was the lamb of God not only when he came to this earth; He was the Lamb of God before the foundation of the world. It tells us that in the word of God. The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world and all through eternity, Jesus knew that he was the Lamb. He had to know that there would come this day when He would have to leave the glory; He would have to come to earth; He would have to humble himself; He would have to become a servant, and He would have to die. He would have to take upon himself not only our sin but the most horrendous sin that's ever been committed in the world, the most painful sicknesses and heartaches that have ever been felt in this world. He took them upon himself, and He took our place and died in our place. He looked toward that.
What were his words? Yes, it's written in the volume of the book. This is God's plan, the plan of salvation to redeem mankind. He says: “I delight to do thy will, oh my God.” We will never face anything like the serving that Jesus did. We serve so little in our homes, surely, we can do that with delight. Jesus said in John 5:30: “I seek not thine own will but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” He delighted to do the Father's will.
Precious mother, in your home, you are in the perfect will of God. You are fulfilling the will of your Father, your Father God. Your creator created you for motherhood. He created you for this purpose. He created your body to be able to conceive and bear a child, to nurse a babe at your breasts and to be a nurturing, nourishing human being. This is who you are as a female. As you embrace the precious children that He gives to you, you didn't do it. God gave them to you. You couldn't make conception happen. Conception comes from God. He gave these children to you for you to care for and raise for Him. You are in His perfect will.
Can you speak like Jesus? I don't seek my own will but the will of my Father. Sometimes, you're not really rejoicing in it; you're grumbling in it maybe. Are you having a grumbling day today? Can I remind you, dear lovely mother, you will find that when you embrace your Father's will, you'll begin to enjoy your motherhood. enjoy your life in your home. You will be embracing what you were born for, so don't grumble, embrace it, live in the joy.
Jesus said in John 6:38: “For I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” As you get up each morning, mother, what is your purpose? Is it to do your own will or the will of your Father in heaven? We have two choices every day, to do our own will, what we want to do, or yield our lives to the Father's will, to do what He wants us to. Of course, it's very plain when He gives us children, that's the work He’s given us to do, the work. We are talking about serving God willingly, the work He has given us to do. When He gives you children, that's the work He has given you to do. Embrace it. You put aside your own will.
What are you saying? Are you saying Amen? Do you know that the sheep say Amen?
God calls us His sheep. There are two animals that God likens His people to, well really, His people, He only likens them to sheep: “My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me.” In the Psalms, He also calls us His flock.
In the New Testament, it also talks about goats. The goats, they are the ones when the Judgment Seat comes, the sheep will go to the right hand of the Father and the goats to the left. What do the sheep say? The sheep are a very submissive animal; they are a meek animal, and the sheep say “Aaaaamen. What do the goats do? The goats butt. “But Lord, do I have to do this? But I can't do this.” They are always butting, and if you've ever had a goat, you'll know that they love to butt. That's one of the differences between the sheep and the goats.
Let's embrace serving. To serve means to work and work means to serve. I think of the story of Rehoboam. Do you remember Rehoboam? That was Solomon's son who became king after him. After Solomon dies, the people came to King Rehoboam, and they said: “Your father ruled us with a pretty strong hand, and he took lots of taxes from us.” Solomon was an amazing king, and he established the richest kingdom in the world at that time. Maybe it was the richest kingdom in the world of all time if we compared the monetary value to what it is today. I mean, his kingdom was filled with gold. Just about everything was made of gold and the temple was made of gold, and his home was made of gold and all the most amazing things. He was the wealthiest king. To do this, he put taxes on the people.
Anyway, so they said to Rehoboam: “If you'll lighten the burden upon us, we will serve you forever.” Rehoboam thought: “What will I do?” He went to the elders who had always advised his father, the older men of God, and he said: “What do you think I should say to the people?” They said, this is what you should say to them.
1 Kings 12:7: “If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day and will serve them and will speak good words to them then they will be your servants forever.” That was interesting advice, especially when this was given to a king. This wasn't told to an ordinary person; this wasn't told to just some servants. This was spoken to the king reigning in Solomon's stead in the wealthiest kingdom in the world at that time. These elders are telling him: “Rehoboam, if you'll be a servant to your people, and you'll serve them, they'll serve you forever.”
