Jesus was a Servant

Challenge 10 combines the second greatest commandment to love our neighbors, with overflowing generosity (Challenge 9). Where love and generosity meet, joyful service begins. And joyful service is always directed outward towards others. That is why it is included in the third tier of challenges. Disciples are not only servants of one another, they are servants to everyone they encounter and to all who have unmet needs. This means disciples are particularly concerned about caring for those the Bible repeatedly tells us to serve: widows, orphans, and aliens (foreigners). In other words, disciples must seek to serve the most-needy people, the disenfranchised, the social outcasts, and the poor. They are the people who some would consider to be second-class citizens. But they are V.I.P.’s in God’s eyes.

To develop a lifestyle characterized by selfless serving requires us to see the world around us through the compassionate eyes of God. Yahweh sees and abhors injustice. He sees people who are broken bearing heavy burdens. Jesus saw people through the eyes of the Father. That’s partly why he served others joyfully and sacrificially and his disciples seek to do the same thing. Jesus also served joyfully because he was “by nature” a servant. For Jesus, serving others was more privilege than duty. Caring for others brought him joy.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant….
Philippians 2:5-7

Jesus is the Messiah, Lord of all, and God incarnate. He was present and involved in the creation of the world. Yet in his incarnation, he entered the world to serve, not to be served. He had “all authority” (Matt 28:18) but he had the heart of a humble servant. He came “not to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). This described his mission and his nature. Jesus was the greatest leader, thinker, and teacher in human history, and he also was the greatest servant in human history. He taught that greatness is expressed through serving others (Mk 10:42-44). In another passage, the apostle Paul described Jesus in this way:

¹⁵ Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, ¹⁶ for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. ¹⁸ Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.

¹⁹ For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, ²⁰ and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Colossians 1:15-20

Jesus is supreme over everything and everyone (including angels and heavenly beings). Jesus is also the one who will judge all humanity when he returns (Matthew 16:27). He is the personification of greatness. Yet in his incarnation, he took “the very nature of a servant” (Phil 2:7) This verse indicates that Jesus by nature was both God and a servant. Ponder that combination. Jesus, God incarnate, did not merely act like a servant. He was a servant by nature, meaning that serving came naturally to him. It expressed his true nature and his heart’s desire. Serving was his passion, ambition, and his deepest joy.

A High Privilege and Calling

As the Holy Spirit continues to transform us, making us more like Jesus (Tier II Challenges), the more we will develop the nature and heart of servants. Our motivation, attitudes, words, and actions will all increasingly reflect the nature of a servant. Jesus’ mission required a servant’s perspective and now our mission also requires us to think and live in the world as servants. Jesus prayed for his disciples, “Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world” (Jn 17:18). A few days later, the resurrected Jesus did as he had prayed when he told his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (Jn 20:21). That defines our calling, our mission, and the strategy for accomplishing that mission. Jesus came as a servant and sends us out as servants. Through service we participate in and extend the mission of Jesus.

A short time later, the resurrected Lord clarified our mission even further saying, “…go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matt 28:19). Consequently, we make disciples like Jesus did, men and women with the attitude and hearts of servants. We are apprentices and servants of Jesus, sent into the world to serve others in the name and authority of Jesus. Serving is not a menial activity to be avoided, but a wonderful privilege and a high and holy calling. 

Serve Jesus by Serving Others

Having received this mission, his original disciples may have recalled the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan is a model of a servant sent to serve on behalf of Jesus.

³⁰ Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. ³¹ “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. ³² A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. ³³ “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. ³⁴ Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ ³⁶ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. ³⁷ The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
Luke 10:30-37

For centuries Jews had despised Samaritans, but Jesus made a Samaritan the hero of this story. The Samaritan extended kindness to a wounded Jew, saving his life. He did what was needed without complaint or hesitation. And he did this for a man who may have been taught to hate him. The Samaritan rendered the type of service Jesus expects of his disciples. In another sense, we are like the wounded Jew, who was stripped, beaten, and left to die. But unexpectedly, we received God’s kindness through Jesus. Therefore, we joyfully serve others knowing that in serving we are revealing Jesus, the man of joy, to the world around us. 

On another occasion, Jesus told a story about his return at the end of the age to judge the world. It reveals Jesus’ continuing concern that his disciples faithfully carry on his mission of serving others.

³¹ “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. ³² All the peoples will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ ³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

⁴¹ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. ⁴² For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ ⁴⁴ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ ⁴⁵ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ ⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:31-46

Disciples are “apprentices of Jesus in Kingdom living” and when we serve those in need, regardless of their race, nationality, or social status, we demonstrate what life in the Kingdom of God looks like. We serve freely as an expression of overflowing generosity with no strings attached to those being served. We do it in Jesus’ name, knowing that serving those most in need is considered by Jesus to be the same as serving Jesus himself, which makes service a joyful privilege.

We serve others knowing it is impossible to meet the needs of everyone we encounter. Deuteronomy tells us there should be no poor people in the land. God built many provisions into the OT law (Torah) that sought to ensure that the needs of the poor would be met. Yet Deuteronomy also states that we will always have the poor with us. The only exception to this was the early church in Jerusalem where “they shared everything they had” (Acts 2:44) and “there was no needy person among them” (Acts 4:34), a wonderful picture of Kingdom living.

