Introduction to Biblical Servanthood

Believe it or not, the game of bowling is inundated with religious history and dripping with theological significance. Throwing a round ball through a wall of pins, all while wearing funny colored shirts and pre-worn shoes, has deep roots in atonement for sin and the assurance of salvation, or so at least some people thought.  Bowling is said to have originated in 3rd or 4th century AD in Germany as a religious ceremony. In the cloisters of churches, worshippers placed a club at one end of a strip of grass. The club represented the heathen man and as a stone was rolled at the club, those successfully toppling it were believed to have cleansed themselves of sin.[i]

The Cross of Christ is obviously not enough to atone for sin, and that is why we must bowl! I seriously doubt however, that Paul had a bowling outfit in mind when he wrote in Ephesians 6 about being dressed in the armor of God. For that matter, Christ did not tell his followers to “pick up your bowling ball and follow me”. To those ancient Christians, the ability to hit the pin was a sign of God’s favor on the bowler’s life and acceptance of their faith. There was a tragic misunderstanding that God’s sovereignty was not to be found in Christ. Instead, they demanded more tangible and ultimately man-centered signs to reassure themselves of salvation. The Cross had thus been exchanged for a bowling pin.

Every one of us has bowled for righteousness at some point or another. Like those German bowlers, we can define things based on what we want them to mean, rather than what Scripture instructs. For me, serving in the local church was my personal bowling alley. 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. I was so excited to be saved, that I did not mind spending the time or effort serving.  I threw myself into all kinds of service.

After awhile, however, struggles with remaining sin and the concerns of everyday life began to cloud my passion for God. Over time, the once motivating truth of the Gospel had slowly dimmed in its radiance. Soon, my passion to serve, once a blazing torch, began to flicker, and finally 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 for both God and the church. Bitterness and laziness soon set in. I started to loathe Sunday mornings because I didn’t want to serve. Burned out and extremely discouraged, my focus shifted from an amazement of the Gospel onto the burdens of church life. The reallocation of my passions from the God of the Gospel to my own comforts was now complete.

The bitterness I felt was strengthened as I perceived that everyone else, seemingly able to remain Christian without serving, were enjoying their Sundays while I toiled. Maybe they understood something about the Christian life that I didn’t? The more I thought about enjoying my Sundays, the more I became sour to the idea of serving.  On one occasion, I even faked being sick so I could get out of serving.

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 when I first became a Christian, I wondered how I ended up with such spiritual malaise.  Just a couple years ago I was so "on fire"-what happened?  

Assuming Servanthood

Even as new a Christian, I knew that my attitude towards serving was completely wrong, yet I had no idea why I had such a hard time serving. Frustrated, I met with my pastor to get help. He began by asking me questions designed to help expose what was driving my attitude. As we searched my soul together, the complaints and grievances I had regarding serving started to reveal my true desires. There have only been a handful of times that I wanted to sink into ground from sheer embarrassment and shame – this was one of them.

Thankfully, my pastor was gracious and wise enough to not let me to do that. He encouraged and helped me to see serving from God’s perspective.  I realized that the assumptions I believed about serving were all wrong and, consequently, I was headed in wrong direction. As author Stephen Covey explains, “We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.” Sometimes, it is hard to sift through all the emotions and attitudes to discover what assumptions are really driving them. Fortunately, the assumptions I was making about serving were especially transparent. I wanted serving to be all about me; my needs, my goals, and my terms. My assumptions about serving were driving my attitudes towards serving. Here are some of those false notions:

Assumption 1: Servanthood is optional.

By my definition, serving was at best an optional hardship - it is just what “good Christians” do. I thought that I had the choice to serve God or not. If I felt like it, or if someone was watching me, then maybe I would help. If I was going to be inconvenienced or I did not particularly like the person or job, well then I probably wouldn’t serve. It was my choice to serve or not.

Assumption 2: Serving is my stepping stone to leadership

Another false assumption is that servanthood is merely a springboard for leadership. I served in order to gain attention from church leaders, so they would see my works and evaluate me for some position of leadership. I saw serving as a way to advance my ambitions, my agenda. Serving others was purely a means to develop me as a leader.

Assumption 3: Serving is way to manage God

If not the most disturbing, then definitely the most grievous, supposition about serving was the notion that through serving I could manage God. Like the volume knob on a car stereo, serving was a way I could adjust God’s opinion about me. Having a bad week? No problem, just do a little serving and God will like me again once he sees how hard I’m serving. Who needs bowling, when I can serve coffee to win back God’s favor?

I wanted to make God manageable by setting the exchange rate equal to one sin equals one act of service. I attempted to manage God’s opinion of me by atoning for my sin with serving. It was much easier than to having to face and work on my problems.

Assumption 4: Serving is about how I can use my gifts

One of the most recurring assumptions I had was treating serving others as if it was all about actually serving me.  I thought that goal of servanthood was found in the maturation and expression of my spiritual gifts. I would motivate myself to service because it would develop my talent for administration or encouragement. “Well,” I reasoned, “This would be a good way for me to step out and work on my hospitality gift.” Serving was seldom driven by the needs of others or for the glory of God. Mostly, it was for the needs and glory of me.