He thought: “I don't know about that. I'll see what the young men say.” He went to all his contemporaries and all his young fellows and said: “What do you think I should say?” They told him the opposite. They told him to make things harder than ever. 1 Kings 12: He took notice of the young men around him; he didn't take notice of the older men who had wisdom. In verse 13, it says: “And the king answered the people roughly and forsook the older men's council that they gave him and spoke to them after the council of the young men saying, 'My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke. My father also chastised you with whips, but I chastise you with scorpions.'”
What happened? The people fled. They went off and chose another king, King Jeroboam. King Rehoboam was only left with two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, because he didn't listen to those wise words. Weren't they interesting? Words to a mighty king, yet they were words to serve.
We may not be a literal queen, but we are queens in our home. We are ruling over a domain, but God wants us to also be servants in our home.
I was talking about sheep, and I'm quite familiar with sheep having come from New Zealand. New Zealand is a sheep country and wherever you drive in that beautiful land of glorious green hills and fields and paddocks (you don't use that word “paddocks” here in USA), but we have sheep all over these beautiful paddocks.
Did you know that the sheep is an animal that serves and loves to give? In fact, it is the most giving animal of all animals. All the year round the faithful sheep grows its wool. It doesn't grow it for itself; it grows it to give away. Every year, once a year or even twice year (it has now become more popular twice a year to shear the sheep), the shearer shears all the wool off the sheep, and the sheep doesn't grumble. It doesn't complain, it doesn't kick, it doesn't fight, but it submits and yields and willingly gives its wool for the blessing of others.
Jesus himself was likened to a sheep. In Isaiah 53:7: “As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” Of course, that was talking about him being a Lamb led to the crucifixion. As I said, I'm a little familiar with sheep, my father having been the world champion sheep shearer in his day. I'm sitting here in my living room doing this podcast looking at some of my pictures on the wall. I often call my home a sheep house because I have lots of memories of our country of New Zealand. I have sheep skins, and I have pictures of my father shearing sheep and also pictures of him at the big tourist show in New Zealand called Agrodome where they used to, well, they still do, but he has, of course, passed away now but where he used to entertain people and show them how to shear a sheep and how they trained the sheep dogs.
I want to read you something here, and this was written by, not my father but his brother, Godfrey Bowen who was also a great man in the shearing world. He wrote a book about sheep and shepherds, and I'd love to read you this.
“How impressive the sight of the giving sheep. The soft valuable wool contributed so willingly by the humble sheep who, when shorn, stripped bare and a little cold has given all that it has to give. What a wonderful sacrifice. And once shorn, that sheep is off again away on the range to grow it all over again. The sheep makes no fuss, waits for no compliments for its wondrous fleece because it has given as a sheep has always given because this is what it was born for. This is what it lives for, to give willingly all that it has.” Then he goes onto say, “The more we give, the more we receive; the more we give away, the more comes back to us. The more we serve, the more we grow in happiness, contentment and peace of soul.”
Lovely ladies, as we talk about working willingly, serving joyfully, will you do that today and realize that serving is not something to be looked upon negatively, just as submission is not be looked upon negatively. They are beautiful attributes. They are both beautiful attributes of God. They are attributes He loves to see in us, His people. Because they are His attributes, they are in us. We can squash them because we are demanding our own way. When we yield to Him, He will live these beautiful attributes of serving and submission through our lives. They will bring beauty and love and joy to our marriage and bring beauty and love and joy to the atmosphere of our homes. Amen.
Let me pray.
“Dear Father in heaven, we thank You, thank You so much that You came to this earth to give Your life, to serve. You didn't hold on to all the glory that You had in eternity, but You gave it up for us. Lord God, we ask that You will help us to have the same attitude that Jesus has. And that You will come into our lives and fill our lives with Your beautiful attributes of serving and Lord, that we will delight to serve because You delight to serve. You said, “I delight to do your will, Oh my God.” Help us to delight to do Your Will. Delight in our mothering, delight in our homemaking, delight in serving our husbands. We ask that You will do this in us by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.”