Day33: How Real Servants Act

 How Real Servants Act

Whoever wants to be great 

must become a servant.”

Mark 10:43 (Msg) 

You can tell what they are by what they do.

Matthew 7:16 (CEV)

We serve God by serving others. 

The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions,

prestige, and position. If you can demand service from others,

you’ve arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first

mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept.

Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not

status. God determines your greatness by how many people you

serve, not how many people serve you. This is so contrary to the

world’s idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding

it, much less practicing it. The disciples argued about who

deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later,

Christian leaders still jockey for position and prominence in

churches, denominations, and parachurch ministries.

Thousands of books have been written on leadership, but few

on servanthood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a

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servant. We would rather be generals than privates. Even

Christians want to be “servant-leaders,” not just plain servants.

But to be like Jesus is to be a servant. That’s what he called

himself.

While knowing your shape is important for serving God,

having the heart of a servant is even more important. Remember,

God shaped you for service, not for self-centeredness. Without a

servant’s heart, you will be tempted to misuse your shape for

personal gain. You will also be tempted to use it as an excuse to

exempt yourself from meeting some needs. 

God often tests our hearts by asking us to serve in ways we’re

not shaped. If you see a man fall into a ditch, God expects you to

help him out, not say, “I don’t have the gift of mercy or service.”

While you may not be gifted for a particular task, you may be

called to do it if no one gifted at it is around. Your primary

ministry should be in the area of

your shape, but your secondary

service is wherever you’re needed at

the moment.

Your shape reveals your ministry,

but your servant’s heart will reveal

your maturity. No special talent or

gift is required to stay after a

meeting to pick up trash or stack chairs. Anyone can be a servant.

All it requires is character. 

It is possible to serve in church for a lifetime without ever

being a servant. You must have a servant’s heart. How can you

know if you have the heart of a servant? Jesus said, “You can tell

what they are by what they do.” 1

Real servants make themselves available to serve. Servants

don’t fill up their time with other pursuits that could limit their

availability. They want to be ready to jump into service when

called on. Much like a soldier, a servant must always be standing

by for duty: “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the

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Your shape reveals your

ministry, but your servant’s

heart will reveal your maturity.

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affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted

him.” 2 If you only serve when it’s convenient for you, you’re not

a real servant. Real servants do what’s needed, even when it’s

inconvenient. 

Are you available to God anytime? Can he mess up your plans

without you becoming resentful? As a servant, you don’t get to

pick and choose when or where you will serve. Being a servant

means giving up the right to control your schedule and allowing

God to interrupt it whenever he needs to. 

If you will remind yourself at the start of every day that you are

God’s servant, interruptions won’t frustrate you as much, because

your agenda will be whatever God wants to bring into your life.

Servants see interruptions as divine appointments for ministry and

are happy for the opportunity to practice serving.

Real servants pay attention to needs. Servants are always on

the lookout for ways to help others. When they see a need, they

seize the moment to meet it, just as the Bible commands us:

“Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for

everyone, especially for the family of believers.” 3 When God puts

someone in need right in front of you, he is giving you the

opportunity to grow in servanthood. Notice that God says the

needs of your church family are to be given preference, not put at

the bottom of your “things to do” list.

We miss many occasions for serving because we lack sensitivity

and spontaneity. Great opportunities to serve never last long.

They pass quickly, sometimes never to return again. You may only

get one chance to serve that person, so take advantage of

the moment. “Never tell your neighbors to wait until

tomorrow if you can help them now.” 4

John Wesley was an incredible servant of God. His

motto was “Do all the good you can, by all the means you

can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the

times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”

That is greatness. You can begin by looking for small tasks that no

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one else wants to do. Do these little things as if they were great

things, because God is watching. 

Real servants do their best with what they have. Servants

don’t make excuses, procrastinate, or wait for better

circumstances. Servants never say, “One of these days” or “When

the time is right.” They just do what needs to be done. The Bible

says, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything

done.” 5 God expects you to do what you can, with what you have,

wherever you are. Less-than-perfect service is always better than

the best intention.

One reason many people never serve is that they fear they are

not good enough to serve. They have believed the lie that serving

God is only for superstars. Some churches have fostered this myth

by making “excellence” an idol, which makes people of average

talent hesitant to get involved.

You may have heard it said, “If it can’t be done with excellence,

don’t do it.” Well, Jesus never said that! The truth is, almost

everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it—

that’s how we learn. At Saddleback Church, we practice the “good

enough” principle: It doesn’t have to be perfect for God to use

and bless it. We would rather involve thousands of regular folks in

ministry than have a perfect church run by a few elites.

Real servants do every task with equal dedication. Whatever

they do, servants “do it with all their heart.” 6 The size of the task

is irrelevant. The only issue is, does it need to be done? 

You will never arrive at the state in life where you’re too

important to help with menial tasks. God will never exempt you

from the mundane. It’s a vital part of your character curriculum.

The Bible says, “If you think you are too important to help someone

in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.” 7 It is

in these small services that we grow like Christ.

