The Highest Calling

Dannah Gresh: How’s your attitude when it comes to serving? Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: It’s so easy to look around and sometimes we think God is asking us to do more than He asks others to do. We start to compare, and we say, “Let somebody else work here now! It’s time for somebody else to chip in. I’ve done enough; I’ve done my part. Why do I have to keep serving?!

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Choosing Gratitude, for May 20, 2024. I’m Dannah Gresh.

It’s a lot easier to be a servant at 9:00 in the morning than it is to be a servant at 4:00 in the afternoon. I mean, after spending all day with active toddlers, or with a parent who’s in the hospital, or with a pile of paperwork, acting out of a servant’s heart can get old. So how can you continue to serve at that point? Here’s Nancy to give us some insight.

Nancy: We want to examine what servanthood looks like, what a servant’s heart looks like—how we get one, how we know if we have one. There are two Greek words in the New Testament that are translated “servant”in our English Bibles.

The first was the word doulos, the word that in some of your Bibles is translated “bondservant.” It’s a relationship of submission and subjection that a man has to his master. It’s a permanent lifetime arrangement. It’s a voluntary arrangement.

This man we saw back in Exodus chapter 21. He was free to go, but he said, “I love my master; I want to stay with my master. I’m going to let you pierce a hole in my ear as a symbol—a sign—that I belong to you, and I want to serve you for the rest of my life.”

I believe God gave us that picture in the Old Testament to help us know what it’s like to be a servant of Jesus Christ, which is our highest calling in life! We’re also called to serve others, to be a blessing to others.

Sometimes it’s harder to serve others than it is to serve Jesus, because others aren’t always as good to us as Jesus is to us. But we need to understand that we can’t really serve others effectively if we’re not first a servant of Jesus Christ.

In Colossians chapter 3, the apostle Paul talks about this matter of servanthood, a servant’s heart. He says in verses 22–24: 

[Slaves or] bondservants [or employees], obey in everything those who are your earthly masters. [He’s talking about the relationships between employees and employers. Do what they tell you to do], not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. 

He says, “You’ve got this boss, and he’s telling you to do something. Do what he tells you to do, but don’t just do it to make him happy. Do your job, do it well, work hard at it because you fear the Lord. Do it for the Lord, not ultimately for your boss.” 

When you’re cleaning your room, when you’re cleaning at the store where you work, when you’re fulfilling tasks at your school or your job or in your home, do it for the Lord! By the way, that has a way of making the most menial tasks take on meaning. If I know: “I’m doing this for Christ. I’m not just doing this for my husband or for my parents or for my friends or for my boss. I’m doing this for the Lord!”

And then Paul says, Colossians 3:24: 

. . . knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 

You are the doulos of Jesus Christ, you are the bondservant of Christ, that is a primary relationship in the Christian life.

Yes, we are sons and daughters of God. We are set apart to be His children, but we are also His loving, willing servants, doulos. He is our Master; we are His servants.

Now, let’s expand just a little bit more on what it looks like to be a doulos of Jesus Christ, to be a servant of Jesus Christ. I want us to look at some marks of a servant of Christ. 

One of the first marks I see in the Scripture is that, when you are a doulos of someone, when you are the bondservant of the Lord, it speaks of a relationship of dependence on your master. You are dependent on your master to meet your needs, you are dependent on your master to provide for you. The master provides for his servants; he doesn’t provide for everybody else’s servants. Our Master provides for His servants.

I love that passage in Psalm 123, verse 2, where it says:

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, [and] as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God. 

A servant looks to the hand of her mistress or to her master to provide for her, to meet her needs, to give her her food, to give her the supplies she needs for doing her job. And the Scripture says so we look to the Lord to meet our needs. We are dependent on Him. You can know your needs will be met when Jesus is your Master and you are His doulos. 

When we are the doulos of Jesus Christ, we’re not free to do just as we please. We exist to please our Master. We don’t determine which tasks we want to do and which tasks we don’t want to do. “Oh, Lord, I’ll do this, but I won’t do that.”

