CHAPTER 9
WHAT SHOULD OUR ATTITUDES BE: THAT OF A SERVANT!
What should our attitudes be? We have been talking about wrong attitudes and motives, but
what should our attitudes be now that we are Christians? First and foremost, our desire
must be to please our Heavenly Father. Only what I do unselfishly for His sake will last and
be acceptable in His sight. Our deeds will be judged. All that we do with pure motives for
others will last and be rewarded, however, all that we do out of selfishness will be burned
up as hay and stubble. All that I do to be seen of man or to receive recognition will not
stand. Man looks on the outside, but God looks at the heart. We must be sure of our
intent! “But I know! I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all
people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10).
A mental change is required. What would the Lord have us do? God desires of us that we
renew our minds as we have discussed in a previous chapter, putting on the mind of Christ.
We are to love one another; which require giving of ourselves, our time and our concern.
We are told to esteem others more highly than ourselves. The Word also tells us not to
think more highly of ourselves than we should. We can always look to Jesus to see what
our attitudes should be like, as our example. What was His greatest desire? It was to
please His Father. Should our desire to be any less? What form did He take on; after all,
He was the King of Glory? He took on the form of a servant! How can we do any less?
We are servants of the most High God! We have been bought with a price. We owe Him
our very lives. We are to lay our lives down at His feet, doing whatever He says. We are to
do everything for Him and by Him (including what is done for others). Our time is His time to
use as He sees fit. Our money has been given to us by Him, and it is not our own. We
have been entrusted with it to do as HE pleases and directs us to do. Then, He has
promised to take care of our needs as we seek to do His will.
Jesus gave this example in Scripture. He took the towel, and washed the dirty, smelly feet
of His disciples. This was a very humiliating task to perform. It was the job of servants to
wash the feet of the guests when they entered a home. He is our example, never thinking
of Himself or His own comfort but of the comfort of others. He had no home to call His
own. He bore insults. He was constantly being misunderstood. People turned against Him
and were unthankful even when they were healed by Him (9 of the 10 lepers never came
back to thank Him). He had no one to share with on an intimate basis because they could
never really understand the depth of what He was saying. He carried such a heavy burden
for Jerusalem that He wept for her and her outcome. Finally we killed Him. He gave His
own life for us! He said in Matt: 23:11, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your
servant.”
The Book of James begins with “James, a servant of God.” Paul often began his letters as
“Paul, a servant.” This was their prevailing attitude, the attitude of a servant. Can we have
any different attitude towards others?
What are the characteristics of a servant? Why is he great? First of all, he is humble and
without pride. There is not much pride in scrubbing floors! A servant is lowly, always taking
a back seat. Remember the parable of the man who took the worst seat at a banquet, and
then was asked to move up to a better seat. A servant eats in the kitchen. A servant
flushes out diapers. A servant is meek, esteeming others as better than himself. A servant
has purer motives than most people, because he is usually in a fixed position, without hoping
of going any higher than that of being a servant. They are not out to get what someone else
has. A servant learns to be obedient. Even Jesus learned obedience by the things that He
suffered. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered” (Heb 5:8). A servant doesn’t question. A servant learns to give of SELF! If a
servant is tired from a hard days work, they still have to work. They have to come when
they are called, even when it is not convenient or pleasing to do so.
Then why is a servant GREAT? Greatness comes from the attitude of the heart; not in how
great the work that he performs seems to be. All apostles, healers, miracle workers,
evangelists, preachers, Sunday school teachers or counselors, must be servile in their
attitude. They must do the lowly when called upon or their work is worthless and without
favor. “If I know all things and if I have the gift of faith so I can move mountains, but do not
have love, I am nothing” (I Cor 13:2). It is the attitude and motive of the heart that counts or
the action means nothing. “If you open your house to a prophet, you shall receive a prophet’
s reward” (Matt 10:41). God does not look with men’s eyes, at a person’s ministry, but at
the motive of their heart! We may be surprised when we reach glory that some of the
greatest people in heaven with the most rewards were field workers, housewives, coal
miners and blue collar laborers who no one ever heard of, but who hearts were after God
and whose lives pleased Him.
So you say you want to be like Jesus? Then be a servant. You want to draw closer to
God? Be a servant. You want to be great in the kingdom of God? Be a servant. Choose
to be a servant on this earth, and you will be rewarded for it later. We are each one
challenged every day in whether or not we will be a servant, to our husband, our children, to
others and to the Lord. Just a few hours ago I was asked by my husband to get some
different mayonnaise, which we did not have in our kitchen refrigerator, out of the family
room refrigerator. We were making sandwiches together for our dinner. He was very tired
that evening, but it seemed to me, in my own way of thinking, that I had worked harder than
he had today, so I retaliated. I said, “Well, if you want that kind of mayonnaise you can go
into the family room and get it.” This was NOT a servant’s attitude. I was not willing to go
the extra mile, dye to self, but instead compared my amount of work to his that day, and I
came up with the idea that “I” had worked harder, thus he could just go get the mayonnaise
himself. WRONG! I then felt convicted, especially since I am writing this book, so I went
and got the mayonnaise for him. But you see we are so prone to protect SELF first.
Servant hood is so contrary to our natural, sinful, old nature.
Servitude is the way of THE CROSS! Taking up your cross daily and following Jesus (as a
servant—for those were His footsteps). In order to do this we must die to self. But
REALLY dying to self = LIFE! “He who would loose his life for my sake shall gain it, and he
would save his life shall loose it” (Matt 10:25).
Jesus obtained His reward was AFTER His service to us and obedience to His Father. But
He’s coming back, bringing His rewards with Him, to present to those who have been
faithful. To those who have endured to the end. And the greatest will be to those who have
been servants for His Name sake.
