TD Jakes - Serving Isn't Subservient
Let’s go to the Word of God: the Gospel of Saint John, chapter 13, verses 2 through 17. There you will find my assignment for this evening. I want to honor all of our associate pastors in the house tonight, grateful to God for each one of you in your respective places. Give God praise for them, and to our own Pastor Tol Ray who is joining us tonight, let’s thank God for him being in the house of the Lord. I almost felt led to have him teach tonight, but I didn’t want to do that to him at the last minute. I mean, I would have given him like 15 minutes or something, but this was going to be about eight and a half minutes. I thought we had eight and a half minutes, and it just didn’t seem fair. But I have something from the Lord; I have been talking to Him.
I am not without a word in the Gospel of Saint John, chapter 13, verses 2 through 17. There we will find a very familiar passage of Scripture that appears to us in this manner: «And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him.» It’s funny because what I like about that verse right there is that it never tells us when Satan entered his heart — only that he entered his heart. That means one day, along the way of normalcy, the devil just jumped into his heart. That’s why you have to watch people, because Satan having entered into his heart means he wasn’t always there.
So, someone can start out thinking one way today, and I ain’t supposed to be talking about that tonight, but Satan can just enter into their heart. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He was come from God and went to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments. I love this text: He rises from supper. Look at the topography of the text, as Dr. James would say. The rising, the laying aside of the garments; He took a towel and girded Himself. Can you see it? And after that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet. So, He stood up, He laid aside His garments, He kneeled down; look at all the motion of the text. He began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He had girded Himself.
Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto Him, «Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?» Jesus answered and said unto him, «What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.» In other words, Peter didn’t want Him to wash his feet. Peter saith unto Him, «Thou shalt never wash my feet.» Jesus answered him, «If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.» Simon Peter said unto Him, «Well now, Lord, if You put it like that, You wash my feet, my hands, my head, whatever You have to do; I want to have some part with You!» Yeah, I get it, Peter. Jesus said to him, «He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit; and ye are clean, but not all.» For He knew who should betray Him; therefore, He said, «Ye are not all clean.»
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.» I love Jesus; He doesn’t mind telling you who He is. He said, «You call me Master and Lord; you got that right. I’m the boss.» 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; watch that! I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.
If people ever did that, the world would be a better place. If you would just do as He has done to you, you wouldn’t have all that drama going on. 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 you do them. We often don’t want to use the word «happy» because the word happy comes from the word «hap,» which means something has to happen in order for you to be happy. So, real spiritual people say, «Don’t say happy, say joy.» But Jesus said happy, so shut up! Jesus said, «If you do what I am teaching you tonight, you will be happy.» Glory to God!
Now that means that I am going to be happy because things are going to start happening. Things will start happening if I activate under the example that He just showed me. Things are going to start happening. What I’m getting ready to teach tonight is so profound and so important that if you just do what I’m teaching tonight, things are going to start happening that will cause you to be happy. This may be one of the most important nights you ever logged into this broadcast or came out on a Wednesday night, because I’m about to insert a key into a door that’s going to unlock things to start happening in your life. Because I can’t be happy if nothing is happening in my life. Look at somebody and say, «Something’s about to happen, and it’s going to make me very happy.» Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah! The devil doesn’t like that kind of talk; that’s faith talk that gets on his nerves.
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on us as we unveil the word of God according to the dictates of what You have revealed and shared with me. Give me nimbleness of thought and clarity of mind that I might be endowed with the grace of teaching succinctly those things that You have deposited deep inside of me, that they might flourish and bring forth abundance. I thank You in advance for what You’re about to do. Have Your way in my life, in Jesus' name, somebody shout Amen.
You may be seated. So tonight, I’m going to talk from the subject: serving isn’t subservient. Serving is not subservient. If it were, then why did the Lord do it? You know, it’s a funny thing—we have a lot of leadership conferences. I have leadership conferences; everybody has leadership conferences. People who shouldn’t have leadership conferences are having leadership conferences because they see you having one. They decide to have a leadership conference even though they don’t know anything about leading. Everybody is trying to lead something; they’re all on Instagram trying to lead something.
«I am a motivational speaker. I’m a leader. I’m an entrepreneur.» I’m anything that gives you power. We adapted quickly because of a subtle lust for power. Have you ever noticed that we have leadership conferences but no following conferences? The reason we don’t have any following conferences is that if you put up a sign saying «I’m going to have a followers conference,» nobody would come. Everybody wants to lead.
But my question to you is, if everybody leads, who’s going to follow? You’ve got all of these one-man band leaders leading so they could have a title or a semblance of power so that they can say they’re a leader. It doesn’t matter that nobody’s following you. If you’re a leader and nobody’s following you, you’re just driving a car but nobody’s following you. It is the growing subtle lust for power. Power is sexy; it’s sensual. It attracts you; it allures you; it tries to entrap you. It is seductive. Power is seductive. You hardly ever see anybody who doesn’t want power. I don’t care how deep you are, you want some power. It’s like I don’t care how deep you are— you’ve always wanted some money. I’ve never had anybody turn down money. You know, I’m handing out a million dollars— «I don’t want none.» It might be a few people in here, but not very many. The more you’re perceived with power, the more you are allotted power. From politics to pulpits, people love power. In marriage and in relationships, it’s all about power.
We’re having great debates in this country about power in relationships because the husband and wife can’t sort out who’s in charge; the kids run everything. Everybody is asking, «Why are you fighting about who has the most power?» We’re going out clubbing tonight, and when you all get through fighting about who’s in charge, come pay my bill, because everybody in the house has gone power-crazy. From Fortune 500 companies to Fortune 100 companies, everybody’s trying to get the metrics on who is the fairest of them all. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? How do I rate for power? What’s my name? Power couples to power players, everything’s got «power» in front of it. «We are a power couple.» Why? What do you all do to be a power couple? Because you’re cute? You’re a power couple— they are power. Because everybody’s a power couple, everybody’s a power player. Everybody’s a boss. «I’m a boss.» Just because you can buy a t-shirt that says «I’m a boss» doesn’t make you a boss.
