Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

This is the second message in our series called Developing a Servant’s Heart. Last week we talked about how God has created each of us uniquely and specifically. We talked about how we are God's masterpiece. He wired us up. He authored our DNA. We are unique and specific masterpieces created by the hand of God. He did all of that so that we could live out the purpose that He has for us in our lives. He did that because he wants to use each one of us in service and in ministry.

Today we’re talking about Developing our Heart. What does a servant’s heart look like? How can we take steps to develop this servant mindset and servant heart in our lives?

Jesus tells a story in Luke 10 that is a great snapshot of a servant's heart. It’s the well-known story that we refer to as “The Good Samaritan.”

Jesus tells it like this in Luke 10, beginning in verse 30. “Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he

saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.” (Luke 10:30-33, NIV)

Jesus’ story tells us about a guy who’s traveling from Jerusalem to this little country town. A place often used for rest called Jericho. In the midst of it, this guy is beaten and bloodied and robbed, and then left for dead on the side of the road. After that, two religious leaders walk right by him. But a Samaritan stops because he has pity for the man. He has the heart of a servant. As we explore this story, we’ll see three different heart attitudes that are very apparent. The outline of these three attitudes was made famous by Roy Angell.

The first attitude is: What's yours is mine. I'll take it. That's the attitude of whom in the story? Obviously it's the robbers. It's the people who mugged this guy as he's making his way down to Jericho.

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was seventeen miles long. In seventeen miles, the elevation dropped thirty-three hundred feet. That pathway was called The Way of Blood because it was so zig-zaggy. There were rocks and crags and steep declines. Because of the topography of the area, it was a perfect spot for bandits to hide out. Robbers would often hide in these rock formations and mug people as they were traveling down the road. That's exactly what happened to this man in Jesus’ story.

He is bleeding on the side of the road, boiling in the hot sun, and left to die. The robbers didn’t care because they had this attitude of, “What's yours is mine and I'll take it.”

All we have to do is turn on the news or open up the newspaper to see this attitude is still being lived out in a lot of ways in our society. We read about homicides and murder. We read about crime and robbery. The new crime in our culture is identity theft. People lift your credit card of social security numbers and have a field day with them.

Many people have the attitude of what's yours is mine and I'll take it. It happens on a grand scale in our society and it can also happen very subtly in our hearts. It'd be easy for us to sit back and say, “Hey, I didn't beat anybody up. I didn't mug anybody. I didn't steal this week, so I'm all good.” But sometimes in our own hearts we can get this attitude of what's yours is mine and I'll take it.

When we’re so busy that we’re never home, we rob our family of time and attention. Time and attention that is rightfully theirs is taken away from them. What’s yours is mine and I’ll take it.

When we are nasty, judgmental, and critical of others, we rob them of the respect that is rightfully theirs. What’s yours is mine and I’ll take it.

But we don’t cop this “what’s yours is mine” attitude exclusively with other people. We can do the same thing with God.

When we make the decision not to tithe, not to be generous in how we give to God’s church, we rob God of the resources that are rightfully his. What’s yours is mine and I’ll take it.

When we willfully and purposefully disobey God’s principles, we rob God of the obedience that is rightfully his. What’s yours is mine and I’ll take it.

When we refuse to serve in the church, when we see a role that needs filled and we’re just content to sit on our hands, make excuses, and pass the buck on to somebody else, we rob God of the service that is rightfully his. What’s yours is mine and I’ll take it.

If we live with this attitude of what's yours is mine and I'll take it, if we go down that path in our lives, it won't lead to joy. It won't lead to peace. It will lead to suspicion, guilt, and all sorts of difficulties in our lives.

There’s a story of a little brother and sister who were having playing together one afternoon. The little girl had a whole bag of candy. The little guy had a whole bag of marbles. They were just playing around. The little guy began to look at her candy. It really started to look good. He'd love to have some. He said to his sister, “I tell you what, I'll make you a deal. I'll trade you all my marbles for all your candy.”

