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Servanthood
I don't think anyone will
disagree with me when I say that Jesus should be our example in
everything. Jesus should be our example in the way we behave, in the
way we talk, in the way we think, in the way we inter-act with each
other. That said there is one area in particular in which Jesus
serves as our example, that of servant hood. The entire story of the
life of Jesus is the story of a servant. We read this morning, "Look
at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases
me. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the
nations." (Isaiah 42:1 NLT) and later on Isaiah will write "When he
sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it
possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all
their sins." (Isaiah 53:11 NLT)
Most of us have found out, at one time or another, that we live in a
world which values position, money and influence above other things,
a world in which the position of a servant is considered a lowly
occupation. But we serve a God who turns the standards of the world
on their head. In the kingdom of God the role of the servant is the
highest position there is, it is the key to greatness, and one we
should all aspire to attain.
In the gospel of Matthew, when the disciples were angry because the
mother of John and James had asked for a special place for her sons
we read, "But Jesus called them together and said, "You know that
the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials
flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will
be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your
servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your
slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve
others, and to give his life as a ransom for many."" (Matthew
20:25-28 NLT)
When Jesus came to earth, when Jesus came to serve, when Jesus came
to save, He did not do anything by halves, He committed Himself
fully to us and to our cause and to our salvation. So if we really
want to serve, we can't do it by halves either, we can't do it by
playing at it, we need aspire to attain the position of a servant
which Jesus assumed. And as we aspire to that position there are two
aspects which we need to consider. One involves serving the Lord and
the other involves serving each other. I am sure that some here feel
they are good at serving the Lord but have a problem serving one
another. Because when we look at each other we see each other's
faults, we see the speck in our brother's eye and that hinders our
serving them. I'm sorry to have to tell you that both are part and
parcel of the job. There is no doubt that we have to serve The Lord,
supremely, above anything else, but we are also called to serve one
another. Paul writing to the Galatians said "For you have been
called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use
your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your
freedom to serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13 NLT) We are
called to serve Jesus, as our master and we are also to serve each
other in love and mutual submission. This is part and parcel of the
Lord's command to love God above all else and to love our neighbour
as our self.
Before we go any further with this we need to realise what the
position and the relationship of a servant in the Bible was. The
biblical relationship of servant to master was often intimate. In
Malachi it is compared to the relationship between son and father,
we read, "The LORD of Heaven's Armies says to the priests: "A son
honours his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your
father and master, where are the honour and respect I deserve?"
(Malachi 1:6 NLT) Jesus compares it to that of a student and his
teacher in Mathew 10:25 we read "Students are to be like their
teacher, and slaves are to be like their master. " (Matthew 10:25
NLT)
In Matthew 8:5-13 we also read the story of the centurion who came
looking for Jesus, to heal his servant, this displays some of that
shared intimacy and shared concern and devotion between master and
servant
And, maybe because of this relationship, God gives special
protection for His servants. In Isaiah 54 we read "no weapon turned
against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to
accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD;
their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
(Isaiah 54:17 NLT) and again in Isaiah 66 we read "Everyone will see
the LORD's hand of blessing on his servants" (Isaiah 66:14 NLT)
Being a servant enlists His protection and His provision.
So how does Jesus define servant hood? You may have noticed that
thirteen of Jesus' parables mention servants and in six of these,
the principal thrust is servant hood. The first is found in Matthew
25:14-30, the parable of the talents. Jesus talks about two men who
invested their master's money well and doubled his return and one
man who buried his talent. The master commended the industrious
servants, but called the one who buried his talent "wicked" and
"lazy." Jesus was saying that he expects initiative and hard work
from His servants.
In the second parable on servant hood which is in Mark 13:34-37. A
master left his servants in charge of his house with assigned tasks
and told them to be watchful for his return. The master expected to
find the servants working and watching when he returned.
In the third parable, in Luke 12:35-40, Jesus describes the servants
ready and watching for the return of the master. The emphasis of
this parable is not so much on work, but rather on the expectation
in the mind of the servants waiting for the return of the master.