The reason we have to be a little bit careful about this culture that is seducing us into a bloodthirst, like a vampire, for power is that theologically, we have a template that shows us that the lust for power does not start with man; it starts with Satan. In Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 through 14, before Satan fell from heaven, his Heavenly name was Lucifer, and he was an angel with a degree of power. But he was never satisfied with the degree of power that he had, and he lusted for more power. This is called the five «I wills.» I want you to hear that: «How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? How did you fall from such a great height? For thou hast said in thy heart…»
This is how he fell: «First, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I’m going to be above all the angels and all the Heavenly hosts. I’m going to exalt my throne. I’m going to exalt myself. I’m going to exalt my brain. I’m going to exalt my throne.» Number three: «I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.» Keep going. Number four: «I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most High God.» Really? «I will be like the most High.» I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. This lust for power starts with Satan, and instead of taking him up, it took him down. Anytime you think you deserve to be up, you go down. The people who really grow up are those who are humble in their hearts and say, «Oh Lord, you mean me? You want me to do that? Oh God, I’m gonna need Your help. I can’t do that by myself.» And when you humble yourself, He exalts you. When you exalt yourself, He humbles you.
This is the oldest trick in the book. Satan starts it in heaven; it’s brought up in Isaiah and repeated on Earth. Because Satan cannot create, he can only imitate. So when he comes to the Garden of Eden, seeing as he is not a Creator but only an imitator, in the Garden of Eden, in the Book of Genesis chapter 3, verses 2 through 5, he imitates the same methodology. «And the woman said unto the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden.' Now why are you talking to the devil anyway? 'But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, „Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."' If you know what he said, why are you talking about it to the serpent?» And the serpent said unto the woman, «Ye shall not surely die.» See, Satan always tries to subtly pervert the word of God. «For God doth know…» Watch this, how he twists and turns it on God. «For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.»
So the desire to be like God doesn’t sound bad until it comes from a place of ego. He takes a good thing and turns it on her because it’s not a bad thing to want to be like God until your «I will» wants to be above Him. Now, in truth, the text that we’re talking about today is the antithesis of a power show. It is really about being submitted, being humble. It’s really about serving, and my subject is, «Serving isn’t subservient.» Now it’s going to be hard to teach because nobody glamorizes serving today. They glamorize being served. And no matter what phrase you put on it, it’s all about you being served—pedicure, manicure, hair done, rubbing my scalp, taking care of me, back rub— «I deserve, I need to be served.» Nobody—you don’t see anybody sign up saying, «I want to rub. I want to wash. I want to wash your feet.» It’s all about being on the receiving end of service and not on the giving end of service, because we think that to serve is to be subservient.
There’s a vast difference between serving and being subservient. You don’t serve because you’re weak; you don’t serve because you’re ignorant; you don’t serve because you’re uncool; you don’t serve because you’re not intelligent. Jesus didn’t wash feet because He was subservient. He said, «If you call me Lord, you got that right.» And yet He was washing feet. He says, «Now a servant is no greater than his Lord. If I can humble myself to serve, then you ought to be serving too,» and you ought to be able to serve without feeling subservient.
To be subservient, by the way, is to be useful in an inferior capacity. To be subservient means I’m serving because I am inferior to you—subordinate, obsequiously submissive. Allowing ourselves to become intoxicated with the notion of unworthiness is not what we’re teaching tonight. I’m not doing it because I’m weak; I am doing it because I am strong. I am not merely submitted, but obsequiously submitted, extremely submitted, because I have no other option. I have learned how to serve and to wait on others because I’m strong, not because I’m weak.
Come on, let’s go further with this. If you read the text carefully, Jesus has set in place a model. Flipping to my next note, Jesus has set forth a model that takes strength to serve, and you have to be strong to be submissive. Because, because y’all don’t hear what I’m saying, I know this is backwards and antithetical to how you think about things, but just bear with me. It is hard for some people who have been, for example, abused, to serve. Yeah, yeah. One of the signs and characteristics of people who have been extremely abused, molested, ostracized, or mistreated is they have a bloodthirst for power. Because whenever they were last vulnerable, it didn’t end well.
Okay, and now, I’ll never put myself in a position of vulnerability again, because I don’t trust you, and I need to have power, or money, or fame, or something in order to feel good about myself. And so I’m hard to live with, because if you say anything that triggers a button, I’ll snap on you over somebody you’ve never met, because I’m not strong enough to be weak.
So, I’m going to be hard; I’m going to flip out on you. I’m going to go off on you, because the big me is protecting the little me. Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying. And the thing that’s crazy about the text is Jesus goes right from an abusive relationship to serving. Didn’t you just read the text? And Satan having entered into Judas Iscariot. Now, if one of my disciples turned out to be a devil, the first thing I would want to do wouldn’t be wash feet. It might be carrying a nine millimeter. I mean, it wouldn’t be—let’s call a board meeting—and let’s wash some toes up in here. Let me have your toe jam. The first thing Jesus does in an abusive relationship he’s having with Judas is serve. Separating what happened from who you are is critical. Oh, that’s a note right there!
Separating what happened to you from who you are is critical. Nothing that happened to Jesus robbed him of who he was. Satan entering into Judas didn’t stop Jesus from being God. Stop allowing the behavior of the people around you to affect the perception of the person within you. Notice in verses 2 and 3, «And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him.» Jesus knowing… Jesus knowing!
