Am I a servant?

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant (Phil 2:5-7)

This term "bond-servant" literally means "slave" in the original Greek.  Rather a strong term isn't it?  The Apostle Paul took this challenge seriously and often called himself a "slave of Jesus Christ". ( Rom 1:1; 2 Cor 4:5; Gal 1:10; Phil 1:1; Titus 1:1)

How many of us have taken Paul's exhortation to heart?  How many have adopted the attitude of Jesus when He took the form of a bond-servant?  I would imagine quite a few of us.  There was probably a time when we said to Christ, "I want You to be Lord of my life.  I am willing for You to be my Master, and I your servant." It's one thing to declare Christ as Lord, ourselves and His servant.  It's quite another thing to actually live like it day by day.

Ask yourself, "Am I truly living as a servant of Jesus Christ?"  Here are three questions to consider in this regard:

1. What do I do when my wishes go in a different direction than the Master's? 

Let's be honest.  Even though we sincerely want to obey the Lord, our desires often call us in a different direction?  How do we respond during those times?  Do we catch ourselves and struggle with the dissonance, or simply  disobey?  At these times struggle is a good thing.  For a servant, obedience is paramount.

 "it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy." (NASB95, 1 Co 4:2b)

 Jesus challenged His followers on this point.  He asked them,  “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" (NASB95, Lk 6:46) To call Jesus Lord is to call Him our Master.  How serious are we about obedience?  Is there some area of your life that needs to be brought into conformity to His will.  Do it now.  Make that change; obey the Master. 
    

2. Do I believe the Master will provide what is necessary to do His will?

One of the greatest benefits of being a servant is that the Master covers the expenses.  As we submit to His will and seek to serve Him from the heart, He promises to meet our every need.  This is not health and wealth theology, it's the simple reality that we can trust Him to provide all that's needed to do His will. 

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (NASB,  Phil 4:19)

Are we moving ahead in obedience and trusting God to provide?  Are we holding back because of lack of faith?  I've heard it said , "God never calls us to anything He doesn't provide for us to fulfill."

3. How willing am I to take risks for His kingdom?

In the Gospels we find Jesus offering two parables that are strikingly similar yet different (Luke 19:11-27; Matthew 25:14-30).  Both have stories of a master that imparts resources to his servants.  His expectation is that the servants will invest the Master's riches and bring a return.  In both stories the servants that invest wisely and bring a return are praised, "Well done, good and faithful slave."  It doesn't matter how much they gained, they are all praised the same. In each parable, the only servants chastised were the ones who TOOK NO RISK with the master's money. 

What makes these stories different?  In Luke they were all given the same about to invest, In Matthew they were given varying amounts.  If we try to apply these stories to our own lives we would conclude that as servants of Christ we hope to one day hear, "Well done good and faithful servant, enter the joy of your master."  What is it that we all have the same amount to invest?  One life.  As the saying goes, "Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ shall last." 

But what is it that we have varying amounts of?  Gifts and abilities.  Our spiritual gifts and natural ones are given by God. Also some have greater resources and opportunity than others.

"What do you have that you did not receive?" (NASB95,  1 Co 4:7)

What's important is not how much we have, but how well we invest it for the Kingdom of God. In these stories the servants that were willing to take risks with the master's wealth were the wise ones.  The servants that grasped too tightly the things God had given them, as though they were their own, received a sharp rebuke from the master.  

We must periodically ask these three questions in order to properly serve the Master.  Am I struggling to obey, trusting for the resources, and willing to take risks for His Kingdom?

Larry Norman wrote a beautiful ballad, "I Am a Servant" back in 1976.  I'd encourage you to listen to it online.  He deals with  many other aspects of our servant-hood, especially our failures.  Stewardship is a vast topic with many additional important aspects to it.  Let's keep discovering how to be a better servant!