The Call - Servanthood: The Way to Greatness, Pt. 2

In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, The Call. Throughout the New Testament, believers are called all kinds of things. That is, there are all kinds of titles to Christians. For example, we're called ambassadors, we're called believers, we're called brothers, church, chosen, we're called the elect, we're called disciples, we're called followers, fellow citizens, sons, soldiers, we're called servants. There are many, many names for the believer all through the New Testament. But it's one of those names that I want us to major on primarily in this message, and that is the word servant. Because you see, that is one of the primary things that God has challenged every single believer to become. And that is a servant of His. And when you think about all of these titles, some of them have to do with position. Like we are the elect, we are the chosen of God. Some of them have to do with our mission. We are ambassadors for our Lord, and we certainly are to follow Him. So I want you to turn, if you will, to Galatians chapter 5. And in this fifth chapter, there is one verse I want us to look at, though we'll be looking at many of them. The fifth chapter of Galatians chapter 5, and let me give you a little idea of what is happening. Paul is talking about the freedom that believers have, and he is challenging those Christians in the Galatian area there that not to slip back into their old ways of now that they've been saved by the grace of God, and now that they're free by His grace, don't slip back to trying to live up to the law to stay saved. And then that's the first verse of chapter 5. And then in the 13th verse, he says, for you are called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another, which is what he's saying is simply this.

Now that you are free, what you don't do is drift back in the other direction and say, well, I'm eternal secure because of the grace of God, and therefore, it won't hurt me to sin a little bit since I'm eternally secure. No, he says, you weren't called to that kind of thing, but you were called, he says, but through love with to serve one another. We are called to walk obediently before Him, and part of that obedience is service. Now, when we think about what service is all about and being a servant, we've seen that Jesus Christ is certainly the pattern for our servanthood. But servanthood is a, listen to this, servanthood is a call to God's purpose for your life and mine. It is a call to God's purpose for our life because it's very clear throughout the Scripture that this is what our Lord Jesus was saying. Many times when He talked about our relationship to Him, turn if you will to John chapter 12. And in the 12th chapter of John, I want you to notice if you will what He says in this 26th verse of the chapter. He says, if anyone serves Me, let him follow Me. And where I am, there shall My servant also be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. That is, Jesus considered us servants. Look at that. He says, if anyone serves Me, let him follow Me. And where I am, there shall My servant also be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. And if you recall in the 22nd chapter of the Revelation, in that third verse, maybe you ought to turn there for a moment. But He says, if you'll notice in this third verse, and there shall no longer speaking of heaven, there shall no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and His bondservants shall serve Him. He's not talking about angels. He's talking about us.

We are His sons. We are His daughters. We are fellow heirs of the kingdom of God, and He says, in heaven, we are going to serve Him. Now, this is not only a call to serve Him, which is His purpose for our life, but listen, a call to serve God is a call to grow in your personal life. Now, this is an area that's oftentimes overlooked. We say, well, you know, I'm willing to serve the Lord. And we only see that as giving, giving, giving, giving. But that is not the truth because it goes two ways. And oftentimes, we have the idea that our serving the Lord is what we have to give and what we have to do. Listen, if you place, if you place these two side by side, growing in the Lord or serving the Lord, growing in the Lord would have a priority. But that's not the way God sees it because here's the way He sees it. God sees that our serving Him is a part of the growing process. So when I look at the Scriptures and think about how the Lord works in people's lives and think about the fact that if we grow, then we have to be measured somehow. That is, how do you know when someone's growing? Well, it's certainly not for us to look around and say, well, let's say they're up to 3 points, 5 points, 10 points. No, but we do see each other growing. In fact, I can tell you, people write us every once in a while and they'll say, Your preachings better or something must be happening to you or the messages of this or that are you softer or something like that? Well, that doesn't bother me because I think praise the Lord I'm glad they're not saying they're getting worse all the time And so all of us are growing and I would hate to think that Personally, I would ever come to a place in my life where I cease to grow It's challenges difficulties hardship study praying facing the circumstances of life That's what causes us to grow. It's not going to be something that happens automatically, but we will be measured by them

