Christians are ... Servants

Text: Mark 10:42-45

“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.”” (Mark 10:42–45, NIV84)

Theme: Christians are servants.

Our topic has been “What is a Christian?” We’ve looked at three descriptions. Christians are Saints, they are Sons, they are Sheep. Tonight I want you to understand that Christians are Servants. The Christlike life demands that we model our lives after the life of our Savior. The Christlike life of service that demands from each of us "my soul, my life, my all." It is terribly costly. But the rewards even in our earthly lives now—and the privilege of identifying with Christ the Suffering Servant—are truly beyond description. You will never be sorry you truly served someone for the sake of Christ.

We live in a culture that determines your self-worth by what you look like, or your economic success, or your educational level, or your commute time, or where you live and how many square feet you own or rent, or how many BFF’s you have on Facebook. And you know you’ve achieved a degree of self-worth when you can lord it over others, and exercise your authority. Jesus turns all of that on its head and declared that the believer’s self-worth—as far as the Father is concerned—is determined by your degree of servanthood. He is blunt ... and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. Four day hence, Jesus will literally take upon himself the role of a slave and wash his disciple’s feet just before their Passover meal.

God made you unique. He did this so that you could serve Him in your own unique way. Now, here is the 64-million dollar question of the evening: “How do we serve God?”

I. WE WERE CREATED TO SERVE

1. if you want an answer to the question, “What on earth am I here for?” look at what Jesus said

a. you were put here to serve God and the way you serve God is by serving other people

2. the Bible has a word for this, it’s called ministry

a. when I say the word minister most people think of priest, or a pastor or maybe a missionary – someone who is “called” to a Christian vocation

A. EVERY BELIEVER IS A MINISTER

1. now, not every believer is a pastor, or a worship leader, or a missionary, but every believer is a minister

a. any time you use your talents, your abilities, your background, your experiences to help somebody else, you know what that’s called?

1) ministering

2. sadly, the word layman has crept into our vocabulary to describe the vast majority of Christians who do not belong to the "professional" ministry known as the clergy

a. the use of this distinction has crippled the impact of the church on the world

b. thousands of Christians have shirked their God-given responsibilities because they expect their pastor, minister, or priest to do the work of the ministry

3. but the Bible teaches that all believers are servants and ministers

a. all believers have a service and a ministry they are to perform

B. JESUS IS OUR MODEL FOR MINISTRY AND SERVICE

1. the good news is that God not only created us for service, He gave us a model to show us how to do it

a. through the incarnation, God became flesh in the person of Jesus and said, “Watch me. This is how you do it. This is how you serve.”

b. last week we discovered that you were created to be like Christ

1) what did Jesus do while He was here on earth?

2) He served others

3) and that’s what we need to learn how to do

Matthew 20:26-28 ". . . Whoever wants to become great among you must serve the rest of you like a servant. Whoever wants to become first among you must serve the rest of you like a slave. In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people.” NCV

2. We Were Create to Serve

II. WE WERE CREATED TO SERVE LIKE JESUS

1. learning to serve like Jesus means developing our Lord’s attitude toward service

Matt. 20:28, “Jesus said, ‘Your attitude must be like My own, for I did not come to be served, but to serve’”.

a. your spiritual gifts, your heart, your abilities, your personality, and your experiences) determines your ministry

b. but your attitude determines your willingness to minister

2. a lot of people spend much of their time searching for self-esteem, for self-worth, and significance—they want to feel good about themselves

a. the problem is, they’re looking in all the wrong places!

1) you don’t get your self-worth from success, because there’s always somebody else who will be more successful than you

2) you don’t get your self-esteem from status, because there’s always somebody higher up the pole than you

3) you don’t get your significance from your salary, because there’s always gonna be somebody making more money than you

3. the Bible says you get your self-esteem, and self-worth and significance from service

a. Jesus said you must give your life away in order to find it

4. serving Jesus involves three characteristics

A. SERVING LIKE JESUS MEANS BEING AVAILABLE

1. one day Jesus was heading to Jericho and some blind men began yelling at him to heal them

“Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”” (Mark 10:49, NIV84)

a. I want you to notice the most important word in that verse

1) it’s the word stopped – Jesus stopped

2. if you want to be used by God, you must be willing to be interrupted

a. as you read through the gospels, you’ll discover that much of Jesus’ ministry and most of Jesus’ miracles were interruptions

ILLUS. Honestly, this has been one of the hardest lessons for me to learn. It’s particularly bad if someone interrupts me during my sermon preparation. I can get so focused on what I’m doing, that I forget that interruptions are often heavenly appointments for ministry or service. I’m much better than I used to be.

b. servant-hearted, and servant-minded people don’t hesitate to minister when interrupted

Prov. 3:28 “Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now.”

ILLUS. John Wesley’s – the founder of Methodism – had a motto: “Do all the good you can by all the means you can by all the ways you can in all the places you can and at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as you ever can.”

3. three attitudes that will keep you from being available

a. First, self-centeredness is a barrier that will keep you from ministering

Phil. 2:4 “Forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand.”

1) whenever you see a need right in front of you, guess what?

2) God is giving you the opportunity to practice serving

3) the number one enemy of ministry is busyness

ILLUS. Too many Christians go through life with a “Do Not Disturb” sign hanging around their neck.

b. Second, perfectionism is a barrier that will keep you from ministering

1) some people tell themselves, “When it’s all just right, when things settle down, then I’ll serve.”

Eccl. 11:4 “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.”

