God's Richest Blessing & the Financial Accountability in the Christian

Service/Ministry Session 1 - First Thing First (Step) in Ministry/Christian Service

First Step in Mission and Ministry (Phil 2:5-11)

(To share in the 70 minutes Slot)
It was during March and April 2007, my second year of Ph.D. study that I read the
passage, Philippians 2:5-9, then started to reflect prayerfully to search for
something new that God may reveal or teach me in particular. After having
preached and taught this passage a number of times as well as having heard it
so many times, I believe this time I came across something very insightful and
deep.

It was just a very simple question to ask, “What did Christ have to do before He
began His mission of saving the world – the whole of mankind?”

It was as if God was asking me this very same question, “Andrew, what do you
have to do before returning to Thailand and beginning the Business for Ministry?”
I believe this is what God wants me to do and to be involved in for the rest of my
life.

This passage tells me at least three main things that Christ had to do as a
process or a path to His world mission that is to die on the cross to
provide the way of salvation for all mankind.

First, Christ emptied himself is the simple expression reflecting the meaning of
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God to be
grasped, but made Himself nothing” (vs.6-7a). Like a glass, you cannot use a
glass that is already full. To use a glass you would need to have it emptied first
and then cleansed. You can not use a glass that is already full and/or dirty.

Even though Christ’s glass is full of clean water He could not be used by God
until His glass/life was emptied first. So that is precisely what I must do initially,
that is to empty myself. Unlike Christ I am fully aware that my cup is full of dirty
water so I should earnestly desire to empty myself of the dirty water quickly and
willingly. After that I can be washed and cleansed in preparation to be used by
the Creator, God, for the Thai Christians and people in Thailand.

Secondly, Christ “humbled Himself taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness” (vs.7b-8a). Here God continued to speak to me more
than ever so that I must humble myself right down to take the form of being a
servant, a slave meaning willing to be born in a manger like Christ was. The
manger is the lowliest place where a human being can be born. I believe that
apart from Christ (the babe who was born in a manger) only a few in the world
would be born in the same lowly place.

In practical terms, “What does this mean?” It means I need to put on the attitude
of a real servant or more correctly a slave like in the old days. These are the
characteristics we can and should find in a real servant/slave as was exhibited in
Christ, the real servant:

(a) a willingness to be or to live in a place or environment that is not convenient

nor pretty to behold, or an old fashioned or low class area;
(b) a readiness to serve willingly;
(c) a preparedness to work hard, endure long hours if need be and undertake
works that may be unpleasant or outside your comfort zone;
(d) a readiness to tolerate all matters and circumstances;
(e) a willingness to be misunderstood, mistreated, blamed, criticized, or accused
untruthfully and unjustly;
(f) a readiness to be made embarrassed, ashamed, or lose face;
(g) a willingness not to be defensive about yourself, stand up for yourself,
retaliate or speak back;
(h) a preparedness to be insulted, humiliated, upset, distressed, dismayed and
disappointed; (i) a readiness not to be able to think about yourself first or not to
have the opportunity to think of or for yourself;
(j) a willingness to go without receiving any thanks or appreciation or honor for
the tasks undertaken;
(k) a readiness to go hungry, have insufficient sleep, inexpensive and basic
clothing,
(l) a preparedness to deny yourself, your right or your own need/want;
(m) a willingness to be physically exhausted and even hurt and emotionally
heartbroken; and lastly
(n) a preparedness to accept all things and all circumstances.

So here I am learning and praying that with God’s help I should strife to have all
these 14 characters which form the right kind of attitude of a real servant as of
Christ.

Christ “became obedient to death” (v.8b); this is the third main thing that Christ
did as his final stage leading to His actual world mission - dying on the cross to
provide the way of salvation for mankind. As the real servant, Christ became
obedient to be and to do whatever God expected of Him. At His third stage, Christ
became obedient to the point of death in which He willingly, humbly and happily
engaged. This death was not just an ordinary kind of death but rather a
dreadfully, brutally and unsightly death on a cross for Christ. This is the worst
thing in life that can happen to a servant or a slave and Christ undertook it in
order to provide the way of salvation for mankind, for you and for me. From this I
learnt that I too have to follow Christ’s example to be obedient to God, doing
exactly what God wants me to be and to do for Him even to the point of death –
especially and more than ever obedient to death to self and to my sinful nature
(Gal.2:20; 5:16-17). Moreover, especially in our Asian or Thai context, I must be
prepared to be obedient to death even death on a cross meaning on one hand, a
willingness to be put to shame, lose face or admit and confess my faults and sins
before men. On the other hand, if under the condition of having to choose
between God and another faith when my life is on the line then I must say as
Peter said humbly but boldly to the Sanhedrin, “Judge for yourselves whether it is
right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God?” (Act.4:19).