And so you say well, what do you mean by that simply this God is always measuring us not by yardstick But by a spiritual stick that is he knows where he wants us to be Well, what does he want us to be? Here's what he said He said he predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of his son So naturally he's always interested in how we are growing he's interested in the degree of our faith today versus what it used to be and what we How we feel in terms of generosity and giving and serving and sharing our courage our boldness our faith all of these things God of course knows what's going on Well, likewise you and I should look at ourselves this way if we do a good job at this position Then surely God may see fit to move us to something else And so what happens is you and I should see every single opportunity of service whether it's in the business world Whether it's in the church, wherever it may be every single opportunity of service as a point of measurement. That is somebody's watching So would you promote somebody in your business who did a poor job? No, somebody who never showed up on time did a sloppy job. No, but somebody who's diligent. They're there on time They do more than is expected of them. What happens when you're looking for somebody to promote That's the kind of person you're gonna find and so God is measuring us and you and I should serve him in such a fashion That not only is he measuring us But other people may be measuring us and if we want to do better and have a better place of service Whatever it may be We do our best right where we are and I can remember in my very first church And if I had 150 people sitting out there It was a huge crowd and I can remember oftentimes I'd study all week and study real hard In fact every week I did as if I had 10,000 people I remember sometimes that Satan would slip on my shoulder sitting there looking on a cold winter Snowy day when there's about 45 or 50 people sitting out there the devil say see all that studying and all that praying like that's all You've got that's what a waste of time It's like the Lord and said to me this is not it. You keep giving it your best This is not it and one of the snares of Satan is this he oftentimes will put up God will put a person in a place and Maybe it's not a big crowd

Maybe it's just a few people or maybe it's a small ministry or whatever It may be and the devil says well, why should you give your best look? You don't have but a few people Why should you study? Why should you pray? Why should you work so hard? Why should you go work so diligent that Sunday school lesson when you're only gonna have about four or five people and some of them don't even care and So Satan just gives her that and so what does the person do they sit up and watch TV about one o'clock on Sunday morning? They come droopy out into a Sunday school class and they wonder why they don't have a four or five people I'll tell you why because when you and I give our best our best may not be the best there is But when we give our best God always honors our best because he's measuring us Listen, he's measuring us for future service. Don't ever forget that. He's always measuring us the future service That is true in your business. It is true in your vocation It is true in the Lord's work no matter where it is Very important you and I understand that growth is a part of the whole service idea and that service is a part of what? God is up to in growing us up now God knows exactly what he's doing when he calls us to an area of service, which leads me to a third thing and that is Servanthood is also a call to the exercise of our spiritual gifts Now I want you to turn to two of the passages if you will look if you will in first Let's see. Look if you will in first Peter chapter 4 First Peter chapter 4 look at this verse. This is a very important verse First Peter chapter 4 and I want you to notice what he says in this 10th verse first Peter chapter 4 verse 10 Listen to what he says. He says as each one look at that not not some not most He says as each one now, who does each one include? everybody as each one has has Received a special gift that's tailored to them Employ it put it to work in Serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God the manifold grace of God of the various ways in which God

Expresses listen to this the manifold grace of God is the various ways which God expresses his goodness and kindness toward us Without regard to our merit and our worth and in spite of what we deserve So he says each one of us has received what a special gift Now, what is that special gift simply this that when you were saved you listen? The Spirit of God gifted you and equipped you to do what God wants you to do as a believer. Now all of us come into this world with certain talents and abilities, innate talents and abilities that God has given, a certain kind of personality. And when people excel at that and when they work at sharpening up their talents and abilities and when they work at their skills, they get better at it. But a spiritual gift is a special gift that God gives. And so He says that each one of us is gifted so that whatever God has called you to do, He has already gifted you. Now that does not mean that you are as skilled as you could be. It does not mean that you do not need any training. It doesn't mean that you don't need any help. It doesn't mean that you don't need any internship maybe in some areas. But you have been gifted in that area. Now I want you to notice another verse because I think this verse likewise is equally as important and I want you to turn if you will to Romans chapter 12. Go back to chapter 12 for a moment and look at this verse. Again he's talking about spiritual gifts here. And he's talking about the church here, the body of Christ. And he says, so we who are many are one body in Christ, individually members one of another. Then I want you to notice if you will the sixth verse of this twelfth chapter. He says, and since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. That is, he says, all of us have different gifts. Now why are they different? Because that's an expression of the grace of God. He didn't want to make us all the same thing. Suppose everybody wanted to preach.

