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Our Heavenly Father has called us to be servants (disciples) to humanity, as we strive toward our heavenly crowns. It is easy to fake being a follower of Christ, however, discipleship requires action and conversion, the engagement of both hands and heart. In our quest for the marks of mature spirituality and leadership ability, we must not bypass that quality which so completely characterized the life of Jesus Christ, the quality of unselfish servanthood. Jesus said, “For eventhe Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, andto give His life a ransom for many” Mark 10:45 (NKJV) .
Servant living stands opposed to the primary concerns we see today where the focus of our culture and society is more on our own personal happiness and comfort. Christ’s disciples do not earn God’s love by living out the Gospel. Instead, they are invited to live out the Gospel as a testament to their faith. To live it out with joy requires faith; to serve without faith is fraudulent and will yield only exhaustion. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NKJV).
Discipleship requires a transformation of heart as well, and Jesus identified this as a problem for many. Faith is the necessary first step in following God. Jesus notes on more than one occasion that right action without an interior transformation becomes a parody of righteousness. The laws and traditions of Israel existed as a means to give glory to the God on whom one had set one’s heart in faith. Without that action of the heart, one’s righteous activity served only to bring glory to oneself. "But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame" Romans 10:8-11 (NKJV). Since servant living was epitomized so completely by the Lord Jesus, we would naturally expect a number of passages to explicitly deal with this issue. While space will not allow an indepth exegesis, it is hoped that the following highlights drawn from several New Testament passages will draw our attention to a few vital principles that describe the spiritually mature quality of living as servants.
Join us September 20th through December 20th in our Servant's Heart Challenge as we journey daily on how to become more like Christ in our daily service to others while advancing the Kingdom of God. Christ shows that His organization or organism, the body of Christ, is to function on the basis of service or servant-like ministry to others. Spiritually mature people who experience His life are those who have first of all developed a servant’s heart like that of the Savior. Thus, a true concept of mature Christian leadership means serving one’s followers and teaching them by example to be servants of others. Naturally, the model for mature spirituality and leadership and all Christian living is the Lord Jesus. "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you" 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NKJV).
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