“Developing a Servant’s Heart”1
Part 2: “What Would It Take…?” Summertime Narratives
Scripture Reading2: Mark 10:35-45 adapted
35
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and said,
“Teacher, we want to ask you to do something for us.”
36
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked them.
37
They answered, “When you sit on your throne in your glorious Kingdom,
we want you to let us sit with you, one at your right and one at your left.”
38
Jesus told them, “You don’t really understand what you’re asking! Can you
drink the bitter cup of suffering that I must drink? And are you able to be
baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”
39
“Oh yes,” James and John replied, “we are able!”
Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink the cup I must drink and be
baptized in the way I must be baptized. 40 But I do not have the right to
choose who will sit at my right and my left. God has prepared those places
for the ones he has chosen.”
41
When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they
were indignant and began to be angry with James and John.
42
So Jesus called them all together to him and said, “The other nations have
rulers. You know that those rulers love to show their power over the people,
and their important leaders love to use all their authority. 43But don’t act like
them. It should not be that way among you. Whoever wants to become great
among you must be the servant of all the others. 44Whoever wants to become
the first among you must serve all of you like a slave. 45It’s the same way
with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve him. He came
to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.”
Introduction
Jesus is calling all of us to follow Him and to live like He lived,
to live a lifestyle of Christlikeness.
Jesus is the all-time Greatest Servant that ever lived.
Over and over our Lord taught His Disciples that in His Kingdom the way to true greatness,
ultimate fulfillment
and maximum joy was to “descend into greatness” all the way down to the exalted role of
a Servant.
That is exactly what Jesus did and before we can become DiscipleMakers we will need to
cultivate the heart of a Servant as our Lord demonstrated.
Slave of All Mark 10:43-45 adapted
43
But don’t act like them. It should not be that way among you. Whoever
wants to become great among you must be the servant of all the others.
1
From material – The Master’s Plan, prepared by Rev. Craig Wesley Rench, Pastor, Anaheim First Church of
the Nazarene, and presented through the services of the Church of the Nazarene – USA/Canada Region
2
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scriptures are adapted from:
Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of
Baker Publishing Group
Good News Translation (GNT) Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society
New Century Version (NCV) The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson,
Inc.
New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All
rights reserved.
44
Whoever wants to become the first among you must serve all of you like a
slave. 45It’s the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others
could serve him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many
people.” (Mark 10:43-45 adapted)
I want to encourage each of you – Unbelievers – Believers – some Followers – some
Disciples who are now becoming more than Disciples . . . I want to encourage you to “pursue
the high goal of becoming a Christlike selfless Servant.” (Rench, 2013)
In these next few weeks, we want to give each of you Scriptural backgrounds that will help
you in developing a Servant’s heart and attitude that will bring God great glory and result in a
life-time of godly service and much fruit as a Servant-Leader DiscipleMaker someday.
Some of these Scriptural examinations will be interactive studies as we look at these
Scriptures together.
[ Interactive study of Mark 10:35-45 ]
Taking material from The Master’s Plan (Master's Plan Course – Servant's Course: LESSON 1 Sessions 1 and 2 - More Than A Disciple - A Servant - Part I) prepared by Rev. Craig Wesley Rench,
the pastor of Anaheim First Church of the Nazarene and presented through the services of
the Church of the Nazarene – USA/Canada Region, I would like to share some key definitions
or key concepts that are important. (Rench, 2013)
1. True servanthood is a foreign concept to most of us.
We are not born with an innate desire and urge to become a selfless servant of
anybody!
Our fallen, sinful, selfish nature wants to be “in charge”.
Naturally we want to be “the boss” who is served by everybody else!
2. Jesus’ original 12 struggled greatly with this idea of being a servant to all, even the
level of being a slave to others.
Again and again, our Lord Jesus attempted to teach these first disciples that there was
much more to being a disciple of his than merely preaching,
teaching,
doing miracles,
healing everybody,
casting out demons
and raising the dead . . . that “much more” involved becoming the “servant” or
“slave” of everybody else!
