Over the next several weeks, we are going to look at our calling to be servants. Today we need to understand why...that it is in our very nature as His new creatures to serve for and in His name.

1. HIS CHARACTER AS A SERVING GOD IS GROUNDED IN HIS PERFECTIONS (OR ATTRIBUTES)

   --The nature of God directly affects my nature if He has chosen me as His own and intends to shape my character to conform to His.

   --God is a serving God; just as Jesus came to serve, so the Father exists as One who serves.

   --Two important facts must not be missed as we come to terms with this aspect of God's essential character.

   1. HIS UNDIMINISHED GLORY

      --God's glory is undiminished by the fact that He serves as well as saves, that He serves as well as reigns.

      1. His Attributes Are Not Diminished
         • He is still Sovereign
         • He is still Majestic
         • He is still Omnipotent
         • He is still Glorious
         • He is still Holy
         • He is still Awesome

      2. His Deity Is Not Discredited

         --He is the Lord and there is no other like Him; He reigns alone as Sovereign Lord God, High and Lifted Up, Almighty in all His ways.

         --His serving character in no way causes His regal splendor or His divine worth to be demeaned in any way.

      --The majesty and splendor of a holy God are in no way diminished by the fact the He also has a serving nature... even if He doesn't have any obligation or reason to serve.

   2. HIS UNLIMITED GOODNESS

      --The lofty attributes of God sometimes lead us to forget the other attributes which make up such an integral part of who He is.

      --Because God is good, God is great in......Mercy, Love, Grace, Faithfulness, Generosity, etc.

      --None of those attributes exist in a vacuum as theoretical characteristics but always find ways to be expressed.

      --When God's goodness is expressed, He expresses it in ways that benefit those He loves.--Therein lies the essence of God's serving nature!

      --God demonstrates His love, His goodness, His mercy, His grace, His faithfulness, His perfect sufficiency in acts of service on behalf of His people.

      --God's serving nature, then, is grounded in the full range of His eternal attributes, never diminishing any aspect of who He is.

2. HIS CHARACTER AS A SERVING GOD IS DEMONSTRATED BY HIS PROVISIONS

   --Since His attributes lead Him to express Himself in ways that benefit His people, it follows that those means of expressing Himself will be demonstrated in the way He provides for their needs.

   1. HIS SUPPLY

      --If we were to measure God's character by the manner in which He supplies our needs, we would have to conclude that He has always served us well.

      Philippians 4:19

      --Our glorious, Most High God, has chosen to serve you and me by providing for our needs in order that His name would be most glorified.

   2. HIS INCARNATION

      --But more convincing to the point that God is a serving God, is the very fact of the incarnation, the event in which God become flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son.

      --If we understand that Jesus is God's Son, fully God and fully man, then all that Jesus is accurately reflects the nature and character of His Father.

      Colossians 2:9-10

      --Furthermore, He is the exact representation of His nature:

      Hebrews 1:3

      --Therefore, can we not rightly conclude that if He is One with the Father and the Son came to serve that God is a serving God who loves to serve His children?

      --Was Jesus one who came to serve?

      Matthew 20:28

      --The mystery of all this calls for a response from us, in that if the Lord God Almighty does not consider Himself above serving unworthy people, what reason can we offer that could ever justify our unwillingness to serve others?

      --Our calling is to be like Jesus Christ in every way...so we must be servants who find great joy in the very acts of service that once would have humiliated us and satisfaction in knowing that the servant is never above his Master.

   3. HIS CRUCIFIXION

      --The ultimate expression of His serving nature took place on the cross, the place where sacrifice took on a whole new meaning for those for whom He died.

      Philippians 2:8

      John 15:13

      --Can you understand then what a difference it makes to know that our God is a God who willingly and sacrificially gave His only Son as His ultimate act of serving an unworthy, ungrateful people from the guilt and shame of their sin?

      Will you be His servant and allow His character to be seen in you?