However, Jesus did not eliminate hunger, poverty, or illness in Galilee, Judea and Samaria in his three-year ministry. He brought the Kingdom but did not consummate it. If he had, the church would not have made caring for the needy a priority because there would not have been needy people. Poor and needy people still existed. For example, in Acts 3 Peter and John encountered “a man lame from birth” who was carried to the gate of the temple called “beautiful” to beg. Evidently that crippled man had been begging at the same gate for years. If so, Jesus had likely seen him but had not healed him. In the third chapter of Acts, right after Pentecost, Peter and John miraculously healed him. The man who had been crippled from birth immediately began “walking, leaping, and praising God as he went into the Temple with them” (Acts 3:8). 

Until Jesus returns, we will continue to pray, “your Kingdom come.” We do so recognizing hunger, poverty, and injustice will not be fully eradicated until the consummation. In the meantime, as citizens of that Kingdom we seek to meet as many needs as possible through overflowing generosity and joyful service. We continue to learn and practice Kingdom living by following Jesus and demonstrating it to the watching world by humbly and joyfully serving others. This is an essential part of our high privilege and holy calling. 

THINKING IT THROUGH

O God, your ways are holy. Psalm 77:13

THE TRUTH: Jesus humbly and joyfully served others. This was an essential part of his mission and an expression of his holiness.
YOUR CHALLENGE: Jesus sends his disciples to represent him by humbly and joyfully serving others. This reflects Christlike character and is an essential part of our mission. 

The Scriptures, questions, and notes are for group discussion and personal reflection. Our goal is character transformation which requires sustained effort and growing faith. The questions can help you understand this challenge at a deeper level. We encourage you to focus on those questions that you find most interesting or helpful. This is not a test, but a tool to help you work the challenges.

Related Scriptures 

Romans 12:11 ¹¹ Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

1 Corinthians 15:58 ⁵⁸ So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Isaiah 61:2 ² The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.

Leviticus 25:42 ⁴² The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt….

Numbers 14:24 ²⁴ But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land.

Psalm 113:1 ¹ Praise the Lord! Yes, give praise, O servants of the Lord. 
Praise the name of the Lord!

Luke 1:38 ³⁸ Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.

Luke 15:19 [Parable of the Prodigal Son] …¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

Deuteronomy 28:47-48 ⁴⁷ If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, ⁴⁸ you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you.

Questions

You are encouraged to use these questions for group discussion or personal reflection. Respond to the questions that are most relevant or interesting to you (I urge you to write your responses in a journal or notebook).

1. Challenge 10 started with this statement of truth: “Jesus humbly and joyfully served others. This was an essential part of his mission and an expression of his holiness.” How was Jesus’ humble and joyful service an expression of holiness?

2. Jesus was a servant by nature and was characterized by a servant heart, therefore as his apprentices we aim to grow into holiness (the process of sanctification described in Tier II challenges) as we become more like him. This requires that we seek to develop the mentality of a servant who experiences joy through serving others. Have you made that a personal goal and asked the Spirit to transform you in this way? If not, why not?

3. The word for “servant” in Greek can also be translated as “minister.” Similarly, the word “service” can be translated as “ministry.” They are synonyms in English, but the same word in NT Greek. Does this influence what you think a minister’s job is, who is a real minister, or what ministry really is about?

4. The root words for “worship” in Greek (NT) and in Hebrew (OT) mean “work.” Worship and work are close cousins. Consequently, it is natural to associate “service/ministry’ with work/worship. If this is true, do you think it is possible that your work could become an expression of worship? (Perhaps that may be why Jesus’ service/ministry brought him joy.)

5. Yes or No: Should or could parents consider their parenting responsibilities to be a privilege; and performing those responsibilities to be not only a lot of work but a ministry they joyfully embrace?

6. Consider all the tasks you dutifully and regularly do just because they need to be done. Choose one of them that you enjoy the least. Then visualize yourself as a servant who considers it a privilege to serve/minister (to) Jesus by joyfully doing that task (duty) as worship/work. What would the Holy Spirit have to change in you before that vision could become a reality, and secondly, do you want the Spirit to transform you in that way?

7. Think of some task or responsibility that you wholeheartedly and joyfully embrace. Why does it give you joy to do it?

8. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave” (Mk 10:44, MSG). This view of greatness is radically different from the way our culture views greatness. Who do you know that personifies kingdom greatness in their attitude and actions? Why did you choose that person?

9. The first part of the statement of challenge for Joyful Service is, “Jesus sends his disciples to represent him by humbly and joyfully serving others.” Describe one thing that you can do to represent Jesus in this way.

ADDENDUM

Joyful Service According to Tony Campolo, or
The Kingdom of God is a Party

Tony Campolo was a teller of fascinating stories that are true but sound like fiction. He served as sociology professor at Eastern College in Philadelphia, was a pastor, and a dynamic and challenging speaker at Christian conferences and retreats. Tony also was a social activist and authored 35 books.

