Introduction to Biblical Servanthood

When Japanese Lt. Hiroo Onoda emerged from the jungle on the small Philippine Isle of Lubang, some people considered him a hero, others a fool to be pitied, and a select few held him up as the last vestige of a once glorious but now defeated Empire. All these reactions to his story were natural given the fact Lt. Onoda was still fighting World War II some thirty years after it actually ended.

Over the years, numerous attempts were made to persuade him to leave the jungle. Leaflets, with newspaper clippings that touted the war’s end, were dropped in an effort to convince him to surrender. Japanese officials were sent traipsing into the jungle and tried to order him to leave. Even his own father paid him a visit. However, nothing could convince Lt. Onoda that the war was over and that Japan had been defeated. He dutifully refused to abandon his jungle post.

After his former superior officer trudged into the dense jungle in 1974 to order him to surrender, Lt. Hiroo Onoda finally turned himself over to the victorious Allies. Once back in Japan he found that for three decades he had been waging his own little imaginary war on a tiny insignificant jungle island.

The world in which he now found himself in was vastly different than the one he so dogmatically clung to in his jungle. He discovered that Japan had indeed lost the war.

Sometimes we find our selves standing at the edge of our own personal jungle, and feeling just a little bit like Lt. Hiroo Onoda. This is especially true when God reveals things about His creation that go against our deluded man-made vision of our own world. “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish” Isaiah 44:24-25. Serving in the local church has been my jungle island.

In the past, servanthood has taken on a variety of meanings for me. At times, I felt that serving is a necessary hardship and it is just what good Christians must do. On many occasions, I served trying to atone for sins committed that week, as a way to justify myself to God. Other times, serving on Sundays was simply a way to gain attention from church leaders. My only motivation was hoping that they might see my works and then use them to evaluate me for higher positions of leadership.

When I became a Christian at the age 25, immense joy and gratitude fueled me to do anything I could to give something back to God. The church I started to attend offered a great opportunity to do exactly that. I was so excited to be a part of God’s kingdom, that I did not mind spending the time or effort serving.

Before church I set up the book table and after church I would help load all the equipment back into the church van. The great relief of knowing I was (because of Christ) saved from God’s wrath had me unfazed about any hard work for God. I knew my future was in heaven and so any sacrifice I had to make did not really concern me.

After awhile, however, struggles with remaining sin and the concerns of everyday life began to cloud my passion for God. The once motivating truth of the Gospel had slowly, over time dimmed in its radiance. Soon, my passion to serve, once a blazing torch within, began to flicker and then went completely out. It became harder and harder to force myself to serve in the church. The monotony and meaninglessness of tasks began to take its toll on my affection. Bitterness and laziness soon set in and I started to actually loath Sunday morning because I knew I had to serve.

How could stacking chairs be any benefit to me or to God? Why should I give up my Sunday mornings? If faith, not works, saves us then what does it matter if I serve in the church? Why can’t someone else do this for awhile? I did my time. If this welcome table was not set up, would anyone even care?

I could no longer comprehend why I served or whom I served. Burned out and extremely frustrated, my focus shifted from amazement of the Gospel onto burdens of Church life. The reallocation of my passions from the God of the Gospel to my own comforts was now complete.

This bitterness was only heightened by my own perception of the attitude towards serving by others within the church. I mistakenly imagined that everyone else, seemingly able to remain Christian without serving, enjoyed their Sundays while I toiled. Maybe they understood something I didn’t. The more I thought about enjoying my Sundays, the more I became sour to the idea of serving and to the people I served.

Then our church in California decided to send a church planting team to Texas. My wife and I felt God calling us to go with them. I knew the embryonic church would need people to serve a lot more than in an established church, but I questioned if I could do that. I knew I couldn’t serve in the condition I was in. I felt as if I would be a dead weight to the church and a liability to my pastor.

As I remembered the passion I had when I first became a Christian, I started asking myself how I got to this spiritual malaise. Just a couple years ago I was so "on fire"… what happened? Why should I be a servant of anybody? Is there any purpose to any of this? Why should I serve when other people never do anything? What is the incentive and motivation for me to serve people in the church let alone people who do not even know Christ?

