Identity as Servants

Prayer time (start audio recording)

Isaiah 42:1 ““This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations.”

God we praise your Servant who . . .

Lord, make us more like your Servant in this situation . . .

Jesus, because of your fullness, I can trust you with . . .

Intro

As we’ve discussed over the last few weeks, there are different ways that we are identified: family, disciples, the image of God. A couple weeks ago, James reminded us that as disciples we are to follow the master. Last week, Garry brought to light the image of God within us. Today we’re going to discuss the identity God has given us when you put those two ideas together. Disciples follow the master with the goal of becoming like the master and Jesus, being the perfect image of God provides us a vision of what that looks like. Today we’re going to discuss what it looks like for us to be servants in the way Jesus was a servant.

The word that we often translate as servant out of the Greek is fraught with problems. The preface to the ESV includes a note about his word in particular: In New Testament times, a doulos is often best described as a “bondservant”—that is, someone in the Roman Empire officially bound under contract to serve his master for seven years (except for those in Caesar’s household in Rome who were contracted for fourteen years). When the contract expired, the person was freed, given his wage that had been saved by the master, and officially declared a freedman. The ESV usage thus seeks to express the most fitting nuance of meaning in each context. Where absolute ownership by a master is envisaged (as in Romans 6), “slave” is used; where a more limited form of servitude is in view, “bondservant” is used (as in 1 Corinthians 7:21–24); where the context indicates a wide range of freedom (as in John 4:51), “servant” is preferred.

We have a hard time separating our understanding of Greco-Roman slavery from the American history of slavery. That type of slavery has been a scourge within American history and we unequivocally condemn the abuses that occurred in that version of slavery back then and as it occurs today in other parts of the world as depriving people the dignity that is owed them as individuals created in the image of God.

That being said, we can’t avoid the topic of slavery within the Bible because it was a cultural experience that was part of the general experience of most parts of the ancient world. Both ancient Hebrew and Greco—Roman culture had slavery within them and the Biblical writers addressed it in their own writings.

In the Old Testament, God gave instructions to Moses while at Sinai about how to deal with a slave. In Exodus 21 God tells Moses that a slave can only be bought from the Hebrews for a time of 7 years and he or she must be set free after that time or given the opportunity to become attached to the family permanently through a ceremony.

Later on in the Old Testament, a figure called he Servant of the Lord takes a primary focus in the second half of Isaiah and becomes the prototype for the Messiah as well as a description of the people of Israel. We used one of the Servant descriptions in our prayer just a few minutes ago, but perhaps the most familiar and maybe even most notable of the servant songs is Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

Isaiah 52:13-15Isaiah 52:13-15 “See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.” “See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were appalled at you— his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being— so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.”

Isaiah 53:4-6 “Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.” And so on it goes.

Jesus comes and brings fulfilment to this theme within the Old Testament. He models what it means to be a servant and invites us to take part in being servants of the Lord and by extension servants of one another.

Now I want to make a distinction between what we understand as slaves or servants versus what the Bible offers us as a picture of true servanthood. The picture of servanthood that Jesus presents is one of willingly humbling oneself to serve others rather than forced labor. Jesus also calls his disciples friends. And even though they are called friends, they still see that they are servants of Jesus, they willingly take on the identity of servants of Jesus:

Paul in Romans 1:1Paul in Romans 1:1 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—”

Apollos and Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:5 “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.”

Paul and Timothy in Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus: To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.”

James in James 1:1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings.”

Peter in 2 Peter 1:1 “Simeon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Jude in Jude 1:1 “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James: To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.”

John in Revelation 1:1 “The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,”

James and Jude were literal family members of Jesus, Peter and John were disciples who had been called friends, Paul had unique encounters with Jesus and yet they all describe themselves as servants of the Lord Jesus.

We’re going to look at three guiding passages this morning that will help us understand both the model that we have and what we are to do as servants of the Lord.

