Pastor Elwin Ahu
February 18, 2007 - W0707

When we see big strong people, we tend to think we can see exactly where their strength comes from; however, in reality, the source of their power is not readily visible from the outside. On the contrary, it is what is on the inside (their bones and muscles) that is the foundation of their strength.  Without bones and muscles, they’d just be formless masses of flesh. Similarly, if you look at a church, you may think that the power of the church comes from the pastor but I would not agree with that.

Take New Hope Christian Fellowship for example. Although Pastor Wayne is an incredible speaker and leader, I believe it is really the volunteers – i.e., hidden servants – of our church that make us strong.  I looked at all of the activities it takes to make New Hope run the way it does and this is what I saw:  it takes hundreds of hidden servants each week to…

• set up 30,000 square feet of tent and 1,200 chairs
• clean 26 toilets, 7,600 square feet of floor, and 17 rooms
• park 1,200 cars and shuttle 2,300 passengers back and forth from the parking lots
• fold 7,000 bulletins and lay down 5,000 feet of video cable and lighting
• visit 350 prison inmates

This doesn’t even include the 13,300 meals served to the homeless and 55 tons of green waste collected this year, or the ongoing efforts of the Malama and hospital ministries.  These volunteers are largely unrecognized and unknown to most of us – so that is why I call them “hidden servants” – but they (and their efforts) are recognized and known to God.

These servants are in good company.  The Bible is filled with stories of God’s servants that received no apparent recognition for their service. In Mark, chapter two, friends of a paralytic man carried him onto the roof of a house where Jesus was preaching, cut a hole in the roof and lowered him down to where Jesus was so he could be healed.  Jesus healed the man saying He did it because of the faith of the man’s friends…but do we know who they were?  Do we know their names?  No, we do not.  They were just some guys who did that work anonymously to help out (serve) a friend and Jesus was able to build upon that service and miraculously heal their friend.

What about that little boy who gave his lunch of two fish and five loaves of bread?  Do we know his name?  No, yet Jesus was able to use that boy’s generosity and service to feed 5000.  And what about the woman who honored Jesus by pouring alabaster on His head?  Do we know her name?  Once again, no, yet her deed is recorded in the Bible for all of history.  Do you think that any of these people had any idea what kind of impact they were going to have on Christianity when they did what they did?

There is power in the hearts and hands of hidden servants.  Through acts of kindness, sacrificial deeds and just about any service to others, doors are opened and foundations are laid for Jesus to pour out His blessings.

As the Bible says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2: 3-5). This confirms that when we have an attitude of serving others, we are more like Jesus. The Lord is pleased when we have an attitude of service.

HIDDEN SERVICE …

1.     ESTABLISHES A FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE GROWTH.

Hidden service provides God with a solid foundation within us to build on.  He needs a good foundation in order to build us up, whether it’s to build a good marriage, a bright future, a great hope or just about anything else worth having.

I once asked an architect what percentage of time and resource are spent on the foundation of any high rise building.  He told me developers typically spend about 40% – 45% of their time and resources to build the foundation on any large construction project because without a good foundation, the integrity of the entire project is at risk.

There is no better school for Christians than being a servant to God and others but too often we use the excuse that we have no time to serve or volunteer. Realistically, we pay attention to what means most to us so if we have (or make) no time to serve God, how much does He really mean to us? Many times people hope that there will be one particular message from Pastor Wayne that will change their lives, but there is no one message that will change their life.  Rather, their life will be changed through service to God and others.  Through service to others, we lay a foundation on which God can build a strong dwelling in us.

There was once a contractor who was hired to clear some land of vegetation and level out the terrain so the developer could build. It was in the midst of the construction boom and the contractor as busy so instead of clearing the land and leveling it as he was supposed to, he chose the simpler route of turning the land over and burying the vegetation rather than hauling it away as he should have.  He packed the ground and it passed inspection.  The developer than built homes on the land but after a few years, the vegetation and debris decayed creating large air pockets in the soil.  After a while, the earth started to give way and the houses became unstable, thus endangering the homes and lives of the people living there.  The contractor was sued for millions of dollars but the lesson here being…take the time to build a solid foundation.  Not doing so simply puts things at risk.

If you think that you have no time to serve, think again. Make time.  Take care of the little things and God will take care of the rest. As the Bible says, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” (Luke 16:10).

Let me share a personal story with you.  Most of you know that my wife Joy and I adopted our little son Jared a short time ago. Prior to adopting Jared, Joy had never been a mom and probably would not have been the great mom she is today if we had had our own child years ago. The Lord prepared both of us for this monumental task of being parents in our advanced age by having us serve other ways.  Several years ago, Joy’s father fell out of a tree and became paralyzed.  He was in a care facility and we went to visit him every single day to help take care of him. Shortly after he died, Joy’s mom came to live with us after she had been diagnosed with dementia.  I remember this one particular time when I was on a mission trip in China, I called home and Joy was frantic because her mother had wandered out of the house and Joy couldn’t find her anywhere.  Joy, as shy as she was, was in a situation where she knew she needed to call KSSK radio to have the posse help her locate her mom.  Well luckily, they did but only after Joy had built up the courage to ask for help on the radio.  Through times like these, we used to ask ourselves, “I wonder what God has in store for us that we are going through all of these trials?”  Little did we know that He was preparing us to be the parents of this beautiful, but rascal, little boy from China.  Through her trials and hidden service to God and others like her parents, the Lord was preparing Joy to be the ideal mom for our son Jared.