Assumption 5: Serving is about my enjoyment

            A close cousin to the previous assumption is that serving is about our enjoyment. I am much quicker to serve if I am going to have fun. In fact, having fun was often a key decision factor that determined whether I served or not. Will my friends be there? Will I have fun doing it? If both answers weren’t yes, I would find a decent excuse to get out of the situation.

So if these assumptions are false, then what are the true factors that should drive Christian service? Webster’s dictionary defines serving as performing tasks on behalf of another person, master, or personal employer. This definition is helpful but glaringly devoid of all reason and motivation. It does not explain what would make a person serve someone else. Why would we want to be servants? Is it for money or love?  Are we being forced to? What distinguishes Christian service from worldly service?

It’s the Gospel

“Can you serve in the nursery?” As you try to pick one of the thousand excuses that have popped into your head, you secretly hope that the pastor’s question was merely theoretical. Of course, you know you should say, “Sure, I will serve anywhere!”, but you just can’t bring yourself to say it. The last place you want to be is with a bunch of screaming babies, having to change diapers and dodge spit-ups, while your friends listen to a life changing sermon. Why you? Can't someone else do it?

Whether we realize it or not, we are all servants.  No one is ever simply sitting on the side lines, waiting to get into the game of servanthood. Servanthood is not even an exclusive trait to being a Christian. On the contrary, every one of us – saved or not - has never really ceased serving since we were born. Yet rather than serving others or God’s interests, most of the time we are just serving ourselves. We place our energy, hope, and trust into serving and nurturing our own desires.

Serving God and serving ourselves are ultimately totally opposed to one another. It is impossible to serve both. As Paul Tripp states, “Each of our lives is shaped by the war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self.”[ii] Jesus points out in the Book of Matthew, that we cannot serve both God and our own interests at the same time. "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Matthew 6:24. Either we serve God or we are serving an entirely different master.

The differentiating factor between Christian service and worldly service is defined by whom we serve. As Christians, we have the ultimate reason that motivates our servanthood - Jesus Christ. Jesus creates the monumental shift that occurs from serving ourselves to serving God and we will explore that in the following chapters. Yet the Gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ and His work on our behalf) did not merely make our salvation possible, it purchased salvation for eternity.  That reality has a significant impact on how Christians serve. If our salvation is already assured through Christ, then our service cannot be rooted in the earning of salvation. It is a reaction to salvation.

The famed sixteenth century reformer Martin Luther loved to bowl. He had his own bowling lane made in his garden and he standardized many rules that still exist today. In fact, he is credited with limiting the number of pins to nine. Unlike the previous generations of German bowlers, however, Luther knew that his scores had nothing to do with his salvation.

Actually, Martin Luther had what was at that time a revolutionary idea concerning justification. In his treatise to Pope Leo X titled Concerning Christian Liberty; Martin Luther outlined his biblical stance that salvation was by faith alone:

“From these considerations any one may clearly see how a Christian man is free from all things; so that he needs no works in order to be justified and saved, but receives these gifts in abundance from faith alone… he who wishes to do good works must begin, not by working, but by believing, since it is this which makes the person good. For nothing makes the person good but faith, nor bad but unbelief.”[iii]

So do we serve God to be justified in Christ or did Christ’s service justify us? What is the relationship between serving and our salvation? The relationship is causal to be sure. But the connection is that our salvation causes our serving, not vice versa. Salvation does not depend on works, on serving, or on knocking down bowling pins. We could never have produced enough righteousness through all Christian service to pay for even one of our sins. “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Romans 3:28.

Our righteousness, that is our basis for being given eternal access to God, is found solely in the person and service of Jesus Christ. Clothed by His blood, we can enter into the presence of a Holy God for all eternity. As Paul states in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Rather than being based upon our love or work for God, Biblical servanthood is founded, driven, and sustained in God’s love and work for us - love that devised our salvation and a love that fully purchased it on the Cross and a love that promises eternity through the Resurrection.  Christian service is therefore not defined by the task, but rather by the faith - a faith in Christ.

Nowhere is this truth more exemplified than in the thief who was crucified next to Jesus as recorded in Luke 23:39-43. There was no possible way this convicted thief could go on to serve other people. He was physically nailed to a cross. He could not comfort Jesus’ disciples, nor bring meals to Jesus’ family, nor atone for his own sin. Professing Jesus as the Messiah, and then in faith begging for forgiveness, were the only avenues open to him. Faith in Christ was all this criminal had and was all he needed.

The apostle James addresses this issue in his epistle to those in the church who think they can profess faith but never lift a hand to help anyone. James explains that an important by-product of salvation is good works. Without this fruit apparent in someone’s life, James questions the genuineness of the person’s faith (James 2:14-16).  He writes that both works and faith justify us. This seems to contradict what Paul wrote in Romans 3:28. So who is right, Paul or James?

