Developing a servants heart

Intro:

As we continue in our series Worthy of the Gospel I want to share with you about developing a servants heart. As I closed my message last week I mentioned that maturity in the faith is about realizing that our life is about service to others.

The testing and trials in our lives not only solidify our trust in the Lord by helping us to understand the power and the potency of the word of God, but they also prepare us for service in the kingdom. The spiritual nature of the born again man or woman of God is to become a servant of kingdom purposes.

God has entrusted us to carry the flame of the Gospel in our generation, but its advancement into future generations rest upon our ability to steward the baton well. The message of the Gospel transfers from one generation to the next by those who surrender their lives to the king, and then pick up the servants towel.

God has prepared good works for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

What we must understand is that our spiritual service to God, and the good works that He has prepared will be displayed through our service to others. God’s heart is always on people.

He cares about the condition of their souls and the trajectory of their lives. He cares about the addict on the street, he cares about the struggling marriage, he cares about the single parent, he cares about the one experiencing grief, and about the one battling fear and uncertainty.

The way he meets the needs of those he cares about is through us. To meet the needs we will have to develop a servants heart, because we are not naturally hardwired to serve others. We all know that we are born selfish. Some of the first words babies learn is “Mine”. The nature of the servants heart is not selfish but sacrificial and it must be developed.

My desire is that we would carry the flame of the gospel to our generation well, but to do it successfully we will need to discover and implement the characteristics of a servants heart.

____________________________________________________________

Submit & Apply:

In Philippians 2 Paul gives foundational instruction for the heart posture of someone who serves.

Philippians 2:2–3 “fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

Unity. Unity is not about conformity.It is about becoming a kingdom people we are like minded, having the same love, united by the same character, affections, and mindsets vs. being divided. Jesus died for people. Not denominations or religious practices. The kingdom of God is diverse in the expression of gifts, but it is to be unified in heart. Gifts without love can result in performance and not transformation.

Developing the heart of a servant begins with esteeming others better than ourselves. It’s not about debasement of ourselves, but it is about selflessness.

The Heart of a Servant Has Five Characteristics:

Characteristic #1: Availability

This thought might make you cringe as you consider the busyness of your personal schedule. The question: How can I be available to God when I can barely keep up with what I already have going on?

This is something that every one of us will have to wrestle with. As a servant, you must be willing to let God interfere with your schedule as he needs to. This may mean that you will have to change some priorities in your life. Serving Jesus isn’t about convenience, its about availability.

It will require you to keep your schedule less burdened to be able to answer the call to service when it comes, or be willing to put aside less important matters to answer the call.

This may sound stressful, but it’s freeing. Changes to your schedule and interruptions in your day become less irritating when you see them as opportunities to do God’s work. Ministry most often happens in the inconvenient moments of life.

Example: The rush of life causes us to run around with blinders on. Busyness robs of the ability to have vision. The ability to see spiritually comes when we slow down, because it gives room for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. There are needs and opportunities all around us, but have we slowed down enough to see them.

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.”

Characteristic #2: Perceptiveness

People with a servants heart look for ways that they might be able to serve others and take opportunities as soon as they spot them.

Pastor Robert Schuller made this statement, “The secret of success is to find a need and fill it, to find a hurt and heal it, to find somebody with a problem and offer to help solve it.”

You need perception and flexibility to fulfill this characteristic:

Perception helps you sense when someone needs your help, even when it’s not immediately clear. 

Flexibility is necessary because moments to reach out to those who need help usually pass very quickly, so you need to be flexible enough to seize the moment without thinking about your schedule.

A simple way to work on perception and flexibility, make it a point of looking for small, unnoticeable tasks that need to be done. One of the aspects of our membership study is taking ownership. This can be as simple as seeing a piece of trash on the ground and picking it up to throw away. Other times it seeing the need in a ministry and instead of waiting to be asked you offer your help.

Outside of Church opportunities to serve may look like raking your elderly neighbor’s leaves while they’re out, or staying after a committee meeting at your child’s school to help clean up the room after an event when you don’t have to.

Train your eye to see the little things that need help, and adjust yourself to serve.

Characteristic #3: Dedication

People with a servants heart do the best they can with what they have, no matter the circumstances. They don’t wait for better timing or better tools, and they don’t make excuses—they simply use whatever they have and jump into their work.

1 John 3:18 “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

Serving is about action. God doesn’t care about perfection. You may be hesitating to serve or waiting for a “better time” because you think you have nothing worthy to offer.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. God can and will use any sort of service that you are willing to put out into the world. Everyone has a learning curve, and often their first attempts at service aren’t always the best, but the only way you can improve is by practicing.

The only thing God can’t use are thoughts of service that are never carried out. Those with a servants heart simply offer themselves for the needed task.

In my own life, I am just as willing to clean the toilets in the church, and throw out the trash as I am to preach the message.

The heart of serving is about being willing to take care of the small things without the need to be seen.

Always keep in mind that no task was “beneath” Jesus. He washed feet, helped lepers, and made food for his disciples—all to the best of his ability.

Characteristic #4: Reliability

People with a servants heart are reliable doing what they say they will do. Why does this matter? Eternity. When we live through the lens of eternity we understand that our current actions have eternal implications.

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Characteristic #5: Humility

People with a servants heart are not looking for the spotlight. Their aim is that Jesus would get the glory. Those with a servants heart don’t need to be noticed or praised for their service. If they do get praise, they acknowledge it but don’t let it change the way they serve or get in the way of it.

_____________________________________________________________

Closing:

In a final thought about a serving heart I couldn’t help but think about the greatest example of what it means to be a servant. Jesus.

In John 13:1-17 Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. Instead of looking for a crown, Jesus picked up a towel.

Imagine the feet of the disciples. They primarily wore sandals. They walked down dusty roads, through mud, etc. without anything to really protect their feet. I would imagine some of them might have had scrapes or cuts from brushing their feet against something abrasive.

We can only imagine that they weren’t necessarily pleasant and manicured. Jesus though as our example took the towel and humbled himself. He washed their feet. After He finished he made this statement

John 13:14–17 “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Paul further adds to the thought.

Philippians 2:5–8 “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.”

Jesus had the right to be served as Lord and King, but He chose humility and service.

Today, we need to ask ourselves the question? Am I serving the Lord by serving others? It’s easy to think of this in the context of church ministry, but are you washing the feet of your spouse? What about your children or your employer?

The heart of the servant is about lifestyle where we are ready, willing, and available to God at any moment for any need. My prayer this morning is that we would find joy in serving.

Let’s pray.

Holy Spirit help us to see the bigger picture of life.

Salvation.