Now, he just came from an abusive relationship, and then it goes to talk about what he knew—not how he felt. You keep telling me about how you feel, but the Bible keeps telling me about what he knew. Jesus knowing. You’ve got to know! Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand. Isn’t that a strange time to have confidence? Right in the middle of betrayal, right in the middle of an abusive relationship, right in the middle of heartbreak, right in the middle of stress. None of that took away from what Jesus knew about himself. That’s a footnote right there. That’s a shouting moment right there! That’s a moment for you to take notes on, because you are not to let anybody have so much power over you that their reaction to you makes you doubt you. The Bible said Jesus kept on knowing while Judas kept on betraying.
So, one thing doesn’t contradict the other. Judas is betraying him, but none of that affected what Jesus knew about himself. Jesus knew that he came from God and that he was going back to God, and nothing that Judas did was going to stop it. In fact, Judas was going to help it! Come on, somebody! Come on, look at the word knowing! You’ve got to know who you are! You have to know who you are. You cannot define who you are by what happened to you. You have to know who you are apart from what happened to you. You have to know who you are—that you came from God and you’re going back to God. You didn’t come from Judas, and you’re not going back to Judas.
So, Judas is incidental; he’s a weed, he’s a tare, he’s a distraction. He’s Sanballat and Tobiah. Nothing that he does is going to take anything away from who I am. And I want him to know that I’m strong enough that I can serve after abuse. I don’t have to become this camouflage character that is a misrepresentation of my true self to protect myself from the pain that came into my heart when you did what you did. I can still be me, because I’m stronger than what happened to me. I’m stronger than what you sold me for. I’m worth more than thirty pieces of silver. I’m fine all by myself. So, if you leave the table, I’m still God. If you break the bread, I’m still God. If you drink from the cup, I’m still God. If you break my heart, I’m still God. If you hand me over to the Romans, I’m still God. If you sell me, I’m still God. If you nail me, I’m still God.
«Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,» because none of these nails can take away who I am. Thank you. I know you heard something about me, but I know who I am. You’re talking about me, but I know who I am. You insulted me on Instagram, but I know who I am. You’re not going to make me doubt who I am because of what you said. You don’t even know me! Shut up! I know who I am. I came from God; I’m going back to God. If you think I’m not of God, you must not know God. I am a child of the King. I am his salvation. I’ve been purchased by God. I’ve been washed in the blood. I know somebody! How do I know? Glory to God! High-five somebody! This is how many Wednesday night Bible classes!
This is where it goes down! This is where we get it together! This is where we get our soul food! This is where we get our ammunition to fight Thursday, and Friday, and all day Saturday till I get back Sunday morning. This is where I load up for round two! This is when I load my Glock! It’s going to be some trouble in here right now! Thank you! Even when Jesus asked, «Who do men say that I am?» it wasn’t because he didn’t know who he was. Then, «Who do you say that I am?» He was able to tell Peter, «Yeah, you got it right. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the true and living God.» Because Jesus never doubted who he was because of what some say. And Jesus didn’t ask Peter because he needed Peter’s affirmation. Peter’s assertion was confirmation, but it wasn’t affirmation, because Jesus never entered into the conversation from a position of weakness or inferiority. Okay?
He was not subservient when he asked a question. In fact, Jesus was omniscient when he asked a question—that means he knew the answer before he asked the question. He already knows the end from the beginning. And just because he humbles himself and asks you a question, don’t you think for one minute that you’re teaching the rabbi, because he is the rabbi! He is the master teacher! He is the all-sufficient one! He is complete within himself! He is lacking nothing! You can’t build him up; you can’t undergird him; you can’t support him! He is complete within himself! He’s El Shaddai; he’s all-sufficient; he’s got it all together! He’s never thought of anything that he couldn’t make! He’s never asked a question that he couldn’t answer! He’s never had a need that he couldn’t supply! He’s never thought of a problem that he couldn’t resolve! He is the answer and the problem, the end and the beginning, the first and the last!
I’m talking about your God and my God! Somebody’s faith needs to wake up tonight! Somebody’s faith needs to wake up! Until you stop serving this broke-down, lily-livered, scared, intimidated God just because you saw some little pictures of some little effeminate Jesus on the Cross, look at all these paintings! That’s not the God that I serve! I serve the God that could call ten thousand angels and decided to die! He didn’t have to die! Oh! So the Bible says, «Sit down!» because you’re getting me excited. When I get excited, I get ahead of myself!
Look at something! I say something’s about to happen in here tonight! Yeah, yeah! Something’s about to happen in here tonight! Somebody’s about to get loose! Somebody’s about to get set free! Somebody’s tumor is about to shrink! Somebody’s cancerous tissue is about to go down! Something’s about to happen in here tonight! Somebody’s migraine is about to go away! Somebody’s stroke is about to be resolved! Somebody’s blood pressure is getting ready to go down! Somebody’s diabetes is about to be regulated! Something’s about to happen in here! Something’s about to happen in here tonight! Because you are not your disease! You are not your condition! You are not your infirmity! You are not your situation! You don’t have to accept that if you don’t want that! For, so the text says, the text says he laid aside his garments.
Oh, and I thought to myself, no one undressed him. Here he is—the master! The master is in the room, and no one undressed him! He laid aside; he laid aside his garments. No one undressed him! Or, in other words, no one takes my life. See, if I let you undress me, then I need you to take my life! See, the garment was his flesh. Yeah, no man takes my life; I lay it down! My mask is removed, my garments are discarded, and he laid aside his garments. You remember when Aaron was made priest in the priesthood in the book of Exodus? God had designed his clothes with the Urim and Thummim in his breastplate, and twelve smooth stones on his chest to represent that God’s people are on his heart. You understand what I’m saying? And how his robe was blue for God’s grace and that it was crimson for his redemptive power, that it was purple for his majesty?
