Being a Servant: It’s Not About YOU!

This is the final installment of the Being a Servant series. 

Have you met someone before that says all the right things, does all the right things but you later find out they did it all for the wrong reasons?  This is closely tied to what it means to be a hypocrite.  Basically what you say does not match up what you believe.  Here we find one of the greatest threats to a servant of Christ, making the service about you.

How many times have you encountered this.  That someone is serving on their hands and knees.  They’re doing the dirty work.  They’re trying to lead by example.  The problem is the entire time they are acting like a servant they are doing and saying things that translate to: “Look at me!”  “Only someone who is humble like me would serve this way.”  ”Look how mature I am.” or “Someone needs to notice me because I’m being a servant.”  The best way I can describe this is a self-centered servant.

But is a self-centered servant an oximoran?  Is it possible to be a servant and be focused on yourself?  Or is a servant by definition to focus on others?  Philippians 2:3-8 gives us some clarity on how we should act and how Jesus modeled being a servant:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
   by taking the very nature of a servant,
   being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
   he humbled himself
   by becoming obedient to death—
      even death on a cross!

Being a servant cannot be about YOU!  We are not servants to help us sleep better at night.  We don’t give to others so we make ourselves look better.  We are servants because those around us need to see and experience the love of God.  They experience this by us serving them.  It’s the definition of agape love.  It’s unconditional.  When we serve others we want to bless them with the love of Christ not because we will receive something in return.  We give of ourselves because we are part of the kingdom of God not because we want to make our good deeds known.  The second we make it about us, our glory, our recognition, our fame we fail to communicate God’s love and in return have communicated an empty, selfish, self-seeking religion that does not reveal Christ.

Satan want to get a foothold on those willing to serve.  He desires to thwart our efforts to display Christ.  Sadly he attacks us by saying, “You deserve recognition.”  “Don’t they realize you’ve slaved day and night to help them?”  “If they really cared about what you did, they would appreciate you more.”  Satan is attacking us by making our faith, our actions, our service about what we will get in return.  We must fight the temptation to listen to Satan’s advances.  We must focus on Christ and His humility and His obedience.  We must ask that He gives us the strength we need.

Every time I serve, this battle is played out inside my head.  It’s a war the rages inside of me.  I would like to say that most days that Christ prevails.  But I’m sad to say that there are plenty of times my own selfish ambition gets in the way.  There is one things I’m sure of, even though I know each time I serve I face this battle, it doesn’t mean I won’t keep fighting.  With God’s Spirit residing in me, I fight daily to make myself less and make Christ more.

One last thing thought, C.S. Lewis describes a humble person this way, “He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.”  That’s what we are called to, not think about ourselves at all.

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Being a Servant: The Example of Jesus

Being a Servant: From Toilets to Servants

Being a Servant: It Starts From the Top

Being a Servant: It Starts From the Top

This is part 3 of the Being a Servant series:

We all know that being a servant is one of the key elements of what it means to be a Christian.  We know that we are to serve those around us.  We know that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  It’s part of the Christian’s DNA.  It’s who we are called to be.  One of the greatest challenges of Christian leaders is how do we teach servant-hood?

Sermons, lesson plans, illustrations, video clips will always fall short on teaching what it means to be a servant.  Christianity and one of the key traits of Christianity, servant-hood must be caught and not taught.  C.S. Lewis calls this process The Good Infection. Others will never completely understand what servant-hood unless they see it and experience with their own two eyes.

The sales world knows hows this principle.  That’s why when you go shopping you can touch the merchandise.  Try it on to see if it fits.  Electronics are on display so you can personally see how all the features work on every gadget they are selling.  Most stores even offer a 30-90 return policy so you can even “sample” the merchandise in your own home.  The sales world knows you need to see it to believe it.

Christians leaders are called to do the same thing.  We must demonstrate what it means to be a servant by our actions.  A paraphrase of James 1:22 applied to Christians leaders might go something like this: Do not just merely preach servant-hood.  Be one! The Church and the unbelieving world doesn’t need more teaching, it needs a demonstration.  It needs to see servant-hood lived out in the flesh.