2) Christ-like servants, do the best they can with what they have for Jesus Christ today – they don’t wait until everything is ‘just right’

c. Third, materialism is a barrier that will keep you from ministering

1) Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Lk. 16:13)

2) you’ve got to decide whether you want to accumulate a lot of stuff – which someone else will get when you die – or whether you want to be blessed because God has used you to touch and change lives

d. Forth, comparing and criticizing is a barrier that will keep you from gratefully serving

Rom. 14:4 “Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The Lord will determine whether His servant has been successful.”

1) we’re all God’s servants

2) it’s a matter of His opinion, not my opinion or your opinion of how another believer is serving

ILLUS. In the last chapter of John’s gospel we have the account of Jesus meeting His disciples by the Sea of Galilee shortly after His resurrection. In the story, Jesus confronts Peter and asks, “Peter, do you love me? If you do, feed my sheep.” Three times he asks Peter the question. He ends the conversation by prophesying how Peter is going to die and challenging the disciple to follow me. Just at that moment, Peter turns and sees the Apostle John. He then asks, Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Peter is saying, “OK Lord, you’ve confronted me and challenged me, but what about this guy over here. What’s he going to be doing?” To which Jesus essentially tells Peter, “Peter, don’t worry about John. Let me worry about John. You just do what you’re supposed to do.”

3) believers are not in competition with each other in service

B. SERVING LIKE JESUS MEANS BEING GRATEFUL

1. To serve like Jesus, we have to serve gratefully

ILLUS. In the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel, we’re told the story of a man named Lazarus. Lazarus had died, and Jesus went to his home in Bethany – but not for a funeral nor to mourn. Jesus had a different idea in mind. He went there to do ministry. He went to raise Lazarus from the dead. Now, He could have walked up to the tomb entrance and prayed a very quiet prayer between Himself and the Father. But He decided to pray the prayer out loud so that we could still read it today and see what He had to say. Listen to what Jesus prayed: “. . . ‘Father, I thank You that You heard me. I know that You always hear Me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here.’”

1. Jesus begins His prayer with an attitude of gratefulness

a. this was His attitude in ministry

1) when Jesus saw the crowds of people, He groaned in His spirit because He saw them as sheep without a shepherd

2) He had compassion for people and delighted in ministering to them

3) He was grateful to the Father for the opportunity

b. if you do ministry reluctantly, or under duress, you’re not ministering with a servant’s heart – you’re not ministering like Jesus

1) when we learn to see people like Jesus saw them, we will delight in ministering to them

2) we will be grateful to God for the opportunity

2. the apostle Paul was grateful that he had opportunity to serve and minister

1 Tim. 1:12 “I thank Jesus Christ because He trusted me. He gave me this work of serving Him.”

3. you and I ought to be grateful that we have the opportunity to serve and minister

Psalm 100:2 “Serve the Lord with gladness.”

a. do you serve God with a sense of duty, or with a sense of delight?

b. do you serve God with a sense of obligation, or with a sense of great opportunity?

c. we should serve Him with gratefulness because He’s given life to us through Jesus Christ

2 Tim. 1:9 “It is He who saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan.”

C. SERVING LIKE JESUS MEANS BEING FAITHFUL

1. if you want to learn to serve like Jesus, you have to learn to serve gratefully with a generous heart, and you’ve got to make yourself available

2. but serving like Jesus also means being faithful

a. what does that mean?

1) it means you don’t give up – you keep on going

John 17:4 “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work.”

b. Jesus was faithful in fulfilling His service

1) He didn’t give up

2) He didn’t give in

3) He was persistent

3. if you’re going to be like Jesus it means you’re going to serve as long as you’re alive

ILLUS. One of the finest Christians I’ve ever known was Esther Catron. She stood just over five foot tall, but she was a giant of a Christian. Linda and I had lived here Linn about four or five years. One day I stopped to pick up the church mail like I do every morning. As I was heading out to the car, I just quickly glanced through the pile of stuff. In the mail that day was Facts and Trends, one of our denominational magazines. When I saw the cover, I thought, “Gee, that lady looks just like Esther Catron.” I threw the mail onto the passenger seat and drove to the office. Later that day, I picked up the magazine and discovered to my amazement that it was Esther Catron on the cover and there was a whole article about her inside. The story was about her ministry as the preschool director for her church. At the time of the article, Esther was 93 years old. She had become the church’s preschool director at age 20, and had continuously served in that position for 73 years. She served two more years, and finally gave up the position when she turned 95.

a. now folks, that’s being faithful!

1Cor. 4:2 “The one thing required of servants is that they be faithful.”

4. no matter how big the church or how small the church, God needs faithful servants

One day you’re going to stand before God and He’s going to say to you, “What did you do with what I gave you, the talents, the abilities, the background, the experiences, the freedom, the education, the family experiences? What did you do with your SHAPE?” You may be thinking nobody’s watching you, and nobody’s noticing what you do, but God’s watching.

Heb. 6:10: “He will not forget how hard you’ve worked for Him and how you’ve shown your love to Him.”

How do we show our love for God? By serving others.

Question: Is God going to be able to say well done, my son to you? Is there anything in your schedule where you’re giving back unselfishly, or are you too busy? Are you waiting for things to slow down? Or do you have other priorities?

Let’s bow our heads. Would you pray this?

Father I realize that I was shaped to serve You by serving others. Forgive me for the times I’ve put a “do not disturb” sign on my heart. Help me to see the interruptions as opportunities to serve. Help me to make time for what matters most. You’ve been so good to me. I want to give something back. I want to serve You freely and gratefully and faithfully, and I want to practice before I get to heaven so one day I can hear You say “Well done, good and faithful servant”. In Your name I pray, Amen.