Greetings to you, my friend. I’m Mack Lyon. The program’s a Bible study program In Search of the Lord's Way. If we could choose to be about anything we want to be in life, not many of us would choose to be servants. But in spite of this, Jesus considered Himself a servant. What is there about being a servant that made Jesus prize it so highly? Stay tuned and we’ll see.
My friend, it gives me great joy to welcome you to our program “In Search of the Lord's Way to become a Christian and to live the most satisfying, the most rewarding life that man has ever been introduced to on this earth. Oh yes! I’ve studied others, but I’ve studied the Lord’s way as set forth in the “Sermon on the Mount” in the New Testament book of Matthew chapters five, six and seven, too; and I found it to be all that it claims to be. I highly recommend it to you.
The program, this program is in its 29th year of continual broadcast. There are not many religious TV programs that have been around for that long. We’re presented on this radio or television station by your friends locally. They are your friends; perhaps your neighbors. They’re all members of some of the churches of Christ in the area served by this station. So, because of them we won’t be hassling you for money. Say, why don’t you look up one of these churches that’s near you, pay them a visit and tell them “thanks” for the program? Do that real soon, will you? You may need help locating one of those churches and so for that help you may, or for a free copy of today’s message titled, “A Servant’s Heart” by Phil Sanders, or for any other reason, you may use our toll-free telephone number 1-800-321-8633. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK. The zip code is 73083 or by e-mail it’s searchtv@searchtv.org. We would be happy to have you visit us at our website, too, at www.searchtv.org. Ken Helterbrand’s going to lead us now as we sing, then Phil Sanders will be here to read 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 19 through 23.
Hello! I’m Phil Sanders. It is such a pleasure to be with you and, of course, to study the Bible with Mack Lyon. Today our reading comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 19 through 23. “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.” That reading is from the New King James Version. Let’s pray together. O Lord, we are grateful for all of the joy we have in Christ Jesus; and, Father, we are thankful for the opportunity to be servants to You and to Your Son. May we serve faithfully. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
If you could choose to be anything in life you wanted, you might choose to be a doctor, lawyer, a businessman, maybe an entertainer, or athlete, or leader, or even President? Let me ask you: would you choose to be a slave? But this is how Paul describes himself in Philippians 1, verse 1, “Paul and Timothy, bond-servants [that is slaves] of Christ Jesus.” Paul said he was a slave in chains.
According to Roman law, a slave was a “thing,” chattel to be bought and sold. A person in slavery couldn’t contract a marriage; he couldn’t represent himself in court, or inherit property. Slaves were often subject to more severe punishment than their owners for crimes. Slaves counted for nearly one-third of the population in the larger cities like Rome in the days of Jesus. Slaves had no time which they could call their own; every moment belonged to the master and was at his master’s disposal. Slavery is the total subjection of one person to another. A slave was part of the master’s household and belonged to him.
Now, under the influence of Roman law, a slave was used and disposed of in whatever way the owner wished to do so. Some people became slaves by being captured in war; some were abducted or kidnapped into slavery; some were sold into slavery to pay off a debt or maybe to pay for a crime; some were born into slavery; but some voluntarily became slaves out of love to their masters.
One might ask why would anyone become a slave voluntarily. Well, the Old Testament gives us a reason. It is found in the book of Exodus chapter 21, verses 2 to 6; it says: “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God; then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”
People become voluntary servants because there is a force that is inside of them stronger than personal desire. That force is love. Second Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15 says, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” The love of Christ, who died for us, is so strong that we are willing to pledge our lives to Him as His servants forever. We belong to Him. We can do this without fear, because Jesus the Lord knows what it is to be a servant himself. Jesus chose to make himself a servant. You’ll remember, you remember that night that they instituted the Lord’s Supper, Jesus laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, you remember He tied it around his waist; and then he poured water into a basin and He began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
John 13, verses 12 to 17 says that: “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.’” My friend, that’s the heart of a servant.
Jesus took the role of a servant to show us what kind of people that he wanted us to be. You see, in God’s eyes the greater the servant, the greater the person is. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 23, verses 11 and 12 that, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” The Lord blesses the person who is humble and is willing to serve others. First Peter 5 and verse 5 says, “God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”
The very first verse of the Sermon on the Mount says in Matthew 5 and verse 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus knew that the person who was rich in spirit was full of himself; and the Lord Jesus couldn’t use a man like that. A person “poor in spirit” knew that he needed the Lord, that he couldn’t live without Jesus. But a person full of himself lives like he wants to live; and he sees no need to have a master. Only people who know they love and need God will find the blessing of God. We need the Lord. We cannot survive without the wisdom that is from the Bible, that help that comes through prayer, and the love of God.
You see, Jesus did more as a servant than merely just wash some feet. He gave his entire life in service to God and to you and me. He left all the glories of heaven; and came to earth and he became a man so that you and I could have hope and forgiveness. Philippians 2, verses 5 through 8 is one of the grandest passages of all the Bible; and it says: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, even death on a cross.”
