Introduction

Many Christians have become reluctant to use this term “servantship” because they have heard it used to justify a lot of manipulation, coercive talk and preaching, when it is really about living out a personal, loving relationship with one’s Father in Heaven that allows His Glory to be expressed on the earth in words and in miracles.  

While we are growing through the “babe” and “child” growth stages of growing in God, we are learning to stand before Him, hear His voice and walk with Him.  This is not a time when He expects us to get it all right, and it is a time when He expects that we will make mistakes and learn from them.  His grace is there for us through these times.

Real life parallels

After all, we expect that toddlers take some time to get the whole walking, balance and related functions and activities together, and our Father in Heaven knows that there will be plenty of wobbles on our part as we try to get the whole relationship thing right with Him.

Just as we come alongside a toddler in readiness to help and rescue, so does He.  Just as we know that the best way to learn is by experience, trial and error, so does He know that that is the way we learn the most as we dare to try to stand, hear and walk with Him.  It is easy to be a critic, especially of one’s own efforts, and we must learn to not only show grace to each other but also to our own efforts.

Matthew 20:25-28 reads …….But Jesus called them and said, You know that the rulers of the nations exercise dominion over them, and they who are great exercise authority over them.
However, it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant.
And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

In my view real, biblical servantship is a non negotiable item.  But in today’s Christian culture it needs to be defined very clearly, because we are hearing a lot from those who teach that others should serve their vision and what they personally believe they and everyone else are called to do on the earth.  (Some of us have been around for a while and heard many versions of the same “driven” message.)

John 12:26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also My servant shall be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honour him.

What did Jesus do?

Jesus Our Lord walked the earth as a servant to His Father and our Father.  He called us to walk in His Way, so we should be walking as servants to our Father also.  There have been those that we have fellowshipped with who do not really grasp this and what it means.  

John 6:38 ...For I came down from Heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 12:49, 50   For I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say (in conversation), and what I should speak (public speaking, preaching).
 And I know that His command is life everlasting. Therefore whatever I speak, even as the Father said to Me, so I speak (public speaking, preaching).

So scripture is clear that we have all been called to walk in such a way that we do what we see our Father doing and speak what He is showing us to speak, whether that is in public speaking mode or in conversation.

The nature of Jesus servantship

Luke 4:18, 19 reads "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

The nature of Jesus’ servantship was and is to bring good news of freedom to those trapped in the toils of selfishness and to pour out His power in all kinds of healing.  As the light of the world, now our function as His family is to do the same.   

We can do this because Jesus is alive and well and living in each of us and He has not stopped working out the commission He spoke out in Luke 4 (above).  One major problem that some of us have is that we have not known how to grow into a place in Him where this can happen.

Our jobs in the Kingdom of God are to serve one another - all of us - to help one another to find out the ways of our Father and to Live from His life flow and power.

John 15:12 “this is My commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you”

John 6:63 It is the Spirit that makes alive, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life.

John 7:16 Jesus answered them and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 8:26 ... I speak to the world those things what I heard of Him.

John 8:38 ...I speak what I have seen with My Father, ....

What this looks like

Firstly I wish to encourage you that our Father is kind and gives us grace to learn.  If we have trouble with seeing Him as love and grace toward us then we can ask Him to show us His love.  When I understood that He loves me so much more than my earthly father, I gained the confidence to see Him as wanting to gently encourage me.

When we start to do this often we are discouraged by well meaning other Christians who have given up trying. Also at times it seems that we can’t get anything right so we back off and perhaps even get a bit sulky about trying again.  As one who has persevered and come into a place of some success, I can say that sorting out the voices of self, demons and the many ways that our Father speaks takes time, and it is definitely worth it.

According to 1 John 2 , it is only when we have walked into the maturity of “young men” that we now fully recognise the “evil one” and can respond successfully.  It is unreasonable to expect “babes” or “children” to be able to deal with all forms of hearing or of kingdom action and practice straight away.

Don’t give up; and if you have backed off because it seems too hard, please try again.  Also, you can ask our Father to teach you and to put you beside those who know how to hear so you can learn a bit more quickly to deal with the problems that arise.