Jesus knew his disciples needed to see his servant-hood lived out.  His teaching was not enough, he had to physically show them what it meant to be a servant.  John 13:3-15 tells of how Jesus displayed what it mean to be a servant.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Jesus set the example for his disciples and we are called to do the same.  We are called to serve in the lowly of positions, like washing feet.  Stinky, nasty, dirty feet.  And by getting on our hands and knees and doing the dirty nasty things that nobody else wants to do, at that very moment that’s when we teach what it means to be a servant.  It happens from the top down.  When leaders, teachers and those at the top serve, other get it.  If this was method was good enough for Jesus to use to teach the disciples it’s good enough for us to use today.

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Being a Servant: The Example of Jesus

Being a Servant: From Toilets to Servants

Being a Servant: It’s Not About YOU!

Being a Servant: The Example of Jesus

Any study of what it means to be a servant should end and begin with the person of Jesus Christ.  Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  No greater person can be found to display servanthood than Jesus Christ.

Any brief reading of scripture we realize very quickly that the 12 disciples who spent huge amounts of time with Jesus during his earthly ministry were not perfect.  Nowhere near it.  Time and time again the disciples individually and as a collective group do stupid things.  They always seem to be saying the wrong things, doing things the wrong way and in constant need of correction.  I’m going to retell one of those incidences found in scripture.

Found in Matthew 20:20-28

I’m not sure where the idea originally came from, but someone wanted to be important.  Whether James and John wanted a special place of honor or it was their mom who leading the charge, scripture doesn’t tell us for sure.  What we do know is that the James, John and their mom approach Jesus with this question, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.”

This is a very bold and very straightforward question from the mom.  She basically asking, “Make my sons the vice-president and secretary of state.”  She is asking something of Jesus that is huge!  Not only that, she’s doing it on behalf of her sons rather than letting them personally ask the question of Jesus.  This type of action from James and John would be what you would call being momma’s boys.  They were grown men still being dependent on their mother.  They were dependent on their mother to ask the question of Jesus they didn’t have the guts to ask on their own.

After a series of questioning back and forth Jesus lets the mom and her two sons know that it’s ultimately not his place to assign who sits on his right or left.  He submits to the Father and his preparations for the future kingdom.  This whole conversation between Jesus, the mother, James and John annoys the fire out the other 10 disciples.  Wouldn’t it annoy you?  That your peers, those who you work with, travel with, and have been friends with decide to bring their mother in and ask for a special promotion.   Jesus senses this tension and addresses them with the following:

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.  It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:24-28 (NASB)

Jesus teaches the disciples a beautiful lesson about how we should interact with others.  We don’t get our way by bringing in our mother; we don’t get what we want by power, position, title or authority.  The Kingdom of God is fueled by service and servant hood.  We must serve each other in humility and kindness.  We must put aside our position on the totem pole and say, “I am here for YOU”.  As Christians we should be symbiotically dependent on one other through our acts of service to one another.  When we demand things through power and position we fail to follow the model of Jesus Christ and we fail to serve our brothers and sisters.

To show how serious Jesus is about this, he even throws in the phrase, “whoever wished to be first among you shall be your slave”. Slavery is not a desirable position.  Slavery is the completely opposite of sitting at the right hand of the king in power (which is the very thing James and John’s mom was requesting).  But the slavery that Jesus asks of the disciples is voluntary slavery unlike slavery we know from our country’s history.  We are called to voluntarily consider ourselves slaves to those around us.  This echoes Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  Others first and us last… REGARDLESS of our position, title, or where we sit in the authority structure of life.  This is the message for the disciples then and the message for us today.

Jesus’ final line says, “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  Jesus above anyone else has the right to be served.  Philippians says, “every knee will bow”.  1 Peter says Jesus “committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.”  John says, “All things came into being though Him”.  Revelations says Christ is the “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  If anyone throughout all of creation from the beginning of time should be served, HE IS JESUS CHRIST.  But to show the example of how we should interact for each other and more importantly our salvation from our captivity in sin, HE willfully chose to SERVE us!!!

So how will you SERVE today?  How will you embrace a position of a slave rather than a position and authority?  What are some ways that you can embrace the life the Jesus modeled here on earth?

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Being a Servant: It’s Not About YOU!