One part of our work is simply to watch.
The fourth parable, in Luke 12:42-48, teaches about being ready for
service. Again the master leaves the servants in charge of his
house. Jesus contrasts the watchfulness of the good servants with
the negligence of the servants who beat the others and became drunk.
What is expected of the servant is his constant state of alertness
and willingness to carry out his instructions.
In the fifth parable, in Luke 17:7-10, Jesus asks a rhetorical
question: Will the master thank a servant for carrying out his
orders? And in verse 10, He tells us that mere obedience is not
worthy of the name servant. He is saying that a worthy servant will
go beyond the call of duty.
The sixth parable in (Luke 19:12-27) is similar to the parable of
the talents, in this one the master gives the various servants an
equal amount, but their performance differs radically. The master
shows his wisdom, not by entrusting appropriate amounts to the
servants, but rather by the justness of the rewards he gives to
them. Again Jesus is indicating that he will reward hard work and
initiative.
In five of these parables on servant hood, the master is absent. The
master trusts the servant enough to leave him alone to get on with
things. The time of the master's return is unknown, and in every
case he comes at an unexpected moment. The emphasis is on the
servant's performance while the master is absent, and the emphasis
is on three things, initiative, readiness to obey, and watchfulness.
As I have already said servants are mentioned in seven other
parables and they all shed some light on the first-century role of
servants. We see from these that first-century masters expected
their servants to do many menial tasks: gather and burn useless
weeds and collect wheat into a barn (Matthew 13:30), call invited
guests to a wedding feast (Matthew 22:3), bind an improperly dressed
wedding guest and throw him out (Matthew 22:13), bring clothing and
kill a fatted calf (Luke 15:22-23), plough and tend sheep (Luke
17:7), and serve food (Luke 17:8). God may expect us to do lowly
tasks. The servant does not choose his work, the master does. And it
is particularly appropriate to remember this later in our service
today, as we renew our covenant with God, and say, "I willingly
offer all I have and am to serve you, as and where you choose."
On the other hand, the master could assign highly responsible jobs.
Four times the parables mention tasks that involve authority: jobs
like collecting rent (Matthew 21:34), being in charge of a household
(Matthew 24:45), and investing money (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke
19:12-27). God may call upon His servants to do the lowest or the
highest tasks. Again we need to remember this as we say the words of
our covenant, "Your will be done. When I am valued and when I am
disregarded; when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking; when I
have all things, and when I have nothing." And we need to
continually recognise that the choice is His and not ours.
So how do we imitate, The Righteous Servant? We understand, from
Jesus' parables, the qualities that He emphasized as essential to
servant hood. We have see that those qualities are, watchfulness,
obedience, initiative, hard work, and going beyond duty.
Watchfulness was the one quality most emphasized in Jesus' teaching
on servant hood. Biblical servants were watchful, on the look out
for the master's interests, and we cannot be obedient until we are
watchful. We are to be watchful for His return, but we also need to
be alert to His leading in our daily lives.
Jesus exemplified this in John 5:19 we read "So Jesus explained, "I
tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only
what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son
also does." (John 5:19 NLT) Jesus' eyes were continually on His
Father. He was watchful and attentive, vertically to the Father.
And at the same time as Jesus was alert vertically to the Father, He
was also alert horizontally to His fellow man. In Mark 5:25-34 we
read how he was sensitive to a woman who touched his garments.
If we are to develop this quality of watchfulness and alertness in
our life, it is imperative that our prayer life grow, so that we are
so in touch with the Father that as we progress through each day, we
will constantly be turning to God, to know His direction.
To put it simply, to be watchful is to be available. An employer has
the right to expect his employees to be available. The employee (or
the servant) is at the disposition of the employer (or the master).
The master must be able to call on the servant at any moment. So
being a servant means being available, first to God and then to
others. Sometimes we get fed up with the many distractions that come
our way; but we need to be aware that some of these distractions may
really be opportunities for service. We find many distractions in
Jesus' life; He never seems to have wasted any of them. He was
always available to the needy. They could always count on His
attention. Let's look again at our covenant "when there is work for
me and when there is none". We need to be watchful to discern the
many opportunities for service that come our way. We need to be
alert to do the Father's will, at all times.
