What does it mean to be a servant?
First of all, don’t look at it as something lowly or bad.
Jesus was a servant and we’re supposed to follow him because he’s our master.
But to be a servant, it means to do all you can for other people.
Let me tell you five great words, one sentence that is powerful.
How can I help you if you have that attitude toward the people that you know, how can I help you?
Are you ask them, how can I help you?
That’s one of the greatest attitudes that you can possibly have. What can I do to help you?
How can I serve you in your life? And that’s something to spend time thinking about in your prayer time.
Think about the people you’re gonna be with that day and just ask God, show me how I can help them today.
Show me how I can serve them today.
We want everybody to serve us, but we need to be willing to serve other people.
And if you’re anything like me, you’re probably gonna have to do it on purpose.
You know, I don’t naturally have the gift of helps I’d much rather somebody help me.
But I know that God wants me to be a servant leader.
And so I need to lead by example, by doing things for other people.
And sometimes I’ll say, you know, to the Lord, what can I do for Dave, for my husband?
Because a lot of times we get, we’re willing to do something as a ministry in a church that we won’t do for our own family at home.
And so last time I asked Lord that, what can I do for Dave?
He said to make him a cup of coffee and take it up to him in his office.
Well, making a cup of coffee doesn’t sound like much unless it’s Dave’s coffee that you’re making because Dave doesn’t really drink coffee.
He drinks milk and sweetener with a little bit of coffee stirred in it.
So to make Dave’s coffee, you have to make the coffee, then you have to heat up some liquid whipping cream and you have to get out the milk and heat up the milk and then he doesn’t even want the whole coffee pods.
So you pour half the coffee out and then you put all the milk in and then he likes three artificial sweeteners in it.
And so it’s quite a commitment to make Dave a cup of coffee.
But it’s amazing how just doing little things for people can enhance your relationship and keep it strong and together.
I wonder how many fewer divorces we would have if people that are married would have the attitude of how can I serve you?
What can I do for you?
But so often we get married and the only thing we have on our mind is what you should be doing for me.
And really, if we would serve other people and put ourselves in God’s hands, telling God what we want, then he would always give us more than what we could possibly even imagine.
Another way you can serve people is by praying for them.
I have somebody sitting here in the studio right now that you can’t see that is praying for me while I’m ministering to you.
And this particular woman has prayed for me for over 30 years.
And it’s one of the greatest gifts that you can give people is to pray for them. We need prayer.
That’s one of the greatest things that we need in our life.
You can just help them with whatever they’re doing.
You can just help them if you know a single mom who just gets really worn out because she’s maybe working two jobs and taking care of three kids.
And the man she was married to does doesn’t pay child support.
And maybe you could just offer to babysit one whole day so she could just have a day of peace.
Or maybe you could give her a gift certificate to take her kids out to lunch.
You know, if we would just get ourselves off of our minds long enough to really spend some decent time praying and asking God what can I do to help somebody else?
Our lives would be so much better.
You see, one of the things that God has taught me and that I want to share with you today is you cannot be happy and selfish.
Please remember that some of you that are unhappy.
Your problem could be that you’re just selfish and self centered.
And even though you’re a Christian and you love Jesus, you’re not really doing anything for anybody else.
Now, don’t get mad at me.
God had to tell me that I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t happy.
I mean, I had a successful ministry, had a good husband. I had four good Children.
We had a nice home, two automobiles. We didn’t have any financial stress, but still I wasn’t happy.
I didn’t have that contentment. And I asked God, what is my problem? Why am I not happy?
And he told me you’re selfish.
You know, if you really want to know what’s wrong in your life, ask God and you might be surprised.
He might tell you something, but it may be something that you’re not gonna want to hear.
We serve God by serving others.
And that’s one of the best things to remember.
Anytime you do something for somebody else, you’re actually doing it unto him.
Jesus told some of the disciples. I think it’s in Matthew 25.
He said, you have sheep and goats.
And when I come back, there’s gonna be a time where the sheep will be divided from the goats and the sheep will go to my right hand and the goats will go to the left.
