The Heart of a Servant

When you become a follower of Jesus Christ, God has one job for you to do, and one job only: be a servant. To be a Christian means to become like Christ, and Jesus Christ was a servant.

Jesus described his own job description this way in Mark 10:45. He said “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The great evangelist D. L. Moody said that the measure of a person’s impact is not found in how many servants he has, but in how many people he serves. So by that measure, the Lord Jesus Christ had the greatest impact of anyone who ever lived because he came to be a servant to the whole human race.

And you will find that the greatest satisfaction, the greatest impact, the greatest significance you can ever find in life is found in serving others.

So the Christian life is a life of service. And an excellent example of what it means to be a servant is found in Colossians 1–2 in the person of the Apostle Paul. At the end of chapter 1, and the beginning of chapter 2, he describes his ministry. Specifically, he reveals three things about what it means to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. He talks about the calling of a servant

2. He talks about the cost of being a servant

3. He talks about the kinds of things a servant is concerned with

1. The Servant’s Call

Colossians 1:25-28 I have become (the church’s) servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.

Now Paul tells us two things there about his call to be a servant.

1. He has been called to be a servant of the church, the Body of Christ. In other words, he was not called to live for his own benefit. He was not called to be a Christian in isolation from other Christians—he was called to live for the benefit of others.

How many of us go through life as though we were just living for our own benefit? And then we wonder why we feel depressed and unhappy. Instead we should be asking: “How can I be of benefit someone else? How can I help someone else?”

The truth is that the more you give yourself to serving and helping others for Christ’s sake, the better you are going to feel about yourself, because you will be doing that which God created you to do.

The world says “Get yourself into a position where everyone else is serving you—wherre you’re getting your needs met—then you’ll be happy.” But Jesus said “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” True satisfaction comes through serving.

2. Paul says in v. 25: “My calling is in the form of a commission from God”

That word “commission”, which is translated “dispensation” in the KJV, is the Greek word “oikonomia”. It comes from two Greek words; “oikos” which means “house”, and “nomos” which means “law”. So “oikonomia” literally means “the law of the house”.

Now I’m sure that in your house, you have certain rules. In my house, we all help to clear the table after a meal. We don’t leave our dirty clothes on the floor; we put them in the laundry. We put our toys away after we are finished playing with them. That’s the law of the house. We have those responsibilities that come with living in that household.

Likewise, as members of God’s household, we have been called to take up certain responsibilities. We are stewards, or servants in that household, and our responsibility involves two things:

1. to communicate the truth

2. to incarnate the truth

Paul says in v. 25 “God gave me a commission to present to you the word of God in its fullness”. That sense of “fullness” means that Paul thoroughly communicated the Word of God to them - he preached to them; he taught the truth to them.

And what is the content of that truth? It is the mystery that “Christ is in you, the hope of glory” v. 27.

When we talk about a mystery, we usually mean something that is hidden, something that is obscure, that is a puzzle. But when used here, and elsewhere in the NT, the word mystery means something that God has revealed to us; something that he has made plain to us. We didn’t know it before, but now we do know it because God has shown it to us.

And the truth that God has shown to us is that Jesus Christ lives in us. Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, God comes and dwells in your life in the person of Jesus Christ.

And his dwelling in your life is to be visible before other people. It should be obvious that there is something different about you as a follower of Jesus Christ. There ought to be a supernatural dimension of your life that comes from having God living in you. By the way you live, you actually make God visible to other people.

You see, as servants of Jesus Christ, we are not only called upon to communicate the truth—to tell other people about the Gospel—we are called to incarnate the truth—to live the Gospel by the power of God who is living in us.

And the result should be that people are coming to know Jesus Christ when they come to know us. Paul said in v. 28 “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” That word “perfect” means “complete”.

So our commission involves two things—communicating the truth, and incarnating the truth.

But there’s a price tag that comes with that kind of lifestyle. And that’s why Paul says that there is a cost to being a servant.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.

What Paul is saying here is that a servant’s life involves suffering. When he talks about what is “still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions” he isn’t saying that there was something missing, or inadequate, about what Christ did for us on the Cross. When Christ died for us as our Mediator—as our Substitute— his death was perfect in the sight of God. His sacrifice was complete, and there is nothing that we could ever add to it.

But Paul is not referring here to Christ’s mediatorial suffering; he’s talking about Christ’s ministry sufferings as the head of the church.

Remember when Paul was converted to Christ on the road to Damascus? He had been persecuting the early church, hunting down Christians and hounding them to their death. He had caused much suffering in the early church.

Do you remember what Jesus said to Paul on the road to Damascus? He said “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He didn’t say “Why are you persecuting my followers?” he said “Why are you persecuting me?”

You see, Jesus Christ, as the head of the church, was really the ultimate target of Saul’s persecution. When Saul made those early Christians suffer, he was ultimately making Jesus suffer, because Jesus is the head of the Body. And in that sense, although Jesus’ mediatorial suffering is over and done with, his ministerial suffering isn’t finished yet. He still suffers when his followers are persecuted for being Christians.

Now here Paul, who has become a Christian, says “I rejoice in what I can suffer for Christ. I am glad that I can be the target of the suffering that is ultimately directed at Him. I am glad that I can be the channel, to make up in my flesh, what is still coming to Jesus Christ by way of suffering.