And the bottom of his robe had pomegranates and bells—one in between the other—symbolizing both the fruits and the signs of the Spirit. You don’t want all signs with no fruits, lest you become as a tinkling brass and a sounding cymbal. And so the priest’s garments identified him as being the high priest. So, when he walked out in his high priest’s garment, it meant that he represented God to the people and he represented the people to God. And supper being ended, Jesus, my high priest, now laid aside his garments. He laid aside his garment and girded himself with the towel. What? Some scholars think that when the woman with the issue of blood got healed, she got healed because she touched the hem of his garments, down where the bells—y’all don’t hear what I’m saying—down where the signs and the fruits were!
She got to right where the power of God could set her free! And she tapped into something! God’s got more power in his hem! God’s got more deliverance in the hem of his garments! The bottom of his garments has enough power to stop every issue that you have in your life! And the text says he laid aside his garments. How? I gotta stop, because I’m having fun now! I can do this! I mean, he laid aside his garments and took on—when he put on the towel he took on the form of a servant. Nobody walks around the palace with a towel on, but a servant! Lowly clothing, humble clothing, no jewels, no Urim, no Thummim, no linen loins to cover you; just a towel! You’re a slave! You’re a servant! You wear a servant’s outfit!
When David danced out of his clothes and came down to his linen ephod, he had come down to service! And the problem with the church today is we have danced, but we never danced down to service! See, you shout all over a church you do nothing in! And so you dance, but you don’t serve! But you’re more concerned about who’s sitting in your seat than you are about where do you serve! Do you hear what I’m saying? Now, I’m going to talk about service. There are several aspects of service that I want you to get. What are you willing to lay aside to serve? He laid aside his garments; what are you willing to lay aside to serve? Oh, wait! That means, in order to serve, I have to sacrifice something! I can’t stay with my full vesture on and wash feet! I have to make some sort of sacrifice in order to serve! So, I’m asking you tonight—I’m asking you online—what are you willing to lay aside to serve? I’m going to give you five things that you have to lay aside to serve. Are you with me tonight?
Number one: Time! Until you respect time, you don’t respect God. Don’t respect time, and you’ll always be broke! Because the most precious thing that you have is not your stocks, your bonds, your mutual funds, your annuities, your insurance policies, not the equity in your house, not the money in your wallet. The most precious thing you have is time! And when you don’t respect time, that affects everything else that you value. Oh, you’re quiet now! So when you give God your time, that is a sacrifice! Time, time, time!
Number two: You have to lay aside your titles! Who’s going to sit on his right side and who’s going to sit on his left side is not given unto you to know! You’ve got to lay aside your titles! So, until Lucifer fell, he was Lucifer. When he fell, he lost his title and became Satan! Are you willing to lay aside your title, or do you have to fall? Do you really think God calls me Bishop? Thank you. «Hey bishop, I need an appointment with you.» Are you really that crazy that you think God cares? See, God doesn’t care about titles because His promise was never to make your title great. He said, «I will make your name great.» I will make your name so great that you don’t need a title to modify your name. Once your name gets so great, you can’t put a title in front of it that makes it any bigger than it already is.
You can’t call Aretha Franklin Dr. Franklin or Mrs. Franklin; you can just say Aretha, and nobody will ask you which one you’re talking about. When you say Billy Graham, you don’t need to say Dr. Billy Graham, Reverend Billy Graham, Chief of Free Lake Billy Graham, or Chief Apostle Billy Graham—no, just Billy Graham. You said it all when you said Billy Graham. Whatever you put in front of his name is weaker than his name because God made his name great. Thank you, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you!
So, are you strong enough? The question is, are you strong enough to lay aside your title, or do you need your title to camouflage your weakness and your pain? So, people who need to welcome you say, «I’m Dr. so-and-so,» and «I’m the head of this church.» No, you’re not! «I’m the pastor here.» No, you ain’t! The moment you have to tell me who you are, you aren’t! «I’m the head of this house. I’m the man, the woman.» No, no, no! The moment you had to say that, you’re not that. So, are you willing to lay aside? I’m going to get out of that. Are you willing to lay aside your title?
Number three: are you willing to lay aside your talent? Are you too talented to serve? «I’m too talented to serve,» and «too talented to submit.» I never will forget at my little church, I played the piano for the church and directed the choir, and how many priorities did the songs have? Well, the choir wasn’t big, but we sang things like «My Soul Loves Only You» and others with three or four other people, so it wasn’t much. When I went to convocation, I went as a pastor, and when they got ready to start the service, there was nobody to play.
So Bishop Wilson came up to me and said, «We can register our service; will you play the piano?» I said, «I’m a pastor,» and he turned to me and said, «Who plays in your church?» I said, «I do.» He said, «Then play here.» Yeah! Later on in the week, I saw him playing the organ, and he was the bishop of the organization, but he could lay aside his title and his talent to serve. What are you willing to lay aside to serve? We have great singers in this church who won’t sing because they won’t lay aside their talent and their ego to serve. Yeah, you say Jesus is Lord, but you never laid aside your garments!
Number four: I don’t want to make you mad, but how good are you at laying aside your treasure? That’s why tithes and offerings are important—not because God is broke, and not because the heavens are going to close down if you don’t give an offering tonight. We don’t give that way; we give to break the curse over our finances lest your money become your God. I disavow my covenant with money when I give, so I say to God, «Nothing that You gave me will be more important than the one who gave it to me.»
So, I cast it at Your feet because You are Lord of all. That’s why I’m giving the money. I’m not giving the money because You’re broke; I’m not giving the money because You need the money; I’m not giving the money to the pastor; I’m giving it to break the curse that money has over my life by becoming more important than You. I’m going to show the money who’s boss by throwing it at Your feet. So, when Jesus was born, the first thing they gave Him was treasure, and the Bible said that the wise men came from afar and gave gold, frankincense, and myrrh to a baby.