And then he went on telling this parable, I was sick and you came to visit me.
I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
I was in need and you helped me. And they said, what?
When did we do that for you?
He said, if you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.
Those were the sheep.
You know, sheep are pretty, they’re pretty easy going. They, they follow easy.
I always like to say sheep, say bye.
But goats are always saying but but but but goat, Christians always have an excuse for why they can’t do what God is asking them to do.
And then he said, but those of you on the left, I was sick.
You didn’t come to visit me. I was hungry. You didn’t feed me. I was thirsty.
You didn’t give me anything to drink.
And they said, well, when, when were you like that? And we didn’t help you.
And he said, if you have not done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have not done it under me.
Can we understand today that Jesus takes how we treat other people very personally.
If you do something for somebody else, God takes it as if you’re doing it for Him.
So if you want to serve God, you can’t serve God unless you’re willing to serve people.
Let me say it again.
If you want to serve God, you can’t serve God unless you’re willing to serve people.
Serving God is not just having a pulpit position or being the worship leader in your church or being the head of some committee.
And even if you have all of that, you still have to do the things that normal regular Christians do.
And one of them is to serve other people.
Some of you may feel like, well, you know, I’m just in the helps ministry and all I do is, you know, I clean the bathrooms at church.
Well, you know, what Are people that clean the bathrooms here in this building?
They get to work some of them 3:30 AM before any of the staff gets here and they’re cleaning up after somebody else’s mess.
And, you know, they’re probably some of the greatest people in the building.
And then when all the bosses come in, people think, well, they’re the great ones, but maybe God sees it differently than we see it.
God doesn’t see the way man sees.
He sees the heart, you know, I feel good about this today and I think it’s gonna really help somebody.
What are you doing for somebody else?
Don’t get caught up in titles and making a big show out of everything.
Just be simple, be yourself and be a servant and do what you do unto the Lord Matthew 23. 1 through 12.
I won’t read it all but Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’s seat.
So you must be careful to do everything they tell you but don’t do what they do for.
They do not practice what they preach.
You know, it’s very important to me that I’m not a phony and that means that I can’t tell you what to do and then not do it myself.
And he said, you’re, you’re teaching people the law, you’re tying up all these heavy loads and putting burdens on people telling them, do this, do this, do this, do this.
But he said yet you won’t even lift a finger to help them do it.
So we need to make sure that we are doing what we would tell other people to do.
Even your Children. You know, don’t tell your Children not to lie.
If you’re gonna tell them when the phone rings and you don’t want to talk, just tell whoever it is.
I’m not home. We teach people more by our actions than we do even by our words, especially if our actions don’t match our words, everything they do, he said is done for people to see.
They put on a big show.
They love the places of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues.
They love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called rabbi by others.
But you are not to be called rabbi for you have one teacher and you are all brothers, the greatest among you will be your servant.
Wow. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
The word servant defined in the Greek because that’s the language.
The New Testament was translated from presents, the idea of subjection without bondage.
In other words, you can submit to somebody without feeling like that you’re in bondage doing it.
You see it as a privilege, not something as a deficit.
If I’m your servant, I can, I can submit to you without feeling that I’m in bondage or that I’ve lost any of my freedom.
First Peter 2 16 says, live as free people yet without employing your freedom as a pretext for wickedness, But live at all times as servants of God.
One of the greatest things that we can do is be a true servant of God by serving other people.
Romans 6 22. But now that you’ve been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.
And one last scripture for the Ephesians 6, 5 and six in the amplified classic servants, slaves be obedient to those who are your physical masters having respect for them, an eager concern to please them in singleness of motive and with all your heart as a service to Christ himself, how many people get miffed or get aggravated?
Even if their boss tells them to do something or not to do something.
Jesus says, don’t be like that.
Have a right attitude, have the attitude of a servant and have a good attitude about doing whatever your masters ask you to do, do the will of God heartedly and with your whole soul were to serve one another through love.
Today, we’re offering you some wonderful resources, three teachings called do unto others.
It’s amazing how many scriptures talk about what we are to do for others.
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