SNAPSHOT OF A SERVANT

 

 “How can I serve you?” That’s rarely a question I ask. Most of the time, I’m thinking, “How can you serve me?” 

            

But serving is a profound way to build relationships, demonstrate the nature of Jesus, and present the power of the gospel. Many youth groups send their students on service projects throughout the summer—mission trips, music and drama groups, camps, and various other opportunities—to share God’s love and have an impact on people’s lives. Those people on the receiving end and the students on the giving end benefit tremendously from these acts of unselfishness. 

 

To change from a selfish person to one with an unselfish attitude, it will help to ask, “What does a real servant look like?” The lines can get blurry when I personalize that question and apply it to the campus I want to reach. Rarely am I loving people with completely pure motives. So, the defining question is, “Am I serving people the way I want to serve them or the way Jesus would serve them?”

 

How can we tell what a real servant looks like? One way is by the degree of sacrifice involved. Consider Jesus as Paul describes Him:  

 

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8-9)

 

Jesus had no selfish motives behind giving up so much. How do we become more like Him? Let’s answer that generally, but also as it applies to our campus ministry. 

 

Serve Humbly 

Humility is the first mark of servanthood. These three questions will help us sort out whether or not we are serving humbly:

• Do I care about this person?

• Am I here for this person or for me?

• Am I willing to serve even if serving this person is inconvenient? 

 

Regarding the campus, we can discover how to demonstrate servanthood by asking and answering selfless questions. For example, what does a first-year teacher need? Certainly not another piece of advice, but rather someone humbly willing to offer help, support, and encouragement. When we focus on sacrificially meeting another person’s need, then we will know we are humble servants. 

 

Serve Felt Needs

A servant-hearted person realizes that it’s not necessarily up to them to define what someone else needs. We might think we know what’s best in a certain situation, but that doesn’t matter if the person being served doesn’t perceive our help as actually helpful. So, it’s important to consider what needs this person feels most acutely. And most often, the best way to find out is to ask them directly. 

            

After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, angels came and “ministered to” Him (Matt. 4:11). That word is used several times in the Bible in the context of meeting physical needs. The angels weren’t just encouraging Him spiritually. They were addressing His physical needs.

            

As Jesus’ human messengers, we have the privilege of tending to the needs of people every day—as they perceive them. When we serve on campus, these are some of the opportunities. 

• Does someone need a ride?

• Does a student need help with homework?

• Are ticket sellers needed for arts or athletic activities? 

• Does the gym floor need to be swept?

            

You get the point. These kinds of needs are everywhere. When you become aware and act on those needs, you become a true servant. 

            

As you observe people at school, put yourself in their place. If you were them, what would you least enjoy doing? Then volunteer to do that. You may find yourself in some thankless positions and begin to wonder why you’re putting up with kids doing things like snatching water out of your hands or rearranging chairs you’ve just arranged. You know you’re qualified for so much more. But whenever you start to think, Why am I doing this? go ahead and answer your own question: Because Jesus would.

 

Serve in the Small Things 

Doing small things enhances our ministry in several ways. First, it keeps our hearts and motives pure. Anyone can go for glory, but it takes a sincere servant of Christ to do what others will not do.

            

Doing the little things also lets people know we care about them. A true servant doesn’t care if they get attention and recognition, only that they express their care and concern. 

            

And doing small things opens up greater opportunities for ministry. David took food to the front lines for his brothers and ended up defeating a giant and earning a reputation that would validate his leadership (1 Samuel 17). In His parable of the talents, Jesus commended two faithful servants for managing and multiplying their master’s money. As a result, he gave them much greater responsibilities (Matthew 25:14-30). When God sees our faithfulness in small things, He knows we’re ready for more, and then He opens the way.

 

Serve Sensitively 

Have you ever had someone breathing down your neck, bugging you by asking again and again what he can do? Irritating, isn’t it? Serve, but not obnoxiously. 

            

Jesus had some sensitive servers around Him—the women who were “watching from a distance,” following Him “to care for his needs” (Matthew 27:55). They were waiting in the wings, watching to see what His needs were before stepping in to meet them. That’s sensitive servanthood.

 

Serve Consistently 

The best way to destroy the trust you’ve built with the school is to “over promise and under deliver.” If people can’t count on you to follow through on what you say, how can they trust you with anything else—especially when it comes to their students.

            

You can’t do everything, so only make promises you can keep. Say no when you can’t do what you’re being asked to do. You aren’t closing the door if you don’t do everything asked of you; you’re simply being realistic. But when you say you will do something, keep your commitments, no matter what—because you said you would.

 

Serve Open-Handedly

Servanthood costs. I remember having a group at our house the night we had new carpet installed earlier that day. One of the kids got sick to his stomach. He panicked and ran all around the house, puking as he went. We debated if we ever wanted other people’s kids in our house again!

 

Years earlier, however, we had made a commitment not to hold our things too tightly. We wanted to take this A. W. Tozer quote seriously: “He who possesses nothing owns everything.”[1] That decision was tested that night. We barely passed the test, but we never forgot it.

 

Serving costs, but it is always worth it when we invest in people, especially investing in the younger generation.

 

Serve Lovingly 

Jesus washed His disciples’ feet “to show the full extent of his love” (John 13:1). Even though He was and still is the Son of God, no act of love is beneath Him. Often, we have had “foot-washings” on retreats when I have washed the smelly feet of many teenagers. It always reminds me how much I love them. But beyond the symbolic action of foot washing, we have so many opportunities to actually show students the full extent of our love by serving them. If we look for those opportunities, we will find ways to serve kids—and parents, teachers, and coaches—and experience the joy of it costing us something to please them. That’s when we show how much we care about them and love them.

            

Bottom line: if you keep on serving and loving students, then not only do you go from being an outsider to an insider on the campus; all of that serving also produces spiritual fruit and a lifetime of friendships. You can change the school and the students who go there from the inside—if you serve.

 

Your Next Steps

We encourage you to keep a notebook or journal of ideas, action steps, and resources that will help you advance your ministry. You can use the following questions and suggestions for brainstorming and developing your goals and plans. 

 

• Write the names of three or four people in your life who have demonstrated servant-heartedness. What about them makes you think of them that way? Identify and list some of their attitudes, words, and actions that reflect their servanthood, and then resolve to further incorporate these qualities into your life and pray that God would help you do so.

 

• Find an accountability partner with whom you can mutually challenge and encourage each other to grow in servant-heartedness.

 

Resources

• Improving Your Serve by Charles R. Swindoll

 

 

[1] A. W . Tozer, The Pursuit of God (Harrisburg. Pa.: Christian Publications, Inc., 1948), 52.