Church Essentials: Part Six
Servanthood - Philippians 2:4-9
We live in an egocentric age where the "what's in it for me" mentality has permeated every aspect of our society and sadly has infiltrated the lives of today's professed Christians. Instead of asking ourselves "How can I best be used by the Lord in serving the church and others?" we want to be served. One Christian author has written that "Looking at the needs of others rather than one's own is possibly the most serious deficiency in the church today." Today, the majority of Christians aren’t interested in being servants. If we are honest with ourselves, most of our thoughts, actions, and even our prayers center around fulfilling our desires. But this wasn't the case of the church in the Book of Acts. The attitude of servanthood made the New Testament church an astounding community for its time. The Roman culture, prevalent at that time, was one of prestige and power in which one saw himself as a patron to be served rather than to serve. In the Roman Empire, "from the emperor to nobles, to officials, to landowners, to freemen, to servants and to slaves, each layer of society existed by wielding power over the layer below." Christ addressed this attitude in Luke 22:25-26, when He said, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves." The church in Acts, in contrast to society, existed for service. Every member was committed to allow God to use them in serving others. In Acts 2:44-45 we read " And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need." The early church was a model of the commitment to service that should be a part of every believer's life. Our best example of servanthood is the Lord Himself. In Mark 10:45 Christ said, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Paul challenged us with the servanthood of Christ in Philippians 2:5-8 when he wrote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 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."
I Service is a matter of humility
A Humility is when we take our focus off of ourselves and make our end serving the needs of others.
B Christ "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself"
C 2 Corinthians 8:9 "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich."
D Jesus became nothing, so that the Father could be everything. He submitted His strength and will completely so that the Father could work in Him. What did Jesus have to say about His own power, His own will, and His own glory, about His whole mission with all His works and teaching? “It is not I; I am nothing; I have given Myself to the Father to work. I am nothing. The Father is everything.” - Andrew Murray
E “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less." - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
F Philippians 2:4 "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."
G What Christian discipleship amounts to is that we become disposed to serve the interests of God in surrender of our own self-serving interests (this will include outreach and service to others). When we act, knowing our place relative to the proper place of God as God, then we have put on Christian humility. - Travis Dickinson, "The Lost Virtue of Humility",Theological Matters
II Service is a matter of obedience
A Christ "being found in appearance as a man... humbled Himself and became obedient..."
B Jesus honored the authority of God, the Father, through His complete obedience. Christ’s entire life and ministry were orchestrated by His Father and Jesus was careful to carry out every detail according to the will of His Father.
C All that Jesus did and said was exactly what His Father wanted Him to do and say. From His lowly birth in a stable to His ignominious death on the hill of Calvary, everything was obedient surrender and submission to the will of God.
D Hebrews 10:7 "Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come — In the volume of the book it is written of Me — To do Your will, O God.’"
E Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” We are not saved merely to be freed from guilt and sin but so that we will serve the Lord and others. It is God's will for us to allow Him to serve others through us.
F If you are not serving God in some fashion, you cannot grow spiritually as you should grow. In every church, there are people who have talents, skills, or gifts but never use them for the work of the Lord.
G Galatians 5:13 "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."
H You cannot allow Christ to live through you without becoming a servant. Only through servanthood are you obedient to God's call on your life.
III Service is a matter of sacrifice
A Christ took on the form of a servant, and laying aside the garments of His Shekinah glory and beauty and for eternity has robed Himself with the likeness of men, lived a life of continual sacrifice and ultimately became a sacrifice in humble, obedient servitude to God, the Father.
B In the plan of redemption the sufferings of Christ were essential.
C Isaiah 53:10 (ESV) Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; He has put him to grief."
D Someone has said that salvation is free. Yes, it is free in that it does not cost silver, gold, dollars, or cents. But that does not mean that it doesn’t cost anything. In fact, it cost Christ everything It has been aptly said that GRACE is so free because it cost Christ so much. - copied
E If it cost Christ incalculably, in servitude to the Father, to reach down and redeem us to Himself do we think it will not cost us to serve Him and others?
F When Jesus spoke to his disciples about servanthood at the Last Supper, he didn’t try to convince them that it would be an easy ride. He got straight to the small print of the contract: the cost in the service of the kingdom. The task to be entrusted to them was tremendous. Jesus needed men and women of keen perspective and deep conviction. Disciples with both eyes wide open, hearts fully committed, and wills completely surrendered to him; men and women who would follow him to the death. - Xanthe Galanis, Bible Society of South Africa
G In Romans 12:1, Paul says, “I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.”
H Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give, and not to count the cost, to fight, and not to heed the wounds, to toil, and not to seek for rest, to labor, and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will. - Ignatius
IV Service is a matter of commitment
A Christ was committed completely to doing the Father's will. He was committed "to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
B 1 Peter 2:23-24 reveals the depth of Christ's commitment. "...when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed."
C Jesus Christ was committed to the call of God on his life and he pleased the Father in all he did.
D But not only was Christ committed to the Father, He was committed to us even before we became Christians. Romans 5:8 tells us that He suffered and died for us while we were yet sinners.
E Christ was committed to die on a cross for you and me, so that we might be free to delight in Him forever and bring glory to Him with our lives through service in the Body of Christ.
F He was totally committed to the Father and you. How committed are you service through Him?
V Service is a matter of privilege
A It is important for believers to actively serve in a local church. God does not need us yet He chooses to use us in His kingdoms work.
B Acts 17:25 " Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things."
C We are the servants of Jesus in that we submit to his authority and his right to tell us to do whatever he pleases. But we are not his servants in the sense that he needs our help and that his enterprise in the world is sustained by our energy. - John Piper
D Hebrews 12:28-29 "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire."
E It is a great privilege to serve the King of all kings, the Creator and our Great Saviour. Not everyone can do it - only those who have been redeemed. Only those who are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus are privileged to render good works or service to Him alone.
F John Stott wrote in his book, The Cross of Christ, " “If the church was worth his blood, is it not worth our labour? The privilege of serving it is established by the preciousness of the price paid for its purchase.”
G Service in and to the local church is a privilege because we are serving the object of Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross. Our motivation for service is rooted in the cross.
H The Father honored His son for His service. - Philippians 2:9-11 "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 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, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I It is a privilege it is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ! But not only is it a privilege it carries a reward. He Himself assures us, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor.". John 12:26
