Francis Schaeffer on Doing the Lord's Work in the Lord's Way

If you are a Christian, you likely need this reminder from Francis Schaeffer:

​Christ taught his disciples that they were not to be called “Rabbi” or “Master” (Matt. 23:8, 10) and that the greatest among them would be the servant of all (Mark 10:44). Doesn’t each one of us tend to reverse this, following our natural inclinations as fallen men while ignoring the Word of God? Don’t we like the foremost place? And if this is our mindset, isn’t this living in the flesh, and to that extent leaving the Spirit no place?

Seeking the highest place is in direct contradiction to the teaching of the Lord. Christ instructed his disciples, “But when thou art bidden [to a wedding feast], go and sit down in the lowest room” (Luke 14:10). If we are going to do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way, we must take Jesus’s teaching seriously: he does not want us to press on to the greatest place unless he himself makes it impossible to do otherwise. Taking the lower place in a practical way (thus reflecting the mentality of Christ who humbled himself even to death on a cross) should be a Christian’s choice.

Even if we have an office, like a parent with a child or an elder in a church, it is only the office that sets us apart. We are not greater than those over whom we have authority. If we have the world’s mentality of wanting the foremost place, we are not qualified for Christian leadership. This mentality can lift us into ecclesiastical leadership or fit us for being a big name among men, but it unfits us for real spiritual leadership.

To the extent that we want power we are in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit has no part in us. Christ put a towel around himself and washed his disciples’ feet (John 13:4). We should ask ourselves from time to time, “Whose feet am I washing?” Some churches have made foot washing into a third sacrament; members wash each other’s feet during their worship service. While most of us think it is a mistake to make this a sacrament, let us admit that it is ten thousand times better to wash each other’s feet in a literal way than never to wash anybody’s feet in any way. It would be far better for us to make a mistake and institute a third sacrament of literal foot washing than to live out our lives without once consciously choosing to serve each other. Doing the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way is not some exotic thing; it is having and practicing the mentality that Christ commands.

Schaeffer, Francis. The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way and No Little People. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022, p. 25-26 of 54 (ebook).