100 Bible Verses about Serving Is More Important Than Being Served

Mark 10:45 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Hebrews 6:10 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

Matthew 20:28 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Galatians 5:13 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Romans 12:11 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

John 12:26 ESV / 9 helpful votes

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

1 Peter 4:10 ESV / 8 helpful votes

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:

Hebrews 9:14 ESV / 8 helpful votes

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Philippians 2:4 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Mark 9:35 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

Joshua 22:5 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Acts 20:35 ESV / 7 helpful votes

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Luke 6:38 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Matthew 23:11 ESV / 7 helpful votes

The greatest among you shall be your servant.

Matthew 6:24 ESV / 7 helpful votes

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

1 Samuel 12:24 ESV / 7 helpful votes

Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.

Joshua 24:15 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

1 Peter 1:12 ESV / 6 helpful votes

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 6 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Colossians 3:23-24 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Galatians 6:2 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Romans 12:9-13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:1 ESV / 6 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 6 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Proverbs 19:17 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

1 John 3:18 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 Peter 4:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 2:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

James 1:27 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Philippians 2:1-11 ESV / 5 helpful votes

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ...

Galatians 6:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Galatians 5:13-14 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

1 Corinthians 3:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

Acts 26:6-7 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king!

John 3:16-17 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Luke 22:27 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

Matthew 25:40 ESV / 5 helpful votes

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:35-40 ESV / 5 helpful votes

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ...

Matthew 25:21 ESV / 5 helpful votes

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

1 Peter 4:10-11 ESV / 4 helpful votes

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

James 2:14-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Hebrews 6:1-10:39 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, ...

1 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

2 Corinthians 4:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

Romans 12:8 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 7:6 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Romans 6:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

John 13:14 ESV / 4 helpful votes

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

John 13:1-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ...

Matthew 20:26-27 ESV / 4 helpful votes

It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,

Proverbs 11:25 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Psalm 37:23 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;

Psalm 34:22 ESV / 4 helpful votes

The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

1 Chronicles 28:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

Deuteronomy 13:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes

You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

1 John 3:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

1 Peter 5:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;

1 Peter 2:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Timothy 3:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

Philippians 3:17-4:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. ...

Philippians 3:1-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ...

Philippians 2:1-18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ...

Philippians 1:27-30 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Philippians 1:12-26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ...

Ephesians 6:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,

Ephesians 4:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Galatians 6:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

1 Corinthians 3:1-9:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. ...

Romans 15:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Romans 12:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Romans 12:1-21 ESV / 3 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ...

John 15:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 13:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

John 13:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

John 13:12-14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

John 13:1-16:33 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ...

Luke 12:37 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.

Luke 6:35 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Matthew 20:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes

It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,

Matthew 20:1-28:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ...

Matthew 10:42 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

Matthew 6:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 5:42 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Psalm 100:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

2 Chronicles 15:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”

1 Samuel 12:1-24:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you.” They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand.” And he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.” ...

Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

1 Peter 4:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

1 Peter 2:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

James 1:17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

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