Question: what is a baby going to do with gold? This is not about the baby; this is about breaking the curse that wealth has in your life. The more God blesses you, the more money seduces you, and the harder it is for you to prevent it from becoming your God. You commit the sin of the prodigal son, who loved the gift more than he loved the giver. The prodigal son said, «Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me, Daddy; to hell with you, give me your stuff.»
See, the problem with the prodigal son was that he loved the gift more than the giver. Every time you love the gift more than the giver, you’re going to lose the gift because you have made the gift God in your life. Anytime you make the gift God in your life, God has to show you that you have chosen the wrong God. So, there he is in the hog pen, having run out of his God. Then, he came to himself, and suddenly he finds himself falling more in love with the giver than with the gift. Do you love the giver, or do you love the gift? Are you willing to lay aside your treasure?
God can’t give you treasure if you’re going to worship treasure. So, every so often, you’ve got to break the curse of the treasure. The higher you go, breaking the curse means you can trust me with money, trust me with influence, trust me to be an executive, trust me to be an entrepreneur because I let nothing separate me from the love of God—neither height, nor depth, nor powers, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature. I break that curse! Somebody hold on! I’ll break that curse! Somebody holler, «I break that curse!» I don’t know who it is, but somebody, God is getting ready to bless you abundantly with wealth, and God doesn’t want the thing He’s getting ready to give you to become more important than the God who gave it to you! Somebody holler, «I break that curse!»
So, Jesus laid aside His crown. The first two and a half years of my ministry, I preached all over the country and brought my honorariums home to pay my staff. I paid my staff for things they didn’t even do; I was doing the work and bringing home the money to get started. I laid aside my treasure. You see, you want the staff, but you don’t want to sacrifice! I invested in them so that later on they could come on! Talk to me, somebody!
Come on, come on. Number five: Are you willing to lay aside your temperament? Your mood swings? Your attitude? Your disposition? Your stony face? Your mean mug? Your nasty mouth? Your hot head? Your temper? Are you willing to lay it aside? Because it may be the thing that’s stopping you from receiving what’s about to happen in your life. Your temperament alone can block the blessing because people don’t give to people they don’t like. The enemy will seduce you into having a temperament that is contrary to your destiny because the Bible said, «Serve the Lord with gladness.» So if God didn’t care about temperament, why did the Bible say, «Serve the Lord with gladness»? God said, «I’m watching your attitude, not just your action.» It’s not enough for you to have the right action when you don’t have the right attitude. You need to lay aside your garments.
Can I go on a little further? The next point I want to tell you is that there is no service, there is no service, there is no service without sacrifice. There is no way in the world that you can serve and not sacrifice. There is no way! I decided the other day, y’all don’t know it, but on most Sunday nights, after church, I’ve been meeting with my executive staff in a meeting we call «Brandon Brunch.» I have been meeting with them as we begin to better understand ourselves and figure out how to align ourselves for what God is about to do next in our lives. So there’s brunch, and we’re hungry; we just got out of church, and we’ve got to have some food. We have half the meeting, then we have lunch, and then we have the other half of the meeting. I have somebody on staff who cooks; I don’t have to cook, but I decided last week that I would make a banana pudding as my gift to the staff.
So, I cooked a banana pudding for 40 people in between preaching and doing interviews. I got up Sunday morning and I thought, «I meant to make the meringue Saturday night,» but I got up Sunday morning and thought, «Oh my God! I didn’t make the meringue!» So, Sunday morning, I made the meringue from scratch! I’m not talking about Cool Whip; I don’t mean I took Cool Whip out of a bowl and put it on top—I mean I took raw eggs, a mixer with some cream of tartar, and a cup of sugar and put it in there with a tablespoon of vanilla because it was a huge banana pudding, so I needed more vanilla! I whipped it till it peaked, then I put it in the oven until it browned. There is no service without sacrifice!
So, I was almost late for church trying to serve people I pay! I could have gotten someone on staff to do it, but if I am the boss, then I need to prove it. You want people to admire you, but they never see you serve, they never see you give, they never see you work, they never see you sweat, they never see you labor. You go home after church talking about how tired you are! I generally put in about 12 hours to get home. Respect is never given; it must be earned! There is no service without sacrifice! So, somebody got to church Sunday morning at 5:00 A.M. Holler at your boy! Somebody got to church in the dark on Sunday, and you can’t make it by nine! Oh, y’all love it! Yeah, y’all were having a good time; I lost you.
There is no service without sacrifice, and the reason you haven’t gone any further in your life is because you are not willing to pay the tuition to the next level! You want halftime service and full-time pay! You want six weeks of vacation and you only work two weeks out of the month. When you find that job, holler at your boy! Okay, there has to be a commensuration between service and sacrifice.
If you are going to succeed, you have to sacrifice! You can’t be Tiger Woods without sacrifice; you can’t be a great athlete without sacrifice. You can’t run a marathon without sacrifice! It’s going to take some time. You’re going to have to get up! You can’t live like me while training for a marathon! Ain’t no need of me getting out there signing up to run a marathon because it ain’t going to happen! Because while I’m getting ready to go, they’re going to be gone around the first mile, and I’ll be talking about, «Wait a minute! Hold on! Let me get my breath!» You see, you don’t expect to get a prize where you’re not willing to endure pain.
Let me go on. He girded Himself with a towel. When Jesus girded Himself with a towel, He imitated His descent on Earth—He stepped down into the womb of Mary and girded Himself with a towel. And Paul says He took upon Him the form of a servant. Are you following me? Are you tracking with me? Are you with me? And He became God—Tabernacled with us! So when God got ready to serve, He changed His clothes!
