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WHAT EXACTLY IS SERVANTHOOD?

Servanthood is the state, condition, or quality of one who

Lives as a servant. Further, a servant is first of all one who

is under submission to another.

For Christians, this means submission to God first, and

then submission to one another.

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Principle: the purpose of serving others is to set them free

to love and serve God, not to make them our servants orto serve our wants or needs. We are all responsible to

serve one another, but never in order to be served or to

satisfy our immature cravings.

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Matthew 23:11-12

23:11 The greatest among you will be your servant.

23:12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled,

and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

1 Peter 5:6 NLT

Humility is seeing yourself as God sees you:

dark yet lovely (Song of Songs 1:5), weak yet

strong (2 Cor. 12:9), and poor yet spiritually

rich (2 Cor. 5:21). Humility is not thinking less

of yourself, but thinking less about yourself.Humility is not denigrating yourself by making

yourself out to be less than the total person

that God has gifted and called you to be as

his servant.

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CONCERNS TO CONSIDER

1) People too often serve others from their own

neurotic need for approval or for significance.

(2) We need to identify and work toward serving the

real needs of others and not their neurotic wants.

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Conditions that Hinder Servanthood

(1) The desire for status or to feel important is a

tremendous barrier to biblical servanthood.

(2) Human strategies to meet ones own felt needs pose

another hindrance to servant living.3) A poor concept of ones self-worth, along with a

faulty source for developing our self-worth, forms

another hindrance to effective servanthood.

(4) Self-centered living rather than in the Savior and

His purpose is another cause for failing to live as

servants.

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(5) The absence of a servants heart leads to playing

power games or spiritual king of the mountain.

(6) The absence of a servants heart is really the absence

of humility

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HOW CAN WE DEVELOP THE HEART OF A SERVANT?

(1) Though being God of very God, He humbledHimself by becoming true humanity and was

found in the form of a bond servant (Phil. 2:5-8)

and God highly exalted Him (vs. 9).

(2) If we are really following the Lord, we will beseeking to serve men (Mk. 10:45).

(3) In the supreme act of service as our Great High

Priest, Christ offered Himself on the cross as the

sacrifice for the sins of the world and remains

seated as our Advocate before God.

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(4) Facing the reality of our own weakness and need.

(5) Two more companion elements to living as servants

are surrender and sacrifice as are found in the

exhortation of Romans 12:1-2.

Romans 12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to

present your bodies as a sacrificealive, holy, and pleasing to Godwhich is your

reasonable service. 12:2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of 

Godwhat is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

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(6) Learning to rest and find our significance in who

we are in Christ.

(7) Finally, another important element in living as

servants is living according to the perspective of eternity, having eternal goals and values.

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O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...

From the desire of being extolled ...

From the desire of being honored ...From the desire of being praised ...

From the desire of being preferred to others...

From the desire of being consulted ...

From the desire of being approved ...

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From the fear of being humiliated ...

From the fear of being despised...

From the fear of suffering rebukes ...

From the fear of being calumniated ...

From the fear of being forgotten ...

From the fear of being ridiculed ...

From the fear of being wronged ...

From the fear of being suspected ...

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That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me

the grace to desire it.That others may be esteemed more than I ...

That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase

and I may decrease ...

That others may be chosen and I set aside ...That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...

That others may be preferred to me in everything...

That others may become holier than I, provided that I

may become as holy as I should

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well done, thou good and faithful servant,

come and share the joy of your King...

Depart from me you evil doers...I never knew you!