Jesus was arrested like a common criminal; he was betrayed by Judas; falsely tried; beaten; ridiculed; denied by Peter; scourged; he was forced to carry the cross; he was stripped of his clothing, and nailed to that cross in front of a crowd. Oh, what a painful, public, and humiliating death. Going to the cross could not have been easy. You remember the time that Jesus spent in the Garden of Gethsemane. That must have been really difficult. Jesus knew that he would have to bear the cross. In the garden He knelt down; he prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22, verse 42). My friend, that’s the heart and the soul of a servant.
Now, why would Jesus choose to die on a cross? He did because He came to do what His Father wanted Him to do! A faithful servant, Jesus, he didn’t complain; he didn’t argue with his Father, or take revenge on His enemies. He didn’t ask, “Why me, God?” or lose sight of what he came to do. Now, he hated the thought of being shamed and being crucified, but he was willing to do it. He was simply obedient. Jesus is the true servant of all time to all people.
The Lord Jesus is the example of what the Father in heaven really desires us to do. Jesus, in serving his Father, also served you and me. Second Corinthians 8 and verse 9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” He obeyed his Father, but He did it to give us a home in heaven. The Bible gives us a little more information in the book of 1 Peter 2 and verse 24 where it says that, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
You see, Jesus practiced what the Scriptures teach us in Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4. The Bible there says, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” You see, that’s a servant’s heart. Jesus thought your interests, my interests were more important than his own. He sacrificed his own body on the cross so that you could be sin-free and righteous. He made himself nothing, so that you could be somebody in God’s eyes. He loved you more than he loved life. Now, if Jesus could obey His Father for your sake, can you and will you obey Him? The Bible says in Hebrews 5, verse 8 and 9, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” Now, if you are to be a faithful servant of God, you too have to learn to obey. A faithful servant makes it his aim to be faithful, to love God and to serve.
A faithful Christian who wanted to serve once asked an elder, “How do I know when I am a servant?” And the elder replied, “When people treat you like one.” My friend, when people treat you poorly or ask you to do something that you find demeaning you’ll begin to understand what it means to be a servant. The human in all of us wants to get proud and ask, “Don’t you know who I am?” But when we take a look at Jesus our Lord, when we see him on the cross, we remember that we are but his servants. Because Christ Jesus came to the world clothed in humility, he will always be found among those who are clothed with humility.
The Bible teaches in Philippians 2, verses 14 to 16: “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.” My friend, serving the Lord and serving others around us sometimes may be difficult. But let’s do it with a smile, knowing that we are not just serving people around us, but we are serving God and serving our Lord Christ. You know, in a dark and selfish world, it is marvelous to know that there are people who freely give of themselves to make it better for others.
In Mark 10, verses 42 to 45 the Bible says: “And Jesus called them (that is his disciples) to him and said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”
Many churches focus on what the individual, what “I” want or what the individual likes. And some people want a church that makes them feel good about themselves but does not try to change them. But the Christianity of the Bible is not about “being served”; it is about serving God and serving others. It’s about dying to self and living for the Lord. The apostle Paul said in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
I tell you if we are God’s slaves, His servants, God must be our undisputed master. We don’t ask, “Well, what do I want or what do I wish?” We ask, “What does God wish for me to do and to be?” Our time, our talent, our hearts, and our lives belong to God. The Lord Jesus said in John 8 and verse 29, “for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” We should imitate that servant heart. The Bible says in Romans 6 and verse 16, “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves that you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Each of us is choosing a master. Now, you can choose to serve what you desire, but it won’t help you. But if you choose to serve the Lord, He will bless you and honor you beyond your dreams.
We choose the Lord by obedience. Romans 6 and verse 17-18 says, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to that standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, you have become the slaves of righteousness.” We obey that teaching out of love, when we place our trust in the Lord Jesus; when we repent of our sins, confess Him to be the Son of God, and are baptized (that is immersed) into Christ. Why in baptism, all our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus and we become the servants of righteousness. Won’t you become a slave of God? Let’s pray. O Lord, bless us always to be servants of You and to obey You in everything. That we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen!
Thank you, brother Phil, for a fine message about choosing to be a servant or a slave of Christ and how to become so. The key to it is humbling one’s self to obedience to Christ. If you’re thinking, for example, “Oh, I don’t think it’s necessary for me to be baptized,” I’m sorry, friend, you’re not ready to “accept Christ” as you are being told that you must. Anyway, thank you, Phil for a good message.
For your free copy of the message titled “A Servant’s Heart” address your request to In Search of the Lord's Way,” P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. You might just prefer to call us. In that case you may use our toll-free number 1-800-321-8633 and we’ll even pay for the call if you use that number. For more information about us, visit our website, www.searchtv.org. Say, I hope you’ll join us again next week. I hope that you will also be telling some of your friends, maybe your next door neighbors, maybe those across the street, or wherever about the program and they might learn the way of truth also. And you might announce it at Bible Class at church, also. Say I hope you will be with us. God bless you, now. We love you.
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