An excerpt from "Bible.org" entitled, "Mark #8: The Heart of a Servant" by J. Hampton Keathly, III states: "The real test of whether we are truly maturing and learning to become a Christ-like servant is how we act when people treat us like one." The author lists factors to consider:
1. Concerns to Consider.
A. People too often serve others from their own neurotic need for approval or for significance.
B. We need to identify and work toward serving the real needs of others and not their neurotic wants.
2. Conditions that Hinder Servanthood.
A. The desire for status or to feel important is a tremendous barrier to biblical servanthood.
B. Human strategies to meet one's own felt needs pose another hindrance to servant living.
C. A poor concept of one's self-worth, along with a faulty source for developing our self-worth, forms another hindrance to effective servanthood.
D. Self I centered living or seeking happiness from the world rather than in the Savior and His purpose and call on one's life is another cause for failing to live as servants.
3. Consequences in the Absence of Servanthood.
A. The opposite of a servants heart is self-seeking, which leads to consequences like jealousy, envy, disunity and division.
B. Failure to get involved in ministry.
C. Burnout in those who are ministering.
D. The church fails to accomplish what it has been called to do in evangelism and all the aspects of edification because of a lack of ministering people.
E. The absence of a servants heart leads to playing power games or spiritual king of the mountain.
F. The absence of a servants heart is really the absence of humility or pride.
G. Inability to lead others in the things of Christ because of one's own self-seeking hypocrisy.
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