1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

For The Good of Your Child – Servants - Lesson VI

 

To begin our lesson regarding parent’s responsibility to rear up their children to be servants for God let me read an excerpt from this obscure book: Robert’s Guide for Butlers and Other Household Staff, published in 1827.  

It is a book which includes extreme detail concerning the duties of servants,

·         duties which include the cleaning of boots and shoes,

·         the brushing and folding of gentlemen’s clothing,

·         the washing of dirty tables after a party,

·         to the taking of spots of any sort, from any kind of cloth.

 

Most likely you have never had to do the following to remove spots.

 

Take half a pound of crude honey, the yolk of a new laid egg, and the bulk of a nut of aromatic salt, then mix all well together, then put some on the spots; having left it there awhile, then wash it off with clean water, and the spot will immediately disappear. This receipt is of great importance to servants who have the care of their master’s wardrobe, and in many other similar cases.

 

Seems like the duties of servants are filled with great detail.

 

And isn’t “Let all things be done decently and in order” filled with great detail?

 

So Mr. Roberts an experienced house servant to some of the first families of England, France and America begins to describe these details to two men named Joseph and David, about to enter a gentleman’s service.

 

Now as I read this think of how it so describes that which takes place when a child enters into the household of God.

 

He begins: Now, my young friends, you must consider that to live in a gentleman's family as a house servant is a station that will seem wholly different from anything, I presume, that ever you have been acquainted with; this station of life comprises comforts, privileges, and pleasures, which are to be found in but few other stations in which you may enter; and on the other hand many difficulties, trials of temper, etc. more perhaps than in any other station in which you might enter, in a different state of life. Therefore, my young friends, when you hire yourself to a lady or gentleman, your time or your ability is no longer your own, but your employer's; therefore they have a claim on them whenever they choose to call for them: and my sincere advice to you is, always to study to give general satisfaction to your employers, and by so doing you are sure to gain credit for yourself.

 

We see in this short passage regarding the beginnings of service in a great house what will take place when you enter into the great house of God.

 

For all things become new, old things pass away and in that house there are pleasures evermore however there are great trials and difficulties that one will face. 

 

Another thing learned in the great house is that you are not your own but you belong to the one who brought you into the house. 

 

So therefore it is incumbent (meaning mandatory) upon you to study what pleases the Master of the house in order to give satisfaction to Him and by doing so be approved.

 

Isn’t this what Paul, a servant of God told to Timothy another servant of God?

 

In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul instructs, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman (or servant) that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

 

So a servant’s heart’s desire is to please the master.

 

And to please the master a servant must know the master and what the master approves.

 

And in order to know the master and what he approves he studies the master and listens to the master’s voice. 

 

So to rear up children to be servants of God it is imperative that they know God and listen to God’s voice, the voice that he gives by His word.

 

What God expects of us and your children is clearly given to us from the words of Christ to his disciples. 

 

Let us go to the upper room where supper has been eaten and where Jesus now chooses to teach his disciples not by word but by example.

So John tells us in John 13:4,5 and 13:12-17,  He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

 

Jesus the servant serves others. 

 

Following Him means to serve others.

 

The heart of a servant is to think more highly of others than to think of himself. 

 

Jesus saw dirty feet and none stepped up to cleanse them. 

 

Twelve disciples and one Master all with dirty feet and Jesus saw the need and choose to clean the feet of the twelve.  

 

And when the cleansing was over only one remained with dirty feet, the Master himself.

 

I well remember when I was a young boy in the 1940’s watching the foot washing ritual which was observed at my Mother’s church. 

 

Foot washing was an ordinance of her church and other churches of the time and in many churches was observed on what was called Maundy Thursday, Maundy meaning washing of the feet.

 

It was an ordinance based upon Jesus telling his disciples ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

 

The foot washing I witnesses as a boy was done in the church basement with the ladies on one side and the men elsewhere.

 

I was just a little boy and this event of course was normal to my life so I did not think of it as strange at all. 

 

It happened on a regular basis, I think every three months along with the communion service and was known as the Ordinance of Humility.

 

But it was a ritual where each lady would pour water into a white enameled basin over the feet of another lady and give a slight wipe to the top of the feet with a clean white cloth.

 

Now this ritual did not result in clean feet, for every woman and every man made sure to enter into this practice with clean feet. None dare come with dirty feet!

 

We do not practice this ordinance but instead look at the principle that Jesus was teaching for it was a principle of servant hood. 