The second quality we saw was obedience; again Jesus sets us the
prime example. In John 6:389-31 He said "For I have come down from
heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will."
(John 6:38 NLT) His very incarnation, which we have just celebrated
at Christmas, is itself an act of obedience. His entire life is a
record of total obedience. And at the end of His life, He could
confidently assert, "but I will do what the Father requires of me,
so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let's be
going." (John 14:31 NLT) That obedience led to Gethsemane, with its
struggle, and to the cross.
Again we need to follow His example, and keep this in mind in our
covenant, "I am no longer my own but yours. Your will, not mine, be
done in all things". Obedience is total, or it is not obedience. We
cannot choose when we will obey if we are to follow the example that
Jesus set us. We cannot 'agree' to do the things we like doing, and
leave other things left undone.
The third quality was Initiative. No one can doubt that Jesus often
took the initiative. Although many of His healings were in response
to requests, He often initiated a healing. In Peter's home, He chose
to heal Peter's mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-17). It was His
initiative to heal the man with a withered hand, on the Sabbath,
which caused the Pharisees to plot to put Him to death (Mark 3:1-6).
He didn't always wait until he was asked. He approached the sick man
at the pool of Bethesda and asked if he wanted to be healed. His
feeding of the 5,000 was not prompted by any visible factor, only by
His compassion (Mark 6:35-44) It can be said that when Jesus saw a
need He met it. But it can also be said that, because of His
sensitivity to the Father, He was more aware of needs and more able
to meet them. When we, as servants, live in a close relationship
with the Father He will make us aware of the needs that are around
us.
Sometimes we spend too much time waiting for opportunities to come
to us, or for someone to ask us to do something. If we are waiting
we might not be showing ourselves to be good servants. We need to
take the initiative, listen to the Spirit, and do what we believe He
is leading us to do. We need to seek opportunities to start projects
for God. We need to be alert to the needs of the sick or the
troubled, like Jesus' initiatives they may involve opportunities to
teach or to share as He did. At times it will involve us moving out
of our comfort zone, let's always keep in mind that the cross was
not in anyone's comfort zone, but Jesus did not shy away from it.
And our final quality is hard work. Our culture often doesn't think
much of this. We know and see so many people whose maxim seems to be
to do as little as possible, for as much as possible. Jesus worked
hard. We don't get many glimpses of full days in the gospel but
there is one in the first chapter of Mark. He starts the day by
calling four disciples (Mark 1:16-20), He then teaches in the
synagogue of Capernaum (Mark 1:21-22), casts out a demon (vv.
23-27), heals Simon's mother-in-law (vv. 29-31), and then heals
multitudes during the evening hours (vv. 32-34). And you would think
He must have been tired after a day like that, and yet, if we
continue reading that chapter we find that "Before daybreak the next
morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray."
(Mark 1:35 NLT)
Jesus led a full life. Whatever anyone could accuse Him of, laziness
was not an option. His constant circuits across and around Galilee,
His availability to the maimed and the sick, and His perpetual
teaching all mark a life of hard work. Jesus never wasted time,
dawdled, or procrastinated.
Jesus exemplified all the qualities of a good servant. So today, as
we renew our covenant with God, let us make these qualities our own.
We are called to the greatest position of all, the position of a
servant; we follow the greatest servant of all, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's seek to follow His example and to be good servants in
His service and in all that we do.
The Covenant
I am no longer my own but
yours. Your will, not mine, be done in all things, wherever you may
place me, in all that I do and in all that I may endure; when there
is work for me and when there is none; when I am troubled and when I
am at peace. Your will be done. When I am valued and when I am
disregarded; when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking; when I
have all things, and when I have nothing. I willingly offer all I
have and am to serve you, as and where you choose.
Glorious and blessèd God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine
and I am yours. May it be so for ever.
Let this covenant now made on earth be fulfilled in heaven. Amen. |