Servants not Masters

Matthew 20:20–28 CSB

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached him with her sons. She knelt down to ask him for something. “What do you want?” he asked her. “Promise,” she said to him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” “We are able,” they said to him. He told them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right and left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In this passage we have a pair of brothers whose mother asked Jesus that her sons would sit in the places of honor beside Jesus in his kingdom. The faith of this mother in the Messiah Jesus to ask that her sons be given such honor is something to ponder and meditate on, but its the resulting conversation we’re going to focus on.

The 10 other disciples heard what Mrs. Zebedee had asked of Jesus and they were indignant, or angry at what they perceived as unfair treatment. They all had been with Jesus, surely they all deserve to sit at Jesus side. Jesus, saw this happening and took the opportunity to give a Kingdom lesson.

Matthew 20:25-28 “Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In their culture, as in ours, the rulers lorded over their subjects. Rome had their thumb on everything that the Jews did. The Jewish governors kept a tight leash on the land at the time. The religious leaders, whether the Pharisees of Galilee or the Sadducees of the Sanhedrin were all using their power, their authority to keep people beneath them. The religious leaders used the honor that the people gave them to oppress the people around them and keep the heirarchy the way it was. So when Jesus says to them the rulers of the Gentiles lord over them, this was something within their experience, and it wasn’t just the Gentiles.

In the same way today, we see politicians doing everything in their power to maintain their status and their importance. Many will ignore their constituents to do what serves them best and sets them up for success, not what is best for the people they represent. They look out for their own welfare as opposed to the welfare of the people they supposedly serve.

Anywhere there is a power differential is a place where there is potential for the use of that power to be used for the benefit of the one in power and not the one who lacks power. This is part of the fallen human condition where people are just objects to be used for what is delightful in my eyes and can be used for my pleasure. Politicians are an easy target, but it happens elsewhere too: law enforcement, corporations, education, military and in families too.

“Not so in my Kingdom,” Jesus says. You are to be different. Jesus uses two different words to describe people who are great in his kingdom. Jesus says that the great among you will be the servants, or the diakonos. It’s the word we get deacon from, the person who serves at a table or ministers to others. The other word Jesus uses to describe the great people in his kingdom is slave, the Greek is doulos, this is the word that was discussed earlier by the ESV translation committee.

In the case of this passage, slave is used both in the ESV and the CSB. Jesus is pointing out the upside down nature of his kingdom. The great ones are going to be the ones who don’t seem to have any freedom. They’re going to be the ones who serve behind the scenes, not for any hope of honor.

Jesus doesn’t present this as a hypothetical and then go on to the next idea, but he applied it to himself and uses it as an opportunity to explain what he’s doing to his disciples.

Jesus is the master, that’s what Mrs. Zebedee rightly saw, but he didn’t come to be served like anyone would anticipate a king acting. Rather, he came to serve and his service was to give his life as a ransom for many.

The Master of the universe came to serve people, and not just any people. The sick, blind, leper, demon possessed, tax collector, Samaritan, prostitute, adulterer, and all the others that the world had left behind. Jesus served them by healing them, forgiving them, and offering his kingdom to them. He reminded his disciples that they were to act like him, a servant, not a ruler.

A few days later, Jesus was in the upper room with his disciples and he modeled this service directly to the disciples.

Model of Jesus

Turn with me to John 13. This is part of what is called the upper room discourse in the book of John. It’s a large secton of John’s gospel that is a series of teachings that John locates in the upper room during the Passover meal. This room would have had a table that was low to the ground and they would have reclined at an angle propped up on one arm. Before the meal, Jesus and the 12 had gathered in the upper room, after a day of preparation. Their feet were sweaty and muddy.

Imagine for a moment reclining at a table, head toward the table feet angled away from the table. The thing is, the guy’s feet next to you are awful close to your face. He’s been walking around the city, where the sewage runs in the street, caked with mud, he lays down with his feet next to you. That would have been a gross way to eat a meal. So instead, the culture had adopted the sanitary measure of offering foot washing to people as they come into the house.