WHAT SHOULD OUR ATTITUDES BE: THAT OF A SERVANT!
What should our attitudes be? We have been talking about wrong attitudes and motives, but
what should our attitudes be now that we are Christians? First and foremost, our desire
must be to please our Heavenly Father. Only what I do unselfishly for His sake will last and
be acceptable in His sight. Our deeds will be judged. All that we do with pure motives for
others will last and be rewarded, however, all that we do out of selfishness will be burned
up as hay and stubble. All that I do to be seen of man or to receive recognition will not
stand. Man looks on the outside, but God looks at the heart. We must be sure of our
intent! “But I know! I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all
people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10).
A mental change is required. What would the Lord have us do? God desires of us that we
renew our minds as we have discussed in a previous chapter, putting on the mind of Christ.
We are to love one another; which require giving of ourselves, our time and our concern.
We are told to esteem others more highly than ourselves. The Word also tells us not to
think more highly of ourselves than we should. We can always look to Jesus to see what
our attitudes should be like, as our example. What was His greatest desire? It was to
please His Father. Should our desire to be any less? What form did He take on; after all,
He was the King of Glory? He took on the form of a servant! How can we do any less?
We are servants of the most High God! We have been bought with a price. We owe Him
our very lives. We are to lay our lives down at His feet, doing whatever He says. We are to
do everything for Him and by Him (including what is done for others). Our time is His time to
use as He sees fit. Our money has been given to us by Him, and it is not our own. We
have been entrusted with it to do as HE pleases and directs us to do. Then, He has
promised to take care of our needs as we seek to do His will.
Jesus gave this example in Scripture. He took the towel, and washed the dirty, smelly feet
of His disciples. This was a very humiliating task to perform. It was the job of servants to
wash the feet of the guests when they entered a home. He is our example, never thinking
of Himself or His own comfort but of the comfort of others. He had no home to call His
own. He bore insults. He was constantly being misunderstood. People turned against Him
and were unthankful even when they were healed by Him (9 of the 10 lepers never came
back to thank Him). He had no one to share with on an intimate basis because they could
never really understand the depth of what He was saying. He carried such a heavy burden
for Jerusalem that He wept for her and her outcome. Finally we killed Him. He gave His
own life for us! He said in Matt: 23:11, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your
servant.”
The Book of James begins with “James, a servant of God.” Paul often began his letters as
“Paul, a servant.” This was their prevailing attitude, the attitude of a servant. Can we have
any different attitude towards others?
What are the characteristics of a servant? Why is he great? First of all, he is humble and
without pride. There is not much pride in scrubbing floors! A servant is lowly, always taking
a back seat. Remember the parable of the man who took the worst seat at a banquet, and
then was asked to move up to a better seat. A servant eats in the kitchen. A servant
flushes out diapers. A servant is meek, esteeming others as better than himself. A servant
has purer motives than most people, because he is usually in a fixed position, without hoping
of going any higher than that of being a servant. They are not out to get what someone else
has. A servant learns to be obedient. Even Jesus learned obedience by the things that He
suffered. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered” (Heb 5:8). A servant doesn’t question. A servant learns to give of SELF! If a
servant is tired from a hard days work, they still have to work. They have to come when
they are called, even when it is not convenient or pleasing to do so.
Then why is a servant GREAT? Greatness comes from the attitude of the heart; not in how
great the work that he performs seems to be. All apostles, healers, miracle workers,
evangelists, preachers, Sunday school teachers or counselors, must be servile in their
attitude. They must do the lowly when called upon or their work is worthless and without
favor. “If I know all things and if I have the gift of faith so I can move mountains, but do not
have love, I am nothing” (I Cor 13:2). It is the attitude and motive of the heart that counts or
the action means nothing. “If you open your house to a prophet, you shall receive a prophet’
s reward” (Matt 10:41). God does not look with men’s eyes, at a person’s ministry, but at
the motive of their heart! We may be surprised when we reach glory that some of the
greatest people in heaven with the most rewards were field workers, housewives, coal
miners and blue collar laborers who no one ever heard of, but who hearts were after God
and whose lives pleased Him.
So you say you want to be like Jesus? Then be a servant. You want to draw closer to
God? Be a servant. You want to be great in the kingdom of God? Be a servant. Choose
to be a servant on this earth, and you will be rewarded for it later. We are each one
challenged every day in whether or not we will be a servant, to our husband, our children, to
others and to the Lord. Just a few hours ago I was asked by my husband to get some
different mayonnaise, which we did not have in our kitchen refrigerator, out of the family
room refrigerator. We were making sandwiches together for our dinner. He was very tired
that evening, but it seemed to me, in my own way of thinking, that I had worked harder than
he had today, so I retaliated. I said, “Well, if you want that kind of mayonnaise you can go
into the family room and get it.” This was NOT a servant’s attitude. I was not willing to go
the extra mile, dye to self, but instead compared my amount of work to his that day, and I
came up with the idea that “I” had worked harder, thus he could just go get the mayonnaise
himself. WRONG! I then felt convicted, especially since I am writing this book, so I went
and got the mayonnaise for him. But you see we are so prone to protect SELF first.
Servant hood is so contrary to our natural, sinful, old nature.
Servitude is the way of THE CROSS! Taking up your cross daily and following Jesus (as a
servant—for those were His footsteps). In order to do this we must die to self. But
REALLY dying to self = LIFE! “He who would loose his life for my sake shall gain it, and he
would save his life shall loose it” (Matt 10:25).
Jesus obtained His reward was AFTER His service to us and obedience to His Father. But
He’s coming back, bringing His rewards with Him, to present to those who have been
faithful. To those who have endured to the end. And the greatest will be to those who have
been servants for His Name sake.
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