Understanding Servanthood

Understanding Servanthood Today’s Focus: Introduction to the Importance of Servanthood Scripture: 2 Peter 1:1-4; Galatians 4:19 Greetings Kingdom Citizens In this series we will discuss the most critical and foundational principal in the Kingdom and House of God which is servanthood. Now when we talk about servants there seems to be an overriding negative picture towards the term in the sense of how it has been interpreted and used through the age of man. When we lack understanding into true servanthood in the church there is a title culture that comes about where everyone is vested in having a title and there is a production of slaves who are sons. When we look at servanthood this will not and should not be presented from a humanistic point of view. From the human point of view servanthood is Apartheid, Segregation and Slavery. This is not the perspective we will look at this from. We will study this from the divine perspective and you will be shock to know and understand that the concept of servanthood is even resident in the Godhead. Servanthood is a fundamental concept of the Divine nature of God. Hence God is a slave at heart. Now do not go jump off the deep end. As we study you will begin to understand more about the Father and how just like He is a slave at heart, so should we be. Here is a great example of this: In 2 Peter 1:1-4 we see Peter writing his second letter unto the Body of Christ and he starts it like this: 2 Peter 1:1: Simon Peter, A SERVANT AND AN APOSTLE of Jesus Christ…… Peter recognized that he was a servant first, then an apostle. Now before I leave Peter let me show you this powerful scripture in Peter’s second letter. 2 Peter 1:4: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now if we are to be partakers of the divine nature and Peter calls himself a servant first and he is a partaker of that nature then God who imparts this divine nature to us must also be a servant also. So the concept of servanthood is a must in the lives of every believer. If it is not then we will produce a Babylonian system (Remember we discussed that in our previous series “The Temple of God”) and call it an apostolic model. The ultimate objective of our journey is for Christ to be formed in us (Galatians 4:19). We are all sons and daughters of God who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. We have liberty and freedom. Now through the spirit of servanthood there is an increased form of giving. Not giving in the materialistic aspect but in the spiritual manner. Understand this, in Christ all men are set free from slavery, but yet everyone who has received Christ become slaves of Christ who have been redeemed from the works of darkness. We pierce our ears so that the only thing we do is hear the word of our Master and we refuse to hear anything else other than the voice of our Master. Am I talking about physical piercing? No! God said do not do that. We are talking about sensitizing our hearing to one voice, who is our Master. So as you can see, we have a little ways to go in understanding servanthood and I know many people who preach the message of the Kingdom might have a problem with this but they should not. Remember we must separate our human view of servant from God’s view of servant and we who are children of God are all called to be servants. Let me leave you with this analogy. In your parents house you are their child and inheritor or what they have. In addition in your parent’s house you are also a servant because you obey their commands and do as they instruct you. You are still your parent’s child and inheritor of what they have but you also serve them. Moreover, your parents serve you through provision and protection they give to you. Servanthood is the most important and crucial concept to the Body of Christ. Let’s get ready to understand what it means to be a servant of the Father. In the next message we will look at some of the church sacraments that show the importance of servanthood. Peace, Love and Grace from the Father, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.