You hear about people saying, “I was so afraid that if I surrendered my life to the Lord, He would make me go as a missionary to” . . . wherever, some uninhabited region of the world. Some place where they don’t have running water or . . . There’s this fear. “I’ll do this, but I won’t do that!”

Or, “If I really surrender my life to the Lord, He will never let me get married!” or “He’ll never let me have children!” or “He will make me give my children up to serve the Lord on the mission field!” You know what? When you’re the doulos of the Lord, it’s His job to decide where we go, what we do. He makes the assignments, and we do what He says. We exist to fulfill His wishes.

If you’re a doulos, that means that you’re available to your Master 24/7. “Whatever He wants me to do, wherever He wants me to go, I will do that.” Someone has said, “Availability is making my own schedule and my own priorities secondary to the wishes of the one I’m serving.”

If I’m a doulos, then my own schedule and my own priorities are secondary to the wishes of my Master. So I can’t say, “Oh, I don’t have time to do that. I want to do this. That’s not on my to-do list, that’s not on my agenda.” You know what?: 

• He makes our agenda. 
• He makes our to-do list. 
• He determines our schedule. 
• He determines our priorities.

Another mark of a doulos is humility. The doulos does not promote his own name; he doesn’t promote his own agenda. He’s not looking to make a name for himself. His reputation doesn’t matter. What does matter is his master’s reputation. 

He wants people to think well of his Master. He wants to do a good job so people will think his master is a good person. Of course, the ultimate example of a humble doulos, a humble servant, was the Lord Jesus.

Remember reading about that in Philippians chapter 2, where Scripture says, “He made himself of no reputation” (v. 7 KJV). Jesus, who was God, the King of the universe, the Creator of the world, He made Himself of no reputation!

He didn't go around bragging about who He was. He became a servant; He took the form of a servant. Philippians 2:8: 

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The humility of Jesus, that’s a picture of a doulos. “Not my reputation, but His, the Master’s. His is the One whose Name and reputation I want to promote.” Now, a doulos represents his master in everything, so when people ask a doulos, the bondservant, a question, they don’t want to know, “What do you think?” They want to know, “What does your master think?”

You represent your master in everything when you’re a doulos. When you’re a doulos, you have no rights. You have yielded your rights. Your only right is to do what your master wants you to do. But remember why you would do this. It’s because you love your master, because you know that he is good, and because you want to please him. 

A doulos gives and gives and gives without limit. He doesn’t say, “Oh, I’ll do this and no more. Look, I’ve done my share of work, so it’s time for somebody else to chip in now.” It’s so easy to look around and sometimes we think God is asking us to do more than He asks others to do. 

We start to compare and we say, “Let somebody else work here now. It’s time for somebody else to chip in. I’ve done enough, I’ve done my part. Why do I have to keep serving?!” You know what? When you’re a doulos, you keep serving. You give and you give and you give, and then you keep giving. A doulos keeps giving without limit. A doulos is committed to meeting the needs of others for His master. On behalf of his master, he gives to meet the needs of others. 

A doulos is obedient, that’s the mark of a doulos, a servant. His obedience to his master is immediate. It’s complete, and it’s unquestioning. Obedience, that’s something that’s hard to learn, isn’t it? Doing exactly what God says, when He says to do it, with the right heart attitude. 

In Matthew chapter 8, a man came to Jesus and asked for help. He said to Jesus something that has to do with this matter of servanthood and obedience. He said: 

“I’m a man under authority, and I have soldiers who are under me. [I have a boss and I am a boss.] And I say to one of my soldiers, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and I say to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does this.” (vv. 9–10)

He’s describing servanthood; he’s describing the obedient heart of a servant. That’s the description of a good doulos. He does what he’s told to do—no arguing, no back talking, no delaying, no dragging his heels. He just does it. He’s obedient!