3. Jesus not only taught this powerful life-transforming principle but he demonstrated it
and lived it out in many ways.
4. Our greatest joy will come from being a Servant of God who truly serves
everybody else . . . just like Jesus did.
5. A true Servant’s heart is not natural, but it can be cultivated and developed along with
God’s sanctifying power in our lives.
6. The disciples would have their hearts purified and transformed at Pentecost by the
baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit and they became the world-class Selfless Servants
that Jesus wanted them to become someday.
7. We dare not attempt to make Disciples of Jesus until we begin to take on the role and
posture of a Servant.
God has not called us to dominate and “boss” our young new Christians in some sort
of authoritarian way.
They are not our servants . . . we are their servants to help them grow and become
like Jesus and become disciples who do everything that Jesus told us to do . . .
including making disciples and becoming the servants of all.
DiscipleMaking is hard work!
Doing consolidation work, that is, following-up on new Christians is not easy.
Without a Servant’s heart we will quit and get discouraged.
Only real Servants will ever become effective, steadfast DiscipleMakers.
8. You were created by God to serve.
9. You will never know the maximum joy and fulfillment that God wants you to enjoy until
you follow Jesus down the path of servanthood.
A. Jesus the King of Kings Became the Greatest Servant of All Philippians 2:3-8 adapted
The very person who deserved the highest glory and praise, who commands the greatest
service . . . decided to come to earth and become a servant of astonishingly ‘low’ levels.
Don't do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but
be humble toward one another, always considering others better than
yourselves. Don’t be concerned only about your own interests, but also be
concerned about the interests of others. And think the same way that Christ
Jesus thought:
“Although he was in the form of God and equal with God, he did not
think that being equal with God was something to be used for his own
benefit. Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and
took the nature of a servant – the humble position of a slave and was
born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled
himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”
Look what our Lord Jesus did!
And He calls us to do the same.
That Thursday night that Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples, he demonstrated
this kind of phenomenal servanthood.
The disciples had once again been arguing over which one of them was the greatest of the
bunch (each one arguing that they should be the one who should have the best position!).
Jesus had just told them that one of them was going to betray Him!
The disciples started arguing about who would ever do such a thing.
Then a quarrel broke out among the disciples. They argued about who
should be considered the greatest. So Jesus told them:
“Foreign kings order their people around, and powerful rulers call
themselves everyone’s friends. But among you it will be different. Those
who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the
leader should be like a servant. Who’s the greatest, the person who sits
at the table or the servant? Isn’t it really the person who sits at the
table? But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.”
Then Jesus shocked every one of them when he demonstrated exactly what he was talking
about:
Jesus knew that the Father had given him complete power; he knew that he
had come from God and was going to God. So during the meal Jesus stood
up and took off his outer clothing. Taking a towel, he wrapped it around his
waist. Then he poured some water into a washbasin and began to wash the
disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put his outer garment back on
and returned to his place at the table.
Then he asked his disciples, “Do you understand what I have just done to
you? You call me your teacher and Lord, and you should, because that is
who I am. So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should
do the same for each other. I have set an example for you so that you should
do as I have done for you. 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. Now that you know this truth, God will bless you, if you do these
things.
What a great and marvelous God we have!
Jesus became God’s Suffering Servant that Isaiah talked about by going to the cross for us.
He became our Servant by giving his life in brokenness and humility so that we could be
saved forever.
He continues to serve us day and night in the great ministry of intercession for us!
Jesus is the Greatest Servant of all time.
And our passion is to become like Jesus!
At least, it should be!
B. Jesus Taught a Lot About Selfless Servanthood Matthew 20:25-28; 23:10-12; Mark 9:3335, 10:43-45 adapted
Jesus called the disciples together and said: “You know that the rulers of
nations have absolute power over people and their officials have absolute
authority over people. This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If
one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest; 27 and if
one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others – like the
Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve him. He came to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many people.”
And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the
Messiah. The greatest one among you must be your servant. Whoever makes
himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be
made great.
After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his
disciples, “What were you arguing about on the road?”
