In this 1974 Servant School talk, Clem Walters used passages from Luke 14, Matthew 4, Luke 17 and Matthew 25 to talk about overcoming pride by becoming a submissive and humble servant.
Transcript
This document is a direct transcript of an audio recording, and may contain transcription errors and other minor edits for the sake of clarity.
CLEM: For anyone that missed last weekâs talk, this is Servant School talk number two.
Last week we discussed our need to die to our pridefulness and cease being a prideful people. As you recall, we learned that even the angels had difficulty with that. Lucifer, in fact, because of him wanting to be greater than God, and succumb [sic] to pride, was cast out of heaven, and became Satan.
So the thing we wanted to look into tonight is, how do we counteract pride? What do we do about that? And what we plan to do, then, isâtonight, is search the Scriptures to see what the Lord has taught us in his inspired word about how to counteract prideâin other words, die to our pridefulness.
In order to do this, we must become submissive and obedient. And by becoming submissive and obedient, a submissive and obedient people, this leads to humility. We must become obedient and submissive, a submissive and obedient people. That is, submissive and obedient to the Lord through our brothers and sisters and the spiritual gifts the Lord has given them.
Through the Holy Scripture, the Lord has taught much about our need for humility and obedience, and the means to attain that. Iâd like to read now from Luke 14. I said that I was going to search the Scripture. You see all those little tags in there.
Jesus noticed how some of the guests were choosing the best places. So he told this parable to all of them: âWhen someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not sit down at the best place. For it could happen that someone more important than you had been invited, and that your host who invited both of you would come and say to you, âLet him have this place.â Then you would be ashamed and have to sit in the lowest place. Instead, when you are invited, go and sit at the lowest place, so that your host will come to you and say, âCome on up, my friendââ
[The Bible probably closes accidentally.]
. . . This is very powerful! [Clem and all laugh.]
[Pause, finding the passage again.] So your host wouldâ
â. . . come to you and say, âCome on up, my friend, to a higher place.â This will bring you honor in the presence of the other guests. For everyone who makes himself great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be made great.ââ
In another passage, weâre told, âHow can you consider yourself greater than the rest? Isnât everything you have a free gift from God?â
In Matthew 4, weâre told again how to become humble and to be obedient.
Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. And after spending forty days and nights without food, Jesus was hungry. The Devil came to him and said, âIf you are Godâs Son, order these stones to turn into bread.â Jesus answered, âThe Scripture says, Man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that God speaks.â
Then the Devil took Jesus to the Holy City, set him on the highest point of the Temple, and said to him, âIf you are Godâs Son, throw yourself down to the ground. For the Scripture says, God will give orders to his angels about you; they will hold you up with their hands, so that you will not even hurt your feet on the stones.â Jesus answered, âBut the Scripture also says, you must not put the Lord your God to the test.â
Then the Devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness. âAll this I will give to you,â the Devil said, âif you kneel down and worship me.â Then Jesus answered, âGo away, Satan. The Scripture says, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.â
In the Jerusalem Bible commentary regarding that reading, it says that Satanâs tempting of Jesus is quite compatible with Christâs sinlessness. That Jesus was forced [sic]âwas faced with the idea of becoming a material and political king with all of its accompanying human privileges of wealth and glory and power. But instead, he chose utter dependence on God, that is, humility and obedience to Godâs will.
From Luke 17, again weâre told how to become obedient and submissive, thus becoming humble:
âSuppose one of you has a servant who is plowing or looking after the sheep. When he comes in from the field, do you say to himââ
This is the servant, that isâ
â. . . âHurry along and eat your mealâ? Of course not. Instead, you say to him, âGet my supper ready; then put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. After that, you may eat and drink yourself.â The servant does not deserve thanks for obeying orders, does he? It is the same with you; when you have done all you have been told to do, say, âWe are ordinary servants. We have only done our duty.ââ
We might say, in comment to that, that it doesnât seem that itâs very fair that the hungry servant who has been out in the field working all day must be obedient, in preparing the master’s meal before being able to sit down and eat himself. But this very reading seems to be a prime example of the type of sacrifice weâre all called to, in dealing with our prideful nature. And we should be able to respond by saying, âWeâre only servants and weâve only done our duty.â
Again, weâre told in Matthew 25:
âIt will be like a man who was about to leave home on a trip, and he called his servants and put them in charge of his property. He gave to each one according to his ability. To one he gave $5,000, to the other $2,000, and to the other $1,000. Then he left on his trip.
âThe servant who had received $5,000 went at once and invested his money and earned another $5,000. In the same way, the servant who received $2,000 earned another $2,000. But the servant who received $1,000 went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his masterâs money.
âAfter a long time, the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The servant who had received $5,000 came in and handed over the other $5,000. âYou gave me $5,000, sir,â he said. âLook, here are another $5,000 that I have earned.â
ââWell done, good and faithful servant,â said his master. âYou have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness.â
âThen the servant who had been given $2,000 came in and said, âYou gave me $2,000, sir. Look, here are another $2,000 that I have earned.â
ââWell done, good and faithful servant,â said the master. âYou have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness.ââ
That passage goes on. And . . . you know what happened to the guy that hid the money. The servant [sic] was very angry with him. That passage . . . directs us to becoming absolutely faithful and totally dependable in little thingsâthat is, being humbleâso to earn the Lordâs exalting us with greater things and with greater work.
From Matthew 24, again, we . . . just pull out of Scripture the Lord telling us how to become submissive and how to be humble:
âWho, then, is the faithful and wise servant? He is the one whom his master has placed in charge of the other servants, to give them their food at proper time. How happy is that servant if his master finds him doing this when he comes home! Indeed, I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all of his property.â
In other words, the servant who was faithful in small things would then be placed in charge of the other servants, and even greater things.
Again, from Colossians 3:
Slaves, obey your human masters in all things. And do it not only when they are watching you, just to gain their approval, but do it with a sincere heart because of your reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for men. Remember that the Lord will reward you. You will receive what he has kept for his people. For Christ is the real master you serve. And the wrongdoer, whoever he is, will be paid for the wrong things he does, for God treats everyone alike.
I see that being called as servants is twofold. And that is: a) we have to die to our pridefulness, thus becoming submissive and obedient, which then leads to humility. But also to serve the Lord himself. Itâs twofold. But to serve the Lord himself in our labors, through serving our brothers and sisters.
From 1 Peter 4, we have another lesson. He says,
Open your homes to each other without complaining. Each one, as a good manager of Godâs different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God. Whoever preaches must preach Godâs words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength that God gives him. So that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ, to whom . . . belong the glory and the power, forever and ever. Amen.
So weâve listened to a lot of Scripture tonight that directs us to becoming submissive, and to becoming humble. But after hearing his word through Scripture, and receiving his teaching through it, Scripture also teaches us and tells us what we have to do once we hear the word. It isnât enough that we merely hear the word, but weâve got to respond. Thereâsâthere is a need for response on our part.
So from James,
Do not fool yourselves by just listening to his word. Instead, put it into practice. For whoever listens to the word but does not put it into practice is like a man who looks in the mirror and sees himself as he is. He takes a look at himself and then goes away, and at once forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks closely into the perfect law that sets men free, who keeps on paying attention to it and does not simply listen and then forget it, but puts it into practice, that man will be blessed by God . . . in what he does.
What Iâd like to do now is just stop and . . . pray for a moment. And then Iâd like to open it to you. Iâd like to open discussion to you for any input regarding this talk, or any input . . . regarding your first week as being [sic] servants.
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