God designed us to serve, yet we have a difficult time getting the message that this is God’s call for our lives. Jesus took the time to school His disciples on servanthood. Let’s go to school with them and learn some things that we need to be aware of if we are going to fulfill this part of God’s purpose for our lives.
First, if we are going to be a servant-hearted person, we must be aware of our motives. Simply put, a motive is the reason that we do what we do. It’s what’s behind our actions.
In Mark 10, the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus and were being discipled by Him to become future leaders in the church. During this process they were being taught to preach the Gospel message and to care for people. Sometimes their motives got a little messed up because they wanted earthly recognition. In the passage where the mother of James and John came to Jesus with a request, they were asking for honor, glory, and power. When they started following Jesus, it seems that their motive was to experience God more deeply and meaningfully. They didn’t realize that the godly motive of serving people naturally springs from loving Jesus. -see Luke 7:47
When we think about being a servant, we must be aware that we have within us the deep desire to be honored, to experience glory, to be important, and to be served. It is a natural desire for us – being mankind living in a fallen world with the “old man” to contend with. It is so natural that we see this phenomenon of vying for position and prestige even in nature. Years ago, farmers noted that if ten chickens were put together in a pen, within minutes the chickens (even if they were strangers to each other before) formed a hierarchy based on dominance. That’s where we get the term “pecking order.” Instinctively they will determine, through a series of skirmishes, which chicken is number one, which is number two, and so forth. It’s an important process because the lower one is in the pecking order, the more frequent the pecking. This is the thing we must fight against – the natural urge within our hearts to have dominance over other people. If we are going to improve our ability to serve, we should check our motives. Do we really want to make a positive difference and contribution to others in our world because of our love for Jesus Christ?
A second key to improving our servanthood is to learn from our Biblical model. Jesus calls His disciples together and gives them a principle. In the world, He says this is the natural way of things, …Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. -Matthew 20:25 The world’s system tries as hard as possible to get to the top. But for the followers of Jesus, He says, there will be a different value system at work… But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: -Matthew 20:26-27. We should be people who serve. The word servant in this passage is translated slave. Interesting word isn’t it? Slave? A slave was someone who really had no rights and no honor. The whole purpose of the life of a slave was to serve his or her master. In other words, our purpose is to serve Jesus. Our whole being should be directed to the cause of Christ. One of the ways we do that is by serving people that He brings into our lives. -see Matthew 25:34-40. Our primary mission is to minister to people, not be admired by them.
To make His point even more forceful, Jesus points to Himself as the model. He says, Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. -Matthew 20:28. Do you want to know what servanthood looks like? Look at the life of Jesus. We read about Him in John 13, the scene where the disciples all arrive for a meal. Jesus got up, washed, and dried the disciple’s feet. Then He says, If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. -John 13:14.
Let’s follow the perfect example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when Scripture says: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: -Philippians 2:5-7. This should be our attitude.
A nursing school graduate illustrates how this could happen in our lives. This woman took a job in a long-term care facility. One of her first patients was a woman named Eileen. Eileen had had an aneurysm that ruptured in her brain, leaving her totally unconscious to the observing eye, and apparently unaware of anything that was going on around her. It was necessary to turn Eileen every hour to prevent bedsores, and she needed to be fed through a stomach tube twice a day. Eileen never had visitors. Apparently, no one cared about her. One of the other nurses said, “When it’s this bad, you [as a caregiver] need to detach yourself emotionally from the whole situation.” As a result, more and more Eileen was treated as a thing instead of a person, with people going in, doing their work, then leaving again as quickly as they could. But this young nurse decided that she, in living out her Christian faith, would treat this woman differently. She talked to Eileen, sang to her, said encouraging things to her, and even brought her little gifts.
On Thanksgiving Day, however, the young nurse came to work reluctantly, wanting to be home on the holiday. As she entered Eileen’s room, she knew she would be doing the normal tasks with no thanks or appreciation from her patient. She decided to again talk to Eileen and said, “I was in a bad mood this morning, Eileen, because it was supposed to be my day off. But now that I’m here, I’m glad. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss seeing you on Thanksgiving Day. Do you know that today is Thanksgiving?”
Just then the telephone rang, and the nurse turned away from the bed to answer it. As she was talking, she turned to look back at Eileen. Eileen was looking at the nurse… crying. Big damp circles stained her pillow and she was shaking all over.
That was the only emotion that Eileen ever showed, but it was enough to change the attitude of the entire staff towards her. A short time after that day, she died. The young nurse closed her story this way: “I keep thinking about her. It occurred to me that I owe her a lot. Except for Eileen, I might never have known what it is like to give [compassion and care] to someone who can’t give back.”
One of the ways of serving Jesus is giving to someone who can’t give back. So, examine your motives and look to Jesus. Then ask the Lord for the mind and heart of Jesus to dwell in you.
Where is God calling you to serve? Who is God calling you to serve? This is the tough part. You must make the choice repeatedly if you desire to be a faithful servant your entire life.
Let us pray and ask God to show us opportunities around us in which we can serve. Remember, when we choose to serve, we must not think what we will get out of it. Let us have a spirit of humility when we serve others. Let us live out the servanthood life to the fullest of our ability. Let us be willing servants and not duty servants.
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