Godly Servanthood

"You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. (14) "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. (15) "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. (16) "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. John 13:13-16

When you hear the word "servant," who comes to mind? My dad does. He is a quite guy, and very unassuming, but he does whatever his church needs, and pretty much whatever anyone else needs. He does not get recognized for it and many folks never notice. But, he serves people. He ain't prefect, but he tries. Now, also countless other servants of God come to mind as well. I am blessed to have in my life lots of people who serve and give their all to Antioch Baptist Church as well.

Godly servants are all around us, but sadly, we frequently take them for granted. I have been guilty of taking my dad for granted, because he is not loud and overly talkative like my mom and I. But, it is good for us to be around people whose gift is serving. You see, I believe that the faithful service of righteous men and women will bring untold blessings to those whom they serve.

For instance, Joseph's story story in Genesis shows us something. Wherever he was, the people he served prospered. Potiphar was certainly not a God-fearing man, yet even he recognized that prosperity came to him because of his slave, Joseph. A second Old Testament example is Daniel, whose service to Babylonian kings included interpreting visions (Dan. 2, 4, 5).

In both examples, the leaders were blessed by their servants' actions. More than that, they came away with an awareness of the living God. And they also participated in the young men's success by offering them increased responsibilities and greater opportunities to serve (Gen. 39:1-6; Dan. 2:46-48; 5:29).

Not all of us have the gift and heart to serve others. Some us spend most of our time serving ourselves. But, as Jesus showed us above, it is not meant to be this way. We should seek to spend time with them, serving and working together for God's glory. We get to see in a small way the in the everyday lives of people, a small example of Jesus, who said in Mark 10:45 "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Thanks to all the servants in my life and the example you all challenge me to follow! Pastor Phillip