TEXT: Isaiah 42:1
TITLE: SERVANTHOOD (Jesus our Example)
Jesus is our example in everything. One area in particular He gives us an example – that of servanthood. The entire story of Jesus is the story of a servant. The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 was a “righteous servant”: “He shall see the labor of his soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11).
Unlike the world system, in Christ’s kingdom, servanthood, not position, is the key to greatness. Here spiritual stature is implicit in servanthood. After Salome requested that James and John sit at Jesus’ right and left hand in His kingdom, He told the indignant disciples: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. / Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. / And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. / Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).
There are two aspects to being a servant of the Lord. One involves serving the Lord and the other involves serving one another. Many feel they are good at serving the Lord but have a problem serving one another. For sure we are to serve Christ supremely, but we are also to serve one another. Galatians 5:13 – “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” We are to serve Christ as master and we are to serve each other in love and mutual submission. This follows the command to love God above all else and to love our neighbor as ourself.
The biblical relationship of servant to master was often intimate. The Lord compares it to that of a father and son in Malachi 1:6 – “A son honors his father, and a servant his master” (NASB). Jesus compares it to that of a student and his teacher in Mathew 10:25 – “It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master” (NASB).
The centurion in Matthew 8:5-13 loved his servant; without that love he would not have contacted Jesus. Jesus expects an intimate relationship between Himself and His servants.
God gives special protection for His servants. Isaiah 54:17 – “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me, says the LORD.” God assures us, “The hand of the LORD shall be made known to His servants” (Isaiah 66:14). Being a servant enlists His protection and His provision.
How Does Jesus Define Servanthood?
Thirteen of Jesus’ parables mention servants. In six of these, the principal thrust is servanthood. The first is Matthew 25:4-30, the parable of the talents. Two men invested their master’s money well and doubled his return. One man 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.
The second parable on servanthood is 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, Luke 12:35-40, Jesus describes the servants ready and watching for the return of the master. The emphasis of this parable is not on work as such, 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, Luke 12:42-48, treats readiness 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. The expectation of the servant is his continuing alertness in carrying out his instructions.
In the fifth parable, Luke 17:7-10, Jesus asks a rhetorical question: Will the master thank a servant for carrying out his orders? 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 duty.
The sixth parable is the parable of the minas (Luke 19:12-27). 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 5 of these servanthood parables, the master is absent. 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. Three qualities are emphasized: initiative, readiness to obey, and watchfulness.
Seven other parables mention servants and shed incidental light on the first-century role of servants. From these we see 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), plow 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.
On the other hand, the master could assign highly responsible jobs. Four times the parables mention tasks that involve authority: collect rent (Matthew 21:34), be in charge of a household (Matthew 24:45), and invest money (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27). God may call upon His servants to do the lowest or the highest tasks. But the choice is His not ours.
Imitating Jesus, The Righteous Servant
From Jesus’ parables, we understand the qualities that He emphasized as essential to servanthood. Those qualities are watchfulness, obedience, initiative, hard work, and going beyond duty.
Watchfulness
Watchfulness was the one quality most emphasized in Jesus’ teaching on servanthood. Biblical servants were watchful. WE cannot be obedient until we are watchful. We are to be watchful for Christ’s return (as He said), but we also should be alert to the leading of the Lord in our daily lives.
His eyes were continually on His Father. John 5:19 – “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the son also does in like manner.” He was watchful, or attentive, vertically to the Father.
Another ingredient is alertness. Christ was alert vertically, and He was also alert horizontally to His fellow man. He was sensitive to a woman who touched his garments (Mark 5:25-34).
To develop the quality of watchfulness in your life, it is urgent that your prayer life grow. This means that as you progress through each day, you will be constantly turning to God to know His direction.
To be watchful is simply 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 superior should be able to call on the servant at any moment.
We must be available, first to God and then to others. Some distractions that come our way may really be an opportunity for service. In looking at the example of Jesus we can find many distractions in his life. Yet He was available to the needy. They could always count on His attention. If we are watchful that distraction might be an opportunity to be of service to someone.
Obedience
Jesus was obedient. He said in John 6:38 – “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” His incarnation is itself an act of obedience. His entire life is a record of total obedience. At the end of His life, He could confidently assert, “…as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here” (John 14:31). That allegiance led to Gethsemane, with its struggle, and to the cross.
Try keeping a record of the times when you know you were obedient. Obedience is total, or it is not genuine obedience. We cannot choose when we will obey if we have the biblical quality of obedience as Christ had it.
Initiative
Jesus often took initiative. Although the majority of His healings were in response to request, He often initiated a healing. In Peter’s home, He chose to heal Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-17). His healing on the Sabbath of a man with a withered hand occasioned the Pharisees’ plot to put Him to death (Mark 3:1-6). He did not always wait until he was asked. He saw a need and met it. Because of His sensitivity to the Father He was aware of needs and met those needs. When we as servants live in a close relationship with the Father He will make us aware of needs that are around us.
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 (Mark 6:35-44). It was out of the initiative of compassion.
Start seeking opportunities to start projects for God. If you are alert, these may involve ministry to the sick or the troubled—like Jesus’ initiatives. You may see an opportunity to teach or to share; He did.
Stop waiting for someone to ask you to do something. If you are waiting for this you might not be a good servant. Take the initiative, listen to the Spirit, do what you believe He is leading you to do.
Hard Work
Jesus worked hard. Early in His ministry, the famous “busy day” saw Him starting the day by calling four disciples (Mark 1:16-20), instigating a miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-7), teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum (Mark 1:21-22), casting out a demon (vv. 23-27), healing Simon’s mother-in-law (vv. 29-31), & then healing multitudes during the evening hours (vv. 32-34). He must have been exhausted after such a grueling day, and yet “in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there” (Mark 1:35).
His life was full. He was not a lazy person. The constant circuits across and around Galilee, His availability to the maimed and impaired, and His perpetual teaching all mark a life of hard work. He never wasted time, dawdled, or procrastinated.
So let us follow His example and be a good servant.
