Day 34. Thinking Like a Servant (The Purpose Driven Life)

Think of yourself the way Christ Jesus thought of himself
Philippians 2:5

Service starts in your mind.
· Being a servant requires a mental shift
○ God is always more interested in why we do something than in what we do
○ Attitudes count more than achievements
§ King Amaziah lost God's favor because "he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not with a true heart" - 2 Chronicles 25:2

· Real servants serve God with a mindset of five attitudes
○ SERVANTS THINK MORE ABOUT OTHERS THAN ABOUT THEMSELVES
§ This is true humility: Not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less.
□ Philippians 2:4
¨ This is what it means to "lose your life" - forgetting yourself in service to others.
§ When we stop focusing on our own needs we become aware of the needs around us.
§ Jesus "emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant" - Phil 2:7
□ You can't be a servant if you're full of yourself
□ It's only when we forget ourselves that we do the things that deserve to be remembered.
§ A lot of our service is self-serving
□ To get others to like us
□ Admiration
□ To achieve our own goals
¨ That's manipulation NOT ministry
§ Some people try to use service as a bargaining tool with God
□ Real servants don't use God for their purposes. They let God use them for HIS purposes
§ Self-denial is the core of servant hood
§ We can measure our servant's heart by how we respond when others treat us like servants.
□ What's your reaction when you're taken for granted, bossed around, treated inferior?
¨ Matt 5:41
○ SERVANTS THINK LIKE STEWARDS, NOT OWNERS
§ GOD owns it all
□ Servant hood and stewardship go together since God expects us to be trustworthy in both. (1 Corinthians 4:1)
§ To become a real servant you're going to have to settle the issue of money in your life
□
□ Luke 16:13
□ Living for ministry & living for money are mutually exclusive goals
□ Money has the greatest potential to replace God in your life
¨ More people are sidetracked from serving by materialism than by anything else.
◊ When Jesus is your Master, money serves you, but if money is your master, you become it's slave.
□ Wealth is not a sin, but failing to use it for God's glory is.
□ God uses money to test your faithfulness as a servant
¨ Jesus talked more about money than he did about heaven or hell
◊ Luke 16:11
◊ How you manage your money affects how much God will bless your life
○ SERVANTS THINK ABOUT THEIR WORK, NOT WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING
§ Competition between God's servants is illogical for many reasons
□ We're all on the same team
□ Our goal is to make God look good, not ourselves
□ We've been given different assignments, & we're all uniquely shaped
¨ Gal 5:26
§ There's not place for petty jealousy between servants
□ Any time spent criticizing others is time that could be spent ministering
§ It's not our job to evaluate the Master's other servants
□ Romans 14:4
§ Neither is it our job to defend ourselves against criticism. Let God handle it
□ Follow the example of Nehemiah whose response to critics was simply "My work is too important to stop now and…visit with you" - Nehemiah 6:3
§ If you serve like Jesus you can expect to be criticized
□ The world and even much of the church, doesn't understand what God values.
¨ One of the most beautiful acts of love shown to Jesus was criticized by the disciples.
◊ Mary took the most valuable thing she owned (expensive perfume) & poured it over Jesus. The disciples called it "a waste" by Jesus called it "significant" (Matt 26:10) and that's all that mattered.
○ SERVANTS BASE THEIR IDENTITY IN CHRIST
§ Know they're loved and accepted by grace, so they don't have to prove their worth
§ Willingly accept jobs insecure people would consider "beneath" them.
□ John 13:3-4
§ If you're going to be a servant, you must settle your identity in Christ.
□ Only secure people can serve
□ Insecure people are always worrying about how they appear to others.
¨ They fear exposure of their weaknesses & hide beneath layers of protective pride and pretensions
§ "In order to be of service to others we have to die to them; that is, we have to give up measuring our meaning and value with the yardstick of others…thus we become free to be compassionate"
○ SERVANTS THINK OF MINISTRY AS AN OPPORTUNITY, NOT AN OBLIGATION
§ They enjoy helping people, meeting needs, and doing ministry
□ John 12:26
□ Hebrews 6:10

Point to Ponder: To be a servant I must think like a servant

Verse to Remember: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus - Philippians 2:5

Question to Consider: Am I usually more concerned about being served or finding ways to serve others?