The Heart of a Servant
(Pt 2 in The Heart series)
The Heart of a Servant
That is why we as a church are not to follow the world, but to set the example for them to follow. When Jesus called the disciples, He told them to “Come! Follow me…” In doing so, they were to give up their own wants and desires and to learn from the Master so they could become true disciples. We, too, are to surrender everything to Jesus and learn from Him what a true disciple is and how we are to live that out in our lives.
In today’s scripture, we find Paul writing to the people of Galatia to not be like the world, but to be what Christ told His disciples to be. They were allowing the things of the world to distort the message of the Gospel. Galatians 5 starts off with this reminder:
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
Freedom from the slavery of sin and selfishness is not something we can do on our own, I don’t care how much will power you have. It is only through Christ’s redemptive sacrifice and love that we can truly be free. And what is so cool about that it is a FREE GIFT for anyone who chooses to accept it. With it should come a real change in our hearts…
Galatians 5:13-14
“ For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””
Love comes from the heart, and true love comes from God. When we love Him as He first loved us, then we are able to love others. So, in order for this to happen, we have to have that change from a self-serving heart to a heart that serves others.
Today, we are going to look at:
- WHAT DOES IS MEAN TO HAVE THE HEART OF A SERVANT
- HOW CAN WE DEVELOP THE HEART OF A SERVANT
- WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HAVING THE HEART OF A SERVANT
1. What does it mean to have the heart of a servant?
The heart of a servant is a reflection of God, embodying compassion and love (agape), not seeking its own glory, focuses on others and finds joy in lifting up the broken, bringing hope to the hopeless, all while being selfless.
John 12:1-3:
“Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3 Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”
The job of washing feet was one assigned to the lowest of slaves. Because of wearing sandals and traveling on dirt roads, when a guest came to the house, they would be offered a basin of water to wash their own hands as they prepared to sit down for a meal, but it was the servant that took care of washing their feet. They would wash the feet of the guests because they would be reclining around the table. This would mean that another guest’s feet would be close to where they were reclining. Some people’s feet just naturally smell bad from their own sweat, but what if they had stepped in something on the roadway in their travels (we call them ‘landmines’ aka ‘droppings’ from animals) Have you ever traveled behind a horse and buggy in Amish country?!?
Mary’s action was one that showed both humility and devotion to Jesus. The use of the alabaster jar of nard, a very expensive perfume was to demonstrate her total surrender to Him by giving her all. In Matthew and Mark’s writings about this event, they mentioned that she also anointed His head.
She was serving out of love for Jesus, with total disregard of what others might have thought or were even saying out loud. She was selflessly serving Jesus.
John 13:3-5:
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. 5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.”
This was just six days after the previous story. These men had shared other Passover meals together, as well as other times of sitting down to share a meal. You would have thought that the disciples would have remembered this important part of caring for the guests at a meal. But we all know that they did not have any servants, so they probably figured it would be ‘every man for themselves’. Jesus was the one to get up from the table and take care of this. He did this out of love for each of them, even the one who was going to betray Him!
John 13:15-17:
For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
Mark 10:42-45:
“Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. 43 But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
So, if the Savior of the world did that for us, why are we not doing the same thing for Him and for each other?
Philippians 2:1-4:
“Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
We need the power of the Holy Spirit and His guidance. We are not naturally wired this way. Man is by nature a sinner (Romans 3:23). We have to surrender our own wants, desires and ambitions to selflessly put the needs of others ahead of our own.
Philippians 2:5-7:
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
Jesus surrendered totally to the Father’s will. He was not motivated by personal gain or recognition, but wanted people to see the Father’s love and compassion in everything that He said and did. He wanted to bring God glory! Are we not to do the same?
Look at David, known as a man after God’s own heart. He demonstrated his love for his fellow man and his faith in God’s promises when he went out to face Goliath.
1 Samuel 17:37a:
“…The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
3. What are the benefits of having the heart of a servant?
John 13:34-35:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
If we are going to talk the talk, we have to walk the walk. They will know that we love them when we show that we love them. That is why we need to the Holy Spirit to help us discern when we are to love gently, or love strongly, even in spite of how they are treating us.
Philippians 2:14-18:
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.”
When we become a Christian, we are freed from the slavery of sin and are to serve Christ as our Lord and King, not out of duty, but out of love.
ILLUS: Jim Baich, my brother-in-law; Pastor Jerry (how fortunate we are!)
So today I have told you:
- What it means to have the heart of a servant
- How we can develop the heart of a servant
- What the benefits are of having the heart of a servant.
