May 4, 2023 Called To Service
After the revival ended, that warm, moonlit night at Plumbline United Holy Church, situated deep in the countryside on the outskirts of Enfield, N.C., my brother Griffin and I, along with our dad and mom, made our way to the car. The unpaved parking lot was filled with cars. After getting into our car, we waited for Dad to start the engine and head for home. Other cars slowly began leaving. We sat and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, after all the other cars had left, hundreds of them, or so it seemed, Dad started the engine and pulled away from the church. Why!!!? Why did we have to be the last ones to leave?
Note: After praying that God would give me a message that would bless, encourage, heal, and challenge me, this is what He gave me.
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 NLT).
Called to Serve
My dad who became the pastor of our church, Royal Light Holy Church of Deliverance in 1967, was constantly thinking about the needs of others. After church on Sunday, while we were at home watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom or some other TV show, he would be visiting nursing home residents. But what annoyed Griffin and me the most about him was his need to make sure everyone was okay before he would leave. He had had the misfortune of being unable to start his car at church one night. Whether someone came to his aid or not, I do not know. But since that unfortunate happenstance, he felt the need to make sure it didn’t happen to anyone else on his watch.
So, it did not matter that we were at Plumbline UHC that night in the early 70s (He wasn’t the pastor there!) and that there were hundreds of cars, or so it seemed, in the parking lot that night, Dad had to make sure that if someone needed a jumpstart or even a ride home, he would be available to address their need. No, I cannot claim that admirable characteristic despite being Jesse Sumner, Sr.’s youngest son. I confess. I am not trying to be the last one to leave the church!
Now some years back during a revival in the early 2000s, some ministers, with various titles, were conversing in the lobby after the service. When some deacons who had been doing security duty outside in the cold entered, one of the ministers graciously commended them for their faithful service. But another one remarked somewhat flippantly, “I’m glad God gave me a higher calling.”
A higher calling than serving by helping to secure and look after the well-being of the congregants? Coincidentally, when I was licensed into the ministry and briefly pondered whether to remain with the deacon board, it was reflecting upon that comment that helped me decide to stay with the deacons for more than seven additional years. And I am certainly not patting myself on the back. The late Deacon Harvey Armstrong never left the deacon board after becoming a minister the same year that I did.
If Jesus, the Son of God, God incarnate upon the earth, “came not to be served but to serve,” shouldn’t we do likewise? As ministers, regardless of title, we are called to serve.
Focus Quote: “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests, of others.”