Who wants to be the Water Boy?
“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 13:14-17 (ESV)
I was on the high school wrestling team for a whole…month, I think, if that. During a scrimmage my opponent was going for a figure four take down and pulled my right arm so hard that my forearm was injured. It ended my season as a wrestler but I was permitted to stay on the team as the “Manager”. I got to clean the mats and make sure the rest of the team got towels and cold water during matches. I wanted to be on the team and that was the way that went. They may have given me the title of manager but who were they kidding? I was the water boy pure and simple. But I didn’t want to quit on the team as a whole. They were friends who I didn’t want to let down so I dealt with being the manager slash water boy.
Now let’s fast forward to this present day. The one thing I can’t understand lately is why it has become so hard to be the water boy these days. While I was at Keswick over Labor Day weekend and a good friend of mine, Leonard, and I were having a conversation about being a water boy. He is somewhat older than myself but we seem to fire on the same cylinders on matters concerning the Body of Christ. “It’s so bad that even the folks in our congregations think they are above this” he had said to me. “It’s like they don’t get it anymore” he continued. As the weekend ended, I had a similar conversation with my close Brother in Christ, Mark, about the water boy question and we expanded on it. Check this out…
Most of the secular world looks upon the water boy with demeaning eyes. They are abused by some of the players who think they are the stars of the team. Water boys have to clean up what others just don’t feel like cleaning up. They have to keep the water flowing and refreshing. The girls pass them by after the game to go after the guys who made the big plays and got the winning touchdown. And even in some cases the water boy is subjected to physical abuses for a good laugh at their expense. The water boy may just see a 3-4 blitz formation that covers the passing zones, prevent a touchdown and can lead to an interception but he will not get taken seriously, after all he is just the water boy. Is it in this that some church leaders cannot humble themselves to follow the example of The Water Boy?
Here’s where I am going with this…more and more these days there seems to be an emphasis on the messenger and not The Message. There are some of us in the church who want to be the “one” with that great Gospel message so much that we forget to apply that great Gospel message to our everyday living. Oh we are giving that cold cup of water out to the suffering but it’s not from a servant of the Messiah, it’s from so-n-so from the church of such-n-such and “you should come out and visit our church because we are where it’s at!!” Never once realizing that they are the ones who are totally losing the idea of doing from the agape in the heart of a person who is content in just knowing Jesus Christ. So far gone my brothers that it seems so outta sight and so outta mind.
Jesus gave “The” example of what true leadership really should be all about and that is to be humble enough to be the water boy even if you are the Savior of the world or think you are a star wide receiver. I will admit that I have my times when I fail doing this in my role of headship in the home. That is really where the great Gospel message needs to be applied to our everyday living. I think once we get this very plain simple idea down in our homes we can let it overflow into our church pews and then it can, dare I say this, trickle upwards to the platforms and the pulpits. Yeah I know water is supposed to flow downwards but if a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him but then again just about anything is possible when we are obedient in our role as water boy, huh? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter contributor
GPS – God’s Positioning System: Nehemiah 1-5; Psalm 71; Proverbs 16
Compass Pointers: “What is it that prevents people from coming to that entire surrender that we speak of? It is simply that they do not dare abandon themselves and trust themselves to God. They are not willing to be nothing, to give up their wishes, their will, and their honor to Christ. Will we refuse the salvation that Jesus offers? He gave up His own will. He gave up His own honor. He gave up any confidence in Himself. He lived dependent upon God as a servant whom the father had sent. This is the salvation we need---the Spirit of humility that was in Christ.” The Master’s Indwelling Andrew Murray
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1:John 8:12; Level 2: John 8:42-47
Anchored to the Rock: It’s not only to resolve our problems that we should pray, but to share in the strength of God’s friendship. For us, prayer should be not merely an act, but an attitude of life. Billy Graham
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