She had to think about that proposal. She went to her room for a little while. She came back out and said, “Okay, all your marbles for all my candy. I'll make the deal.” She goes back to her room and gets all her candy in a bag. He goes back to his room and puts all his marbles in a bag. He thinks, “You know, I don’t really want to give her all my marbles. I'm going to keep a few.” He takes about five or six of them out and sticks them under his pillow. What's yours is mine and I'll take it. He goes back out and makes the swap. That night she's sleeping like a baby. He's wide-awake starring at the ceiling. There's one question that's going through his mind again and again and again. Do you know what it is? Did she give me all the candy? You see when we live with a “what's yours is mine” attitude that's ultimately where it leads. It leads to a life that is suspicious of other people’s motives. It leads to a life that is solely focused on what’s in it for me.

There's another attitude that is reflected in this story. That's the attitude of what's mine is mine and I'll keep it. We see that in the two religious leaders that passed this person by, the priest and the Levite. The priest was part of the upper class. He’s the cream of the crop. And the Levite, while he's not as high up as the priest is on the social ladder, he's still doing well. Everyone looks up to these men because of their high religious status.

And they walk right past this guy lying on the road, bleeding and dying. They just keep going. I think as Jesus told this story, the people that were listening weren't necessarily shocked that the priest and the Levite kept going. There were several reasons why the priest and Levite wouldn't stop.

For instance, if the priest was to stop and touch this guy and it turns out he's already dead, then he would have touched a corpse. That would have meant he was defiled now. He would have had to go through a full week of all these rituals just to be reinstated to his temple duties. For any Jew to touch a corpse meant there were ritual implications they would have to go through to be restored. This type of hassle could have really messed up his travel plans.

Not only that, there's the issue of personal safety. Hey, maybe this guy lying beside the road is just a decoy. It happens in our society. Someone is pulled over the side of the road; their car is broken down. You get out to help them and then out of the bushes come ten other people and now you are in trouble.

That would happen a lot in their culture. Someone would pop out because they used this person as a decoy. Then they would take everything you had.

Plus there's the time issue. It's not in his day planner, it's not on the calendar, it's not in the palm pilot for him to stop and help this guy out. It was going to take time and money for him to help this guy out. So the priest and the Levite both walk right by him. I'm sure they had all these different reasons and excuses in their head. I'm sure that, in some sense, their own religious system had blinded them to the need of this human being right in front of them. And so they walked right past him.

They had a what's mine is mine and I'll keep it kind of attitude. Up until the time of Jesus, Socrates and other great thinkers had summarized ethical conduct in one statement. Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you. It's in the negative. Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you. In other words, if you don't want someone to hurt you, then don't hurt them. Sounds good. If you don't want someone to lie to you, then don't lie to them. The only problem with the negative version of that statement is that it allows you to withdraw. It allows you to pull back and walk past a naked, bleeding man on the side of the road because you say, “That's not my responsibility. I didn’t rob him. I didn't hurt him. It's not my deal, so I'm moving on.”

But then Jesus comes along in Matthew 7:12 and makes the most revolutionary ethical statement about how we are to live our lives every day. Look at what He says. “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12, NIV)

There is a huge chasm between the negative statement, “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you,” and the positive statement, “Do to others what you'd want them to do to you.” The positive statement doesn't allow us to withdraw. It puts us on a proactive stance. If you think of a way you'd like a person to treat you, then you proactively treat them that way.

Can you imagine what kind of world we would live in if people lived out those words of Jesus that we refer to as the Golden Rule? It'd be amazing. Selfishness and self-centeredness would be a thing of the past. Everyone would be a servant. But that’s not the world we live in. We live in a world that teaches us to look out for #1. Get as much as you can by giving as little as you can. We live in a world where we all struggle with what's mine is mine and I'll keep it.

Jesus tells us about third attitude in this story, an attitude that really reflects a servant’s heart. It’s the attitude of “What’s mine is God’s and I’ll share it.”

Back to Luke 10. “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.