I'd be in a mess up here on Sunday. Suppose everybody wanted to teach. Suppose that nobody wanted to sing. And nobody wanted to play in the orchestra, everybody wanted to do something else. He's given us different gifts according to what? According to God's purpose and plan for our life. There's no such thing as a non-gifted person. Everybody has a gift. Now he says, if you'll notice, and since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each one exercise them accordingly. That is, we're to exercise their gift according to what? According to what their gift is. And then he names some here, prophecy and service and teaching and so forth. Now, let me say this, and I think this is a very important part here. Very important. I want you to turn to First Corinthians chapter twelve, and then let me make this next point here. First Corinthians chapter twelve. It's very, very important in the exercise of our gifts that we remember this. Look if you will in the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians, and notice what Paul says here about gifts and about service. He says in verse four, now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit is the same one in everybody's life who gives different people different gifts. Then if you'll notice, he says in verse six, and there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons, but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. That is, now he says, God does not give these gifts in order that you and I could say, well, I have the gift of prophecy, I have the gift of teaching, I have the gift of giving. In other words, we can't go around bragging about our gifts.

He says God gives us these gifts in order to do what? To serve one another. He says, notice the two words, for the common good. It's the common good. What does he mean? He says that each person who's gifted is to exercise his and her gift for the good of the whole body. We're talking about serving the Lord. We're talking about serving Him wherever He wants us to be, wherever He wants us to serve Him. We have the privilege of doing so. Now, sometimes we want to limit that to church, and so, which brings me to say that to speak in terms of servanthood and to describe it as it is, it is a call to individual, to personal involvement in individual's lives. Servanthood is a call to personal involvement in the lives of other people. Now, if you serve in a church, we relate to each other, relationships. If you serve, for example, you're going to serve the Lord in your business. Let's take it out of the church for just a moment, and let's say, for example, that you work in some industry or some business, whatever it may be, maybe your own private business. But no matter where you are, you are still a child of God, and how in the world we ever separate being a Christian at church and being a Christian in our business, that's never in the thinking of God. So, wherever you serve, wherever you work, wherever you live, we are to serve God all the time, wherever. It may be that my service today may be simply to be an encourager to someone here that I see on the job with me who is very discouraged. It may be over here that the next day I see someone who has a real material need, and the Lord has said to me, I want you to give them $20 or whatever it may be, or it may be that someone over here has another need in their life that they just need to open their heart and share what's going on, or it may be in your business you see somebody

really making some mistakes, and you know that you can help them correct that and help save their job. There are lots of ways to serve God. Each one of those is an act of service. What are you doing? Divine resources, your intelligence is doing what? Meeting a human need, somebody's making a mistake on their job, and you are a loving channel, so what do you do? You go and help them. That is just as much an act of godless service to the Lord Jesus Christ is standing behind this pulpit and preaching a sermon, because what we're doing is what? We're becoming available vessels to God who will have His divine resources through us meet somebody else's need. Every single person a servant, we just all have our area of activity, and all I'm asking you to do is to find out what is it God you want me to do? Lord, make me so sensitive that I will live daily looking for ways to serve other people, because remember this, what is the Bible saying? We forget this, listen to this. He says, give, and it shall be given to you. Give what? If I bend over and pick up something so you don't have to, I've given my energy. If I show you how to do something that I think is gonna help you save your job, I've given my understanding and my knowledge. If I see someone who falls and I pick them up, I've given them my love and my help, my energy, whatever skill I have to help

them, in other words, there are thousands of ways to serve God. What he's looking for is servants, people who are willing to see themselves, who have a mentality, not I follow some scheduled event and I only do what is scheduled, but I'm looking for ways to pour out my life to someone else who desperately needs the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, in the church, outside the church is the same. Then, listen, it is also, servanthood is a call to prepare for service. That is, if God calls us to serve him, then he wants us prepared. Now, I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 4 for a moment. Ephesians chapter 4 and listen to what Paul said. He says, now, this is what God did in the church. He gave some, verse 11, he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. That is, God's view of a pastor is he's a pastor and teacher. Now, look at this, why did he give them pastors and teachers? Why does he give the church pastors and teachers? For the equipping of the what? Saints. For what purpose? For the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. Now, look at that. He says, the reason God gives the church pastors and teachers is in order that those men can equip people to do the work that God has called them to do, that they can serve God