But they would not answer him, because on the road they had been arguing
among themselves about who was the greatest. After Jesus sat down and
told the twelve disciples to gather around him, he said, “If you want the place
of honor, you must become a slave and serve others!”
But don’t act like them. It should not be that way among you. Whoever wants
to become great among you must be the servant of all the others. Whoever
wants to become the first among you must serve all of you like a slave. It’s
the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve
him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.”
This idea of servanthood was not just an asterisk or a footnote in the life of Jesus and his
teaching.
Servanthood was a dominant theme throughout his ministry and preaching.
Jesus was turning everyone’s expectations ‘upside-down’.
This teaching of Jesus was a very radical message about what is most important in the
Kingdom of God.
The “greatest” persons were not those who lorded it over others or who forced others to serve
them.
But those who are truly great in God’s eyes were the ones who voluntarily chose to “get low”
and humble themselves and serve others just as selflessly as Jesus did.
Jesus would go one to say that when we have done everything that God had required of us to
do, we still should only call ourselves by a lowly title:
“When you have done all you have been told to do, say, ‘We are ordinary
servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:10 GNT)
Most of us can’t even say we have reached such a level where we can truly say that we have
done everything that our Lord has commanded us to do . . . so, we haven’t even made it up to
the level of “ordinary servant” yet!
Lord, help us!
C. The First Apostles of Jesus Lived This Out and Taught This Powerful Theme as
Well
The apostle Paul constantly referred to Himself as a “servant”,
“bond-servant”,
“slave”,
or “bond-slave”.
So did James, the Lord’s half-brother.
Peter did the same thing.
Jude, another half-brother also called himself a “bond-servant.”
So did John the Apostle.
These great men of God knew that one of their greatest “claims to fame” was that they were
servants of Jesus and servants of Jesus’ people.
The word “minister” means “servant”.
Paul wrote that we were to serve one another.
“. . . let love make you serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13 GNT)
He also told us to submit to one another.
“Submit yourselves to one another because of your reverence for Christ.”
(Ephesians 5:21 GNT)
Again, I want to remind you that Paul told us that we were to honor everybody else as being
more important than we are. (see Philippians 2:3)
And again, that is what our Lord did.
He treated everybody with great honor and love.
He honored his disciples as if they were more important than He was . . . and in His eyes,
they were!
They were going to become DiscipleMakers!
They were going to do “even greater works” than He had done! (see John 14:12)
Service and serving are so important to Jesus that He is going to continue to serve us into
eternity!
D. Jesus, the Greatest Servant of All Is Going to Continue to Serve Us in Heaven –
as if We Were More Important than Him!
“Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with your lamps lit. Be
like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding
party. When he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him at once.
They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that
they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself
to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them. Those
servants are really fortunate if their master finds them ready, even though he
comes late at night or early in the morning. Remember this: If the owner of
the house knew what time a thief was coming, he would not allow the thief to
enter his house. And you, too, must be ready, because the Son of Man will
come at an hour when you are not expecting him.”
Let’s continue to follow our Lord Jesus as He leads us deeper and deeper downward . . .
descending into true kingdom greatness – all the way down – to a position much more exalted
in God’s eyes than “Leader” or “Master” or “Boss” – more than a Disciple . . . the position of
Christlike Selfless Servant!
Begin to ask God to give you the heart of a true Servant – the heart of Jesus the Greatest
Servant of all.
AMEN
Bibliography
CEV. (1995). Contemporary English Version (CEV). New York: American Bible Society.
GNT. (1992). Good News Translation (GNT)® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition). New York: American Bible Society.
God's Word to the Nations. (1995). GOD'S WORD Translation (GW). Cleveland, Ohio: God's Word to the Nations: Baker Publishing Group.
NLT. (2005). Holy Bible, The New Living Translation (NLT). Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Rench, C. W. (2013). The Master's Plan - Church of the Nazarene | USA/Canada Region. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from
usacanadaregion.org: http://usacanadaregion.org/masters-plan
The Holy Bible, New Century Version (NCV)®. (1987, 1988, 1991). Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc. (a subsidiary of
HarperCollins).