Sermon Tone Analysis

*Servant-Leaders and Faithful Recognized Servants – Acts 6:1-7*

/Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church on June 22, 2008/

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As we’ve been studying Titus 1, there is much in that chapter about the overseers of the church, and the way they are to lead by example in their character.

But I was struck again this week at the way Titus 1 begins, that the biblical emphasis is on being a /servant/ more than a leader.

Paul as an Apostle was undeniably a leader of the early church, but he begins Titus 1 by identifying himself *first *as “Paul a *bondservant* of God and an apostle” – our fundamental identity is a servant in bonds, even a slave who serves in lowliness and loving service.

Some servants are called by the Master to be servant-leaders, but even there, the order of the phrase is important: servants first.

/Loving/ leadership is the pattern the Lord gave His own disciples, not lording it over them, not dominating or domineering or being a dictator, not putting the people under our feet, instead we are to wash their feet.

The image of a leader is not an executive chair or clerical garments, it’s the servant’s towel.

This may have seemed new to converts to Christianity and it may seem new to any in this room whose thinking is still influenced more by worldly views of leadership and how to succeed in society.

But this was not new in the Bible’s New Testament.

In fact, since the earliest book of the Bible, the greatest of God’s men and even the famous leaders of God’s people, saw themselves fundamentally as God’s lowly servants at the feet of their Master:

-          *Abraham* bows his face to the ground in low humility, and pleads “My Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by” (Gen 18:4-5)

-          *Isaac and Jacob* are also identified as servants of God (Deut 9:27)

-          In Genesis you often have godly men expressing themselves as servants of others.

-          *Moses *before the burning bush describes himself before the Lord as “your servant” (Exodus 4:10) and in his lowliness and inadequacy he says “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” (3:11)

-          His successor *Joshua*, identifies himself as “servant” (Josh 5:14)

-          Listen to how the great King *David* identifies himself before God in prayer after receiving one of the greatest promises ever given to any human (the Davidic Covenant – notice his humility and the God-centeredness that goes along with his servant mindset):

 

2 Samuel 7:18-29 (NASB95) 18 Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

19 “And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future.

And this is the custom of man, O Lord God.

20 “Again what more can David say to You?

For You know Your servant, O Lord God! 21 “For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know.

22 “For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

23 “And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, /from /nations and their gods?

24 “For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God.

25 “Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm /it /forever, and do as You have spoken, 26 that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You.

27 “For You, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You. 28 “Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.

29 “Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You.

For You, O Lord God, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.”

This prayer illustrates the direct relationship between a high view of God and a low view of self.

The bigger God is in your thinking,  the smaller we must be.

Notice that the only time David even uses the word “me” or “I” in the whole prayer was at the beginning in v. 18, and it’s only to ask “Who am I?” (i.e., “why me, I’m nothing, I’m unworthy, I don’t deserve this, I’m just a lowly servant”)

 

From then on, David can only refer to Himself as God’s servant, which he does 10x in 10 verses.

This is /David/, the name mentioned more in the Bible than any other man, a name mentioned more even in the New Testament than just about any other name.

This is David, the greatest King God’s people ever had, the man after God’s own heart, utterly self-emptied and utterly GOD-centered.

There’s not much “me” in this prayer – in fact, the word “me” only appears 1x in the prayer and the word “You” or “Your” referring to God appears 46x in just a few verses!

And that doesn’t even count the word “Lord” which appears 11x in these verses, or “God” 15x, all in all, there are over 70 words or pronouns referring to God in this brief prayer!

And even when David does refer to himself, it is always as “Your servant” – this is a great passage I commend us to study further for our prayer life.

It is here that the man after the Lord’s own heart is at his finest, and it is here that the coming Son of David, the Lord Himself would give an even more perfect image of a servant.

Isaiah’s prophecy refers to the coming Messiah as “the servant” and even a suffering servant.

But the Jews didn’t get this part well.

Matthew 20:17-28 (NASB95) \\ 17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve /disciples /aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify /Him, /and on the third day He will be raised up.” 20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?”

She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.”

22 But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking.

Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”

They said to Him, “We are able.”

23 He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on /My /left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

24 And hearing /this, /the ten became indignant with the two brothers.

25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and /their /great men exercise authority over them.

26 “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

This is a familiar passage we’ve read before, and you even heard this account in Mark’s gospel today already, and /tonight/ we will look at this teaching in more detail.

I hope many of you will be here tonight unless you’re doing something else incredibly important tonight, because it’s one of the most incredibly important truths Jesus ever taught which we’ll look at in more detail tonight.

Pastor Dale also referenced this passage last Sunday night in a message I would encourage you download or get the CD to listen to God’s ways not being man’s ways.

