Why do people give up their own goals to serve someone others? I suppose the answers are as varied as there are people. In my case, what happened to me in October 1995 changed my life – dramatically.
I wanted to share this life-changing story with you. It’s an application of a Scriptural passage from Philippians 2:5-9.
Even as I write this story I’m concerned that you will misunderstand why I am sharing it with you. You may see this as my way of puffing up my faith credentials, and I am asking you to set that notion aside.
Please, please, this is not about me. It about God working in the heart of a selfish man who had been focusing his own agenda – me. It’s how God changed me so radically that I could become more useful to Him and to others. It pointed me toward a life of writing, teaching and exhorting others. I write it to encourage you. If you have a story to share with me, please do so at dave@daveracer.com.
October 1995
During the five Sundays of October 1995, I had the privilege of preaching each week at Immanuel Baptist Church in St. Paul, MN, home to a small congregation – a full Sunday meant perhaps 25 people. The third Sunday that month I chose the passage from Phil. 2:5-10. I have reprinted it here (NKJV):
- 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it [a]robbery to be equal with God, 7 but [b]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
Many years earlier, I had asked God to give me a “life verse” and though you may not agree that He actually does this for people, it came clear to me that mine would be, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” Phil. 2:5. I had hoped that during my lifetime, I would come to view life through the mind of Christ Jesus, that is, to have His point of view.
While preparing my sermon that week I discovered that commentaries commonly said, “this is the hardest passage in Scripture to preach because it is so profound.” The very idea of Christ emptying Himself for us, to serve us, in such a profound way, would be quite nigh to impossible to communicate. See, he didn’t ask, “What can I do to help?” He said,“ This is what I have done to save you.” And my attitude should be the same as His. Wow!
Imagine giving up all your aspirations to serve Christ. To serve others. Always. Powerful, right?
The day before I preached that sermon in 1995, Bob Lemieux, who served as the National Campaign Manager for Alan Keyes for President, took me to breakfast. I had agreed to help Lemieux stage a meeting of Keyes’ leaders in the Twin Cities. But as for me, I had separated from the campaign and had made a completely different choice for my life. I focused on getting back into talk radio, publishing my new novel and restarting “Dave Racer’s Minnesota Report,” my political newsletter. And that month, preaching at this little Baptist church.
During breakfast that morning, Lemieux recruited me to become Alan Keyes’ traveling companion, to be his servant. This would last during the remainder of the Presidential campaign.
I called Rosanne, my wife and said if I do this, “It means I will be on the road 6 ½ days a week.”
“For how long?” she asked.
“About a year, if he became President,” I answered.
“Oh…” she said. Then, “Are they going to pay you?”
When I said yes, and told her how much, she immediately said, “Take the job!” She’s a practical woman.
As I finished preaching on Phil 2:5-10 the next day, the Lord gave me a personal application at the last moment that I shared with the congregation. It came from a realization of what this would mean for me. It has been a life-changer for me since then.
“I have been asked to empty myself of all my aspirations, take up Alan Keyes’ coat and his cause, and become his servant.” I could barely speak, the idea hit me so hard. As I drove home, I wept. Each time I tell the story, I weep. It cut deeply into my heart.
This is not because of some noble thing I did, but because at that moment, I obeyed. I set aside my agenda and became a servant. And you know what? Later on, Alan Keyes appointed me National Campaign Manager, although I did not have the experience or skills to do it. I did, however, have the right gifts and skills to do what needed to be done in that campaign at that time. What made it possible for me to function is the singular understanding that, “God put me here, gave me a job to do and I’m not going away.”
Countless times during the high pressure months that followed I had to tell myself, and others, “God put me here.” And, “Let’s get this done.”
You think your priorities will take you where you ought to go, where you deserve to go? I did, but I was wrong. God showed me to empty myself and become a servant to others, to Christ.
So much of the teaching and writing I’ve done since God taught me that lesson in October 1995 grew out of the very difficult experience of running a national election campaign, and serving Keyes and his cause and the people who helped him. This was the mission God gave me. It humbles me every time I think about it.
Never misunderstand. Setting aside my agenda to serve Alan Keyes in no way can express the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice. What my experience is and was, and what continues to make it so wonderful, is a practical application of His truth that opened the doors of my life in ways I never could have imagined.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” That’s my Christmas gift to you.
