The Redemptive Gifts: Servant

In the Redemptive Gifts Overview blog, we learned that one of the seven gifts cited in Romans 12 has been strategically woven into our being since the dawning of time.

We redeem our gifts. While they are spiritual gifts, they are from the Father. Therefore, we call them redemptive gifts. They are not spiritual gifts as we would consider “gifts from/of the Spirit”.

We are motivated to do and think certain ways due to our designs. Understand design and gift, when referring to the Romans 12 gift list, are interchangeable. These are our motivational gifts.

Servant Design

The keyword for this is redemptive. This redemptive servant isn’t the servant mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:28 or any other servant-type ministry in the Church. These all function differently. Servant designs are motivated to serve – this means they have a bend towards serving land, the atmosphere, and man. It’s in their makeup not something they can be ordained, commissioned, or have hands laid upon them and it comes about.

The redemptive servant reflects the nature of Father’s servant nature. Because it is who He is, He has graced some in the world with His nature to be as Himself.

Ruthie Young (2014, pg. 54) writes, “The older gentleman who seems to know where everything is, and if you need a picture hung or the grass cut, he’s your man. But what’s his name…taken for granted these wonderful, essential people are always there to help everyone else do their job.” The servant design is the support system upon which all else stems and lays the foundation for life. All else needs the support from the servants.

For all humans, we have a daily support system we need to survive that we take for granted – the air we breathe so we have oxygen for our lungs. Amongst air, water and food are the other essentials we cannot live without. Yet, we are so familiar with these that we overlook them. It’s important for us to remember to “say grace” (or thank the Lord) as often as we can for these are precious, invaluable gifts…like the servant.

When the redemptive servant serves, he (she) does so by divine grace and character-nature of Almighty God. It is His own pleasure and joy to serve. It is one of the many things that sets Him apart from all other gods. In the flesh, He came to seek and save…He came to serve and not be served.

Outline of the Servant Design

1. Servants are the childlike gift among the group of prophet, servant, teacher, exhorter, giver, ruler, and mercy. God invites them to sit at His table and to expand the seating.
2. They see the good in all people – even the “scary” ones.
3. They have an intolerance for crass people and rudeness, especially any of it being geared toward their blood relatives.
4. They are family-driven, representing hearth and home.
5. They are doers rather than creators or thinkers. Unlike the prophet design, it is much easier for them to maintain, yet harder for them to trailblaze.
6. They are even-tempered, usually not vacillating between emotions. They’re not prone to anger or rage. This doesn’t mean they don’t get angry, instead they rarely visit that state or remain there.
7. They are natural born team players. Leaders would love to have servants on their team(s).
8. They can have a tendency to lack setting appropriate boundaries with people, especially those who abuse power or lean more toward misusing others – this produces a type of Stockholm syndrome (victim mentality).
9. They can have a tendency to be pushovers.
10. They can have a tendency to lack discernment and discretion which might cause heartache and unnecessary warfare against them.

Buzzwords

It’s commonly placed on the redemptive servant that they are: (1) Pushover, (2) naive, or (3) small (insignificant).

While these identifiers hold true in some instances, it isn’t the overarching theme God wants us to understand about this design.

Pushover – Rather than saying that servants are like “doormats” and need to be more assertive, they are diplomatic. They care about the other person(s) more than themselves and will do anything to ensure their success. They revel in “meeting the needs” of others because it’s a part of their genetic makeup. It might help the rest of us to view this design in this manner instead of their need to always be on the offense. Thankfully, they have the prophet, exhorter, and ruler designs to help them out in this vein.

Naive – Rather than estimating them as naive, we might say that they believe the best and they believe the best in people. There’s a light-heartedness in servants from which we all can glean insight.

Small (insignificant) – Rather than seeing them as incapable and lesser than other designs, God gives the servants authority unto dominion over all…because He knows that they can handle what comes with such honor. Servants are men and women of honor and dignity before the Lord, that is in His very eyes. That’s how He sees them.

The Purpose of the Servant

1. Build a habitation for the presence of God.
2. Cleanse time, man, and land.
3. Create a safe place and space for people to join together as one.
4. Causes many seats to be at the table with Father God.
5. To show hospitality and kindness to all.
6. To support others – augment their gifts.
7. To receive outstanding authority from God to discipline darkness.

Young, R. (2014) Your destiny, his glory: Discover the how and why of your design. Repairers of the Breach Ministries pg. 54