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By Shane Bennett<\/p>\n
![\"Philip](\"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Philip-2-1024x1024.jpg\")
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When in last month\u2019s Practical Mobilization<\/a>, we left Philip the Apostle, he had stumbled grievously. Maybe, in the past four weeks, you have stumbled as well. I have. Rejoice in this with me: Stumbling does not mean disqualification. There is no mess too big for God, but the trick is to get back up when you stumble. God\u2019s work to redeem all things includes you.<\/p>\n Now we move on to Philip the second, the one they call Philip the Evangelist. His career took off when, of all things, he was assigned to wait tables<\/a> \u2026 and not because a hip new place opened on State Street and the tips rocked, but because a low-level ethnic conflict meant some dear old widows missed lunch!<\/p>\n Luke records in Acts 4 that the apostles, hearing about the problem, asked around for \u201cseven men from among you known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.\u201d They found them, laid hands on them, and gave them the job.<\/p>\n Apparently, Philip and the others nailed it. I don\u2019t think they\u2019d take all the credit, but Luke does end the vignette by saying, in verse 7, \u201cSo the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.\u201d<\/p>\n Things were going great for the deacons until one of them, Stephen, starting moonlighting by performing signs and wonders. Opposition arose. He was tried and killed. This uncorked major persecution and everyone\u2014save the apostles\u2014got out of Dodge. As for Philip, he made his way to a city in Samaria<\/a> and began to go all \u201cStephen\u201d on them. People paid attention. Luke tells us, \u201cThere was great joy in that city.\u201d<\/p>\n When the apostles came down to certify this new ministry, an angel told Philip to hit the road, the desert road. He did, bumped into an Ethiopian eunuch, and was instrumental in the gospel moving into Africa.<\/p>\n The waiter! The waiter gets to play a brief, but crazily significant role in the advance of the gospel. (I\u2019m going to start tipping better.)<\/p>\n There\u2019s much to learn from Philip\u2019s life, but I\u2019d like to focus on his service. Without trying to read too much into the text, it seems that this was a foundational part of his character. Likewise, service is a significant part of mission mobilization, and often an overlooked part (if my own life is any indication).<\/p>\n Let me say here that some of the best servants I\u2019ve ever seen have been mission mobilizers, and I\u2019m thinking of Perspectives Course<\/a> coordinators in particular. The last thing I want to do is load up your tired back with more burdens. If the Holy Spirit says, \u201cYou\u2019re serving well, so let this slide,\u201d listen! There\u2019s always the chance I\u2019m writing this mainly for me.<\/p>\n Still, here are seven reminders why picking up a towel and wiping some tables is a good idea for mobilizers.<\/p>\n 1. Stuff needs to be done.<\/strong><\/p>\n Before we get all spiritual about this, how about some practicality? A laundry list of grubby work needs to be tackled, including sometimes literally laundry! Things need to be put away. People need to be listened to. Cute little noses need to be wiped. These are kingdom concerns. Let\u2019s do the ones that fall to us.<\/p>\n 2. Jesus modeled service.<\/strong><\/p>\n One episode in the life of Jesus that you hope doesn\u2019t come to mind when you\u2019re trying to dodge an unwanted service opportunity is when Jesus got down on the floor and washed those grubby apostolic feet<\/a>. The one who made the dirt and fashioned the first feet said, \u201cI have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.\u201d<\/p>\n I suppose the list could stop at two items, but there\u2019s more.<\/p>\n 3. The Bible instructs us to serve.<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps remembering his mini-bath debate with Jesus, Peter writes in his first letter<\/a>, \u201cEach of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God\u2019s grace in its various forms.\u201d\u00a0In many other places, we\u2019re told the life of Jesus is one of putting others ahead of ourselves as we put God ahead of everything. This isn\u2019t easy, but it is clear.<\/p>\n 4. Serving trains us for further service.<\/strong><\/p>\n Is it possible that Philip\u2019s record of service somehow suited him for outreach in his Samaritan city? I don\u2019t want to make too much of this, but Jesus did say that faithfulness in small things leads to opportunity for faithfulness in bigger things. I like to think that Philip\u2019s time at the tables developed internal character, qualifying him to work effectively as an evangelist.<\/p>\n Credibility is a key payoff here. I love a volunteer who will put away tables, do data entry, and drive the van when it would be more fun to snooze in the back seat. If we haven\u2019t logged some hours in the nursery, we may not be ready for the missions committee.<\/p>\n 5. Service is a tangible expression of love.<\/strong><\/p>\n In Galatians 5:13, Paul says to use our freedom to, \u201cserve one another in love.\u201d<\/a> One of the clearest ways to live out \u201cI love you\u201d is to serve the one you love. They go hand in hand. As with Philip before us, simply bringing food to someone or clearing away their dirty dishes speaks a great deal. Some of my living heroes of the faith are those who see a need and quietly go about meeting it. Sometimes you have to be sharp to observe this because the good servants do it on the down low.<\/p>\n 6. Serving models service for others.<\/strong><\/p>\n Years ago I took a missions pastor role and moved to Indiana. My new church had a community service day just after our arrival\u2014like hours<\/em> after our arrival. I didn\u2019t really want to go, and it technically wasn\u2019t part of my job description, but my dad swayed me and got me there! When we arrived at the site I was pleasantly surprised to see the senior pastor, my new boss, pulling weeds alongside a church member who was the owner of a significant local company. That marked me. We didn\u2019t always live it out 100%, but we were a community who served.<\/p>\n 7. Serving is an antidote for arrogance.<\/strong><\/p>\n Since you probably need no such antidote, let me just share about myself here: Sometimes when you read what I write or when people listen to me talk, I begin to think I know a thing or two. Then it\u2019s a short jump to a confident sense that I do know what\u2019s right. And pretty soon, I\u2019ve figured out how nearly everyone else is off in their approach to missions, while I\u2019m right on! Cleaning a dirty toilet tends to dial down my arrogance meter.<\/p>\n As you work out the calling God has given you, may you challenge the church boldly, love them deeply, and serve with great gusto, as one who has indeed been served by the King of kings.<\/p>\n \u00bb Comment on our website<\/a> or Facebook page<\/a> or email Shane<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Waiting Tables with a Famous Evangelist Seven Reasons Why the Smart Also Serve By Shane Bennett When in last month\u2019s Practical Mobilization, we left Philip the Apostle, he had stumbled grievously. Maybe, in the past four weeks, you have stumbled as well. I have. Rejoice in this with me: Stumbling does not mean disqualification. There … Continue reading Waiting Tables with a Famous Evangelist | Practical Mobilization<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practical-mobilization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7175,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7139\/revisions\/7175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}