At this point, I would like to refer to these three main things that Christ did as
mentioned in
Phil.2:5-9 as a three preparation stage process leading to His ministry here
on earth, a world mission consisting of
(1) emptying stage
(2) humbling stage and
(3) obeying stage.
So it is the same for me and each of us who want to serve God or start our
mission or ministry. Because it is a process it is essential that one must progress
stage by stage from the first to the second and finally the third. One can not omit
the first step then commence at the second and progress to the third. Worse, one
definitely can not skip the first two stages and only undertake the final stage to
accomplish the ministry or actual mission called or given by God. A typical
problem among Christian leaders including myself is that we tend to omit the
initial essential stages and immediately commence the third stage to undertake
our ministry or mission which varies according to one’s calling or vocation. As a
result of this typical problem I can understand why one would find problems and
dissatisfied, conflicts or fighting, unhealthy and unseemly circumstances and
outcomes in their ministry. One always thinks it is the fault of others and/or
external factors, but more correctly and most likely it is the result of the actual
person who did not go through the full process of advancing from the first and
the second stages, emptying himself and humbling himself to take the form of a
servant. This preparation process is a continual process that I have to
address everyday and throughout the rest of my life or as long as I live.
It is not optional but mandatory and the only way if I am to be used by God in
Thailand to effectively make a difference just as Christ undertook it through and
successfully accomplished His world mission.
Furthermore, I would like to correlate this concept of emptiness or becoming
nothing with Buddhism. In Buddhism, my previous background, the highest goal
is to attain the state of enlightenment that is to ‘become nothing’ or to get out of
the wheel/cycle of life – no more reincarnation. A Buddhist has to repeatedly try
to work so hard to help himself to attain a state of enlightenment – becoming
nothing by suppressing worldly desires. On the contrary, in Christ or Christianity
each one of us is to empty oneself or become nothing first as Christ did before
taking the form of a servant. For Christians this state of ‘becoming nothing’ is the
beginning/first stage of being a true servant of God. It is the commencement
stage of the preparation process when we are to serve God and to be used fully
and wholly by God.

So what is spiritual emptiness? To me using Phil.2:5-11 as the main text and

with the
lesson that God showed me from this passage, spiritual emptiness is the pre-
requisite that I need to possess to qualify myself for God to use me to make a
difference in Thailand. It is something I never knew and understood before, but
now has become very precious and essential for me. For me to engage in the first
stage is to ‘empty myself’ spiritually – becoming nothing. In brief, I am to
surrender it all, my life, sins, desires, goals, heart and soul to God – emptying
myself to become nothing or nobody for God’s mission in Thailand and the world.

Moreover, I also appreciate very much this question of understanding the

relationship between fullness (God filling us through Christ and in the power of
the Spirit) and emptiness in the spiritual journey because its answer is something
new to me, new knowledge and new insight. I believe most Christians like me
would mainly and only know or understand and teach or learn about spiritual
fullness – God filling us through Christ and in the power of the Spirit. Some
would teach and emphasize it much more than others, like those Pentecostal and
Charismatic brethren, so much so to the point of creating divisions and
resentments among Christian believers throughout the world. Now I can fully and
clearly see and understand why. I believe very few of us would have come across
this teaching or understanding of emptiness in the spiritual journey. Having only
emphasized the teaching and practice of the concept and belief of spirit-filled life
without having the other one, namely spiritual emptiness, we Christians tend
to become arrogant, boastful and even look down on other groups or
denominations. Because once you have skipped the first stage of emptying
yourself then it is unlikely for you to take up the second stage of humbling
yourself taking the form of a servant/slave. No wonder we have a number of
leaders, ministers or pastors including myself who often forget that we are
actually before God - His servants or slaves. On the contrary, most of us seem to
deliver an authoritative leader’s portrait very well and fully. Yes, we may be given
the task of being a leader but in the Christian and biblical context of service and
ministry, we are to be God’s servant leaders for the believers, servant pastors for
His church. Although He is God, the Son as well as the King Christ was willing to
empty Himself and humble Himself to become a servant obedient to death even
death on a cross. This concept is reflected in a popular chorus, “Christ, the
Servant-King”. There are a number of earthly kings throughout the world but
none of them would be willing to become a servant. Christ, the King of kings and
Lord of lords was willing and prepared to become a servant in order to save the
world.
Apostle Paul reflected this attitude of Christ and followed the Master’s
footstep very well. We can see clearly in the New Testament that he too has
definitely gone through the three preparation stage process which enabled or
qualified him to be greatly used by God to make a difference in the New
Testament/early church period. Having learnt the truth about the life and
ministry/mission of Christ on earth Paul took the same road all the way from start
to finish. All of his letters in the New Testament are full of evidences to help us
learn and follow his example to become a nobody servant and a servant
leader for God to use each one of us to reconcile the world to Himself. We all
would agree to correctly say that Paul has started and finished very well because
he followed Christ’s path, and consequently he, inspired by the Holy Spirit, has
the right to be the most eligible and suitable person to become the author of this
particular passage (Phil.2:5-11) and its whole letter as well as many other books
in the New Testament. This implies that the three preparation stage process,
emptying stage, humbling stage and obeying stage is not just an ideology for
talking or dreaming about but can actually be fulfilled by each one of us. This
passage is written for us to read, learn, admire, ponder, and more importantly to
put into practice so that we all can start and finish well like Paul and firmly say,
“For by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without
effect” (1 Cor.15:10).

Therefore, with Christ our exemplar and Paul – an ordinary human being like us,
the
imitator of Christ, you and I who are nobody and nothing, should be much more
willing and prepared to become a real servant to our group, to those children
whom we teach, to our church members and neighbors. It is my prayer that God
would grant me His grace and mercy to become His real and faithful nobody
servant to be used by Him to be and to do whatever He expects of me in order
to make a difference in Thailand.

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