And then, a doulos is trustworthy. He’s faithful. We read in 1 Corinthians in chapter 4 that it’s required of a servant—it’s required of a doulos—that he be trustworthy. If you think of somebody as being trustworthy, what does that mean? 

• They’re dependable. 
• They’re reliable, you can count on them. If they say they’ll do something, they’ll do it.
• They keep their word. 
• They keep their promises, they’re worthy to be believed. 

That’s the greatest description that can be given of a doulos or a servant: he’s trustworthy, he’s faithful. So Paul said of Timothy in 1 Corinthians 4:17, Timothy’s faithful in the Lord. That’s an A+. That’s a good doulos. In Colossians 1:7, Paul says of Epaphras that he was a faithful servant of Christ. In Colossians 4:7, he says of Tychicus he was a faithful servant and fellow bondservant in the Lord. He was trustworthy, dependable, you could count on him. 

A good doulos will go the extra mile; he won’t just do what’s expected of him. Some of us have this attitude sometimes, “I’ll go this far but no further!” He’s willing to do even more than he’s asked to do, he’s willing to go the extra mile. And a good doulos serves with no expectation of recognition or praise or gratitude. 

He’s not looking to be paid. He’s not looking to be repaid for his efforts. He’s just wanting to fulfill what it is that he’s supposed to do. “Just do the job.” That’s a good doulos. 

A good doulos will serve in the little things as well as the big things. He’ll be faithful, not just in the big jobs when everyone’s looking and everyone’s paying attention, but he’ll be faithful in the little jobs, the menial jobs. He doesn’t limit his service to big assignments. “Yeah, I like that assignment, but somebody else can do the menial one. That’s beneath me. I’m too educated for that. I’m overqualified for that job.” 

There is no job that a doulos is too good to do because. If your master wants it done, then you’re fulfilling your calling as a doulos when you do it. The doulos is willing to make sacrifices, he’s willing to suffer in order to serve. All that matters is that he serve his master.

Here’s something that challenges me very often in my own service for the Lord: a good doulos of Jesus Christ considers it a privilege to serve. He sees service as an opportunity, not an obligation. “Oh, I guess I’ve got to go do this today; I don’t really want to! It’s hard! I don’t know how I’m going to get through it!”

I love those verses in the Old Testament—Psalm 100, for example—that talk about serving the Lord how? “With gladness” (v. 1). It’s one thing to serve, it’s another thing to serve with gladness, to say, “Lord, it is a privilege. It is an honor. It is a blessing to be able to do this for You!”

And, a good doulos seeks to please God and to gain His approval. He’s not living for the approval of others. We do so many things in order for others to think well of us. But the apostle Paul said in the book of Galatians 1:10: 

Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant [doulos]of Christ.

You’ve got to decide in life who you’re going to please, whose approval you’re going to seek, who you’re going to live for, whose smile you’re going to look for. Are you going to care most about your friends being pleased with you, about impressing the crowd, about impressing people, or are you going to care most about pleasing your master? A good doulos lives for the approval, the “well done!” the smile of the Lord Jesus Christ!

As I’ve been thinking about this matter of being a doulos, I came to a passage last night that just captured my attention. It’s in the gospel of Luke, chapter 12. Let me just ask you to turn there in these closing moments. We won’t have time to really dig into this passage, but let me just show you what Jesus had to say here about a couple other qualities of a good doulos, a good servant. Luke 12:35–37, Jesus says, 

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants [those bondservants—doulos] whom the master finds awake when he comes.”

He’s painting a picture here. There’s a big huge house. A man has a lot of servants and the man’s going out to a wedding feast. He tells the servants, “I’m coming back, and when I come back, I want things ready. I want the lamps burning (I want the lights turned on). I want things taken care of. I want things cleaned up. I want things ready to go. Let’s have a meal when I get back, I want the meal ready.” 