adequately, confidently, successfully, fruitfully, because they have been trained and instructed properly. My goal week after week, share the truth in such a fashion that you are learning continually, you're growing in your faith, growing in your confidence, growing in your ability to share your faith, growing in your confidence to serve the Lord. What's happening is equipping is going on week after week after week. And he says, if you'll notice, that my part is equipping, he says, for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. So as I study all week long and pray and ask the Lord to show me what to say, and you sit here week after week and you write down notes, and you ask the Lord to teach you, what is he doing that for? He is equipping you for service, not equipping you to sit or to go to another Bible study and get a little bit more. He's equipping you for service. And if you are listening and you are taking it down and you are applying it to your heart, you are continually being equipped to be servants of God. It is the church's responsibility to equip the fellowship for the work of service so that that person has a spiritual gift, the Holy Spirit will enable them, instruction, sometimes a period of training or sometimes a period of study, but a call to service is a call to prepare. And I remember when the Lord called me to preach, I knew that I had a lot of training. I didn't know anything about anything.

Suppose I'd have said, well, I'm not going to be trained. I'm just going to do the best I can. Well, more than likely, that would have been a disaster. And you see, a person will take a new job, they'll put them in a seminar and make them study and study and study and study and work and work and work. And two or three times a year, they'll go to more seminars and more training. Let me ask you a question. What vocation in the world equals sharing the gospel or teaching the Word of God or person one-on-one, whatever it may be, with someone else whose eternal destiny hangs in the balance? No other vocation. All vocations are important, but none to match that. Why would a person study so hard in a vocation that has to do primarily with them with money and not spend time studying the Word of God and working at whatever gifts they have in order to change somebody else's eternal destiny? You see, it makes a difference. Preparation is a difference. And so, I want to encourage you that whatever God has called you to do, not to stop. with that? Not to leave it at that. Now, there's one other thing I want you to notice in this whole idea of servanthood, and that is that sometimes a call, a call to service is a call that involves conflict. That is, you're not going to always agree with the people you have to work with.

You're not always going to have everybody just thinking you're absolutely fantastic and doing a great job. And so, if a person's not careful, they'll say, well, you know, I don't think I'm appreciated. So, here's what I want you to notice. And stop serving God because you have some disagreement. You understand, you acknowledge the fact of this disagreement, and you go on serving the Lord however and wherever he's called you. And so, what I want you to notice is this, that sometimes a call to servanthood is a call that will involve conflict. And I was thinking this morning about the Apostle Paul. In fact, if you read the book of Acts, you can write all across Paul's ministry, conflict. Because everywhere he went, the Judaizers were either waiting for him to give him a hard time, to accuse him, or if he got there first, they finally came and gave him a hard time. Always in conflict. I mean, he says, beaten, shipwrecked, I mean, stoned to death and left him, thought he was dead, in jail. All of these things go on in his life. Did he quit? Did he say, well, Lord, I'm willing to serve you, but this is not what I had in mind. Well, you see, God doesn't operate that way. And so, we are called to serve him. And if there's conflict, oftentimes the worst conflict is

not between other people, but within someone. I didn't do a very good job. God forgive me. And Lord, what do they think? Father, I believe I failed. Somebody else needs to do this. Somebody else can do this better than I can. You know what? We can talk ourselves right into the flesh. I mean, we can talk ourselves out of the will of God because this internal conflict. Remember this, we will never always do our best. There will always be somebody who may seemingly, as far as you're concerned, do better than you do. But you know what? That's not the issue. The issue is this. Jesus said, I'm among you as one who serves. Is the servant greater than the master? He says we are to serve him through love one for another. Servanthood is all about giving ourselves away to God by giving ourselves away to other people. And if you forget everything else, remember this. There are many ways to serve God. Some in the church, some outside the church. What our Lord wants is a mentality of servanthood. That whether I'm in the grocery store or behind the pulpit, whether I'm driving down the expressway or whether I'm sitting in my home, servanthood is a mentality. It is an attitude that God wants for all of his children because

it is the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ. ♪♪