The Bible is far more than a great piece of literature or a book of inspiration and spiritual truths. It is
a very practical manual for daily living. In many ways, it is God's “Service Manual” for life. It tells us how
to live a godly life, how to maintain loving relationships, and how to fulfill our reason for being on this earth.
The Bible relates to every area of our lives. It clearly tells us how to use all of our resources—our gifts, time,
talents, money, possessions, and skills—for God's glory and His purposes, which are the foundation and motivation
for all forms of ministry and servanthood.
From cover to cover, the Bible is filled with examples of men and women who had a servant's heart and who demonstrated
loving service to others. So often, however, we tend to focus on what these people did—and especially the
miracles of God that may have accompanied their deeds—rather than on the fact that virtually all of the great stories
in the Bible are examples that fall into one of three categories:
1. God's service to mankind
2. Mankind's service to God
3. The service of men and women to other men and women.
Service is giving. And giving is the very essence of the gospel. God gave His only begotten Son.
Jesus gave His life on the cross. We give our hearts to God. We, in turn, are called to give
of ourselves to others.
It is easy to read the Bible and think, Isn't it wonderful what that great Bible hero or heroine did or experienced?
In so doing, we rarely think that the Bible story or example has anything to do with us personally. The better
question to ask is this: “What is it that God desires for me to do or experience?” The fact is, God intends for
each of us to
• be the recipient of His ongoing giving to us,
• be the giver of ongoing praise and worship to God, and
• be the giver of good gifts of all types to those with whom we have daily contact or are called to serve.
The Bible tells us not only what to expect when we serve others, but how to serve others. And beyond that, it
challenges us to serve with great generosity and unconditional love.
As you study God's principles for servanthood and ways in which you might better develop a genuine servant's
heart, I encourage you to go again and again to your Bible for inspiration as well as guidance. Underline phrases.
Highlight words or verses. Make notes in the margins of your Bible to record the specific ways God speaks to you.
God's truth is for all people at all times, but the application of that truth to your life is always very personal
and direct. Be open to the specific ways in which God admonishes, encourages, or directs you to serve Him
and to serve others.
For Group or Personal Study
This book can be used by you alone or by several people in a small-group or Sunday-school-class study. If you
are using this book for personal study, you will find places from time to time where you will be asked to record
your insights or respond to questions. If you are using the book for a small-group study, you may also use these
questions and insight portions to prompt group discussion.
At various times, you will be asked to relate to the material in one of these four ways:
1. What new insights have you gained?
2. Have you ever had a similar experience?
3. How do you feel about the material presented?
4. In what way do you feel challenged to respond or to act?
Insights
An insight occurs when you see something that you haven't seen before or you have a new understanding about
something. Insights relate to meaning. You have a new spiritual insight when you gain a deeper meaning for
what God's Word is saying to you.
Many of us have had the experience of reading a passage of the Bible and saying, “I never saw that before. I
never noticed that particular word or phrase in the way I have just noticed it. I have a new understanding of that
story or teaching.” You may have studied or meditated on the passage in the past, but suddenly, God moves you to
a deeper level of understanding. That is a spiritual insight.
Insights tend to be highly personal. We see the truths of the Bible in the light of our own personal experiences,
past and present. At times, insights help us as we reflect on a relationship or incident that we are facing presently
or in the immediate future. At other times, an insight helps answer a question, confirm a belief, or provide a
sudden knowing about what we must do.
Ask the Lord to speak to you personally every time you study your Bible. I believe He will answer your prayer.
I also believe the insights He gives you will cause you to have a growing enthusiasm for studying His Word.
Make notes about the insights you have. You may want to record them in your Bible or in a separate journal.
As you reflect back over your insights, you are likely to see—over time—how God has moved in your life and how
He is causing you to grow spiritually. In my experience, I have found that the more I record insights, the more
insights I have.
From time to time in this book, you will be asked to reflect upon what a particular passage of Scripture says
to you. These are times for recording your personal insights, not for summarizing a group response or for writing
down what someone else in your Bible-study group may say. Make sure the insights or responses you record flow from
your own heart and experience.
Experience
Each of us approaches the Bible from a unique background—our own particular set of relationships and experiences.
We each have our own set of ideas, opinions, and emotions. Therefore, we each have a unique perspective on what
we read in God's Word.
