Jesus is MY Servant??

Have you ever stopped to think to yourself, "Jesus is MY Servant"?  If you are like me, I'm thinking that thought probably hadn't crossed your mind.  But as you will see, there is nothing irreverent about realizing that indeed He is our servant...

During this past advent season, I was greatly blessed to read John Piper's Advent Devotional, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy.  Each devotion provided new and wonderful insights about our Lord and Savior, insights I had never pondered before...

One insight that John Piper shared about Jesus, which struck me quite profoundly, was that He is OUR servant.  Jesus is My servant??

Whose serving who?

My first thought of servanthood, in the context of Christianity, is service to the Lord.  There are certainly verses that speak directly to God's people being called to "serve God".

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, 

"Let My people go, that they may serve Me.  

Exodus 8:1

So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, 

"Go, serve the LORD your God! 

Exodus 10:8

Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.

Psalm 100:2

Jesus answered him, "It is written, 

'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY."

Luke 4:8

The more I searched the Scriptures, the more perplexed I became at John Piper's bold statement that Jesus was our servant.  

The list of definitions for the word serve in the KJV Dictionary was convincing me further that Jesus was not MY servant.

:To act as the minister of; to perform official duties to; as, a minister serves his prince.

:To obey; to perform duties in the employment of; as, to serve the king or the country in the army or navy.

{Jesus is the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  He shouldn't fit into those definitions!}

:To be subservient or subordinate to.

{May it never be!}

It seemed I wasn't finding any definition for serve that would back up John Piper's statement.

Until...

:To be sufficient for; to satisfy; to content.

This lone definition of serve shed light on something I was losing sight of - Jesus came to earth to serve.  He served through His death, a death that was the ONLY act sufficient to cover over our sins, to satisfy the penalty of death that we deserved...

Dictionary of Bible Themes says...

Jesus Christ laid aside his majesty in order to serve humanity. His death is the supreme example of His servanthood: the fulfilling of the will of God his Father.

And Jesus' own Words...

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, 

and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45

Why you must allow Jesus to serve you

John Piper says...

"What a horrendous mistake it would be if we heard Jesus' call to be the servant of all, {Whoever would be first among you must be slave of all... Mark 10:44}, as a call to serve Him.  It is not.  It is a call to learn how to be served by Him.  Don't miss this.  This is the heart of Christianity.  This is what sets our faith off from all other major religions.  Our God does not need our service, nor is He glorified by recruits who want to help Him out.  Our God is so full and so self-sufficient and so overflowing in power and life and joy that He glorifies Himself by serving us."

It was this next quote from John Piper's devotional that spoke such encouragement and comfort to me...

"Here is the general truth to ponder and believe:  every time Jesus commands something for us to do, it is His way of telling us how He wants to serve us.  Let me say it another way:  the path of obedience is the place where Christ meets us as our servant to carry our burdens and give us His power."

Does that not fill you with amazing hope and confidence?!

The Lord will never ask us to do something He isn't already planning on doing through us!  He stands ready to help, to guide, TO SERVE.  We just need to seek and accept that help.

Not only does He help us with the works He has set aside for us to do, but His servanthood leaves us without excuse to walk in obedience.  Jesus gives us HIS power to fight temptation and to obey!   "The Lord commands our obedience and offers His help."

I've never had the privilege of having a maid or a house cleaner that comes in once a week to clean my house. The few people I've known who employed the service of a maid seemed to have the same story...  They didn't want the maid to see how messy their house was, so they ended up doing a good part of the cleaning anyway - negating any benefit of having a maid in the first place.

I think we all can be guilty of this when it comes to relying on God for help.  I know my natural response is to try to do things in my own strength.  How silly, when I have Jesus who is ready and willing to serve me with His strength and wisdom.  

If I may be so bold to say, when we don't rely on Christ as our Servant, we are negating the benefit of His death on the cross.

Your life, Your death

Your blood was shed

For every moment

Every moment

Michael W. Smith

Yes, we are also called to be servants of Christ, but in that office of servant, we must act in Christ's strength to serve so that Christ's Glory is seen - the true Servant.  We are the vehicle's, but Christ must be the driver.

May we all submit to Jesus' spectacular offer to be our servants; to let Him be God; to trust Him to be the Supplier, the Strengthener, the Counselor, the Guide and the Savior, so that we may enjoy ALL His benefits.

To read similar posts, please click on the following:

Breaking the Stigma of Biblical Submission: What Biblical Submission is and is not

4 Practical Ways to Incorporate Service into Your Daily Life

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