Ephesians 3:7-9 Developing a Servant's Heart

Developing a servant's Heart

Ephesians 3:7-9

How many of you would like to be come a servant? When we think of a servant we think of someone who is poorly paid and has to work hard for long hours. How many of you would like to become a servant. I think I need a servant. Would you like to come and work for me?

In the scriptures people became servants either because they were not able to make it financially and had to "sell themselves" to pay off a debt or they were taken as captives in war and forced into becoming slaves.

Today there are very few servants in our society who actually work for someone and are taken care of for life by one person. Today instead of being servants we are employees.
Paul declares, "I became a servant." When we become a servant of God we do not have to fear about working in our own strength. Instead Paul declares that it was a gift of grace that brought him to the point of becoming a servant. The fantastic privilege of being a servant of Jesus Christ also means that God will also give us the power to do the job. It is through the working of God's power that Paul felt the energy of God.

How many of you think you are effective Christians? How many of you want to be effective Christians? This verse holds a key to being effective. If we work though the power of God we will experience a new energy flowing though our body. We will gain new spiritual power as we submit and deepen our relationship to God.

Jesus showed us how to become a servant. Philippians 2:5- 7 "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." These verse tell us that Jesus came to be a servant. How different that is from the leaders of our day who are so proud and arrogant, seeking for power and wealth.

Jesus demonstrated true servanthood to his disciples so that they would get the true message of being a great leader. Just before he went to the cross after spending about 3 years with his 12 disciples he had one last meal with them. His disciples were arguing about who would become the greatest amongst themselves. John 13: 3 ff. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him." Skip down to verse 15 - 17. Jesus asks his disciples - do you know what I have done? "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

Who would like to get a blessing from an all-powerful God? If we follow the footsteps of Jesus we will be blessed. If we become a servant of the gospel Jesus will bless you. Some of you are bored with life, you do not know how to keep busy in a positive way. This is the best way to expand your blessings. We need to be servants to others and minister to them. Find something which will encourage or help someone else and then do it. The greatest gift we can give someone is the gift of God. Have you given someone that gift lately?

I read a book over the Christmas vacation. This book spoke about God making our ministry more effective. The author Bruce Wilkinson said that the more that we spend time with God the more effective our ministry will become. We will not only bear fruit in our ministry but we will bear much fruit. This does not seem to make sense to the secular person but we can see from verse 7 that it is through the working of God's power that we are effective. It is not in our own power that we can have spiritual power but it is only through the power of God that we see spiritual fruit. God does not give us a pile of commandments and then expects us to dig ourselves out from underneath that pile some time before we die but rather when he gives us an assignment he also gives us the power to do it. We may not be perfect at what we do but if we rely on God's power and not our own, even if we do what the world might consider a poor job, we can still have an effective job if we are willing to rely of God's blessing and not our own strength. If we all expected perfection from others nothing would get done. God blesses those who make an effort to do what God has gifted them to do.

Paul says that his ministry was a result of the working of God's mighty power. That is why Paul says here that he is a servant and that it is only through the grace of God that he has become a servant of the gospel. Paul recognized that God used him as a servant and so he was humbled and glad to be Christ's servant. I suppose that many of you feel like I do and Paul does here. We are not particularly gifted individuals but we want to be faithful individuals. Because Paul went along with Barnabas from his comfortable family home in Tarsus to Antioch, God was able to set him apart through the guidance of the church there and the Holy Spirit. If we read through the book of Acts, we see that God was able to use Paul in a mighty way for the blessing of people in the then known Roman world. But Paul did not see his ministry as something which he was able to accomplish in his own power but he recognized that it was God's grace and power that was at work in his life and the fruit was a result of that great grace give to him by God. What was the theme of the message that Paul shared with others? Here Paul says that he preached about the unsearchable riches of Christ and he wanted everyone to know that it was not just for the Jews but for all people in this world. Paul did not have a ministry to make people feel good or to entertain them by his great musical or oratorio (speaking) powers as many modern evangelists do. He shared from his heart the great gems of the life and death of Christ which alone can satisfy our deepest desires.

We could try to buy the most glamorous outfit, enhanced by the world's most precious jewels but we could never satisfy the real deep desires of our heart. Clothes and jewellery are nice but they never make us a great man or woman. What makes a great man or woman is true inner character and a passion to help others. Not really concerned about personal ambition or becoming a great and powerful person but becoming the servant of all. Jesus spoke much about serving. He said, "He who is least in the kingdom will be placed in the places of greatest honour. Those that think of themselves as great will be left with the masses because they have all the same attitudes of pride and selfishness.

We should be careful who we have as our heroes. The media has attempted to make movie actors and actresses, world leaders or the rich and powerful people as the model for the world. Perhaps as we see the Olympics, the Superbowl, or the Stanley Cup playoffs we may think of these great athletes as heros. None of these should become our hero. The only one we should be making as our hero is Jesus Christ.

One of our life goals should be to look to Jesus to see his beauty and grace and to try to be like Him. The only way the we can get to know Him better is to spend time with Him and read, study and practice everything we learn about Him. I know this is a real challenge as I too live a busy life. I want to be a servant to others, to help them and do what I can to encourage and be a blessing to others so that they might see some of Jesus in me. If I do not take time to study the model how can others see Jesus in my life? If an artist wants to draw a portrait of you and then goes off and draws a picture of you without studying your features or your character the result will not look anything like you. So too if we want to be like Christ and understand the riches He has to offer we need to take time to learn from the Bible what Jesus was really like. I believe that this is the only way to be a faithful servant of Jesus Christ and in the end receive the best reward of God saying at the judgement, "Well done thou good and faithful servant."

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Feb 9, 2002