This is what he means when he says in Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings”. He wanted to share with Christ that ministerial suffering that Christ experiences as the Head of the Body.

I’m sure that all of us, as Christians, are ready to share in the power of his resurrection. But I wonder how many of us are willing to share in the fellowship of his sufferings? Paul was. And in that, he revealed to us part of the cost of being a servant. To be a servant is to suffer…to face persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ.

But there’s another cost to being a servant. It is to struggle. Paul said in v.29 “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”

The word “struggle” is the Greek word “kopio” which means to toil, or to labor—to wrestle to the point of exhaustion—something like a woman does when she gives birth.

In other words, it means to be willing to work hard for the cause of Christ. Paul struggled for these new believers in Colosse. He thought about them; he prayed for them; he wrote to them to encourage them; he did whatever he could to keep them growing in their faith.

Someone has said that when a child is born into the world, some woman must travail in pain; and the reason that there are not more people being born again is because there are not enough believers who are willing to work hard, to struggle, to travail in pain so that it might happen.

The first cost of being a servant is suffering—being willing to face persecution; the second is struggling—working hard for the Gospel.

There is a third cost: striving. Paul says in

Colossians 2:1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.

But the word for “struggle” there is actually a different Greek word from the word he used in v. 29. I don’t know why the NIV translated it the same way, but the KJV translates it: “For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you.”

The word in Greek is the word “agon”, from which we get our English word agony, or agonize. It is a word that often referred to an athlete in a contest or a competition, striving and wrestling against his opponents. This refers to spiritual warfare, and spiritual warfare is another cost of being a servant.

Ephesians 6:12 says that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

And you can be sure that if you make up your mind to be a servant of Jesus Christ, sooner or later, you are going to be involved in spiritual warfare. Satan is going to pay you a visit. He’s going to try to discourage you; to trip you up; to drag you down so that you cannot follow through on your commitment to serve Jesus Christ.

I believe that it is no accident that, as a church, we have been experiencing so many unusual trials lately. Because I sense that more than ever, we as a people are determined to serve God with all our hearts—to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to serve him and follow him. And Satan doesn’t like it. So he’s trying to discourage us.

But the Bible says that “greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” And we can go forward with confidence into spiritual battle, with our spiritual armor on, knowing that we have the victory in Christ.

There are three costs to being a servant—suffering with Christ; struggling for Christ; and striving against the enemies of Christ. Are you willing to count those costs?

Finally, Paul talks about the concerns of a servant. Look at…

Colossians 2:2-3 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul mentions three goals that he is working for in the lives of those he serves:

1. encouragement

2. endearment

3. enlightenment

1. Encouragement:

He says “I want that the people I serve be strengthened in heart.” Our English word encouragement actually means just that—it means “to have heart”.

But the word in Greek is the word “parakaleo”, and it means “to be called alongside”.

Scientists who study whales tell us that when a whale is injured, the other whales in the pod will actually come alongside the injured whale and use their bodies to lift that whale up to the surface to help it breathe. That is exactly what this word means.

A true servant desires that people be lifted up and strengthened in heart—that they be encouraged to keep on growing; to keep on living for the Lord; to keep on being faithful.

2. Endearment

Paul says “I also want the people I serve to be united in love.” The KJV uses the expression “knit together”. The same word is used down in 2:19 to talk about how the body is held together by the ligaments and sinews.

A true servant of God is always going to be working toward unity in the Body of Christ. He’s not going to be sowing discord or disharmony.

Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

3. Enlightenment

Paul says “I want that the people I serve might be completed in understanding—that they might have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

A true servant of God is going to want to see other people getting to know Christ better. He’ll want to see them completed in their understanding of who Christ is and what he has done for them, so that they will not be taken in by the fancy arguments of the false teachers.

He’ll want to see them becoming rooted and firm in their faith, just as he says in verse 5.

These are the marks of a servant.

1. He is very conscious of the fact that he has been called of God to be a servant

a. to communicate the truth

b. to incarnate the truth

2. He has counted the cost and is willing…

a. to suffer persecution for his faith

b. to struggle and work hard for the Gospel

c. to strive against spiritual opposition

3. His concern is that people be…

a. encouraged in their commitment to the Lord

b. brought close to one another in love

c. completed in their knowledge of who Christ is

I look at my own life and I ask myself: “Are these characteristics true of me?” Am I aware of what God has called me to be? Am I willing to undergo hardship to be what God has called me to be? And are his concerns at the top of my priority list?

A woman named Ruth Calkins wrote some powerful sentences about servanthood that I want to leave you with…

You know Lord how I serve you

with great emotional fervor when I’m in the limelight.

You know how eagerly I speak for you at a women’s club.

You know how I effervesce when I promote a fellowship group.

You know my genuine enthusiasm at a Bible study.

But how would I react, I wonder if you pointed me to a basin of water

and asked me to wash the calloused feet of a bent and wrinkled old woman

Day after day, month after month

In a room where nobody saw, and nobody knew.

I ask myself: Am I serving God for what I can get out of it? Or for what I can put into it?

Lord, teach us to be servants.