The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

Then Jesus says, 'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?' The expert in the law replied, 'The one who had mercy on him.' Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'” (Luke 10:33-37, NIV)

Here's this person, the Good Samaritan, who stops and begins to take care of this man. He bandages him up, pays for him to have a night at an inn, pays for him to get the extra attention that he needs, and then says he'll come back in a couple days and pick up any other bills he may have incurred.

We’ve got to understand that in Jesus' story, this is the most unlikely character for Jesus to highlight as the hero. The Samaritan should have been the villain. It doesn’t resonate with us because we don’t live in 1st century Jewish culture. What’s the big deal about the Samaritan being good? We even have a hospital here in Cincinnati called Good Samaritan Hospital. It just doesn’t seem like a deal to us…but it was to Jesus’ original audience.

As the people heard this story, when they heard the Samaritan was the one that was good, it was shocking to them. It would be like going to Israel today and telling the story of the Good Palestinian, or going to the Palestinians and telling the story of the good Israeli. That's the shock value that Jesus' story had. Jesus took all the racial and cultural stereotypes of his culture and tipped them upside down.

Now, why would this Samaritan stop and care for this wounded man? I think ultimately there is only one reason; he had a servant's heart. He had a heart of compassion. Jesus said that he took pity on the man that had been beaten. He had compassion for him. Because of that compassion, he was moved to help this person.

As we talk about developing a servant's heart, it really is a heart issue. This story is not just about what the Samaritan did. It started a step further back than that. It started when he was moved with compassion. He saw a person that was hurting and he was willing to step out and help him. It's a heart issue.

My hope and prayer for myself through this 40-day experience is that my heart can become softer. I would like it to become less callous towards people's needs or less rigid to the hurt and the pain in this world. I think all of us could use a bit more of that in our own lives, couldn’t we?

How do we develop that? How can I live with a servant's heart? A few things we see in the story of the Good Samaritan can help us as guiding principles toward developing a servant’s heart.

The first is to be available. The Samaritan didn't plan this out. This was not a part of his scheduled day. He saw a need and he made himself available. He didn't sign up for a serving opportunity. He's just going about his daily business and sees a need.

How many times does that happen with us? It could happen at the workplace, or at home, or at school, or at church. It could happen in the simplest of ways. When someone needs an ear to listen, needs some encouragement, or needs some kind of help. There are simple service opportunities in front of us everyday, but most of the time we don’t make ourselves available for them.

I have often found that the times God has used me the most powerfully was not when I had it all planned out, not when I was prepared, not when all my ducks were in a row. But instead it happened in a more spontaneous encounter with someone. It was a preset, divine appointment that I wasn't even aware of. And it would have never happened if I wasn't available in some way.

But before you begin to think, “Wow, he’s really good at this being available thing,” you should know that I often miss these opportunities. I miss these opportunities more often than I care to admit because I don’t make myself available to them. Maybe I’m in a rush, maybe I’m just not paying attention, maybe I don’t want to be inconvenienced, but for whatever reason, I don’t make myself available and I miss the service and ministry appointments that God had for me.

God doesn’t operate from our day planner. The appointments in our Blackberry seldom match up with the appointments he has for us. God can use us if we are willing to make ourselves available to the service appointments that he has for us.

A second thing that we see in this story is that God calls us to serve intentionally. Service wasn’t just an afterthought of the Samaritan. And it also wasn’t an accident. He set out resolutely and purposefully to serve the poor man who had been beaten by bandits.

A person with a servant’s heart walks through each day looking for an opportunity to serve somebody else. Doesn’t matter if they’re at work, school, in a restaurant, at church, out shopping, at home, wherever they are, they are actively seeking out service opportunities. They wake up and ask God, “Who can I serve today? Make me aware of my service appointments today.” It is something that they intentionally pursue in their lives. And the reason they do it is because they understand that when they serve someone else, they are actually serving God.

Jesus tells a powerful story in Matthew 25 about a group of people whom God praises. They're praised because of their service. In this story God says to this group of people, “When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I needed clothes, you clothed me or when I was in prison you came and visited me. When I was sick, you reached out to me.”

