rick warren, purpose driven life: section 34

Thinking Like a Servant

Section 34Pages 265-271

Monday 15 November 2010

Service starts in your mind


To be a servant requires a mental shift - our attitude needs to be changed - God is interested in why we do something.

King Amaziah:

2 Chron 25:2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly.


Servants think more about others than about themselves

Humility is not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less.

Php 2:4 TM

Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.


Lose your life by focussing on others.

Jesus emptied himself and took the nature of a servant.

You cannot be full of yourself and be a servant too.

Do you serve to be admired - or to get your own way?

Self forgetfulness and denial are rare qualities - Timothy - Php 2:20-21 I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.


Servants think like stewards not owners

God owns it all - not me, he just trusts me to take care of things - e.g. Joseph.

Servant and steward go together.

1 Cor 4:2 - Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.


To be a servant you have to settle the issue of money in your life:

Luke 16:13 - “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Money has the greatest potential to replace God in your life - servants are more concerned with ministry than money


God uses money to test your faithfulness as a servant. Jesus talked more about money than about heaven or hell.

Luke 16:11 - So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?


3. Servants think about their work, not what others are doing

They don’t compare, criticise or compete with other ministries - they do the work God has given them to do.

Gal 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

We are all on the same team, God’s - don’t spend your time criticising others.


The bad news is that by loving and serving jesus criticism becomes inevitable: Consider Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with nard - Matt 26:8-10

When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.


Servants base theiridentity in Christ

A servant is loved and accepted by grace - they have nothing to prove - thus they do things that are “beneath” other people.

Jesus washed his disciples feet.

Only secure people serve.


“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”

Henri Nouwen

Servants don’t need titles or special dress, or awards on their walls, or self promotion - James the brother of Jesus called himself a servant - James 1:1


Servants think of their ministry as an opportunity not an obligation

Ps 100:2 - serve the Lord with gladness

It is out of our relationship to, and grace from, Jesus that we should enjoy serving.

John 12:26 - Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.


Heb 6:10 - God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.


Point to ponder

To be a servant you must think like a servant


Verse to remember

Php 2:5

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus


Question to consider

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


rick warren, purpose driven life: section 34

Spiritual