When I say it again, when God got ready to serve, He changed His clothes! He laid aside the glory that He had before, climbed into Mary, and girded Himself with a towel, taking on the form of a servant. This text is telling you on Earth what has already happened in heaven. In heaven, He laid aside His pre-existing glory; He laid aside His omnipresence; He laid aside His omnipotence; He emptied Himself out! Paul said He emptied Himself out before God, reducing Himself down to His lowest common denominator, and then climbed into the womb of Mary and said, «Come here, girl! Let me borrow this towel!» He wrapped Himself in the towel, and they called Him Emmanuel—God tabernacling with us, or God in a tent, or God of a towel!
Can I go a little bit deeper? I’m talking about the disruptive act of service! Now I want to get into this—can I go? Y’all with me? Holla at me if you’re with me! Yeah, yeah! That’s pretty good! That’s pretty good! I almost can’t convince you—holler at me if you’re with me! The next beautiful thing about this text is it is the disruptive act of service. Jesus disrupts the natural order of things by serving those who served Him. This is the only time in the text where we see the one whose feet were washed washing feet. You ought to blow somebody’s mind and do for them what they do for you! If they run you hot water, and bubble bath, and light candles, and play music, you ought to just flip it! The disruptive act of service means that the recipient became the supplier!
So, people say, «Oh no, you can’t do that! No, no, no, that’s out of order!» But Jesus is showing disruption occurred because he changed the game by giving what he should receive. If you want more love or more friends, you have to show yourself to be more friendly. If you want something, you must give what you want in return. When you do so, you have the right to expect it in return, but you have no right to ask for what you wouldn’t give yourself. Oh, let me get out of here! Peter knew who Jesus was. Minions can unconsciously ruin your purpose if they do everything for you, so the more people over whom you have power, the more you must stop them from weakening you by, every now and then, serving them and doing things for yourself, lest you become arrogant. Are y’all hearing what I’m saying?
We have a tendency to make idols out of people and then shoot them down, so don’t let them take you up because if they elevate you, they will surely take you down. No matter how much they try to say «Hosanna,» don’t pay them any attention because the same people who shout «Hosanna» will turn around and shout «Crucify him» tomorrow. If man elevates you, man will bring you down, but if God exalts you, no man can bring you down. Do y’all hear what I’m saying? Can I go a little deeper? You have to find your towel. Finding your towel means figuring out how you come into the world. When you present yourself to the world, how will you show yourself? In your garments or your towel?
Jesus was getting ready to send the eleven into the world to serve. These are his final hours with his inner circle, and he’s demonstrating what their lives should look like. I didn’t call you to be bossy, hateful, or nasty with people; I called you to serve them. If you serve them, I will bless you. I’m almost ready! The pattern to success is service, and if you don’t learn to serve, you will never be successful because truly successful people serve. If you’re not serving, you’re not really successful. If your business doesn’t serve somebody, why would God bless it just so you can earn some money? Statistics prove that people who go into business for the sake of money are often the first ones to go bankrupt. It is the people who enter business to provide a service who tend to be the most successful.
So if you want your business to thrive, find out who you serve and get as close to them as you can because the quickest path to success is service. He followed this pattern before; he laid aside his garments and girded himself with a towel, which signifies he became incarnate. The Master, through an act of substitution, took on the form of a servant and gave his life to the world. Jesus is acting out washing their feet. Who he is, it’s all a shadow; it’s a shadow in three dimensions. I’m going to say this; it’s thoughtful—it’s a shadow in three dimensions. He’s showing you what he did in heaven before he came. I’ll prove it to you: because at the end of the text, he says, «Father, glorify me with the glory I had with you before.»
If you read the text, the Bible says he stood up, laid aside his garments, knelt down, and washed feet. Once he finished, he sat down again. The Bible states that when Jesus said, «Telesti,» it is finished, he rose from the dead and said, «Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the foundations of the world.» Additionally, the Bible says that when Stephen was being stoned, he looked up and saw Jesus at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Paul states he was seated at the right hand of the Father. Everything Jesus was going to do, he did in this text. Everything Jesus did to come to Earth, he did in this text. Everything you will ever do to come into your destiny is hidden in this text.
Until you lay aside your agenda, become a servant, and begin serving people; until you set aside your ego, pride, selfishness, and ambition, and take on the form of a servant, God will not bless you to move from dimension to dimension. Everything I’m talking about is dimensional. When Christ was in glory, in order to enter the earthly realm, he had to lay aside his garments, find a towel, wrap himself in it, and come among us—Emmanuel, God tabernacling with us. He served us with his miracles, healing, deliverance, and finally with his wounds. They hung him high and stretched him wide, and he died.
The Bible says that when they pierced his side, the veil in the temple tore from top to bottom because what the veil was in the natural, his flesh was in the physical. When they cut the flesh, the veil ripped because the veil was the towel he wrapped himself in for service. Everybody who loves the Word, give him praise right now! I know you have glorified me, Father, and yet you will glorify me again. He says, «Glorify me with the glory that I had with you, that which I laid aside I will put back on again. Glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the foundations of the world.»
By the time we get to Hebrews, we do not see a standing Jesus, kneeling Jesus, or washing Jesus; we see a seated Jesus. He is seated because it is finished. The reason I love this text and teach that serving is not subservient is that Jesus was never subservient. He didn’t wash Peter’s feet because he was less than Peter; he washed them because he was more than Peter. If you are truly an amazing man or an incredible woman, if you are really Rebecca, the servant will find you by the way you serve and bring you to Isaac. The one who will be Queen in the Old Testament is the one who serves donkeys loads of water. Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you. Many of you have prayed right, and you’ve given right, and you’ve loved right, but your problem is that you have not served. You must find a place to serve.