God is waiting to build something special in our lives but we have to serve first so that He has a foundation to build on.

Since Jared is from China, you might ask how is his English … too good now! I tell him to wash his hands, he asks, “Why?”  I tell him to close his eyes when I want to rinse the shampoo out of his hair but he asks, “Why?”  Sometimes I just do not have the time to explain so I tell him to just, “Do it because I said so.”  Sometimes he still doesn’t listen to me so I just wash his hair anyway but then he gets soap in his eyes and says that I did it. I tell him, “No, I didn’t.  You got it in your eyes because you did not listen!”  We’re like that with God sometimes. He tells us to do something and rather than being obedient and just doing it, we question Him, “Why?”  Well, God should not have to explain Himself to us all the time, we should just obey.  But oftentimes we don’t and then something bad happens and we try to blame God…but it’s really because we just didn’t listen.

When Jesus was about to enter the city, He needed to be mounted upon a colt in order to fulfill the prophecy. The Bible says, “And it came about that when He approached … near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village opposite you … [and] you will find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it, and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” thus shall you speak, “The Lord has need of it”’” (Luke 19:29-31). Consider this:  what would you do if someone told you, “Go to the 5^th floor of this particular parking lot and find the white Mercedes and bring it here to me.  And if anyone should ask you what you are doing, tell them, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” Doesn’t that sound completely crazy to you?  Yet Jesus’ disciples faithfully followed His instructions and because of their obedience, prophecy was fulfilled and the world was changed. We do not know who those disciples were but we certainly know what they did changed our world.

Many of us need the Lord to change our lives but it starts with hidden service to others and God. Think of others more highly than you think of yourself because hidden service…

2.     REDEFINES LIFE’S PURPOSE.

We are taught to be driven by the pursuit of success at an early age. Society wants us to sacrifice everything for success. Everything is me, me, me! A lot of people though, after working so hard and reaching their 30’s or 40’s, find that something is missing. They discover that life is not about us. They find that just as the Bible says, “He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it” (Matt. 10:39). In other words, we are not made to be consumers; we are made to be contributors.

The Bible directs you to “… choose for yourselves today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served … or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15). You have to make a choice – serve God or serve yourself.  (Note, serving God and others will bring you back to God’s purpose.)

My son Brandon did very well in high school so he wanted to go to the University of Southern California.  I suggested he go to the University of Hawaii but in the end he went to the very expensive USC (or what a lot of parents call the University of Spoiled Children!) One summer, Brandon wanted to get a job at a surf shop for the summer but I offered him a job at the ministry scrubbing toilets.  He initially declined my offer but eventually (and reluctantly) accepted the position when he could not get a job at a surf shop.  When he first started the ministry cleaning job, he was very unhappy but the Lord worked on him through his humbling service.  At the end of the summer, Brandon said that he thought he wanted to work in a “surf shop” but instead he really appreciated the fact that he was able to work in New Hope’s “serve shop.”  Today Brandon is in youth ministry and plans to continue his ministry work even though he could be making a lot of money elsewhere with his USC degree.

Does this mean that hidden service is easy? No, hidden service …

3. REQUIRES A RISK THAT PRODUCES UNEXPECTED REWARDS.

Throughout history, God’s servants have not known what rewards would materialize from their obedient service but great things did happen. For ourselves here at New Hope, we have seen the following:

• in 1996, we had 11,428 attend New Hope but in 2006, it was 527,000
• in 1996, we won 1,251 souls for Christ but in 2006, it was 2,733 for a total of 34,232
• in 1996 there were 387 people baptized but in 2006, it was 752 for a total of 7,872

Our hidden servants did not know that all these rewards would come about from their humble service.  Yet so much power is in the hands and hearts of hidden servants. Serving takes risk but the rewards are huge. Remember this,“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me’” (Matt. 25:40). In other words, when you help other people, you are doing it as unto the Lord.

One of the most inspirational examples of a truly hidden servant was German businessman Oscar Schindler on which the movie “Schindler’s List” is based. At first he was a normal and flawed businessman making money off the tragedy of World War II but he was transformed and then used his millions and talents to save over 1000 Jews from Hitler’s Nazis, who eventually murdered 6 million other Jews. Schindler outwitted the Nazis at the risk of his own life and his actions really had to remain “hidden.” His sacrifice and service led to untold greatness for the future generations of Jews that followed.

The Lord is asking for our acts of hidden service so that when our time on earth is over, He will say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant(s).”  God wants all of us to have an attitude of “hidden service” towards others because it establishes a foundation for future growth and redefines life’s purpose. And though hidden service requires risk, it produces unexpected rewards.

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1. Why should service be “hidden”?
2. How has your service changed you?
3. What did God prepare you for while you served?
4. Looking back, what do you understand now about what God put you through?
5. How has your life been redefined?
6. What did you risk for your service?
7. What were the expected rewards of service?
8. What were the unexpected rewards of service?

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong with our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17 NLT)

Sermon Notes Ministry: Debbie Chang, Leighton Loo,

Doreen Rabaino & Jay Tsukayama