Learning To Be A Servant Of God

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Learning To Be A Servant Of God

To be a servant of God, I must be moldable and remain in the hand of the Master!

Philippians 2:5-8:  5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

Matthew 20:26-28:  26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

John 20:21: 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

What is a servant?  Define servant in your own words:  A servant is someone who not only does what his Master says but knows Him so well that he intuitionally knows what the Master wants before He asks!

The world’s concept of a servant is that a servant goes to the master and says, ”Master, what do you want me to do?”  The master tells him, and the servant goes off by himself and does it.   That is not the Biblical concept of being a servant of God.  Being a servant of God is different from being a servant of a human master.  A servant of a human master works for his master.  God, however, works through His servants.

Jeremiah 18:1-6: 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

(Personal note:  I am like the clay in the potters hands.  I believe God had intended a different life for me, but my sin marred me.  But instead of throwing me away God re-molded me into a new pot and gave me a life, that I believe, He will use.  I am made for His purposes’!) 

I, the clay, must do two things:

1. I have to be molded.  I have to be responsive to the Potter so He can make me into an instrument of His choosing.
2. I have to remain in the Potter’s hand.  When the Potter has finished making me an instrument of His choosing, I will have no ability to do what I want.  I have to remain in the Potter’s hand to be effective.  Suppose the Potter molds me into a cup.  I have to remain in the Potter’s hands so He can use me the way He chooses.  I will have no ability to carry out the Lord’s commands except to be where He wants me to be! 

With God working through me, I can do anything God can do. Wow!  Unlimited potential!  Servanthood requires obedience.  Servants must do what they are instructed but must remember its God who is accomplishing all the work.  As a servant of God, I do not get my orders and then go out to accomplish them on my own.  I relate to God, respond to Him, and adjust my life to Him so that from my relationship with Him, He does what He wants to do through my life.

1 Kings 18:15-39: 15 Elijah said, "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today." 16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?" 18 "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table." 20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing. 22 Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire--he is God." Then all the people said, "What you say is good." 25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood." 34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD; answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." 38Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD--he is God! The LORD--he is God!"

Elijah was outnumbered 850 to 1.  If God had not displayed His power by coming in fire and consuming the sacrifice (and alter) as Elijah had proposed, Elijah would have utterly failed.  That would have cost him his life.  Elijah repaired the alter of the Lord.  He had to stay with God and do everything God commanded him to do.  He was acting in obedience to God’s command, not on his own initiative.  He went where God guided him when God told him and did what God instructed him.  Then God accomplished His purposes through him.  God wanted the people to identify the Lord as the true God.  As God worked through His prophet Elijah, that is exactly how the people responded.

“Don’t just do something.  Stand There!

A time will come when doing will be called for, but we cannot skip the relationship.  The relationship with God must come first.

I come to know God by experience as I obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through me.

When I find out where the Master is working, then I know that is where I need to be.

God wants me to come to a greater knowledge of Him by experience.  He wants to develop a growing, deepening love relationship with me.  He wants to involve me in His Kingdom purposes.  He wants to accomplish His will through me.

What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture I read today?:

He was acting in obedience to God’s command, not on his own initiative.

My Prayer is:

Daddy, I realize that I have often acted on my own initiative and have later asked You to bless my work, but I want to change, completely change, and do what You want me to do.  Help me Daddy! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

What does God want me to do in response to today’s study?

I believe God wants me to wait to see what He wants me to do.

The Memory verse for this unit is:

I am the vine and you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in Him he will bear much fruit.  Apart from Me he can do nothing.  Matthew 15:5