Servants with the Wrong Motives

A little humor in my illustration to lighten the message regarding those who would do the work of the Lord with questionable intentions.  However, this is a serious subject.

“Woe to he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully.”  What does that mean?  Well, I believe the Lord is directing all who would be His servants to die to self and do His work with the utmost purity and honesty of heart.  Whether that person is paid or not, we all serve the Living God who knows the motives and intents of our hearts better than we do!

In fact, I like the examples of the disciples who were not paid to preach the gospel, but had other ‘tent-making’ jobs to secure their earthly existence.  I feel it is very freeing to know your livelihood is not linked to God’s work because it takes the temptation of ‘mammon’ out of the picture.  It’s a matter of the heart.

Jeremiah 48:10 “Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully…”

I’m going to give you an example of believers serving with impure motives.  Granted, the pastor and wife were complicit in this behavior, so they all tempted the Lord.  This dream was given to me by the Lord as I began a prayer assignment for this couple.  He wanted me to see what I was dealing with.  Here we go.

I was taking a tour of the couple’s house; it was a large house set on a hill with views of the mountains.  It was not a servant’s house but that of a dignitary with 46 rooms, a very upscale house.  I felt it was always busy, not a home; the wife had multiple servants from the church that did everything.  These servants felt proud and lucky to be the wife’s hand maidens. 

The house was meant to impress and entertain authority figures - an aristocrat’s house.  I had lost my white belongings in this large house; when I found them, they were in a closet with the pastor’s white socks and undershirts.  I had to return his items to him. 

Scripture address upon waking:  Psalm 16:7 I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

Looking back at this dream, my job was to return the pastor’s undergarments (his righteousness before the Lord) to him.  The house, the wife, and the servants all speak for themselves I believe…worldly, not humble.  40 is the symbol for judgment/testing, many scholars understand it to be the number of “probation” or “trial” and six is the number for humanity (man), hence 46 rooms in the house.  God was testing this man and his household.

I think of Judas Iscariot as an example of being tempted by mammon (money); They counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. — Matthew 26:14-16.

The Lord was showing me my role as the intercessor walking me through the ‘house’.  I also was shown the wrong relationship to people with the gift of helps in the church that were chosen to serve.  God visually portrayed to me that when people rise in authority, there is responsibility to know the motives of those who help in the ministry.

Not only was the couple flaunting their roles but they also exploited those who felt compelled to serve them.  The servants were not blameless either, though.  The dream illustrated them serving this couple with ulterior motives of riding on the coat-tails of authority.  Pride, self-importance and spiritual blindness come to mind as adjectives for this behavior.

The scriptures embody Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) as examples of believers with impure motives.  Notice the same type of motives albeit revolving around power, pride, self-importance and money.

Moral of the story: do not do the work of the Lord deceitfully, either deceiving oneself or another.  Work unto the Lord and not man, for man is but a vapor here today…gone tomorrow!

Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely, they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches and does not know who will gather them.  Psalm 39:6.

For, the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to HIM.  2 Chronicles 16:9