Why Life’s Better as a Servant .... part 3

56:170921 

Why Life’s Better as a  Servant

Part 3

Mark 10:45 [KJV] “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many”

   One thing stood out, was how many in His life time, was how ‘unselfish’ Jesus was too. This flowed through, in many ways on how to be this way. . . Mark 10:45 [NLT] “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” . . . WOW, this could not be made any clearer, watch out for this next point, for if He [Jesus] came to be served unto only. We wouldn’t have the opportunity to come to our Father God. What a hoy mess we would be in right now. How do we even begin to quantify the magnificence of gods glory pouring Himself into flesh for us, just to serve us.

Before you carry on reading please open your NKJ Bible to John 13:1-5 & V12-17,

 I will provide the ‘New Living Translation’ of the Bible.

   At that time the rads were dirty with all manner of waste, human & animal, coupled with at that time the rads being very dusty and muddy. So it was custom when you visited someone’s home there was a ‘Servant’ to greet you, and would wash your feet. This was done so you did not walk anything into their home. Is what the ‘Son-of Man’ did by lowing Himself to that of a servant. Showing the Apostles therefore how to behave, and NOT to think it below them to serve others.

   Here, Jesus ‘The Son-of-Man’, told His apostles that He chose to serve .. [NKJV] V12 “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?” .. In a more modern tone .. “Do you fully comprehend what I have just showed you?” .. You have to understand ‘What I Am’, then fully grasp who I have just become to you, you are to serve .. Humbly .. Willingly .. and just to be served.

V13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am”
As I, Jesus, have washed your feet, so you should wash one another feet, hence becoming servants, unto each other. The common theme here is .. Humility .. it can never be stretched enough, a servants heart is one who looks NOT for personal gain whilst serving. .

# Serving is not what you can do for me,

rather, you should be asking ‘What can I do for you’ #

. . this why our social fabric is in tatters, because today all people think is .. ME ~ My ~ Mine ~ I want & self needs .. It profits me not .. I deserve that new Job ~ New Car ~ 4 Holidays a year ~ even though I did nothing to deserve them.

   Just as Jesus served His disciples, so He was saying to them, now I want you to serve your neighbours & fellow man as I have you … [NKJV]V15 “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you”  ... This bigger, so much bigger than just simple foot washing. No matter if your a King or Queen, a General or Prime minister , or even a company owner. You need to strip away all these titles, heirs & graces, if you want to become an effective servant of God.

[KJ] V13 “Ye call me Master and Lord, so I am”
If Jesus can humble himself, then, so why can’t we?
To Serve our Bosses ~ 

To Serve our Friends ~ 

To Serve our neighbours ~ 

To Serve our Partners .. always remember serving fully is Not for personal gain, in fact the glory goes to the Lord God, and only God.

[KJV] 13:16 “Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master ”
V17 “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them”
V17 [NLT] “Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them”

   Jesus’ is telling us that now you know, and understand, just what being a servant is about, God said that for being a good servant, He will bless our faithfulness.

Prayer

Lord god we humble ourselves to this study that hearts and minds may be opened to revelstion to a way of living, that you'll bless. For as it was as easy for Christ Jesus to do then may we also come to servanthood with a humbled heart & spirit, that it blesses those we serve.

Why Life’s Better as a Servant ... Part 2

Part 2

Why Life’s Better as a  Servant

   Now I have your attention, I want to speak to you a little about this subject. Being, or having, a servants attitude has far greater connotations, In that this is a way of life. To make this point clear I’m not talking about the servants o ‘Downton Abby’. I’m talking to husbands, serve you wives, and wives serve your husbands. For you can’t be a servant of God, this without serving first.
   Many of you know how long I’ve been married to Bet [23yrs for those who didn’t. Whilst doing this study I have become challenged, in as much as God said I needed to serve Betty better, “He asked me do I serve, or make me each day better servant for Betty?” I truly found myself wanting on both counts. Now after thanking God before breakfast .. for a roof over our heads .. A good bed to sleep on .. The very air we breath ..

• I ask god how can I make/serve Betty in any way.
• The best wife a man could pray for.
• Fresh water & Food to eat...and so much much more.
• Hence why I ask how can I make the day better.

   Surely being a Minister/leader, you are there to serve? A ‘Minister’, is not just there for Sundays, they are not looking to just around during the and only giving sermons on Sunday, they are there t0 serve lead & comfort folk. They greatest leader of all was Christ Jesus. Always remember to inter lock together you can’t be a leader without the knowledge of how to serve, and visa versa.
Matthew 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve”

   Its crazy to think how such a simple message does not get tough as much as it should. May be it would highlight their our short comings. When it shows clearly we need to be Servers to others just as He did . . .
Philippians 2:15 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”
. . . lets just pause here for a second .. “Let this mind” .. in other words to take on the same mind set as Christ Jesus, which can’t be a bad thing. Surely as Christians our attitude towards how we believe, should be one of a ‘Servant’, and sereve just as Christ came to do.
Philippians 2:6/7 “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” ..