He wants the house to be functioning and the servants to be doing their jobs while he’s gone. And he tells them, “I’m coming back, and when I do, I want to find things going like they’re supposed to go at this house. I want to find the servants doing their jobs. I want to find you guys working.” And Jesus says that the servants who are awake when their master comes back—they haven’t fallen asleep on the job—they will be blessed.

I mean, imagine this master comes home and all the servants have gone to sleep! There’s nobody there to greet him at the door. There’s nobody there to help him in with his luggage from his trip. The food is not prepared for his meal. The house is falling apart and burglars have gotten into the house and people have stolen stuff out of the house. Who knows what all is going on in that house, because the people who were left in charge fell asleep on the job, or they got bored, or they started doing something else, or they left, or they said, “Somebody else can take care of this.” And they decided not to be diligent and fervent in fulfilling their job as servants.

Jesus goes on to say in verse 38: 

“If he comes [that is, if the master comes] in the second watch, or in the third [that’s the middle of the night], and [he] finds them awake, blessed are those servants!”

They have to stay alert! Some of your Bibles say, “watchful.” They’re “watching.” They’re awake. They’re staying with the job, and they are blessed if they have done that! Then He says in verse 40, 

“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” 

Our Master has gone off for a while. He’s in heaven. He’s preparing a place for us. He’s preparing for that wedding feast that we’ll enjoy with Him someday. But . . . He’s coming back!

And Jesus said, “You’d better be awake when He comes back. If you’re a faithful servant, you’ll still be on the job. You won’t be sleeping on the job. You won’t be AWOL. You won’t have run off and be on vacation. You’ll be awake, doing what you’re supposed to be doing, when your master comes back.” And then, look at verse 42: 

““Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?” 

He said, “Here’s a man who’s risen to a place of management in his master’s household, who has done a good job, so his master gives him a promotion.” He says, “You’re in charge! Make sure people are fed, make sure make sure people are taken care of, make sure the house functions smoothly, make sure things are operating the way they are supposed to.” And then, verse 43:

“Blessed is that servant [there’s a second blessing given to that servant. blessed is that doulos] whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” [Doing what? Doing what his master told him to do! Doing his job, fulfilling his responsibility.] Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.” (vv. 43–44)

So if the master comes back and the servant’s playing computer games, or he’s shirking his responsibility, or he says, “You know, my master told me to get that garage cleaned out, but who ever looks at the garage? That’s not so important; I’ll let that go or let somebody else do that.”

The master comes back, the jobs haven’t been done, the servants are goofing off, they’re not doing their responsibilities, do you think he’s going to give them a raise? Do you think he’s going to give them a promotion? No way! 

Jesus said, “If you want to be blessed, make sure you’re a faithful servant.” And what does a faithful servant do? Two things. Number one, he stays awake; he stays on the job. Number two, he does what he’s told to do. He does the tasks that he’s been given.

One day,we don’t know when, it could be today, tomorrow, it could be next week, it could be thirty years from now, we don’t know. It could be the middle of the night, it could be the middle of the day. It could be when you’re young, it could be when you’re old. Our Master is coming back! 

 

We don’t know when He’s coming back, and that’s why we need to live prepared! If you want to be blessed in heaven, if you want to be blessed for all eternity, if you want to be blessed with more responsibility in God’s kingdom, then you’ve got to stay awake. You’ve got to stay alert. Make sure that when Jesus comes He finds you doing what He called you to do!

I’ve been thinking about that over the past several hours, last night and this morning: What has my Master called me to do? What tasks has He given me to do at this season of my life? Now what God has called you to do at this season may be very different than what He’s called me to do.

Some of you, He’s called you to be a mom, to be taking care of your home, to be taking care of little children. Some of you are grandmoms, and there’s this season of life where you’re ministering to your grandchildren.

We have a lady here who has been married fifty-four years. You're in a season of life where you and your husband are ministering to each other. You’re ministering to your husband’s needs, you have certain responsibilities. We have some fourteen- and fifteen- and sixteen-year-old gals; your season of life is to be going to school and being a daughter in your home, being a sister. Maybe making your bed is your job right now. No job is too menial if it’s the job God has given you to do. 

