WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SERVANT-LEADERSHIP
Mark 10:43-44 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
I THE SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF SERVANT-LEADERSHIP
A We Are Commanded To Lead/Serve
Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
1 Salvation was a call to freedom – a break from my physical and SPIRITUAL past!
2 My freedom and security in Christ is not an incentive or excuse to sin
3 My freedom is an incentive to serve (and lead)
B The Sovereignty of Leadership
Mark 10:40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared." (the context of vs. 43-44)
1 We are not the one who determines the level of our servant hood/leadership
2 God determines the effectiveness of our servant hood
3 God chooses us for leadership here through our service
a God prepares us for position in heaven
b God must prepare us here for our position in heaven
4 We are to be acting and performing like a servant/leader NOW! This is the time of preparation
II DEVELOPING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A SERVANT LEADERSHIP (Follow the Example of Christ)
Isaiah 42:1-3 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
A Dependence Upon God
Philippians 2:7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
1 Dependence is letting God hold us up
2 Dependence is emptying our lives of “us” stuff
THE RESULT IS THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN USE US! BECAUSE WE HAVE GOTTEN OUT OF OUR OWN WAY!!!!!!!
B Approval From God
1 Interesting thought, “What gets God’s approval?”
2 The Fig Tree:
Luke 13:6-8 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ’For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 "’Sir,’ the man replied, ’leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.
Matthew 21:18-19 Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
a Jesus expects fig trees to have figs
b God is gracious concerning judgment
c Judgment came BECAUSE the tree looked like it was producing fruit when it was not producing fruit
d The fruit is not cursed because of the tree, the tree is cursed because of the lack of fruit
1 It is not trickle down judgment
2 It is trickle up judgment
OUR LACK OF NOT BEING WHAT WE LOOK LIKE BRINGS JUDGMENT. GOD IS PATIENT, BUT GOD WILL NOT WAIT FOREVER!
3 Approval from God is acting what we look like (remember this point)
C Humility
1 This is one of the first areas Satan tried to capitalize on when the Lord was tempted
Matthew 4:5-6 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "’He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"
2 God is not only looking for servant leaders, he is looking for HUMBLE servant leaders!
D Empathy
1 Christians today
a Shoot their wounded
b Trample on feelings
c Point fingers at others (all the while denying their own faults) – it is the log and splinter thing.
2 God asks us to heal our relationship
a We could all do with a little forgiveness for the sake of Christ
b Many of us come into God’s house with chips on our shoulders, having had a large glass of vinegar for breakfast, challenging Almighty God Himself to try and change our attitude
c We are hard-hearted, with a deep seated level of complaint.
d We do not understand that this attitude emanates from us like garlic on our breath, having an invisible affect on everyone around us.
e We wonder why our churches are not full, and our attitude is poor. We bring it on ourselves
THIS HAPPENS BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT EMBRACED OUR ROLE AS A SERVANT LEADER. WE HAVE MERELY DISGUISED OURSELVES IN THE GARB OF CHRISTIANITY. WE STILL SIN IN THOUGHT, IN DEED, AND IN DENIAL.
THIS IS BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT, …
III TRANSFORMING OURSELVES FOR SERVANT LEADERSHIP
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
A In Christ I am a new creature ALTOGETHER
B My old condition is to be replaced by a new condition
1 Self confidence to confidence in God
2 Deciding myself to seeking God’s will
3 Following my own desires to following God’s
4 Seeking my own pre-eminence to putting God first
5 Loving myself to loving God
6 Reveling in my independence to depending on God
SERVANT LEADERSHIP MAYBE DIFFICULT TO DEFINE, BUT LIKE SPIRITUALITY, YOU KNOW WHEN IT IS PRESENT, AND RIGHT NOW IT IS NOT PRESENT
SO HOW DO I KNOW THAT WE ARE BEING THE SERVANT LEADERS GOD REQUIRES OF US?
IV THE EVIDENCE OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Acts 6:1-7 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.
3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
A Insufficient servant leadership breeds dissention and complaint
B Sufficient servant leadership breeds growth.
We need to be asking about our own attitude.
We need to be asking about our own thoughts.
We need to be asking about our own words.
We need to be asking about our own deeds
WE NEED TO BE ASKING GOD TO FORGIVE US, BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT BEEN THE SERVANT LEADERS WE ARE TO BE!
