Charles F. Stanley - Developing a Servants Heart: Discover Gods Blessing in Giving of Yourself

D EVELOPING
A
S ERVANT'S
H EART

CHARLES
STANLEY

Copyright 1998 by Charles Stanley

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

The Bible version used in this publication is THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

ISBN 0-7852-7279-8

Printed in the United States of America
2 3 4 5 6 7 QPK 04 03 02 01 00 99 98

C ONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
THE REASON FOR
YOUR SALVATION

H ow would you complete the following three statements?

1. God saved me because ___________________________.

2. Gods purpose for saving me was __________________.

3. I am most like Jesus when I _______________________.

The purpose for my opening this Bible study with a little quiz is not to put you on the spot, but rather to set the proper framework for our discussion of servanthood. The answers that I am seeking to these statements are these:

God Saved Me BecauseHe Loves Me

The sole reason that God sent His Son, Jesus, to this world to die for your sins and mine was because He loved us. God forgives us, grants us eternal life, and gives us the gift of His Holy Spirit out of His immeasurable love and grace. There is no other reason.

Many people seem to believe that God saves a man or woman because of the persons good works or service. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There isnt any amount or any type of service that can earn salvation. The apostle Paul made this very clear when he wrote to the Ephesians: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Eph. 2:89). Even the faith by which we believe God forgives us and saves us is a gift of God that flows from His love!

If God saved a person on the basis of works, we each would have to ask ourselves, How much good service is enough? Such a question cannot be answered. There is no amount of good service that can equal the shed blood of Jesus Christ. There is no way to quantify how much service is necessary for salvation or to qualify which types of service lead to salvation. The gospel is: Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross of Calvary to purchase salvation for you and for me. He did so voluntarily and willingly in obedience to His heavenly Father, who was completely and totally motivated by love when He sought your redemption and mine. John 3:16 tells us, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Just as a person is not saved because of his past good works, neither is a person saved because he has potential for future good works. God does not look at one person and say, You have the potential to be a preacher, so I am going to save you and then look at another and say, You arent worth much, so I wont save you. Gods gift of salvation is offered freely to all who will receive it. God created each one of us with a unique set of talents and traits that can be employed for His service as He wills. No person is without merit in His eyes; all are worthy of salvation.

Equally so, there is no inherent goodness in any person that warrants his or her salvation. No person has the prerogative to stand before God Almighty and say, I deserve to be saved. Rather, we each must confess, I need to be saved. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All means all.

This point is critical for you to understand at the outset of this study on service: Developing a servants heart is something that we do in response to Gods gracious gifts of salvation, eternal life, and the Holy Spirit. It is never something that we do in order to earnwin, warrant, or put ourselves into a position to deserve salvation.

Gods Purpose for Saving Me Was to Bring Him Glory

God saved you and He saved me so that we might be His tro-phies we might be examples to others of Gods love and mercy at work in and through a human life.

Many people seem to think that the only reason for salvation is so that a person might go to heaven when he dies. Eternal life is part of Gods forgiveness plan for us, but that is not the sole reason for our salvation. We are saved so that we might be redeemeda word that implies that we once were in bondage or slavery to something that was evil, but we have been rescued and set free from sin so that we might live a life of righteousness before God. If Gods only purpose for our salvation was so that we might go to heaven, He would be doing each of us a great favor by saving us and then immediately slaying us.

Gods purpose for saving us is so that we each might reflect His naturewe might be His people on this earth, doing the kinds of works that Jesus Himself would do if He were walking in our shoes, through our world, during our lifetime. God desires to manifest His character through our personalities and giftedness. When we allow His Holy Spirit to work in us and through us to others, we become vessels of His love in action. We reflect His compassion, love, and mercy to others. And in so doing, we are His witnesses. We bring credit, honor, and glory to Him.

God does not save us in order that we might be part of an elite group of good people. He saves us in order that we might reach out to all people with Gods goodness. He does not put us in the church so that we might soak up several decades of good sermons, Bible conferences, prayer meetings, and seminars. He puts us in the church so that we might be of good use to those who are in needso that we might function as His body, each of us using our gifts, talents, and skills as the Holy Spirit directs to help one another, and in the process, experience a refinement of our own spirits, souls, and minds.

This is an important point for you to consider as we begin this Bible study. God did not save you simply so that you can say to others, Im saved, that you might fill out a church membership card, or that you might have the assurance that you are going to heaven one day. He saved you in order that you might live every hour of every day of the remainder of your life in faithful service and obedience to Jesus Christgoing wherever He leads, saying and doing whatever He prompts you to say and do by His Holy Spirit, and engaging in whatever forms of ministry and service that He calls you to pursue.

I Am Most Like Jesus When I Serve Others

The foremost characteristic of the life of Jesus Christ was and is service. We are most like Him when we serve as He served.

Many seem to think that a person is most like Jesus when he preaches as Jesus preached, teaches as Jesus taught, heals as Jesus healed, or performs miracles as Jesus performed miracles. They look only at the outward manifestation of a persons witness and ministry.

They need to look beyond the outer manifestation to the motivation for Jesus life. That motivation was always service. Jesus preached, taught, healed, and performed miracles in order to help others, never to call attention to Himself. He poured out His very life so that others might be saved, never thinking for a moment to save Himself. Time and again, Jesus said to those He had healed or helped, Dont tell anyone what has happened. The reason for this was that Jesus didnt want others to respond to Him as an earthly political savior. He didnt want them to focus on His potential to rule over them, but, rather, to focus on our loving heavenly Father and on Jesus role to serve humanity as Savior, Deliverer, and Redeemer.