All of this starts with the heart! When we put our heart in alignment with God, we are able to recognize who we are in the relationship, get rid of the pride that would cause us to stumble and embrace the humility necessary to serve Him and how we are to serve others. We need to view serving others as a way of living and that it is an expression of worship to God. There is an old hymn “Joy in Serving Jesus” and the chorus say:
There is joy, joy, joy in serving Jesus, Joy that throbs within my heart
Every moment, every hour, As I draw upon His power,
There is joy, joy, joy that never shall depart
You can watch this week’s message by clicking HERE.
You can watch the entire service including music by clicking HERE.
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Hymn: Build My Life
Today’s worship song focus :
Build My Life
Luke 6:47-48 (NASB95)
“Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show
you whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a
foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that\
house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.”
I will build my life upon Your love, it is a firm foundation.
I will put my trust in You alone, and I will not be shaken.
We need to wake up to the fact that God is deserving of all our praise and adoration. When we humble ourselves to His plans and His ways, we will find that we are truly living a life of service to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
I Will Build My Life
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Jeremiah 32
Pray for Israel!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 26.
The land of Israel is intertwined with the ancient covenant between God and the Jews, His chosen people. At a time in Israel’s history, when Babylon had the siege works at the walls of Jerusalem, and Jeremiah had already prophesied God’s Word to surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar, God commanded the prophet to purchase a family plot from his uncle’s son; to redeem it as a prophetic sign of His covenant faithfulness to preserve the Promised Land. Economically, this made no sense, especially when it was the man who was prophesying the fall of Jerusalem who was being asked to purchase a land contract and seal it in clay pot for future posterity. In Jeremiah 32:13-15 & 42-44, God made it clear that He was using this as an illustration of His lasting covenant to maintain the boundaries of the Promised Land:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time. … Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them. Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes,’ declares the Lord.”
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Jeremiah 31
Herald the New Covenant!
In Jeremiah 31:31-33, the prophet heralded the New Covenant between God and His people:
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
What makes the New Covenant different is that it was to be written on the hearts of the people. When God gave the Mosaic Law, He wrote it upon stone tablets. This time He was going to do it differently. When God gave the Abrahamic Covenant, He commanded all the men to be physically circumcised as a sign of the covenant. This time He was going to do it differently. The Holy Spirit would circumcise their hearts, causing them to be sensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, the One who seals the New Covenant by establishing God’s rule from within their hearts, leading them into His rest. Different from King David’s kingdom, it was no longer a nation to be ruled, because Jesus’ Kingdom transcends all geographical boundaries and human constructs. And His banner over us is love!
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Jeremiah 30
Persevere in Discipline!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, April 24.
The parent takes a deep breath, saying to her teenage child as she grounds him, “Trust me, one day you will thank me for this and understand that what I am doing is for your good.” Loving parents must discipline their children, to help them reach their full potential. Truly, it is for their good, but that’s a difficult concept for children to comprehend. Solomon taught a key principle of discipline in Proverbs 19:18, “Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not desire his death.” Discipline is an activity of hope and not one of despair.
In the same way that loving parents are exhorted to discipline their children, God, our Heavenly Father, desires to lead us into His life and not punish us unto our deaths. But, to give us life we must face the consequences of our sin, so that we don’t continually return to our folly (Proverbs 26:11). In Jeremiah 30:24, the prophet proclaimed God’s perseverance to discipline Judah as a loving parent, “The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has performed and until He has accomplished the intent of His heart; in the latter days you will understand this.” Because there was still hope for their return, God disciplined them.
By God’s grace, the same is true for us today. Jesus came to restore us into a right relationship with the Father by dealing with the sin issue that keeps us separated from Him, but we can’t ignore the chastising of the Spirit regarding our sin. We must be mature adults, responding to God’s loving discipline and no longer quenching the work of the Spirit when He convicts us of our need to repent from sin, so that, we may share in His holiness (John 16:7-15; Ephesians 4:30).
Seize the moment and persevere in discipline, trusting that those who do will bear the good fruit of maturity in Christ (Hebrews 12:7-11)
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Jeremiah 29
Hold on to the Promise!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, April 23.
The Lord has good plans for your life; in fact, Jeremiah 29:11 promises, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’” This is one of the greatest promises of the Bible, but it must be read in its historical context if we are going to have the faith to hold on to God through our darkest days. It was given at a time when most of the people wanted God’s messenger locked up and shut up. Interestingly, this significant promise is bookended by the punishment of two false prophets for contradicting Jeremiah – Hananiah (Jeremiah 28:15-17) and Shemaiah (Jeremiah 29:30-32). During international turmoil, national division, cultural decay, and religious bankruptcy, God did not forsake His people. Quite the opposite, in Jeremiah 29:5-11, He sent His promise to the exiles in Babylon to give them hope, but also with the expectation that they would return to covenant faithfulness:
“‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’ … For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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Jeremiah 28
Trust the Fidelity of God’s Word!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, April 22.