Jesus specialized in menial tasks that everyone else tried to

avoid: washing feet, helping children, fixing breakfast, and serving

lepers. Nothing was beneath him, because he came to serve. It

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wasn’t in spite of his greatness that he did these things, but because

of it, and he expects us to follow his example.8

Small tasks often show a big heart. Your servant’s heart is

revealed in little acts that others don’t think of doing, as when

Paul gathered brushwood for a fire to warm everyone after a

shipwreck.9 He was just as exhausted as everyone else, but he did

what everyone needed. No task is beneath you when you have a

servant’s heart.

Great opportunities often disguise themselves in small tasks.

The little things in life determine the big things. Don’t look for

great tasks to do for God. Just do the not-so-great stuff, and God

will assign you whatever he wants you to do. But before

attempting the extraordinary, try serving in ordinary ways.10

There will always be more people willing to do “great” things

for God than there are people willing to do the little things. The

race to be a leader is crowded, but the field is wide open for those

willing to be servants. Sometimes you serve upward to those in

authority, and sometimes you serve

downward to those in need. Either

way, you develop a servant’s heart

when you’re willing to do anything

needed.

Real servants are faithful to

their ministry. Servants finish their

tasks, fulfill their responsibilities, keep their promises, and

complete their commitments. They don’t leave a job half undone,

and they don’t quit when they get discouraged. They are

trustworthy and dependable.

Faithfulness has always been a rare quality.11 Most people don’t

know the meaning of commitment. They make commitments

casually, then break them for the slightest reason without any

hesitation, remorse, or regret. Every week, churches and other

organizations must improvise because volunteers didn’t prepare,

didn’t show up, or didn’t even call to say they weren’t coming.

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Great opportunities often

disguise themselves in small tasks.

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Can you be counted on by others? Are there promises you need

to keep, vows you need to fulfill, or commitments you need to

honor? This is a test. God is testing your faithfulness. If you pass

the test, you’re in good company: Abraham, Moses, Samuel,

David, Daniel, Timothy, and Paul were all called faithful servants

of God. Even better, God has promised to reward your

faithfulness in eternity. Imagine what it will feel like one day

to have God say to you, “Well done, my good and

faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling

this small amount, so now I will give you many more

responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” 12

By the way, faithful servants never retire. They serve

faithfully as long as they’re alive. You can retire from your

career, but you will never retire from serving God.

Real servants maintain a low profile. Servants don’t promote

or call attention to themselves. Instead of acting to impress and

dressing for success, they “put on the apron of humility, to serve one

another.” 13 If recognized for their service, they humbly accept it

but don’t allow notoriety to distract them from their work.

Paul exposed a kind of service that appears to be spiritual but is

really just a put-on, a show, an act to get attention. He called it

“eyeservice” 14—serving in order to impress people with how

spiritual we are. This was a sin of the Pharisees. They turned

helping others, giving, and even prayer into a performance for

others. Jesus hated this attitude and warned, “When you do good

deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from

your Father in heaven.” 15

Self-promotion and servanthood don’t mix. Real servants don’t

serve for the approval or applause of others. They live for an

audience of One. As Paul said, “If I were still trying to please men,

I would not be a servant of Christ.” 16

You won’t find many real servants in the limelight; in fact, they

avoid it when possible. They are content with quietly serving in

the shadows. Joseph is a great example. He didn’t draw attention

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to himself, but quietly served Potiphar, then his jailer, then

Pharaoh’s baker and wine taster, and God blessed that attitude.

When Pharaoh promoted him to prominence, Joseph still

maintained a servant’s heart, even with his brothers, who had

betrayed him.

Unfortunately, many leaders today start off as servants but end

up as celebrities. They become addicted to attention, unaware

that always being in the spotlight blinds you.

You may be serving in obscurity in some small place, feeling

unknown and unappreciated. Listen: God put you where you are

for a purpose! He has every hair on your head numbered, and he

knows your address. You had better stay put until he chooses to

move you. He will let you know if he wants you somewhere else.

Your ministry matters to the kingdom of God. “When Christ . . .

shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the

glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity.” 17

There are more than 750 “Halls of Fame” in America and

more than 450 “Who’s Who” publications, but you won’t find

many real servants in these places. Notoriety

means nothing to real servants because they

know the difference between prominence and

significance. You have several prominent

features on your body that you could live

without. It is the hidden parts of your body

that are indispensable. The same is true in the Body of Christ.

The most significant service is often the service that is unseen.18

In heaven God is going to openly reward some of his most

obscure and unknown servants—people we have never heard of

on earth, who taught emotionally disturbed children, cleaned up

after incontinent elderly, nursed AIDS patients, and served in

thousands of other unnoticed ways.

Knowing this, don’t be discouraged when your service is

unnoticed or taken for granted. Keep on serving God! “Throw

yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do

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DAY THIRTY-THREE:

HOW REAL

SERVANTS ACT

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for him is a waste of time or effort.” 19 Even the smallest service is

noticed by God and will be rewarded. Remember the words of

Jesus: “If, as my representatives, you give even a cup of cold water to

a little child, you will surely be rewarded.” 20

Day Thirty-three

Thinking about My Purpose

Point to Ponder: I serve God by serving others.

Verse to Remember: “If you give even a cup of cold

water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be

rewarded.”  Matthew 10:42 (NLT)

Question to Consider: Which of the six characteristics

of real servants offers the greatest challenge to me?

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