In actuality, these are complimentary statements. Paul writes that faith is all we need for salvation. James is stating that we know that faith exists because of good works. Genuine faith births good works. Good works are a sign that the Gospel has changed our hearts. James warns those who say they believe in Christ, that if their faith does not result in works, then their faith is dead. He tells the church that faith which results in good works is a sure indication that they have received the Spirit of Christ.  As John Owen explains on his edited Calvin’s Commentary of James:

“The doctrine of Paul, that man is justified by faith and not by works, that is, by a living faith, which works by love, is perfectly consistent with what James says, that is, that a man is not justified by a dead faith but by that faith which proves its living power by producing good works, or by rendering obedience to God. The sum of what James says is, that a dead faith cannot save, but a living faith, and that a living faith is a working faith -- a doctrine taught by Paul as well as by James.”[iv]

So faith without works is dead, but what about works without faith? While works without faith would have earthly benefits to others, they in fact have no spiritual or eternal worth. Without faith, God is not glorified, man is. “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6. But what do justification by faith and serving have to do with one another?

 Douglas R. Kelly, a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, writes, “Our sanctification displays the work of election in us.  Election and union with Christ is the root of Christian life and service.”[v]For those changed by Christ, we are compelled to Biblical Servanthood because it reflects His work in us and for us. Service is a barometer and consequence of our faith in Christ; the more we treasure Christ, the more likely we will worship Him through serving. Michael Horton writes, “Only when we know that it is God who saves us, not we who save ourselves with help, can genuine worship lead to holiness and service.”[vi] We serve God because He first served us by sending His son to die as our substitute.

As we place our faith in Christ, God looks upon us and sees His Son who not only paid our penalty but also gave us His righteousness. Remove Christ, along with his atoning sacrifice, and serving would be meaningless. There would be no motivation, no benefit, and more importantly no reason to stop serving ourselves and start serving God.  It may produce temporary benefits, but without the Gospel, serving is about as meaningful to salvation as bowling. No matter if billions of lives were made better through our serving, without the life and work of Christ all of our works would be totally irrelevant. James states in James 4:14, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” Without the saving news of the Gospel, all we would be doing is putting happier, fatter, and comfortable people in Hell.

The truth is that serving is more than simply a reaction to the Gospel; it also magnifies the power of Christ to an unsaved world by displaying our faith and adoration towards God. Without the Gospel, our lives, our actions, and our words are like mist that vanishes upon the morning light.  It induces, defines, and characterizes our service. The Gospel transforms serving into an expression of worship to God. So when we are faced with serving in the nursery, we don’t ask “How is this serving me?” but instead, “How can I worship God?”

Former President Bill Clinton used the slogan “It’s the economy, stupid” to help him refocus the 1992 presidential campaign from foreign policy to domestic.  The phrase was often repeated in Clinton’s successful bid for the White House to remind the public of the main issue facing Americans. When making the distinction between Christian service and worldly service, we need to take page from Clinton’s campaign script and say to ourselves, “It’s the Gospel, stupid.”

The Road Ahead

But just explaining the fact that the Gospel distinguishes Christian service only scratches the surface of its true impact.  Even if we understand this, we can all be tempted to question, “How could we possibly experience or worship God while serving in the nursery?” In order to answer a question like this, we need to burrow deep into the foundation of Christianity and examine how it affects servanthood. 

This is what this book is about. To do that, we will first we will explore the purpose of Christian service as found in the Gospel in Chapter 2 - Biblical Servanthood, Chapter 3 - Magnifying the Gospel, and Chapter 4 - Glorifying God.  Chapter 5 - Established by the Trinity and Chapter 6 - Enabled by the Holy Spirit will reveal the foundation for servanthood laid by the character and work of God. Then in the next set of chapters (Chapter 7 - Orientated to Others, Chapter 8 - Humbly Noble, and Chapter 9 – Expressed through the Local Church), we will examine the affects of Gospel on servanthood. Lastly, in Chapter 10 - Eternally Efficacious, we study the eternal power and affects of Biblical servanthood.

In this introductory chapter, we have looked at some assumptions about servanthood being a merit towards salvation, a means of penance, or just a necessary evil of church life. However, the Bible paints a far different and contrasting view of serving. Scripture shows us that serving is a reaction to having faith in Christ, a response to God for what he has done. Serving for Christian is primarily about God not us- a tool for our worship not our self interest. The Bible explains how serving is intended to magnify the Gospel, not replace it.

We can try to define serving or bowling to mean just about anything, but that does not change the definition God has defined and given to us in Scripture. God designed Christian service as an act of worship to God, performing tasks motivated by the Gospel, which glorify and honor Him. Biblical Servanthood should magnify the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and to the benefit of others. Once we grasp this truth, we will realize that our service is not required for salvation but is inspired by it.  I am overjoyed at that truth because I seriously stink at bowling.

[i] Encyclopedia Britannica.

[ii]Paul David Tripp, A Quest for More,  pg 49

[iii] Martin Luther, Concerning Christian Liberty

[iv] John Calvin, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles edit by John Owens

[v] Douglas E Kelly,

[vi] Michael Horton, Putting the Amazing Back into Gracepg. 94