Jessica Kufner is an excellent servant in the Teen Ministry here in Phoenix!
Jesus’s DNA
The key to a good walk with God is to imitate Christ, to become a “spiritual clone”, to that end we need to imitate everything about him all the way down to his “spiritual DNA” or character. When I compare my life to how Jesus lived, often what convicts me the most is the character of servitude that Jesus shows in the scriptures versus my own built-in spirit of selfishness – everything he did was in the interest of someone else. The difference between Jesus and me is that he is a servant down to the atomic level – his heart was constantly outward focused. So what is a servant and how can I serve?
A Servant is one who serves!
diakoneo: the Greek for “serves” has a lot of meanings, the most helpful of which are:
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- be a servant
- wait at a table and offer food and drink to the guests
- minister to one
- attend to anything that may serve another’s interests
- To minister I.e. supply food and necessities of life
- Relieve one’s needs, to take care of the sick and poor
- be a servant
Examples of Servants
John 6:5-7, 12-13
Here we can see every definition of Serve at work. In feeding the five thousand, Jesus met the physical and spiritual needs of the crowd following him. He “ministered to them!” Jesus had a plan ahead of time to serve them and meet their needs. He used the opportunity not only to “wait at tables” but to build the faith of the disciples as well as those in the crowd. A great example of this are the Schultz’s! When they have people over, they always have a great plan to meet their needs. Many hungry brothers and sisters have been fed in that house.
The Schultz’s great love and effort in this has led them to being endeared to the church family, as well as winning over people to Christ. As excellent as they are, they consider themselves mere servants, and that is what makes them excellent.
Be a Servant at all Times
Mark 1:29-31
After visiting the house of some of the disciples, Jesus was told that Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law was sick. When he saw the need, he filled it, and it resulted in enabling Simon’s mother-in-law to serve! This is a great example of not only how to help when you go to someone’s house, but also Simon’s mother-in-law was a great servant as well. She went “at once” in the Luke account to serve them. I have had a habit of not serving guests when they come over, especially if I didn’t consider them to be “my” guests. I would say hello and then go off and do my own thing! This is incredibly selfish and has only served to damage relationships with sisters and it makes it harder to build family.
Many times I’ve invited people over to my house to hang out with them without a plan to take care of them. I would invite over sisters and have no food to give them or a place for them to sleep if they were staying over. Ultimately I wasn’t making the most out of every opportunity, those were missed prayer walks, family building times, and quiet times that I could’ve had with the sister if I had an excellent plan. Even when I was over at someone’s house, my silence and lack of a servant’s heart only served to stall and strain my relationships.
Self Reflection
As disciples, servitude is not just a suggestion, but a command and a great tool for winning people over to Christ! This Christmas season we can use this tool to show our families and friends what the holidays are really about through our great example and serving hearts.We can imitate the character of servitude that Jesus shows us in the scriptures. All you have to do is ask yourself: Am I being a servant? And if not, make the decision to do so. Serving needs to be so embedded in your character, it becomes part of your spiritual DNA!
Practical 1: When you visit someone’s home, ask them how you can help
Practical 2: When someone visits your home, be intentional in how you serve others, have an
awesome plan, make sure their needs are met, physically and spiritually
This “Holiday Quiet Times” series was written for the month of December 2020. Brothers and sisters from the Phoenix and Tucson churches contributed these various daily devotionals. You can download the PDF packet here: “2020 Holiday Quiet Times.“
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