A Christian’s Heart
“A Servan’t Heart””
Philippians 2:5-11
We’re continuing through our study on a Christian’s heart. This study is about those qualities that every Christian should and needs to have in their life.
Why is it important to have such a heart? It’s because the condition of the heart determines who we are, Proverbs 4:23, and how we relate to others, Luke 6:45.
Today we’ll be looking a having a heart of a servant, which Jesus said should be our overall goal if we want to be great in the kingdom of God.
“Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28)
And so to explore this whole idea of having a servant’s heart, Jesus says we need to look at Him and how He came to serve instead of being served. And there’s no better place to see this idea of the servant heart of Jesus than what the Apostle Paul says to the Philippian church.
But this whole concept of Jesus the Messiah coming as a servant isn’t just a New Testament teaching. The whole idea of the Messiah coming as a servant is found within the Old Testament as well.
In Isaiah chapter 42 the Lord says,
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:1)
And again in chapter 52 the Lord says,
“Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” (Isaiah 52:13-14)
So let’s look at what Paul wrote about the servant heart of Jesus.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)
From this passage I see three things, or aspects, that make up a servant’s heart.
“Made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:7)
And then in verse eight Paul tells us that Jesus humbled Himself.
Word “reputation” literally means to pour oneself out, that is, Jesus emptied Himself from being recognized as to who He truly was, that that is the Lord, and instead He took upon Himself the form of a slave.
That is what a bondservant does, he or she relinquishes their rights in order to serve their master. In this instance Jesus relinquished His rights and position in order to serve His heavenly Father by serving others.
We see this literally played out for us when Jesus picked up a bowl of water on that last Passover meal and washed the disciple’s feet. Jesus chose to take upon Himself the lowest position in a household, and that not just being a servant, but being the lowest servant in the hierarchy. It doesn’t get any lower than this. It doesn’t get any lower than what Jesus did.
“He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” (John 13:5)
And then He told them to go and do likewise, that is, go and serve others with such a servant’s heart.
“I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:15-17)
Right before his description of Jesus’s humility as a servant in his letter to the Philippians, Paul tells us that we’re to be humble as well, that in our humility we’re to consider others.
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)
The religious leaders of that day, and even of our own day, didn’t and don’t have humble hearts as they viewed themselves as being better than everyone else. The Pharisees loved to show off their religiosity and having the people call them by their titles, such as Rabbi. They looked down on others, saying such things as, “Thank you God for not letting me be like all these others!”
Isn’t this what Jesus said in His story of the Pharisee and the Publican, or tax collector. They both entered the temple together and the Pharisee told God how faithful he was and how he wasn’t anything like others, or like the Publican he came in with, Luke 18:11.
I was watching a cartoon with my granddaughter and the person announcing the events of the day said, now catch how subtle this is, “Welcome royals and regulars.”
Now it’s easy to point our fingers at these religious and political leaders, but our natural tendency is to do the same thing, but we can get past this, this is curable if we turn our attention and focus away from ourselves and onto others.
Humility isn’t denying who God made us to be; rather it’s being honest about our weaknesses and God’s strength. Humility is getting the focus off ourselves and putting it upon the needs of others.
The Apostle Peter said,
“All of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” (1 Peter 5:5b)
We can be humble and still go forward with the knowledge that we are doing a good work for Christ. We can have the confidence that what we do is making a difference in the lives of others.
And so we need to get the focus off ourselves and start putting it upon the Lord, and when we do that is when we’ll start being obedient.
This leads me to the second aspect of having a servant’s heart. A servant’s heart is …
“He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death.” (Philippians 2:8)
Someone with a servant’s heart obeys God, not out of convenience, but out of conviction and obedience. Many people will serve God only if it’s convenient for them to do so. But a true servant will serve God from conviction and obedience. Paul said,
“Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2)
But such conviction and obedience takes courage. We need to be a people of extraordinary courage if we’re going to stand upon God’s word. Take for instance Joshua and Caleb. They were willing to risk it all, public opinion and even their lives to follow and obey the Lord and His word.
But this doesn’t mean they weren’t afraid. Courage isn’t’ the absence of fear, rather it’s moving forward, doing what is right in spite of our fears. John Wayne stated it quite succinctly, “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”
So we need to be clear about God’s calling. And that begins with a life of conviction and obedience to all that God has said in His word.
Jesus was obedient to God’s calling, even to the point of dying on the cross. And through His humble obedience, salvation came to humanity.
When it doesn’t make sense in our own understanding or in the understanding of the world, we need to be courageous nonetheless and stand upon God’s word no matter what, and whatever the consequences may be.
This leads me to the last aspect of a servant’s heart, and that is a servant’s heart is …
“He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8)
Jesus sacrificed it all when He left heaven and came down to this earth to become like one of us, and then giving His life as a sacrifice for our sin.
A servant will put others before themselves. They’ll relinquish their rights in order to serve others. They are willing to sacrifice.
After being told how the Messiah would be that servant of God, the prophet Isaiah revealed about the Messiah that not only would He suffer, but that He would be that sacrifice for our sins.
“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed … He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken … My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities … He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:3-5; 8, 11-12)
Mother Teresa told a story of how one of their sisters had spent an entire day bathing the wounds of a dying beggar. She said that in reality the nun had been bathing the wounds of Jesus Himself. She said that Jesus tests the love of his followers by hiding in grotesque disguises to see if we can still see Him through them.
The heart of a servant recognizes that by serving others we serve Christ. Jesus said,
“I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Having a servant’s heart is paying the price to achieve God’s plans and purposes.
Jesus makes this idea of sacrifice clear saying,
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)
Taking up the cross doesn’t mean living a life of inconvenience; rather it means death, death to self.
To have a servant’s heart will cost, and goes against everything we’re taught. It conflicts with our self-centeredness and personal desires. But in the end there’s a reward waiting.
Reward of a servant’s heart
The reward of a servant’s heart is that God, not man, will exalt us.
Let’s now pick up our reading in Philippians.
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)
We see this same exaltation in what the prophet Isaiah said,
“Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.” (Isaiah 52:13)
When we humble ourselves and take upon ourselves a servant’s heart, that is when God exalts us. God exalts us when we’re low in our own opinion.
The Apostle James said,
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10)
Jesus also tells us that when we follow His example and be those servants then we’ll be blessed.
“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:17)
What things, being a servant.
Literally if you take what Jesus said that whoever wants to be great must first be a servant, Matthew 20:26-28, greatness is the reward of having a servant’s heart. But it’s not greatness as the world counts greatness.
The world says that someone is great when they make it to the top of their field, having great athletic or leadership skills, or they do something special to help others. This is what the world considers greatness.
But the greatness that is sought after as a servant of God is in loving and serving God, and what the Bible says is that we show God our love and service by loving and serving those that He places in our lives.
Greatness comes from the humility of being a servant of the Most High God.
In Colossians 3:23, Paul said,
“Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23)
Therefore the ultimate reward for having a servant’s heart is having the joy of the Lord and the reward of heaven once this life is over hearing Jesus say,
“Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 25:23)
