GROWING AS CHRIST’S SERVANTS

In his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2:1-11), the apostle Paul pleads with the Christians in Philippi to live in peace with one another and to set aside their personal ambitions to put themselves forward. He tells them to grow as servants of Christ imitating Christ’s servanthood.

In this passage, the apostle Paul points out that Jesus is the supreme example of servanthood. And if they have the same goal, same mind and same heart as Christ, then they must discard or get rid of self-ambition, and count others more important than themselves. Jesus did that and so should we.

Although Jesus is God and is equal to the first person of the Trinity (Father), He did not consider equality with the Father as something to cling on to. He willingly laid it down for the sake of humanity. Jesus emptied Himself. Meaning, He put aside His Divinity, His heavenly glory, and was willing to be born as a human. He humbled Himself, taking the very nature of a servant (slave). He was prepared to die a humiliating death on the cross. Jesus humbled Himself, putting the interest of others (yours and mine) above His own. God the Father exalted Jesus through the resurrection and gave Him a name that is above every name – He is called “Lord” (kurios, master, owner).

The apostle Paul is saying, if Jesus the King of the universe, the second person of the Trinity, could embrace servanthood, then we who claim to be servants of Christ should grow in that same servanthood which Christ embodied and demonstrated.

A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conference in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But Massachusetts being in America, had no hall servants. Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his European Pastors. Moody gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world-renowned evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret. Moody never told anyone but his friend told a few.

As Christ’s servants, we should grow in servanthood because we follow the Servant of all – the Lord Jesus Christ.