A Servant's Heart

(We're not quite finished with Rebekah yet, but I've gotten a bit stuck there, so we're doing Phebe for a change! :) )

Lessons from Phebe

“I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:
That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.” Romans 16:1-2 

In one particular way, Phebe was very Christ like. She had a servant's heart. Jesus was also a servant. It was Him who washed the other disciples feet. Jesus was by far the one that everybody else should've have been serving. He was the King of the Universe! Yet here he was kneeling down doing a servant's job.

Jesus then said to the disciples, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

John 13:14-15

We are saved to serve not to sit on the shelf!

Phebe served the church. She looked for ways to help. She wasn't just a pew-warmer. She didn't just come and 'exist' at church. She wasn't a cozy comfy Christian; she was a servant. Her life didn't revolve around herself.

But the church is Christians, so being a servant of the church doesn't just mean being helpful at the church building.

Being a servant starts at home. I remember as a teenager, I wanted to go overseas to be a missionary. I wanted to do 'honorable' work. Helping down the farm and around the house wasn't so worthwhile to my thinking!

It's easy to want to do work that is what we call 'honorable' or 'spiritual' like teaching Sunday school, singing an item or playing the piano, but what about sweeping floors? Do you only want work that people will look up to you for?

Are you willing to serve? Willing to wash dishes, willing to babysit, willing to clean?

Do you have a servant's heart like Phebe and, ultimately, like Jesus Christ?

After talking about being a servant Jesus said, “ If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” John 13:17

Being selfish and serving yourself doesn't make you happy, but serving others does!

 

You may look very Christ like in the way you talk, act or dress, but if you don't have a servant's heart, you're not like Jesus.