Verse 25 talks about man’s ways of leadership (ruling or lording over people) and man’s definition of great men (measured by the authority you exercise or wield over others).

Jesus is teaching His disciples in this chapter that God’s ways are not just a /little different/ than man’s ways, they are the /exact opposite/!

Verse 26 makes clear this is not the way for you who follow Christ.

Verse 16 says the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

He turns the world’s ways not in a slightly different direction, God turns them upside-down, and really right-side-up.

The one who is first in God’s eyes, according to verse 27 is the one who serves others like a lowly slave (/doulos/) – that’s the exact opposite of how the entire world of the time thought.

That was the /last /thing any respectable Jew or Greek would want to be – assuming the posture of a servant, much less a slave, to others.

But that’s exactly the first and final image of Christ that was left to the disciples at the Last Supper before His betrayal and crucifixion when Jesus did the work of a slave in washing the dirty feet of the disciples, a task so low none of them did for each other or even for Jesus.

He tells them to do likewise in humble service.

Before Jesus commissions His apostles to lead and feed His sheep, He first teaches them to be servants before they are leaders.

This order of humility before responsibility is still important today.

Look back at verse 26 where Jesus turns upside-down the world’s definition of greatness.

In the world’s eyes, your greatness was measured by how many servants you have, how many people serve you.

But Jesus redefines greatness and here teaches us what is truly great in God’s eyes – being a servant of OTHERS.

How many people /you serve/ is the measure of true greatness, not who serves you.

Notice in both verses Jesus does not say “servant” or “slave /of me/” – He’s talking about a disciple /among you/ who is /your/ servant ~/ slave.

It was one thing for Paul to refer to himself as /God’s/ bondservant or slave in Titus 1:1, at least there is some dignity in serving God, but God also calls us by those same terms to be lowly servants to other disciples, fellow sinners with stinky feet like us!

The word for “servant” in v. 26 is the Greek word /diakonos.

/It has a related noun and verb translated as “serve” or “serving” or “service” (or “ministering” or its equivalents).

In the parallel of Titus 1, 1 Timothy 3 also lists out requirements for servant-leaders called shepherds or overseers or elders, and then it also mentions another group of officers who are servants in the church, using the same word /diakonos, /which is transliterated as “deacon” there, and it’s the standard Greek word for “servant.”

Titus 1 is the shorter letter that only deals with requirements for the servant-leaders called elders, probably because in the young church in Crete, the first priority was getting elders in place, and deacons could be established later as there was need.

But to be faithful to the full counsel of God regarding recognized servants who care for the church, I don’t want to overlook deacons, or what we might call /recognized servants/.

So before we conclude our study in Titus 1 next time Lord-willing, I want to broaden our study today to include what Paul included in his longer instructions to the church in 1 Timothy 3, where he wrote: “if any man aspires to the office of overseer” (v. 1) then in v. 8 “/Deacons/, likewise …”

The word translated “deacons” there and only one other place (Philippians 1:1) is the same Greek word /diakonos /~/ “servant” that Jesus used in that text we read earlier.

The concept of servant is not limited to those who have the office of deacon, a /recognized servant/ of the church, but the elders who shepherd the church also must be servants, and all the people in the church must be servants.

All followers of Christ are servants or slaves – that’s their fundamental identity.

And among those servants there are some that the Master calls to specific roles and different roles, but for all, even leaders, the principle of servanthood never changes.

Jesus did choose His disciples to be shepherds who would love and lead and feed His flock at the end of the gospels, but this is only after He has already made clear to them they must be servants of others.

In verses 12-14 of John 21, the resurrected Christ reappears and serves the disciples breakfast.

15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, /son /of John, do you love Me more than these?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Tend [*feed or keep] *My lambs.”

16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, /son /of John, do you love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “*Shepherd* [*a word meaning lead or govern, the verb form of “pastor”]* My sheep.”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, /son/ of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend *[includes feeding, not just leading]* My sheep.

Christ commissions His apostles and Peter in a special way to pastorally feed and lead the lambs and to shepherd the flock, implying protection and direction, and especially their service or ministry was to be focused on feeding them the Word of God.

And as you turn forward a few pages to the book of Acts, that’s exactly what they did.

Acts 2 records Peter’s prominent role in serving or ministering God’s Word, but it was not him only.

2:42  says the early church was continually devoted to the teaching of all the apostles.

These men were the original shepherds of the early church, teaching them truth, and overseeing the care of the flock.

The end of chapter 4 tells us that they were receiving financial donations as well originally, as people were selling possessions to give to others and bringing it to the feet of the apostles.

The sacrificial servant-hearts of the early church resulted in a great unity and sense of community and closeness and caring.

Acts 4:32-35 (NASB95) \\ 32 And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one /of them /claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.

33 And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.