If your Lord served, who is greater than the Lord, how did you get where you are? Oh, I don’t have time; that’s your problem! You’re not willing to lay aside your time. «Oh, I want to sing with them.» They can’t take your talent—lay it aside and serve. Serve with your PhD! Do you know why God gave you that 12 million dollars? So you could serve people! You know why God gave you the power to hire? So you could serve people and make a difference in the world. You know why God gave you that talent? So you could solder any pipe, fix any step, and build any wall—for you to serve. God can’t bless people who don’t serve because you won’t follow this model. I bring this model to you to say, «Why are you sitting down and not serving anyone but yourself?»
Why are we having this argument about who should serve in the house, the woman or the man? Man, you have so much wealth, you can’t serve? And I have so many muscles, I can’t serve? If you cook, I’ll take out the trash; if I cook, you take out the trash. With your bad self, take it out! Set the table, put the kids to bed, and make me miss you. Give me some reason to think, «What would I lose if you left?» If you can leave and I don’t lose anything, you’re a zero! Make me miss you! While I’m washing my feet, make me think, «If Jesus were here, I would have help with this.»
Jesus was getting ready to go away, and he made sure they would miss him through the way he served them. You know what pastoring is at its best? It is service. If you are genuinely gifted, anointed, and empowered, find a place to serve! Serving isn’t subservient; it is a sign of strength. The only people who cannot serve are weak individuals because weak people are afraid to be vulnerable. If you’re afraid to be vulnerable, there is an area in your life that needs healing. You cannot be vulnerable because you are still wounded in the place your ego won’t allow you to serve. Service is a sign of healing. Did you hear what I said? When I start serving, it means I’m getting better, stronger, and feel safer. It means I’m self-confident; I can take the risk of whether you appreciate me or not. I know who I am, and I know I can rise again.
By the way, you didn’t take my life; I laid it down! And if I laid it down, then baby, I can pick it back up again! Hallelujah to God! Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you! Stand on your feet and give God the best praise you have! I’m going to do this quickly. Sit for one minute; I’ve got nine minutes left. If you’re online and you have a question, or if you’re in the room and you have a question, you can send it to me right now for the next seven minutes, and maybe I’ll take ten minutes to answer questions about how serving isn’t subservient. While I’m waiting, someone bring me a mic. Can we get a mic? Just shout out your question, and I’ll repeat it back. Good evening! If you make suggestions to enhance everything but feel unheard or unvalued, what do you do?
Okay, so the question is: what do you do when you’re serving in a place and you make suggestions that don’t seem to be valued or received? Here’s the first point: the question assumes that your suggestion is better than the current practice. That’s an assumption we can’t be sure of. There may be reasons why your suggestion is not accepted, as there might be information the decision-makers know that you don’t. Why else would someone refuse a better idea unless restrictions hinder it from working? Secondly, if every suggestion has to be accepted, the organization becomes schizophrenic because everyone has an opinion and thinks theirs is right. If your suggestion is better, time will prove it. The practice may eventually lead them back to you saying, «You know, I went my own way, and that didn’t work out.»
Now occasionally, you might find yourself stuck beside a weak leader. This is important: when you place a strong person beneath a weak leader, one of them cannot remain together for long; either the strong individual will destroy the weak leader or the weak leader will force the strong person to move. Water seeks its own level. You’ll have to move to find someone who can keep pace with you. It doesn’t imply they’re a bad leader; it simply means they don’t match your rhythm. Ask yourself: is my idea as good as I believe? Is it the right time and place for it? Is there something my leader knows that makes my suggestion impractical in this setting? You need to be honest and think, «Am I serving the right leader?»
Perhaps it’s that I operate at a different pace. I once served in a city where I was trying to create change, but ultimately, I realized the city wasn’t wrong; I was, I can’t get to my kingdom to kill the giant; you know what I’m talking about, dude. I need something that keeps me awake at night, something that drives me to figure things out, something that compels me to build systems. I can’t just sit around and bake cookies. I wasn’t made for the menial; I was made for the mighty. So, I need something to fight for, and maybe you are that kind of person. You’ve got to find someone who has your rhythm.
Okay, here’s a question from Anna Jane: What is the difference between serving and people-pleasing? Great question, Anna! Oh, that’s a good question! Thank you so much for sending that in because they can look the same, but they are motivated by different things. Serving comes from within me; it is something that I have to give. People-pleasing is provoked by you, where you’re trying to manipulate me into pleasing you. The goal of people-pleasing is to please you, while serving pleases me. I do it because I like to do it; I do it because I enjoy it; I do it because I was created to do it. I take pride in serving as if I am doing it unto the Lord. Thank you for letting me do this!
The first time I received an offering for preaching, it blew my mind. I got in the car and thought, «Lord, I would have paid y’all to let me preach!» I wanted so badly to have a place to share my message, and then they gave me one of those little tan envelopes with some quarters and dollars. They gave me that big speech about how they can’t pay me for the Word of God. I thought, «Baby, I would pay you to let me preach!» See, serving comes from inside you, while people-pleasing stems from dysfunction. The goal is to please others, but serving pleases me.
Okay, let me do another one: How do you start serving when you never have? That’s a great question! An even deeper question is: How do you start serving when you’ve never had it modeled for you? It doesn’t come naturally, and you haven’t seen it demonstrated. So, let’s not start with something big and long-term. Let’s take baby steps and serve for one event. Let’s aim for once a month. No need to join the choir, the praise team, and the Fried Chicken Committee—no, that’s too much. Let’s ease into it and then know ourselves well enough to understand what we would enjoy doing when we serve.
To do that, you’ve got to know yourself well, not lie to yourself, and admit who you really are. Who were you before all those things happened to you? Who would you be if you believed you were safe? That’s what I want to know. Whoever you would be if you thought you were safe, that’s who you really are.
We want you—oh, I could do this all night; you’re fooling with the wrong person! I could do this all night! We want you to be in a position of safety, not relying on the people around you. They have nothing to do with it. It comes from knowing who I am, and that’s a big part of this: You have to know yourself and stop lying to yourself. Just because you’ve never served before doesn’t mean you didn’t want to. It doesn’t mean you don’t have dreams of serving.
