What Are the Things God Works Into a Life to
Make a Person a Servant?
Philippians 2:7
June 5, 2011 PM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
I.
Introduction (Philp 2:7)
A.
Jesus took
upon Himself the form of a servant
1.
Not a
prince, or a pope, or a governor, or a leader
2.
But of a
servant!
B.
Just what is
it that Jesus became like? We could study this concept for a whole year
C.
Jesus
teaches us that to be a servant is the HIGHEST of callings (Mt 25:21)
1.
Imagine if I
was talking about being a successful Billionaire
2.
Or a
successful Architect
3.
Or a
successful President
4.
Of a
successful Engineer
D.
Let’s look
at some of the important qualifications of being a successful Servant
II.
Message
A.
Examples of
Servants of the Lord – the Bible is full of SERVANTS
1.
Moses (Dt
34:5)
2.
Joshua (Josh
24:29)
3.
David (Psalm
18:1)
4.
Paul (Romans
1:1)
5.
James (Jam
1:1)
6.
Epaphras (
7.
Jesus (Mt
12:15-18; Philp 2:7)
8.
All
Christians (2Tim 2:24-26)
B.
The Purpose
of Serving
1.
To serve –
meet needs
2.
To become
leaders – the right kind of leaders
C.
Qualifications to be a Servant of God
1.
You can be
the servant of anything and anyone. Believe me, you are always the servant
of something!
a.
Sin (Rom
6:16,17)
b.
Satan – he
fills people HEARTS with his will (John 8:44)
c.
Self – the
worst master of all!
2.
But to be a
servant of Christ is special – requires:
a.
Brokenness
1)
Able to be
humiliated, embarrassed
2)
Loss of
reputation
3)
We in the
Western world really worry about our reputation
4)
Moses (Ex
2:11-15)
a)
At the prime
of his life (40 years old) loses everything
b)
Lost
everything
1.
Education
2.
Preparation
to be king of
3.
Great name
c)
Lost every
ability that came naturally
1.
Great
speaker
2.
Motivator
3.
Army leader
d)
40 years
later, felt only a failure
e)
That’s GOOD
– with God, that is the start
1.
Repentance
is starting at zero – as a sinner under the wrath of God
2.
Jesus said
become as little children – weak
5)
Paul had to
learn that everything that he had valued was worthless (Philp 3:8,9)
6)
Paul instead
started to glory in his inabilities more than his strengths
7)
Pride has
got to go (Luke 14:11, 18:14; James 4:6)
b.
A Best
Friend Relationship
1)
Serve only
ONE master (Lk 16:13)
2)
A
relationship with God that was continuous – not once a week, or every once
in a while when you feel down
3)
A constant
walk with Jesus (1John 1:7)
4)
This is
where we miss real discipleship (Acts 4:13)
a)
Not all the
knowledge and the wisdom
b)
But the fact
that people can tell we spend time with Jesus!
5)
Serve out of
love for Jesus, and you will never lack strength!
6)
This is the
place of quiet rest that a Christian must learn to find
a)
Resting in
His will – putting you right where you are
b)
Resting in
His care – taking care of you and getting you through
c)
Trusting His
ways – they are definitely NOT our ways
d)
Serving the
Lord always goes hand in hand with joy and gladness
1.
Act 20:24
2.
Psalm 100:2
3.
Psalm 37:1-7
e)
Only a real
time with the living Jesus can bring peace in the midst of such awful
troubles and failure (John 16:33)
c.
Burden (Ex
3)
1)
God could
not give Moses a burden until He had gotten his attention and spoken to him
for a while and worked on his heart
2)
God spend an
hour with Moses transferring His burden to Moses
a)
I have seen
the affliction (3:7)
b)
I have heard
their cry
c)
I know their
sorrows
d)
There is a
place that is promised them (3:8)
e)
I want YOU
to take them there – as impossible as it sounds!
3)
He did the
same with Paul (Acts 17:22,23)
4)
You need a
burden from the Lord (Isa 13:1)
a)
Comes as you
see the world through the eyes of a Bible believer
b)
Comes as you
walk with Jesus and talk with Him and LISTEN to Him
c)
If you get
dry and cold, get a burden from the Lord
d.
Battles –
right battles
1)
Willing and
ready to fight
2)
First with
God
a)
Moses
struggled with the will of God! “But, but, but!”
b)
Struggled
with the commands of God
c)
Elijah
wrestled with God – just upset at how things were turning out
d)
Peter
wrestled with God – on many an occasion
1.
Witnessing
to Cornelius
2.
Christ’s
will for him to die a martyr’s death
3)
Then with
yourself
a)
Your own
weaknesses, limitations
b)
Your
inhibitions, confusions
c)
Your pride
again (Mt 8:8,9) – come under authority
d)
Paul teaches
us to press on (Philp 3:13,4) – He never claimed to have “arrived” at
perfection!
e)
Work OUT
what God puts in (Philp 2:12,13)
4)
Then
finally, and always, against the right enemies (Cf Acts 9:6; Eph 6:12)
a)
b)
Battle with
the word of God – speak up like a light, a trumpet
c)
d)
e)
5)
You are NOT
really fighting this battle (1Cor 3:9; Ex 14:14)
e.
Belief –
strong belief
1)
The apostles
REALLY believed Jesus is alive
2)
It was the
source of their courage
3)
You have no
beliefs that you are not willing to die for – means, only those beliefs that
you will live and die by are what you really believe
4)
You had
better get some strong beliefs!
a)
That Jesus
saved you
b)
That Jesus
loves you and is determined to use you
c)
That failure
only occurs when you give up
d)
That you
serve ONLY Jesus
e)
That God is
right in what He is allowing into your life right now
f)
That it will
get better
g)
That Jesus
makes people and all their quirks worth it
h)
That only
the servant has a great future (Jn 12:26)
i)
That NOT
serving will cost you rewards (Mt 25:26-30)
III.
Conclusion
A.
Jesus took
upon Himself the form of a servant
1.
Not a
prince, or a pope, or a governor, or a leader
2.
But of a
servant!
B.
Jesus
teaches us that to be a servant is the HIGHEST of callings (Mt 25:21)
C.
We have
looked at a few Examples of Servants of the Lord
D.
Then we
looked at some qualifications to be a Servant of God
1.
Brokenness
2.
A Best
Friend
3.
A Burden
4.
Battles –
right battles
5.
Strong
Belief
E.
Is God
preparing YOU to be a servant? If any of the above are going on in your
life, then the answer is a definite YES!