All the righteous people in Jesus' story say, “What are you talking about? When did we do that? We never even saw you. We never fed you. We never gave you anything to drink. We never clothed you. What are you talking about?”

Then Jesus says, “The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” (Matthew 25:40, NIV) Wow! Whatever you did for them, you did for me.

A lot of people at the end of their lives will say, “God, if I had only known it was you. If only I'd known.” If only I'd known serving another person in the simplest way, like serving my co-worker, serving my spouse, serving my children, serving my church in the simplest of acts is actually serving You, Jesus. If only I'd known. He says that whatever we do in service to others, we do for him.

I love the story that Joe Delaney tells about a time when he and his eight year old son, Jared, were out playing ball. They were throwing the ball back and forth. All of a sudden he found himself in the major leagues. His son said, “Dad, do you believe in God?” He said he had a lot of thoughts and responses that went through his mind about ways he could respond to that question, but he said he just shot for honesty with his son. He said, “I don't know.”

He threw the ball a couple more times, then Jared said, “Where would you go if someone was going to tell us who God is?” He said again, “I don't know. I went to church a couple times as a kid growing up. I don't know anything about that stuff.”

They continued to play catch then Jared got an idea. He said, “Dad, I'll be right back.” He said, “Where are you going?” They had been to the circus earlier that day. Jared said, “I'm going to go get that helium balloon, a postcard, and a pen. We are going to write a letter to God and send it to him by airmail.” Joe said he felt kind of weird about that, but agreed to it because he didn't want to mess him up spiritually. Jared goes off and gets this balloon. They write this message to God that says, “God, if you are there, will you send some people to us that know you?” He signed it, “Jared.”

They sent it off via helium balloon airmail in the backyard. Two days later, they are cruising down the street and they see a sign that says, “Free car wash,” in front of a church. They pull in and roll the window down. Joe says, “It's free, huh?” The guy said, “Yes, it's free.” Joe says, “Okay – what's the catch?” The guy says there is no catch. They are just doing it as a practical expression of God's love for people. There is no catch. They don't want money. They don't want anything. Joe says, “You're doing a FREE car wash?” Absolutely free!

Joe says, “Hey, are you guys Christians?” The guy says, “Yes.” “Are you the kind of Christians that believe in God?” The guys smiles and says, “Yes, we are those kind of Christians.” Then Joe begins to tell him this whole story about he and his son and their prayer.

This guy at the church carwash begins to share the love of Jesus Christ with Joe. That event was the turning point in the life of Joe and his son, Jared. They committed their lives to following Jesus. Joe said, “I think God answered the strangest airmail He had ever received that day.”

That all happened because a group of Christians decided to do something. Not something spectacular, but something rather mundane and ordinary. Just take a little time, help out with a church function, wash a few cars, and God opened a door and reached out and touched somebody's life.

What could happen in our community if the people of this church said, “We're going to develop a servant's heart. We're going to have an attitude of what's mine is God's; I'll share it.” In the workplace, with our friends, out at Starbucks, out to dinner, we'll just take a servant's attitude towards other people. We're going to be available. We're going to serve intentionally. What could happen in our area? I think it would be amazing.

What could happen right here within our church family if we adopted the servant’s heart philosophy of “what’s mine is God’s and I’ll share it”? What would happen if everyone in our church made themselves available to serve intentionally? We wouldn’t have to beg and plead with people to teach our kids a few Sundays out of the year. We wouldn’t have a select few people getting burned out because they’re doing too much. We wouldn’t have some ministries that are far understaffed. We wouldn’t have people making excuses as to why they can’t serve, but instead we would be turning people away because we have too many volunteers.

All of that would happen tomorrow if we would adopt the attitudes of availability and intentionality. My prayer is that God will open us all up to the possibility of how we can serve him by serving his church. That he will cultivate a servant’s heart inside all of us.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Developing a Servant's Heart, ministry, Golden Rule, Good Samaritan, Luke 10, service