One of Tony Campolo’s most treasured stories is about a birthday party he spontaneously arranged while on a trip to speak at a conference in Hawaii. Tony got up early because his body was still on Eastern time where it was 9:00 a.m. He wandered around the dark streets of Honolulu looking for a place that served breakfast at 3:00 a.m. Finally, walking up a side street he found a little place that was still open. He went in, took a seat on one of the stools at the counter, and waited to be served. This was one of those sleazy places that deserves the name “greasy spoon.” He was reluctant to even touch the menu. 

The guy behind the counter came over and asked him, “What d’ya want?’ Tony responded he wanted a cup of coffee and a donut. After being served, he sat there sipping his coffee and munching on his donut at 3:30 in the morning when the door of the diner suddenly swung open, and to his discomfort, in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. It was a small place, and they sat on both sides of him.  

Their talk was loud and crude. Tony felt completely out of place and was just about to make his exit when he overheard the woman sitting beside him say, “Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m going to be thirty-nine.” Her “friend” responded in a nasty tone, “So what do you want from me? A birthday party? What do you want? Ya want me to get you a cake and sing ‘Happy Birthday’?” 

The woman next to Tony replied, “I don’t want anything from you…. I’ve never had a birthday party my whole life. Why should I have one now?” At that moment Tony decided to sit there until the women left. Then Tony signaled to the guy behind the counter and asked him, “Do they come in here every night?”

“Yeah!” he answered.

Tony then wanted to know whether the woman that sat next to him always came there every night. 

“Yeah!” he said. “That’s Agnes. Yeah, she comes in here every night. Why d’ya wanna know?”

“Because I heard her say that tomorrow is her birthday,” he told him. “What do you think about us throwing a birthday party for her–right here–tomorrow night?”

A smile slowly crossed his chubby face and he answered with measured delight. “That’s great! I like it! That’s a great idea!” Calling to his wife who did the cooking in the back room, he shouted, “Hey! Come out here! This guy’s got a great idea. Tomorrow’s Agnes’s birthday. This guy wants us to go in with him and throw a birthday party for her–right here–tomorrow night!”

His wife came out of the back room all bright and smiley. She said, “That’s wonderful! You know Agnes is one of those people who is really nice and kind, and nobody ever does anything nice and kind for her.”

“Look,” Tony told them, “if it’s okay with you, I’ll come back here tomorrow morning about two-thirty and decorate the place. I’ll even get a birthday cake.”

“No way,” said Harry (that was his name). “The birthday cake’s my thing. I’ll make the cake.”

At two-thirty the next morning Tony was back at the diner. He had picked up some crepe paper decorations at the store and had made a sign out of big pieces of cardboard that read, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” He decorated the diner from one end to the other. 

The woman who did the cooking must have gotten the word out on the street, because by 3:15 every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. It was wall-to-wall prostitutes… and Tony!

At 3:30 on the dot, the door of the diner swung open and in came Agnes and her friend. Tony had told everybody to scream, “Happy Birthday!” when they entered.

Campolo described what happened next: “Never have I seen a person so flabbergasted… so stunned… so shaken. Her mouth fell open. Her legs seemed to buckle a bit. Her friend grabbed her arm to steady her. As she was led to one of the stools along the counter, we all sang “Happy Birthday” to her. As we came to the end of our singing, “Happy birthday, dear Agnes, Happy birthday to you,” her eyes moistened. Then, when the birthday cake with all the candles lit on it was carried out, she lost it and just openly cried.

Harry gruffly mumbled, “Blow out the candles, Agnes! Come on! Blow out the candles! If you don’t blow out the candles, I’m gonna hafta blow out the candles.” And, after an endless few seconds, he did. Then he handed her a knife and told her, “Cut the cake, Agnes. Yo, Agnes, we all want some cake.”

Agnes looked down at the cake. Then without taking her eyes off it, she slowly and softly said, “Look, Harry, is it all right with you if I… I mean is it okay if I kind of… what I want to ask you is… is it okay if I keep the cake a little while? I mean is it all right if we don’t eat it right away?”

Harry shrugged and answered, “Sure! It’s okay. If you want to keep the cake, keep the cake. Take it home if you want to.”

“Can I?” she asked. Then looking at Tony she said, “I live just down the street a couple of doors. I want to take the cake home and show it to my mother, okay? I’ll be right back. Honest!”

She got off the stool, picked up the cake, and carrying it like it was the Holy Grail, walked slowly toward the door. As everyone stood there motionless, she left.

When the door closed there was a stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, Tony broke the silence by saying, “What do you say we pray?’

In retrospect Tony said, “Looking back on it now it seems more than strange for a sociologist to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner at Honolulu at three-thirty in the morning. But it just felt like the right thing to do. I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation. I prayed that her life would be changed and that God would be good to her.”

When Tony had finished the prayer, Harry leaned over the counter, and said, “Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?”

Tony answered, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at three-thirty in the morning.”

Harry waited a moment, then he answered, “No you don’t. There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. I’d join a church like that!”

___________________

This story is from Birthday Parties for Prostitutes. The Agnes Story – scottjhiggins.com).

Copyright © 2024 Don Waite

All rights reserved.

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