Archived Messages

Thinking Like a Servant

(based on Chapter 34 of the Purpose Driven Life)

Chris McKenzie

Today we are going to talk about attitudes and having the attitude of a servant.

Read about King Amaziah: 2 Chronicles 25 1 - 10 On the outside he did what was right, but he resented what he had to do. His obedience was half-hearted. This made him loose Gods favour. God requires that we have full obedience and have a servant heart.

4 points about having the heart of a real servant:

1. Servants think more about others than themselves.

If we read Philippians 2:4, we are commanded to think about other people and make them a priority in our lives. If we read Philippians 2:7 it says that Jesus 'made himself nothing.' Are we making ourselves nothing? Or are we building ourselves up, making ourselves seem important? We are to make ourselves nothing just as Jesus did. This means that we must serve others for no reward with an open happy heart.

2. Servants act as caretakers not owners.

Read 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 God has blessed us with many things - not for our own personal use or pleasure, not to own and say 'it is ours,' but to use for God's glory, to be caretakers of it. This is very clear in the issue of money. Money is a problem for all of us. One minister says that God uses money as one of the greatest tests that we face. We must understand that the money that we have is NOT ours - it is Gods. We are looking after it for him and should use it for his glory. The Bible says that we cannot serve two masters. It is easy for money to become a priority in our lives. If we worry about money a lot, don't do the things that God is asking us to do because we are too busy or if we find it hard to give money to others…then I would suggest that money is our master. I want each of you to think about this tonight -'How am I using my money?' God is in control of our money NOT us!

3. Servants think about their work, not criticize what others are doing!

We shouldn't be concerned about what God has called others to do…by this, I mean we shouldn't criticize, compare or gossip about other people. Read Galatians 5:26. In the message it says, 'We will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.' We are all called to do different things to spread the message of Christ to others - some are called to speak infront of large groups of people, others are called to visit and share the message of Christ to old people, or to young people. We all have different talents and this is good!! The main thing is that we are all doing something! What are you doing for Christ? How have you helped spread the message of Christ this week or today? How have you been a blessing in somebody's life? A good servant worries about how he can be a good servant for the Lord - not how other people are doing. Of course, we should still pray for other people - however, we should only be encouraging…not critical.

4. Our identity is in Christ! We have a great opportunity!

We are servants of Christ. We want to be the best servants of Christ. God loves us and accepts with his grace. We don't have to prove our worth by doing what the world sees as 'high level' things. We should do any act of service that God calls us to do - even if we think we are better than that. Look at the example of Jesus - he is our Lord and God, yet he washed our feet! But Jesus knew who is was…and we should too! Read: John 13 If we are servants of Christ we must be secure too! We must know that our identity is in Christ and do whatever he called us to do is blessed. This may be cleaning the toilets at church…or making cups of tea…or spending time in a third world country with unfortunate people. All of these rolls are blessed because God called us to do them and we do them because we love him. We don't have to do what the world expects us to do…we only have to do what God wants us to do.

This verse is very important for a Christian, a servant of Christ: Hebrews 6:10

Conclusion:

Today we have talked about having the attitude of a servant. God wants us to have a servants attitude, to do His work for him with an open heart. Firstly, we must care more about others than ourselves - we should have a heart yearning to see others come to know Jesus Christ and to grow and know the love of Jesus Christ. Secondly, we should know that everything we have is God`s property. Money is not ours, time is not ours. We should use all this for the glory of God. We should not make money our God - we cannot serve two masters. Thirdly, we should not criticize what other people are doing for Christ - we all have different roles - we should focus on our role and not criticize others. Last, we must be secure in our identity from Christ. Our power comes from God- he tells us what to do…not the world. God notices what we do and blesses us for it.

Lets start thinking like a servant - lets become like Jesus Christ!

Chris McKenzie is a member of Cambodian Christian Fellowship and is going on a missions trip to Cambodia at the end of this year.

Fishing for Jesus Peter Kwon, Saturday 28th August 2004

Read John 21:14-17

This conversation between Jesus and Peter occurs just after Jesus rose from the dead. At the time, the disciples were fishing. As all fisherman would know, fishing is not easy!! The disciples did fishing as their job so one would assume that they were very good at it. That night, 7 of them worked hard all night to catch fish, but didn`t catch a thing. Of course, this must have made them tired and frustrated.

At that time Jesus appeared and told them to throw the net on the right side. Although they could not see who he was, the obeyed and guess what?! Lots and lots of fish - 153 of them to be exact. By this time, the disciples knew that they were talking to Jesus Christ. While they were eating breakfast, Jesus asked Peter the question, "Peter, son of John, do you love me?" John stated that he did, and then Jesus replied, "Feed my sheep!" Jesus asked John this question 2 more times, and each time Jesus told John to "Feed my sheep."

There are two main points that we can get from this interesting conversation - they are two very important points, so read carefully:

1: Jesus wants to know that we love him! It is one thing to believe in Christ with our heads, but it is another thing to love Him with our hearts! This love is very very important, and if we love the Lord Jesus, then the second point will naturally flow:

2:Jesus said, "If you love me, look after my sheep." We must tend to God`s sheep - this shows our love for him! But, who are His sheep? His sheep are any other people who we are in contact with (and others who we don`t see too!) Particularly, the lost Cambodians in Hamilton are the sheep that we desparately need to tend to, to help, and to pray for. There are about 900 Cambodians living in Hamilton right now. How will you tend to them?`

Peter Kwon is a Korean Pastor who has a heart for missions in Cambodia. He is a member of CCF Hamilton and speaks once a month to the congregation. If you would like to know more, please go to his LAMP MISSIONS webpage. This can be found in the links section.

Stability Pastor Mich Dul, Saturday 21st August 2004

Read Hebrews 9:1-12

'..he did not take the blood of goats and bulls to offer as sacrifice; rather he took his own blood and obtained eternal salvation for us.' Hebrews 9:12

Isn`t it so awesome? We were purchased by Christ once and given eternal life - there is no need to to try and 'pay our way' anymore, Christ did it for us. However, many people all over the world, including Khmer people are still trying to pay their way to heaven or happiness through giving offerings to their ancestors and/or doing good works. They do this because they do not know the truth of Jesus Christ, they do not know that His power is sufficient.

STABILITY is one way in which we can show our non-Christian brothers and sisters that we have experienced the love of Christ, showing them that we don`t need to 'pay our way' anymore.

Hebrews 10:23 states, 'Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust on God to keep his promise.' Some people want their life to be on a 'high' all the time, looking for excitement and risk. This is not a good way to be. Although we should be excited about the hope that Christ has given us, of course, there are going to be 'lows' or sadness and troubles. This is why we need to be stable in our lives, to be stable through the good and the bad times, trusting in God's promise.

Stability comes from standing firm on Christ alone, He is everything. It is when we build our foundations on other things that we are opening the door to an unstable life. Hebrews 13:9 states, 'Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you from the right way.' The teachings of Christ is all we need to keep us free from worries and woes - all other things cause an unstable spirituality and life. Lets be a light to our non-Christian friends, showing them how we can live a stable life through Christ. To to do this we must focus on Christ, not from things of this secular world.

Christ will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. God Bless You and have a great week!