Different levels of experience may create problems in a group Bible study, although this is not necessarily
the case. People who have gone to church all their lives and have heard Bible stories and good preaching since
their childhood may have a different depth of understanding of the Bible from those who are new Christians or who
have never read God's Word. Be sensitive to the differences that may exist in your group. Don't let a beginner
feel lost or unimportant. If you are an “old-timer,” don't become impatient.
What we each have in common are life experiences. Each of us can point to times in which we have found the Bible
to be directly applicable to us—perhaps to convict us or challenge us, or to comfort and encourage us in times
of trouble. We have had experiences about which we can say, “I know God was really speaking to me from His
Word because that passage of Scripture is exactly what I needed or was about what I once experienced.”
Our experiences do not make the Bible true. The Word of God is truth regardless of our opinion about it or our
experiences with it. It is important, however, to note and share our experiences for this reason: We begin to see
how God's truth can be applied to human lives and circumstances, and in the process, our faith grows. We gain a
new awareness of how personally and directly God speaks to each person through the Bible. The Word of God comes
alive to us as we see it meeting practical needs, answering questions, and addressing specific situations. We discover
that God's Word is not only universal—for every person in every generation and every culture—but also very specific
to individuals, times, and places. A person who has a broad experience of sharing Bible-related experiences with
other Christians nearly always comes to the conclusion that our greatest potential for harmony and unity in the
church lies in each person's having a relationship with Christ Jesus and then living a life based upon agreement
with God's Word. The Lord and His Word bind us together with bonds that cannot be broken.
If you are doing this study on your own, find someone with whom you can share your faith experiences. Be open
to hearing about that person's faith experiences in return.
Emotional Response
Just as each of us has a personal inventory of life experiences, so each of us has a range of emotional responses.
Allow others in your Bible-study group to share their emotional responses to God's Word without comment or judgment.
You may feel overjoyed or encouraged after reading a passage of Scripture. Another person may respond to that same
passage with conviction, questions, or fear. No one emotion is the “right” emotion to feel.
Face your emotions honestly. Learn to share your emotional responses with others as candidly and as thoroughly
as you can. You will learn more about yourself, and also more about the way God intends for emotions to operate
for our benefit.
Service to others can be a very emotion-laden topic. There are those who feel great compassion for others and
can hardly keep from crying when they hear about needs, or from moving to respond to them. There are others who
are much more stoic and objective—they see a need, they address it, they do their utmost to resolve it—solely because
they know it is the right thing to do. In both cases, people are serving God in their service to others! Successful
service is not limited to highly emotional people or to those who can show great empathy. Feeling empathy and displaying
emotion are often two different things.
Emotional responses do not give validity to the Scriptures, nor should we trust our emotions as a gauge for
our faith. Faith is to be based on what God says, not on how we feel. We must remain balanced in our understanding
of emotions: On the one hand, we each have an emotional response to God's Word and to our having a relationship
with God and others; on the other, we must not let our emotions rule our interpretation of God's Word or limit
us to reading only those passages that make us feel happy and hopeful.
I strongly believe that in small-group Bible study it is more beneficial for participants to express their emotions
than to give their opinions. Some of the ways in which God speaks to us through His Word are nonverbal. The Holy
Spirit often communicates with us through the unspoken language of intuition, emotions, desires, and longings.
When we share feelings with one another, we not only open ourselves to insights into God's Word, but we also grow
closer to other members of the body of Christ. A sense of community develops, and we gain a deeper understanding
of what it means to be “one in the Spirit.” It is through the sharing of joys and sorrows, assurances and doubts,
hopes and fears, that we mature as individuals and as churches.
The sharing of opinions often divides people. Opinions tend to polarize and categorize. The sharing of emotional
responses does just the opposite. Be very sensitive to what happens when a person says, “I think thus and so about
this verse.” There is a much greater reception to a person and to the moving of God's Spirit if a person will say,
“This verse causes me to feel this way.”
Scholarly commentaries and factual information have their place in Bible study, but the more beneficial contribution
to the group process is still likely to be the sharing of emotional responses. A small-group Bible study is not
a forum for exchanging information; it is an opportunity to build faith within a community of believers.
Challenges
As we read God's Word, we nearly always come to a point of conviction when we feel certain that God is speaking
directly to us. I once heard this described by one person as an “oh me, oh my” experience. Another person once
said, “God has my name on that verse.” Those are just two ways that a challenge or conviction may strike you.
God's Word may cause you to feel inspired or challenged to change something in your life, to make a fresh start,
or to take a new step. At other times, you may feel challenged to stand firm in your resolve or to continue steadfastly
in the direction you are going. These challenges may be very strong. They may occur once or repeatedly, but they
are virtually impossible to ignore or escape. The more practical the subject matter, the stronger the convictions
seem to be. That may be because God's message and meaning are so clear that there is little room to explain away,
justify, or misinterpret what God is saying to you.
