|
Powered Circuits |
Jesus: ServantBy Al PenceRead Phil 2: 5-11In discussing "servant leadership" a pastor friend said, "This sounds OK until someone treats you like a servant." He then told the story of a phone call he got one morning. He was in the shower when the phone rang and the lady left a message for him. Her message went like this, "I need your help. I started my car and then accidentally locked the keys inside. Can you please come and get it unlocked for me." His immediate reaction was anger: "I'm a pastor, not a locksmith! There's no way I could help in this situation." He called the lady back and explained to her that he didn't know anything about unlocking a car without its keys. When she realized who he was, she burst out laughing and explained that she thought she was calling the locksmith. In reflecting on this funny situation the pastor realized that his anger had been tripped because he objected to being treated like a person who was constantly on call to meet any random need. That's the way he thought he was being treated and his immediate reaction was to reject this move into servanthood. We can contrast that with what Jesus did as he went in some ways to the opposite extreme: he left the place of privilege at his Father's side and became a servant among us: "Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant." (see Phil 2: 5-11) He could have used an exalted title but he used a very proletarian one: "Son of Man." He could have gathered a huge adoring following but instead he told the truth and most of the people went away. He could have gathered an army that would challenge the Roman Empire but no, he said, "My kingdom is not of this world." He was in every sense a servant as he made the people of that day (and us) his brothers and sisters. In Matthew 23 we see Jesus' ultimate encouragement to servanthood: "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." The ultimate humbling and exalting doesn't come to us here. It will be at the final judgment. Just imagine the person who comes before Jesus expecting a great reward and entrance into the Kingdom. But instead, Jesus words become a dagger in the heart: "Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. When the Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God's message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!' Then I will say to them, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!' (This is an excerpt from a book Al is writing. Look for publication information here in the near future. These materials are the property of Al Pence, are copyrighted, and are not to be used without permission.) |
Copyrights: Content (c) 2010 Circuit 'Riter Ministries. |