Attitudes of a Transformed Heart: A Servant's Heart

This weekend I had the privilege of speaking at a girl's workshop. I was asked to speak on a topic that I think every Christian struggles with...this idea of possessing the attitude of a servant. This is definitely not something that comes naturally to us as sinful human beings and it is something that we have to rely on the Lord's strength for to posses. Yet as Christians, true disciples, we are being transformed more and more into Christ's image as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit".

What does it mean to have a servant’s heart? We first need to understand what a servant is:If you had to define a servant how might you do that? Someone who serves in ministry? Someone who is unselfish? Someone who gives of their time for others?
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines servant as: “one that serves others”
But then that begs the question: what does it mean to serve? There are countless definitions on this but lets for times sake define it is “to provide benefit to someone else in act”. We all have our heroes of the faith: David, Job, Esther, Paul, Peter, Ruth, and the list could go on. If we ask ourselves honestly why we admire these characters of the faith all of them share one distinct feature, they were servants in fact countless times through the epistles Paul refers to himself as a “bondservant” of Christ, this idea of him being bound to service without payment
Lets look at Paul for example:The Greek word for bondservant is DOULOS which means a slave, a bondman of servile condition, one who gives himself up to another's will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men, devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests ...Martha Peace defines a person with a servant’s heart well, ““A person with a servant’s heart is someone who has the desire to be a voluntary servant to the Lord Jesus Christ and it shows in their actions and attitudes.”

PASSAGE: John 13:12-17
12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things you will be blessed if you do them.

1. See Yourself as Christ's Servant (v 12-13)
-Do you see yourself as Christ’s servant?
-In order to be Christ’s servant we must first make sure we are part of Christ’s family. That we are saved.
-How do we see ourselves as Christ’s servant? What does that look like or mean?
-This looks like a daily denial of ourselves. When Christ called us to Himself as one of His disciples He asked us to pick up our crosses and to follow him…no matter what the cost
-That means that every day we wake up we need to refocus our minds on him…prayer and in the word
-Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
-That means that our mindset needs to change right when we wake up from this is all about me to this is all about Christ
-We spend hours in the morning getting ready, doing homework or whatever it might be…but do we even spend five minutes with our Lord?

2.Look to Christ’s Example (v 14-15)
-In this passage we see a call from Christ for the disciples to mimic His behavior.
-We see the God of the Universe serving those around Him, washing their feet
-Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
-Christ came by His own will being sent by the Father in order that He might save those who are saved from utter destruction , in this we see sacrifice
-We need to realize that service is not always going to be easy or something that we “feel” like doing, many times we are going to have to sacrifice our time, our desires, and our wants in order to serve
-What is being self sacrificial…denying one self?
-We don’t ever have to make ourselves care for ourselves…we naturally are inclined to worry about our own needs. We have to ACTIVELY train ourselves to thinking of others before ourselves.
-This involves humility…
-What is humility? The quality or state of being of little significance, the opposite of pride
-God hates pride in fact all sin stems from an attitude of pride
-The Bible has a lot to say about pride...for example in Psalm 10:4 we read about the fact that there is no room for God in the heart of the pride
-Our perfect example of humility is found in the person of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2)
-How do we gain this ability to be humble?
oThe best way to humble yourself is to study who God is in regards to who you are
oPray for God to give you a spirit of humility like that of Christ’s
oDeny yourself and pick up your cross daily, it takes an active daily choice to deny yourself.

3. Do For Others What Christ Has Done For YOU (v 16-17)
-Christ lived a life that reflected what He preached.
-We see Christ hear in this passage remind the disciples that they are not only to look at the example that He has set forth but then He commands them to go and DO it.
-James 1:22-25 reminds us we must be DOERS of the Word and not merely hearers
-It is easy to sit through a message and intake everything the preacher says, or to read your Bible and take in the Truth and then we fail to apply it to our daily lives
-Here in this specific passage we see Jesus even add that no servant is greater than his master and that we will be BLESSED if you do these things. What kind of blessing is Jesus referring to. An eternal blessing most assuredly but also it is more blessed to give than to receive. We read in Acts 20:35, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

I truly believe that in order for God to start working mightily in your lives you must surrender to Him fully, being a bondservant to Him. We must pray for a transformed heart. We must pray to be more transformed in His image. We have to learn to love others, to put on a spirit of humility and what better way to learn these things and find strength to do these things then in Christ and His PERFECT example as we are doers of the Word and not just hearers.