Don't dismiss or downgrade the challenges you feel. Take them seriously and find ways of acting upon them.
This is especially important in your development of a servant's heart. If God reveals to you a particular need
that He desires for you to address, calls you to a particular avenue of ministry, or brings to your mind
a specific need or situation, take that as “marching orders” from God. Don't simply close your Bible, close this
study book, and walk away feeling either elated or deflated. God is expecting you to do something with the
challenge He has just given you. Make certain, of course, that your final action plan is based on a complete understanding
of God's principles and plan. You may need to engage in one or more interim steps as you seek to fulfill God's
call to service in your life. Nevertheless, start on those steps. Don't procrastinate or second-guess God's challenge
to you.
Again, I encourage you to write down the ways in which you believe God is stretching, molding, calling, or guiding
you. It is when we clearly identify and succinctly state what we believe God wants us to do that we nearly always
can identify the next step that is required of us. Our response to God's challenge will become more responsible,
measured, and deliberate. We are to respond to God's Word, not merely react to it.
God's ultimate plan is to get his Word into us and us into His Word so we can take His Word into the world,
live it out, and be witnesses of His Word in all we say and do. Our purpose is not to absorb sermons, but to become
“living sermons” of God's truth to all who touch our lives. It is not enough to note insights, recall past experiences,
share emotions, or write down the ways in which we feel challenged. We must obey God's Word and be doers of it
(James 1:22).
Very specifically, it isn't enough for you to recognize that God is calling you to develop a servant's heart,
or even for you to develop a heart for others. You are called by God to engage in active service to others. Do
what it is that God is calling you to do as His servant in your particular church, community, or sphere
of influence.
Keep the Bible Central
Again, I caution you to keep the Bible at the center of your study. Perhaps because they are spiritual in nature,
Bible-study groups sometimes become therapy or support groups. While there is great value to those types of groups,
that is not what a true Bible study accomplishes. A genuine Bible study stays focused on God's Word and
promotes a growing faith and a closer walk with the Holy Spirit in each person who participates.
Also guard against a tendency to use a group for a soapbox to tell about your own pet concerns, projects, or
groups. The Bible-study group is not a place to recruit others to your cause, committee, or organization.
Think of the Bible as your banquet table. Keep it as your focal point for spiritual nourishment and your place
for spiritual fellowship. You can best “serve” the other members of your Bible-study group by keeping the Bible
and the love of Christ Jesus your primary concerns.
Begin and End in Prayer
I encourage you to start and conclude your Bible study sessions in prayer. Ask God to give you spiritual eyes
to see what He wants you to see and spiritual ears to hear what He wants you to hear. Ask Him to give you new insights,
to recall to your memory the experiences that are helpful to your growth, and to help you clarify and share your
emotions. Be bold in asking God to reveal to you in His Word what He desires for you to take as the next step in
your development of a servant's heart.
As you conclude your study, ask the Lord to seal to your mind and heart what you have learned so that you will
never forget it and be quick to apply it. Ask Him to help you grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ Jesus—the
Supreme Servant!
The Depth of God's Word
Avoid the temptation at the conclusion of your ten-lesson study to think that you have all the information necessary
to be a successful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. We each grow in our ability to serve until the day we die.
We are called to continue to explore ways in which we might be more and more effective in the way we minister to
the needs of others. Our ability to serve is directly related to our spiritual maturity. Be open to ways in which
God desires to use you that are beyond anything you have done in the past, and very likely beyond anything
that you thought He might ever call you to do.
Never stop exploring the riches of God's Word on any topic. I can guarantee you without any hesitation that
as you remain faithful in reading God's Word on a daily basis and in obeying what it is that God challenges you
to do, you will have a much greater understanding a year from now about what it means to be a servant of Christ
Jesus.
• What new insights about servanthood do you anticipate God may have for you personally and individually?
Is there something specific that you hope to gain from this study?
• In what areas have you struggled with the concept of service, ministry, or God's calling in the past?
• How do you feel about service or ministry to others? Is the concept of servanthood frightening to you?
How do you feel about engaging in a ministry outreach to others in need?
• In what ways do you feel challenged by the idea of servanthood or ministry?
From Developing a Servant's Heart by Charles
Stanley. Copyright 1998 by Charles Stanley.