What would you do if you felt safe? That’s who you are, really. Y’all got real quiet; you’re thinking about that. Who are you when you’re not worried about what I think of you? When you feel safe, start your service there. Start small and don’t over-promise, because it’s something you grow into.
Now, how do you find balance while serving? Some people take advantage of your service, but only if you let them. If I lay it down, I can pick it back up. My wife always tells me to stop letting people make a fool out of me. «You trust too many people,» she says. Yes, I do, but I can shut it down. All you have to do is smack me a couple of times, and I come right out of it! I come out of it like someone waking up from a coma.
Oh, it’s going to be like that? Oh, you’re one of those, huh? Okay! I’m telling you the truth; I can always step away if I make the decision to do so. I can lay it down because I know I can take it back up again. If I take it up again, guess who loses? They do! Because when I take this back up, they’re going to miss me. They’re going to be up at 3 a.m. texting me about what happened. «Can we have a meeting? Let’s meet for coffee!» Because I’m going to make sure they miss me.
I’m going to live in such a way that if Serena gets married again, her next husband will hate me. He’s going to drive out to the cemetery and spit! It’s your job to serve with such excellence that people miss you. The greatest compliment anyone can give you is to call on you. If someone calls on you, it means they believe in you.
Do you know why bag ladies can walk the streets in Chicago without getting mugged or robbed? Because they have nothing to take—nobody bothers them! But bring your fancy Mercedes down to South Chicago at 3 a.m., playing your music with your window down, and see how you fare. You know why? Because you have something. The greatest compliment anyone can ever give you is to ask for your help.
The more gifted a leader calls upon you, the bigger the compliment it is because I never call on people I think will let me down. I don’t have time to deal with that! If I call you, it’s because I believe you can help me. The better you do, the more I’m going to call on you, the more I’m going to need you, and at some point, I’m going to have to hire you because you serve so well!
Do you hear what I’m saying? This matters! If the enemy gets your ego going, he can shut down your income because that ego will stop you from serving, breaking down your income. I’ll take one more question… Oh, that’s all? Okay, clap your hands and give the Lord praise! Thank you, Jesus! Stand on your feet. I’m not going to do an altar call; I’m going to do an «altar ask.» Here’s my ask: For all the things that God has done in your life—and I’m not trying to condemn you—how do you serve?
I’m grateful you’re here. I appreciate every single one of you. I don’t want to be here alone anymore. I will do it; I’ll do it next Wednesday and do it well, but I don’t want to. The reason I would do it is that I’m a servant, and I told the Lord that as long as He wants me to do this, I will—even if it’s longer than I want to. I want Him to know I’m willing to do it, and if He wants me to, because I am His.
How do you serve the Lord? Stop telling me about other people’s intentions as excuses for your indifference. If you can’t come up with a satisfactory answer, you don’t have to answer me, but pray this week: What do I have in me that you could use?
You might not be serving because you don’t believe you’re valuable. Sometimes people don’t serve because they’ve been beaten down so badly that they don’t think anybody would want them. God wants you! He wants your wisdom. I don’t care how old you are; you have something to give! You might not be able to dance with these young people and flip around, but you know things they haven’t thought about.
I told a brother the other day to take some green alcohol, put it in ice, and watch what it does. We know stuff that others are still trying to figure out. We know that pickles are cucumbers in vinegar. We know that if you’re using buttermilk, you need baking soda, because baking powder isn’t enough to make the biscuits rise. We know how to stop a baby from coughing in the middle of the night. We know when you’ve got a good man who just hasn’t grown up yet. We’ve lost our Big Mamas and Grandmamas; they used to tell us, «Let me tell you something, child: that boy ain’t nothing wrong with him; just give him some time.» We’ve lost all of them. Alzheimer’s is taking them away, and we’re left with the «wisdom» of fools, where everyone on the internet is spewing wisdom with no experience, just selling their advice right out of a bottle!
I know a friend of mine who’s writing a book about marriage; they haven’t been married for two years and are selling all sorts of relationship advice. I said, «You don’t know enough to have something to say! Don’t write about that; write about something you know!» You don’t know about relationships until you’ve faced the storms. You haven’t run into trouble until you’ve experienced cash flow issues, lost your house, faced menopause, or dealt with infidelity. You don’t know anything, so just stop!
You might look cute, but please, silence yourself! You can market, but please, shut up! Because you’re going to have to pick that stuff up and put it back in your garage. Don’t tell me about raising children when you have a three-year-old. Write a book about toddlers—because you can write about that! When your baby is thirteen, you’ll be ready to chill out!
What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? You’re watching online; you’re receiving the Word, and that’s wonderful. But how can you serve? If you’re not serving in a church, whom can you serve? When was the last time you checked on your grandmama? When was the last time you went to see about your mama or Aunt Clarice? They might not have anyone to check on them.
Take some food over to Grandma; you don’t have to be gifted on stage to bring her some chicken, brown beans, and biscuits. Just say, «All those years you cooked for me, I just wanted to make sure you’re good!» You have value, and Jesus said that if you do these things, you will have happiness. This means that things will start happening when you start serving. You don’t have to look far; there’s someone close to you who needs your help. Help with the car, carry groceries in the grocery store, and God says you will be made happy! That means good things will start happening.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for this word. I thank You for this opportunity to preach the gospel to Your people, to teach the Word in such a way that somebody’s life might be changed. I thank You, Lord, that I know serving isn’t subservient; we don’t serve because we are less than, we serve because we are greater than. Let somebody in this room feel safe enough to lift their hands up, and let someone in this room feel safe enough to be vulnerable enough to serve, enough to be happy again. In Jesus' name, amen.