It is God who raises up prophets, but what happens when you aren’t sure if someone is being faithful to God? In Deuteronomy 18:20, God gave Moses clear guidance on what to do about a prophet who presented their own words as if from God, “But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.” God doesn’t make idle threats about protecting the fidelity of His Word.
In Jeremiah 28, when the prophet had put on himself a wooden oxen yoke as a prophetic sign to the people, a man named Hananiah, who was claiming to be a prophet, broke the yoke off Jeremiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Even so will I break within two full years the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations’” (10-11). This message opposed Jeremiah’s former prophecy, but God can’t contradict Himself, so who was right? God answered that question by giving Jeremiah a message to clarify which word was from Him, “Listen now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you have counseled rebellion against the Lord’” (15-16). God was faithful to protect the fidelity of His Word and to uphold the honor of His messenger. Today, if someone claims to speak for God, but his or her words are not lining up with the Bible, then that person is not God’s spokesperson.
Seize the moment and trust God to protect the fidelity of His Word! Be noble like a Berean and line up everything you hear with the Bible (Acts 17:11).
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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The Call to the Great Community 2
Lesson #2:
The Church is One in Christ!
Our new sermon series, “The Call to the Great Community,” is a series of discipleship teachings about the body of Christ and our call to be fellow members of the body of Christ. This is an important call to answer for us individually and corporately for the sake of the mission of Jesus Christ (why He came!) for the glory of God. You have a purpose for belonging!
The big idea from the first teaching last week was that the church is God’s idea; not mine nor yours! From the Scriptures, we learned that the church is the Body of Christ because we exist for the mission of Jesus to the glory of God. The mission of Jesus is the great rescue mission; He came from Heaven to Earth to show us the way to the Father; this has always been God’s Plan A; therefore, the church exists for the mission – to make Jesus known and to continue His mission, as His body for the glory of God. We have a purpose for belonging!
Finally, last week you were invited to find unity with your fellow member by participating in the 150-day Pray the Psalms Discipleship Challenge. Today is Day #7, which means we are praying through Psalm 7. I pray you are finding it meaningful to do this just as you found it meaningful to read through the New Testament together. Belonging doesn’t happen by accident!
Today’s big idea: The Church is One in Christ!
Romans 12:4-5, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
+ How can we demonstrate our unity within our diverse functionality?
Ephesians 4:1-6, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
+ How should we treat one another to preserve the unity of the Spirit?
John 17:20-26, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
+ How do we pray for one another to see the fulfillment of John 17 in us?
RESOURCES:
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Hymn: Blest Be the Ties That Bind
Today’s worship song focus :
Blest Be the Tie that Binds
Galatians 3:28 (NASB95)
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is
neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
We need to wake up to the realization that it is the love of God that binds our hearts to one another. We need to have the determination to love people through every circumstance, even those that try to pull us apart. We will find that it will make us stronger and that we are truly loving as God loves us.
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Ken reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
If you would like to listen to this song, click on this link:
Blest Be the Tie That Binds
our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above.
we pour our ardent prayers;
our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
our comforts and our cares.
our mutual burdens bear,
and often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear.
it gives us inward pain;
but we shall still be joined in heart,
and hope to meet again.
our courage by the way;
while each in expectation lives
and waits to see the day.
and sin, we shall be free;
and perfect love and friendship reign
through all eternity.
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Jeremiah 27
Take the Yoke upon You!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, April 19.
Jesus compassionately invited all who are weary and heavy-laden, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). Just like Jesus transformed the Roman cross into a redemptive image of life, so He converted the oxen yoke into a prophetic sign of faith. Six hundred years prior, in Jeremiah 27, God commanded His prophet to take up his yoke. In Jeremiah 27:8-12, the prophet explained the image of the yoke:
“‘It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence,’ declares the Lord, ‘until I have destroyed it by his hand. … But the nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let remain on its land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and they will till it and dwell in it.’” I spoke words like all these to Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!”
Jeremiah’s message was unpopular because he commanded the people to choose between political subjugation or destruction. The way of the yoke was to trust God by putting oneself under the rule of Babylon, the instrument of God’s judgment, who was also the only means of survival. What happens when the way of life feels like death to self?
Seize the moment and take up your cross daily! Follow Jesus, who promised in Luke 9:24, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.
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