I’m thinking, What has God called me to do? He’s called me to teach His Word; that means I have to study and prepare. And I’m thinking, What if Jesus came back and I’m doing something other than what He called me to do?

Is He going to honor me for that? Am I going to be blessed if I wasn’t doing what He called me to do, if I wasn’t being a faithful student of His Word, faithfully teaching the Word, faithfully providing leadership in our ministry?

If Jesus comes back and you gals who are students, you’re sloughing off at school, mouthing off at your parents, is God going to honor that? If I’m not doing what He called me to do, if you’re not doing what He called you to do, you’re not going to be blessed. I want to be a faithful servant. I want to be blessed. I want Him to be able to entrust me with more responsibility. 

That means I don’t just look to what is my job down the road, but what is my calling, what is my task right now, what has He called me to do? Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who when his master comes back, he finds him awake and watching, waiting for his master’s return, and he finds him doing what he was given to do.” 

I want to be that kind of doulos, and I think you want to, too. Would you just take a moment and think about what it is that God has called you to do in your season of life—in your home, your school, in your workplace. They may not be the tasks that you would have chosen for yourself. 

I know God has called me to do some things that aren’t exactly my favorite things to do, and there are some tasks that seem kind of menial, that don’t seem all that important, some that seem hard. But if God has called you to do it, He will give you strength, and He’ll give you grace. You will fulfill your purpose in life if you do what God has called you to do. Do you want to be a faithful servant?

And if your Master came back today or this week or in this season of your life, would He find you watching for His return? Would He find you faithfully doing that which He has called you to do?

Lord, we want to be good servants; we want to be faithful servants. Help us to know what it is You’ve called us to do, and then to serve You with all our hearts, heartily serving the Lord, knowing that from You we will receive the reward when we have fulfilled that which You have called us to do. I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Dannah: Amen. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has given you and me some important things to think about! What has your Master asked you to do today? Are you doing it? Are you surrendering to His will?

Here at Revive Our Hearts, we want to serve Christ first and foremost. But then our mission is to serve you and all the other women around the world who use our biblically-rich podcasts, our trusted resources, meaningful events, and so much more. Right, Nancy?

Nancy: That’s right, Dannah. And when you say “more,” there’s so much more I’d love to see us be able to do in the upcoming months—more women to reach, more seeds of truth to implant in their hearts, and more fruit from women saying, “Yes, Lord!”

Part of the joy of this ministry for me is that not only do we have the joy of serving you and the other women, but we get to serve with you! We can’t carry out the outreaches and opportunities the Lord has entrusted to us without the prayers and the financial support of friends like you. And when you partner with us, we get to experience the great joy of serving Him together! 

As we’ve been sharing with you in recent days, our ministry year is coming to a close on May 31, and we’re asking the Lord to provide $838,000 this month. That amount is way beyond what we would receive in a typical month, but we’re asking the Lord to prompt His people to give above and beyond what they might normally plan to do.

I’m not just praying that He will move others to give in that way, but that He will show Robert and me what He wants us to do as well. So would you consider joining many others in making a special gift to Revive Our Hearts this month?

Seeing the Lord meet this need will help us finish strong, and will give us a good start as we begin a new ministry year. When you send a gift, we’d like to send you our 30-day devotional called Living Out the One Anothers of Scripture. It’s our way of saying thank you for serving with us and for your prayers and financial support at this important time.

Dannah: You can make that gift and request your copy of Living Out the One Anothers of Scripture at ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. You’ve probably noticed this month we’re talking a lot about serving others. 

Tomorrow we’re going to focus on counseling and helping others. I hope you’ll join us for that conversation with Erin Davis and Dr. Juli Slattery. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts. 

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

All Scripture is taken from the ESV.
 

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.