The Heart of a Servant
Various Scriptures
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Aberdeen Christian High School Servant Auction
Introduction
This is great timing for this message, because here at Aberdeen Wesleyan, we are in the midst of our 40 Days of Purpose Campaign, and this Sunday we talked about how God has shaped us to serve.
In the Bible, the words “minister” and “serve” are the same Greek word. And so when we think of ministry, we need to think in terms of service, because God had this in mind from the beginning.
In discussing the heart of a servant, I want us to look at three principles of Scripture, and try to glean three lessons we can learn from them.
And because I promised Mrs. Hughes that I wouldn’t preach more than an hour, we’ll just dive right in, okay? Here we go. The first principle is this:
1. God created us to serve.
Ephesians 2:10 says this:
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Two things very quickly:
First, those of us in the evangelical community are quick to point out that no one can earn their salvation – that no one can do enough good works to merit the favor of God to go to heaven.
But often we forget that while works don’t get us into heaven, God still expects us to do good works as an outpouring of our faith in Him.
The book of James goes into this quite a bit by saying that our works are a testimony of our faith in Christ.
Second, and more to the point I want to make tonight, is this: God created us to do the works that need to be done.
Not just “ministry” work like pastoring and such, but stuff we see all around us.
Good works include things like making sure the streets are in good repair, taking care of the landfill and water supplies so we can avoid disease, delivering the mail, and all sorts of stuff.
These things are all good, and they all need to be done. And doing these helps us fulfill one of God’s purposes for our lives. He created us to serve.
Next…
2. Serving is Christlike.
We are probably all familiar with the story in Mark 10 about how James and John approached Jesus with their mother, and asked Him to give them some special seats in heaven.
The other guys got a bit upset about this, but Jesus, taking another opportunity to use human foibles to advance His cause, used it as a lesson on servanthood. Let’s pick it up in verse 42.
Mark 10:42-45 –
42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 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. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
You really want to show people what Jesus was like? Serve. Serve all the time, everywhere.
This reflects the love and character of Jesus louder than just about anything we can do.
One summer, I was participating in a summer training camp for a Christian organization.
I was a team leader, and thought I was pretty hot stuff.
At each meal, there were two very important spots at each table: the head, and the person to the left of the head. The head of the table dictated the conversation, controlled the flow of food, and all that kinda stuff.
The person on the left of that person was the one who would make sure there was enough food, would get refills for the food and drinks, and all that kinda stuff. It was the servant’s place.
Based on what I’ve told you so far, guess which spot I went to first. That’s right – the head.
I avoided that servant spot like the plague. But hey, I was cool about it. I wouldn’t just go to that head spot right away. I’d hang back, pretending to be busy, so it was often the last place left at the table, because no one wanted to be seen as a glory hound.
So when I came up to the table, it would seem as though I had to take it, and that I was not actually seeking that spot.
Look – when you’re a little guy like me you take every opportunity you can get to look big.
But you know, I wonder just how successful I was at pretending. My guess is that people saw through my show pretty easily.
Folks, God had to do some major work in me. And I have not forgotten the lessons of that summer almost 20 years ago.
Am I the perfect servant now? Hardly. I still would rather have someone else do the serving, whenever possible.
Serving is hard for me. But guess what? It’s hard for almost everybody, and we have no excuses, because Jesus tells us here that if we want to be like Him we need to serve, and we need to have His attitude toward it, which brings me to my last point this evening…
3. Godly attitudes must prevail.
In the passage from Mark, Jesus alluded to the fact that not just our actions, but our attitudes need to be Christ-like.
But let me read another passage we are familiar with as it regards to attitudes.
It’s in Colossians 3, verses 22-24:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
This can be summarized like this: remember that ultimately, your boss is Christ.
Remember, God created us to do good works, and so we need to have the attitude that whatever I’m doing, no matter what it is, is actually working for God Himself, and we are fulfilling one of His purposes for us.
This is helpful, because oftentimes we forget that we work to do more than earn a paycheck, or help with a charitable cause like the one tonight.
And our attitude can get a bit sour. I know it has for me, at times, even in the ministry. But God is good, and He often reminds me that what I’m doing will honor God, whether I’m here at the church, or at my other job.
I’ve been waiter, a cook, a dishwasher, a bookstore manager, a vacuum cleaner salesman (that only lasted a weekend, by the way!), an office furniture salesman, and all sorts of stuff.
Now let me tell you, I’ve had jobs I’ve hated. I’ve only been a pastor less than five years, and I’ve had jobs I wouldn’t wish on my neighbor’s dog.
So I know what it’s like to struggle to have a good attitude all the time at work. But I have found that as I allow God to remind me of who I’m really working for, I get along pretty well.
So servants should have an attitude that reflects an eternal perspective in their work.
But it doesn’t end with the servant. Let’s quickly look two verses after the ones we have just looked at, Colossians 4:1 –
Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
In my life I’ve been both the employee and the boss. And let me tell you, they can both be tough.
One of the toughest parts about being a boss is that we think we are entitled to not just respect, but also unquestioning loyalty and effort by those under us.
The problem is that this is contrary to Scripture. Scriptural leadership is based on, you guessed it, servanthood.
But what I want to point out here is the boss is not given a free pass to misuse and abuse his employees.
So what does that have to do with this servant auction tonight?
Just this – if you are one of those purchasing the services of one of these students, don’t take undue advantage.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with expecting hard work for the time they are there. But don’t expect them to do more than you would do yourself in that situation.
That’s not fair, and it’s not a Christ-like attitude.
Conclusion
So, how do you end a talk like this? Simply: you don’t. Good night.
Actually, just allow me to remind you of the three things we covered:
First, God created us to serve. Second, serving is Christlike. And lastly, godly attitudes must prevail.
And if we can intentionally and purposely keep these in mind, then not only can the labor resulting from this auction be fun as well as productive, but also our everyday work can be fun and productive as well, and in all of this, God will be honored and glorified, as He works in us to develop the heart of a servant.
Amen.