Washing feet was the job for the youngest slave girl, the person of the household with the lowest status of all. But there doesn’t appear to be any slave girl in this room, so Jesus took off his outer robe and began washing the stinky, sweaty, muddy feet of his disciples.

John 13:12–17 CSB

When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you. “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Jesus modeled for them, in a very practical way, what he wanted them to do for one another. Remember, foot washing was left to the lowest member of the household, and yet Jesus did it for his disciples. Then he told them to do that for one another. I’m not sure we quite understand the depth of Jesus’ command to the disciples. Maybe a better way of understanding it in our day is to wash one anothers’ undergarments. It’s the task, no one really wants to do because it can be gross, but it still has to be done. Jesus is modeling for his disciples that they are to serve others by doing the things they would want others to do to them. Just like he taught in Matthew 7:12 “Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

To do for others what you want them to do for you sums up the entire Law and the Prophets. In this simple phrase Jesus said that the way to be faithful to God’s commands was to love others enough to serve them they way you want to be treated.

How would life be different if instead of manipulating others into getting what we want, we simply served each other? Where each of us serves one another so that no one is left out of being served, so that the needs of one another, the burdens, the hurts, the struggles are all met with community love and action. It requires us being willing to let others into our lives, it requires being vulnerable enough to share our struggles and inadequacies. It requires that we have grace for the struggles and inadequacies of others and treat them with gentleness, kindness, patience, and mercy. But this is the type of community that Jesus wants us to be. This is the community that he envisioned his followers to live out.

Paul picked up on this theme of Jesus followers being servants of one another and provides a meditation on it in Philippians 2.

Practically speaking

Paul’s meditation includes practical application. In other words, what would it look like to have the attitude Jesus had toward his disciples and more broadly to the world.

Philippians 2:1–11 CSB

If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Here, Paul’s main point is that based on what Christ did, we ought to act similarly in our actions toward other people.

It seems to me that Paul recognizes that the human condition is fallen and incapable of doing this apart from the Spirit of God at work in us. It is only after he talks about encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship with the Spirit, affection and mercy that he can encourage us to think the same way, have the same love, be united in spirit, and be intent on one purpose. He puts the power to act ahead of the action taken.

Verses 3 and 4 provide us with the direct commands: Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.” Verses 3-4 are attitudes that we should take on for ourselves, or avoid.

Paul told the Philippians that anything that you do ought to be done with a motivation of being others centered. The interests of others, the value of others, ought to be considered higher than what we desire. I think it’s easy to see the value of that, but much harder to see it lived out.

All of Biblical history tells the story of people who failed at completing this task, starting in the Garden. The snake deceived Eve by getting her to believe that God was holding back and she needed to find knowledge of good and evil in her own way. Cain’s murder of Abel was a response to his selfish ambition and pride, “what was so much better about Abel that his offering was favored?” Abraham and Sarah abused an Egyptian slave in order to bring about the promise that God had given them in their own way. David raped a trusted advisor’s wife and then had him killed in his own ambition and pride.

The Bible is filled with examples of people who failed to act out of total humility until Jesus came along. So Paul meditates on what Jesus did and the attitude he had as a way of encouraging the Philippians to take much smaller steps of obedience.

Phil 2:6 tells us that Jesus “who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.”

Jesus was co-equal with the Father in glory and honor, but he didn’t grasp at it. Adam and Eve tried to seize being like God, Jesus instead gave up his glory and honor in order to accomplish what God had planned in order to ransom the world, to redeem the world.

Jesus emptied himself of his glory and assumed the form of a servant, a doulos. He took on humanity and came from the virgin’s womb. He was part of a lower class family that was likely outcast from society because Jesus was conceived out of wedlock making Mary and Joseph outsiders in their own culture.

