To understand what serving is, we must pay attention to the servant that God has put forward as his clearest example as to what it means to serve. Jesus is the Servant. If we want to know how God intends us to be (in any aspect of life) – we must look at Jesus Christ. He demonstrates what God means when he commands people to serve.
Jesus said: ‘The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.’ (Matthew 20.28) He asserts that serving was the purpose of his coming! He says it twice in one sentence; he introduces the negative first: “I didn’t come to be served” – it was not his plan to set up a palace in
If serving is such a fundamental (and exalted) part of the mission of Jesus Christ – then we who claim to follow him in his mission must be sure we understand serving and imitate him in it.
Some of us actually need to stop serving God – because we don’t understand what proper serving is. Our idea of service is actually offensive to God. For example, we may mistakenly think that God will get off our backs and leave us to enjoy life (as we have planned it) if we do a few ‘god’ things to satisfy him. Or, we may be trying to establish our credentials as one of God’s favourites by our good deeds. This kind of serving is all about us! We must stop it.
Some of us need to expand our serving – we need to lift up our eyes from the small ground in front of us to see that the opportunities for serving out what Christ is putting into our lives right now – are enormous! Our lack of service is making us unproductive; we are wasting our lives by sitting on treasures that can transform lives.
But if we can understand the motivation and purpose of Jesus, God’s supreme Servant, then we can learn how to be servants in the way that pleases God. Jesus said that his followers will reflect his likeness in our serving and we will be blessed by serving:
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13.12-17.
So, what does it mean to serve?
At its most basic it means to present something. You serve a tennis ball, because you are presenting it to your opponent. (In this case, you are hopeful that your presentation is so forceful that he/she will not be able to return the ball to you!) On a more polite level, a waiter serves food by presenting it to the diners. So, serving contains the idea of handing over to someone, something that they need or something good for them.
There are two kinds of serving. One kind of serving is where a person with greater resources presents to someone with lesser or no resources. The volunteer in the soup kitchen gives her time to prepare and provide food for the homeless person who has nothing to eat. She is a servant because she is ministering or presenting something good to someone in need from the resources of time, money and goodwill that she possesses.
The other kind of serving is where a person with no resources supports the work of someone with a plan. This kind of servant is employed, to do things on behalf of the employer. The house-girl is expected by the wealthy home-maker to serve by cleaning and tidying the house - and in doing this she is supporting and working to the priorities of the mistress of the house. The mistress may be planning a big family event. She has the plan and her house-girl serves that plan by carrying out her duties – even though she has no personal riches to do so. She is a servant.
Christian service means we should serve in both these ways.
We are enriched by Christ – he fills us with his own good things - so we must overflow that blessing to others. In particular, we have the good news (the gospel) which is the very information that distressed, disappointed and disconcerted people need. He grants us spiritual gifts (the ability to do Christian work effectively) and we use those gifts for the strengthening and blessing of the Church. However, we are also indebted to and dependent on Christ for our own livelihood. Like the house-girl, we also serve Christ by supporting his priorities. He owns our time and energy and we use it up for his plan to build the Church, because we love him and eagerly support his priorities.
Here are Two illustrations to explain these two aspects of the Christian’s servant role:
A. 2 Kings 7 has the account of a terrible siege of the city of
This illustrates the first kind of serving. Great blessing (too much for an individual to take in) is presented, in Christ, to those who also need God’s help. Everything that was accomplished by Christ for us (including rescue, forgiveness, peace, joy, love, enlightenment, a purpose, a future that can’t be cut off) is held in Christ for us. This awesome treasure that is Christ and in Christ, motivates us to share about Jesus Christ to the world (starting with those close to us) – it carries us out to bear witness to his good news through kind actions. We serve as the richer (because we share the riches of Christ) to the poorer (those still spiritually bereft). But, remembering the illustration of the four lepers outside the city wall - we don’t have the treasures to share with others except that they are first opened up to us!
B. The Old Testament a slave could commit himself to his master, even when he was free to go. Exodus 21.1-6 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
This illustrates the second aspect of serving. Back in those days, love for and confidence in the goodwill of the master, led some slaves to commit to his service for life. They could have gone free – but the fairness, kindness, prosperity and security of their master, led them to stay in his service and raise their families there. They were excited by the prospect of supporting the master’s priorities and seeing his plans prosper.
It is the same for Christians. The fairness, forgiveness, kindness, prosperity and security that there is in God’s household, leads us to give up a life outside of that. His goodness motivates us to forsake any kind of life outside the service and priorities of Christ. We die to ourselves and our self-centred plans so we can give our lives to serve him. This kind of serving is worship. Romans 12.1
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Our service is not trying to add anything to God because you cannot add anything to perfection! Our service declares God’s worth – that he and his ways are of highest value and we want to be found in him. Our service is worship! Do you realise that this is your purpose? This is your reason for existence: To show off the glory of God. That’s why you serve him: to display his goodness and show off his glory.
So, Christians have these two aspects to their serving:
1. They serve those who need what they also needed and have been given. They depend on Christ who provides for them everything they need. There is no personal credit in this service – all the glory belongs to Christ because when we serve, we are dishing out what has been dished out to us.
2. They serve Christ as willing dependents who are totally committed to his plans and priorities because they trust his love and goodwill.