   He didn’t choose , nor look for the equality with God, instead He chose to be that of a servant. Jesus could have made His role far more powerful. For sure He had the power to do so. Instead his ..Humanity .. was ans is unparalleled, for He always shows His quality of having a modest, or low, view of His own importance. Christ, like humanity is manifest in the freedom of God’s Son to affirm the fullness of all God has placed in Him. We should be openly willing to look beyond our own interests, for the sake of others. How come is it in today’s society we think of ourselves too good to be servants, even thinking it is well below us . . .
V7 “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant”
. . . it would be the CEO/ Owner of a major company shedding his fancy clothes, and becoming a regular ‘Joe Bloggs’, on the factory/shop/warehouse floor ..”of no reputation” .. so he saw what you did, heard what you did. Jesus, (and I’m paraphrasing here), was like ‘I don’t care what you think of me’. Unlike today we are consumed be our ‘image’, for some it’s all they can think about, ‘smile for perfect pic’ click goes the camera on their phone, from when they wake in the morning, till they close their eyes at night.

   We should not let what others think about us ..”of no reputation” [V7].. How can you even contemplate being a servant, if your worried what other people think of you? The only one that should worry about is Jesus, so with humility in your heart is the only way to approach being a servant. . .
Philippians 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, . . . OK wait for this next part .. He humbled Himself and became obedient”
. . . so our call to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift us up. Surely humbling ourselves, opens us up to increased grace?

   It’s been pointed out the major reason for NOT humbling ourselves to being a servant is the question of .. “What’s in it for me?” .. Commonly known as ..Self~centredness .. even .. Pride ..pops it’s ugly head and says ..’Woo Hoo everyone is looking at me’ .. ‘Ain’t I great for doing this1’ .. even to point opf lying to make themselves look~seem important. . .

Jesus humbled himself, even the Son of God.

Are you, also willing to humbling yourself?

Even to being more Christ like?

. . .It is time to humble yourself to what God has called you to be, are you ready? Don’t be scared as God will supply ‘ALL’ your needs, all He asks for in return is, humbled faith from us, the truth is can we do this?

John 13:12 “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?”

   As we have allowed for God to be taken out of our schools ~ Work ~ even our Courtrooms. The later meaning swearing on the bible means so little you might as well swear on a ‘cook-book’. In ?Hebrews it tells us to .. “give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away” [Hebrews 2:1]. Just because we live in a technological World, there are so many distractions it takes/requires immense discipline to black them out, instead of letting Gods living World to dominate your life, and not your mobile phone ~ game boys ~ Xbox ~ Play stations etc.
[NLT]Hebrews 2:1 “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it”

   Being a servant is far greater just washing feet. [John 13:15] is where Jesus explains His example .. “I have given you an example to follow” .. All Jesus wanted to do was getting His point over, in as much as Jesus example, they are to serve one another, as he had just done. Serving is so much more, much bigger than washing feet. I know I’m repeating myself here, I’m trying to get the old sticky penny to drop. What is serving I here you asking? Well .. Some of theses examples should know more than most .. Church Minister ~ Paster ~ Clergyman ~ Church Deacons ~ Ushers ~Evangelists ~ Christ Jesus our King of Kings Alpha & Omega .. Father God came to serve us, we have NO excuses to serve one another.

 It is NEVER beneath us!

Prayer

Heavenly Father thank you for you living Word, in the coming week, place in our hearts humility, that we become more like yourself. With a willingness to humble ourselves to be better servants. That it profits us not, only those we are serving.

56:170921

Part 1 of 

Why Life’s Better as a
Servant

These are the translations I used in this study, and their abbreviations ..
*[KJV] :~ King James Version
*[JKV] :~ New King James Version
*[NLT] :~ New Living Translation
*[JKV] Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many”
   In this verse there is one major thing that stands out, that goes to the heart of Jesus’ character, was how much in His life, Jesus was unselfish. You don’t ever read about when Jesus had turned one’s down, because He could not be bothered, for instance when dying on the cross, He could have turned to the other 2 and said “I’m dying here your too late .. leave me alone” ...
*[NLT] Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” ...
. . .The NLT In this verse it says .. “ but to serve others” .. as we slowly unravel Jesus’ message, which is one of the more prevalent ones. Listen closer to this next segment. Just think, what if Jesus only came to ‘be served’? We could never have had the opportunity to come to The Father God, man the mess, in the dark oppressive life we would be blindly facing.

   How can anyone measure the awesomeness that is the ‘Enmity’ of God’s glory, pouring himself into human form flesh, all for us, W O W. To this date since finding this out it still truly still blows my mind. Every time I spend any length of time giving this thought, I’m left thinking with a great appreciation, and love for our God. I know I have a very large body of text, but you’ll need to read to understand the rest of this sermon as I will be referring to it as we go forth. This is Jesus’ exemplar of being a servant ..
KJV:~ John 13:1-5 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded"
NLT:~ “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him"
KJV:~ 13:12-17 “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them"
NLT:~”After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? 13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.17 Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them"
   I want you to think back to what both called a road, what foot ware. The roads back then, when towns roads were dirty, with all manner of waste (that’s the polite way of describing them), and dusty too. It was customary that when you attended someone’s house, there was a servant to wash your feet. This was so that you did not walk anything from outside in. This is what Jesus wanted to try and show the Apostles that He came to serve, and to be a servant. He showed that He wanted that they were to behave this way and think not to think of it below them, no matter the subject. Just to think of as did Christ Jesus, that the very Son of God chose to serve, and washed and dried their feet, He came to serve, but NOT be served. V12 says .. “know what I have done to you?” .. Jesus was telling them ‘Do you fully grasp, even comprehend, what has happened here?’ .. ‘Think of who I AM, think of what I’m showing you, now let the penny drop, then know who I become to you?’

