The Calvary Road #13 – Willing to Be a Servant

The word “servant” sounds demeaning to us. A servant serves people above them to do work that is beneath those being served.

Yet Jesus “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). The apostle Paul viewed himself as a servant of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1) and therefore a servant to others for Jesus’ sake (2 Corinthians 4:5).

Jesus described servants in this way: “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’” (Luke 17:7-10).

A servant does what is expected. In Jesus’ illustration, the servant works hard all day, and then serves an evening meal to his master before he eats anything himself. Above and beyond the call of duty, he just does it.

A servant expects nothing in return. The attending servant serves without complaint and without necessarily being thanked.

A servant exists to serve the needs of others. In this story, we might feel that the master was rather selfish and inconsiderate. But the servant here makes no such statement.

A servant expresses an honest humility. This servant views himself as “unworthy”. He doesn’t expect special credit for doing what he’s suppose to do. He doesn’t call attention to himself or what he has done.

Being a servant of God and a servant to others illustrates the way of the cross. The way down is the way up. Our Lord Jesus, through the way down in his crucified death, reached up to resurrection life.

When our pride and self-centeredness go down in death, we reach up to the place of spiritual power, authority, and fruitfulness. We learn as Jesus said, “Those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; 18:14).

Crawling through the door of brokenness, we emerge into the light and glory of the highway of holiness and humility, overflowing with the life of Jesus in serving others.

Question: Where or whom is God calling you to serve?

~ Pastor Dave