But then Jesus continued to serve the Father by showing obedience in all things, from his life and ministry, even to his death on a cross. Death on a cross is one of the most humiliating, hideous, and excruciating ways to die. But Jesus submitted in obedience to the Father in order to serve those he created. The sinless one hung on a cross for your sin and mine. But death couldn’t hold him. Three days later he rose from the grave vindicated by God, victorious over death and hell and Satan, and as a result ransomed many, to use Jesus’ own words from Matthew 20. We have been bought from death, and we have life in Christ because of his death, because he came as the Master to serve.

Paul continues his meditation in verse 9 (Phil 2:9-11) “For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Do you see it? It is because of Jesus’ obedience to the Father to serve mankind that he was exalted over it all. The Master ruled through service and is exalted over Earth, heaven, and hell.

Not only that, every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We have an opportunity to serve the Risen Lord, to take part in his kingdom of service. We will all acknowledge his lordship, willingly or not. He said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Turn away from your sin, turn away from the ways that you use and abuse others for your own benefit, turn away from the manipulation in order to maintain your status, turn away from the ways that you place yourself as lord over others. Fall at the feet of your creator who loves you and gave himself to buy you from the death that you deserve. Turn from the ways of selfish ambition and conceit, from your sin and instead place Jesus before you. Learn to take on Jesus’ attitude toward other and put it into action by the power of Jesus living inside you! You are invited into real life, abundant life, life that has the presence of Christ right now, heaven on earth. Christ’s presence gives new meaning to the trials and suffering that we all experience, allowing us to experience communion and joy with the Lord. So we can say with Paul that we have been delivered from every evil work and brought safely into Jesus’ heavenly kingdom in spite of the sufferings we faced. We are delivered from the things that were intended by evil to bring us into death because Jesus experienced death for us. Abundant life, eternal life is ours right now through Jesus.

Put into practice

So how do we put all this into practice?

First, you can’t do this apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in you. If you have not turned away from your life of sin and been reconciled to God, I encourage you to start there. Recognizing the life that you lived apart from God, turning from it and submitting to life in Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make. None of the rest of this matters if you haven’t done that.

Second, remember what is called the Golden Rule. Matthew 7:12 “Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Serving others can start with doing for others what you would want them to do for you. You don’t have to know their love language, personality type, or anything like that. Simply do for others what you would want done for you. It could be taking someone dinner, inviting them to coffee, watching their kids one night so they can go on a date with their spouse. It could be asking good questions about their life so that you know what they’re going through and praying for them. These are simple ways to put this into practice.

Third, I would encourage you to let others serve you too! If you look back at the first couple verses of Philippians 2 we see that the first two verses each contain a list of four items. Each of those lists are relational in nature. We each need to serve and to be served by others. Jesus allowed people to serve him, cook him meals, anoint his feet with perfume, give him places to stay. While Jesus didn’t come to be served, he allowed people to humbly serve him as he served them. This is how we see the body start to work together to unify in love. In reality, if you are always serving and don’t slow down enough to let others serve you there is only one result. You will get burned out and bitter that you’re serving everyone else and feel like you are doing more than everyone else.

We each need to be served because there are things that we all need that we can’t do for ourselves. You can’t tend to your emotional wounds apart from another person walking with you through them. You can’t make it through a hard season with your spouse or kids without the support and guidance of another couple with different experience than yours. You can’t get the rest you need to be healthy mentally, emotionally, and physically if you won’t let others come and help take some of your daily burdens off your hands.

In this way we are able to serve one another so that no one is left behind, everyone is served and everyone gets a chance to serve. No one is an island, we need one another. Paul tells us to look out for one another and serve one another, Jesus modeled it for us, both how to serve and to let others serve us, and we get a chance to live it out.

Let’s pray:

As we turn our attention to you Lord, help us hear your voice right now. Show us a simple step to take today.

Now I encourage you to sit silently and reflect on what you’ve experienced today, how can you respond to the Lord?

(Pause)

Lord, we want to be people who follow Jesus. Who do the things that he did because we are empowered by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. We want to be people that walk by the Spirit and respond to the Spirit throughout each day. Help us to recognize your voice ever better, respond to you quicker, and love you deeper.

Amen.