   V13 Tells them .. “ You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am” .. Jesus washed their feet, and asked, so you to should now wash one another's feet, therefore becoming servants to each other ..

Please Note#

“Serving, is not about what others can do for you,

rather what you can do for others, whilst NOT

looking for anything in return”

. . . This is why our society today is falling apart at the seems. The reason being as most peoples thinking ig .. I Me My Mine .. always have selfish wants .. ‘If it profits ME not, I don’t want to know’ .. or .. ‘I deserve that job’ ..or even more a thought of ..’I did nothing to deserve them, but should have four [4] holidays a year ..With regret I know all to well this type of person, do you?

   Just as Jesus served His disciples, He was saying to them, now I want you to be servants, even a servant to your neighbour .. KJV - 15 “I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” .. it’s more than just washing each others/neighbours feet. For to serve has to start with a question like ..’How Can I help you out?’ .. or .. ‘know they are in need, how can I full fill that need without fanfare for myself?’ .. This is much bigger, so much bigger no matter if Royalty ~ General of military ~ Company Directer or CEO.

John 13:13 [KJV]* “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am” *King James Version
John 13:16 “The servant is not greater than his lord"
[KJV] :17 “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them”
[NLT] :17 “Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them”
   Jesus is trying to let us know and understand, just exactly what being a servant is about. God has told us that for being a good servant, He will bless our faithfulness. God will want to know, are you being a good servant? Well are you. Who have you helped out without fanfare? He wants to know who we have helped out without the ‘look at me and what I have done’, like ~ Work ~ Friends ~ Family ~ Neighbours? Even your bosses? I want to show you now something from Philippians that breaks down the elements of being a good good servant …

Philippians 2:1~7
V1:~ “Consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love”
V2:~ “being like-minded, being of one accord, of one mind"
Having the same thoughts of Jesus, wanting the same as
Him.
V3:~ “nothing be done through selfish ambition [comparing
yourself to another] or conceit or vain glory, but in
lowliness” ... [ vain glory:- serving for selfish ends] If,
and be careful here, you serve in Vain glory will only
in strife, who honestly wants MORE strife today.
V4:~ “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests”
So not your own interests, but we encouraged to look out
and help others with out reward.
V5:~ “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”
V6:~ "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God”
V7:~ “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a
bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” . . . This attitude, being our own attitude. Like say that of a .. Butcher ~ Baker ~ Sales person ~ an Athlete or a Soldier and so many more. I know of a person who had a family ‘mask’ the replaced with one for work, we all do this. In other words, they changed their attitude. To be a servant to all who come to their work.

  Because now in the flesh, He [Lord God] humbled Himself even unto death .. V8 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” .. humility has to be the main ingredient of being a servant. For without humility, it would be almost impossible to to be a servant. Whilst being a servant, it is no longer your will being done,, but you masters will that be done. Whilst here it is gods, but can equally be your .. Parents ~ Work Bosses ~ friends ~ neighbours, hoping by now your getting what I’m trying to convey.
    1) Humility :~ Often when looking for in today’s society, Humility has become as rare as white Truffles. In the space of a generation, we have gone from being able to speak frankly (even to a friend), to having girdle our mouths, in our own homes, as much as having to close our windows, to be able to speak openly with your spouse.
    2) Power :~ What we need to think on is that your energy suppliers, give us this power, (praise god for them), to make light where there is none, to bring heat where it’s cold. The energy suppliers leave this power in our own hands, to decide how use it, and up to us to turn the power on. Just as our Lord has given us power to us.

‘How will you use your Heavenly power?’

   One of the biggest reasons for unanswered prayer, is that we ask God for that which he already done, even if we don’t see it right away, or He already has given us both the power & authority to use. It would be like asking your gardener to mow the lawn when he he just done so, how stupid that would be. . .

• So then why would God answer your prayer, when He has already done so?
• No amount of badgering will make a bit of difference.
• Answer you for what He told you to do?
• How many really believe they have power from God in their prayers?
• How many speak in authority whilst praying?
• How many have faith in their prayers?We have to walk in Faith ~ Belief ~ Authority? That’s if we truly want change .. in our lives .. Jobs .. where we live!

[NKJ] Matthew 10:1 “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease”
   What Jesus is warning here is, for us to be born again and whom are not. You need to ‘Born-again’, [John 3:3*], or you will not know; be frustrated; left banging your head against the brick wall. SURPRISE .. We have had power the moment we became saved – Born-again.

Q: What is it to have this power?

A: It is the ability to get the job done.

# As a Christian, I’m not powerless #