Bringing Servanthood Back

Browse a Christian book web site or bookstore and just notice how many books there are for leaders and on leadership. There are books on keys to leadership, how to be a leader, studies on both current and historical leaders. Next notice how many books there are on servanthood that is not tied to leadership. Hard to find, are they not?

The true nature of servanthood seems to have been forgotten and hijacked by an obsession with leadership.  Much buzz and emphasis has been given to the topic of servant-leadership. There seems to be a general view that servanthood is but one of many tools in the quest for leadership.

Contrary to this notion, Biblical servanthood is actually a requirement for every Christian whether or not they will ever lead anything. In fact, most Christians will never be in any type of leadership, nor is leadership even a requirement of the Christian life.

Leaders are good. We need leaders who will guide us and help us focus on the cross of Christ. But as Christians, we are not called primarily to be leaders. Rather, we are called first to be followers and therefore servants of Christ. Leadership is not the pinnacle or the goal of servanthood. Leading has everything to do with leading, but servanthood does not necessarily have anything to do with leadership.

Even if Christianity was all about being a leader, that should motivate us even more to study servanthood. Jesus stated to the apostles in Matthew 20:27, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave” Studying leadership requires that we first master servanthood and humility.

Biblical Servanthood is not about leading or doing more things while grumbling less. In fact, applying Biblical Servanthood may mean we do less stuff than we do today. That is especially true for the micro-managers and the over-committers out there.

The definition of a biblical servant is someone so possessed with Christ that they serve to magnify the Gospel for the glory of God. This may mean cutting back on areas you are currently serving in. It may mean stepping out of a leadership role. Biblical servanthood may even mean you need to reevaluate your lack of serving.

To clarify the purpose and distinctions of Biblical Servanthood, we can summarize that it magnifies the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and the benefit of others. The distinction the Gospel makes between biblical servanthood and every thing else is not that it transforms us into servants. Rather because of Christ and through the Holy Spirit, a shift in our focus has occurred from serving ourselves and our own idols to serving God and his purposes. The mere act of service and the exercising of one’s gifts are not the endgame or even the pinnacle of Biblical Servanthood.

On the contrary, it is all about God and what He has done and not about me and my accomplishments. Put another way, our service for God is driven because of God. More profoundly, biblical servanthood is not primarily based upon our love for God but instead it is first and foremost founded, driven, and sustained by God’s love for us. A love that devised our salvation and a love that fully purchased it on the Cross. In Biblical Servanthood, the Gospel transforms service into worship. In worship, I am to be primarily concerned with my heart and actions not the motives and inaction of others.

Therefore a widespread spirit of servanthood is an integral part in defining a healthy local church. However, it can be difficult for any of us to maintain that spirit of servanthood over time. That is what this website is about and will hopefully help create and maintain healthy local churches which consistently demonstrate Biblical Servanthood. This is accomplished by first understanding the foundation and characteristics of true Biblical Servanthood. 

Biblical Servanthood is:

· Grace Motivated

· Established by the Trinity

· Enabled by the Holy Spirit

· Magnifying the Gospel

· Glorifying God

· An Orientation to Others

· Joyful Excellence

· Humbly Noble

· Primarily Expressed in the Local Church

· Eternally Efficacious

Once we understand the landscape of Biblical Servanthood we can then apply it as a lifestyle, one based on both grace and action. Each of these characteristics is derived from direct application of the Gospel that will have a major impact on our lives. We are about to delve into a complex subject that contains many different facets, each derived from direct application of the Gospel.

Serving is a vital piece in God’s plan to magnify and spread His Gospel as He builds for Himself a people and that know He is their God. This biblical vision will reform our Christian service from a self-centered to a Gospel-centered orientation. It will create and sustain healthy God-glorifying churches.

We can all have an intellectual grasp of the Gospel and yet still serve with self interest, grumbling, and even bitterness. But to really live in the reality and grace of the Gospel, we must first be possessed by the Gospel in our hearts. It is at these moments that we truly magnify the Gospel for the glory of God and the benefit of others. This biblical vision of servanthood will reform our Christian service from a self-centered to a Gospel-centered orientation.