 

Jesus was at the supper with 12 disciples. 

 

All twelve had eyes to see a need but only Jesus acted upon that need.

 

Men and woman see needs all around but only those with a servant’s heart act upon those needs. 

 

Jesus Christ did not cringe at doing such a menial and humbling task but: He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

 

Jesus prepared to serve. He assembled the tools to serve.

 

He, the Son of God, fell on his knees before men and humbled himself so that his disciples saw their future if they intended to be one of his followers for followers of Christ serve.

 

In this act by our Lord, Jesus lived out his words reported by Paul in Acts 20:35, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

 

Jesus certainly spoke not only upon the authority of the infallible Word but also from personal experience as a man when He made that statement for Jesus Christ gave all.

 

Paul again spoke of this to the Philippians in Philippians 2:5-8, Let this mind 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, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

 

Jesus, by an act of His will, took upon Himself the form of a servant.

 

This passage in Philippians continues on to point out the Father's exaltation of the Son to the highest position possible, to the glory of God the Father and in accordance with:

 

Luke 14:11, For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

 

Now listen closely for in this verse God reveals to you his operating instructions to those who follow His Son.

 

Servant hood, looked upon by the world as a lowly and despised position is, from the example of Christ, the highest position that man or woman can attain.

 

For Christ has forever exalted the name and the work of a servant!

 

But as in all things exalted by God, Satan desires to bring them low.

 

Adam and Eve were placed in a beautiful Garden to dress it and to keep it, an act of service. 

 

Satan stepped in and told them they did not have to settle for such a lowly task, they could know better and they could do much better than dressing and keeping a garden.

 

Knowledge was held up to Eve as the pathway that would lead to becoming God, thus enticing her to eat of the forbidden tree and begin man's upward climb from the lowly servant's station to the much to be desired station of God.   Knowledge, the world’s God!

 

Servanthood, then, is despised by man but highly prized by God.

 

According to the passage in John quoted above, two things are obvious.

 

Jesus has set the example, and we are to follow that example regardless of the siren call of the world.

 

I believe that should include training our children from earliest childhood to be servants.

 

Fulfilling faithfully the role of the servant of God will bring blessedness upon ourselves and our children.

 

For Jesus did tell his clean footed disciples in John 13:17, If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

 

The happiest people are those who serve.

 

Paul certainly substantiates this: I Corinthians 9:19, For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more.

 

Paul served all men without thought of return from them knowing that return would come from God.

 

So parents must be fully convinced by the Scriptures that it is their responsibility and blessed opportunity to train their children to be servants.

 

Next, they must seek the Lord's guidance as to how this can be accomplished relying entirely upon the instruction of the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

As one-half of all a child will ever learn will be learned by the age of three according to those who have studied these areas of child development, it is obvious that parents must start early and stick with this training.

 

I believe the starting point obviously has to be with the parent's own position of servanthood.

 

For servants beget servants.

 

If you, as a parent, are not willing to submit to Christ as His servant, it is highly unlikely that you will be successful with training your children to be servants.

 

The Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 3:2 said of the Corinthians, Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

 

And this is what our children are, simply letters to the neighbors showing what their parents are. 

 

Do they show servanthood? 

 

Do they show giving or do they show taking?

 

If father and mother are servants submitted to Christ it is highly likely their children will be also.

 

Christian parents who love the Lord and desire to obey His word will recognize their responsibility in child rearing with the result of rearing servants for the Lord.

 

They will be willing to commit themselves to the time and effort necessary to be successful in rearing their children to become servants of Christ.

 

We must understand that with children, the short term responsibility we have as parents is to teach our children to be servants of mankind for God.

 

We are the body of Christ and as His body we are to do His work and his work is to serve God by serving others.

 

In the order of things, we must learn to serve those over us in authority first if we are to be prepared to serve God when we come "of age".

 

Because children are naturally at the bottom of the authority ladder, they must learn obedience in the following order:

 

1. Their Parents

 

2. School Authorities

 

3. Civil Authorities

 

We must also understand that being obedient and being a servant are not the same.

 

Obedience is the first responsibility of the servant; however, the attitude with which obedience is carried out determines our progress in servanthood.

 

We obviously cannot neglect obedience training and hope to rear servants; therefore, bringing our children to an exact and complete obedience must be a priority in training servants.

 

There is a reason God’s word commands children to “Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right!”

 

For obedience is the first step toward servanthood.