Servant

Our look at the Lord today focuses our eyes on a vital role of Christ—a role that we are to imitate--Servant of the Lord.  Imagine!  The Creator, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, accepted the role of Servant that He might redeem us from the cruel master we rebelliously chose over Him!  Without the willing Servant, all humanity would remain eternally separated from the glorious goodness of God.  With the Servant, all things become possible--for the glorious goodness of God becomes our inheritance!

The life of Christ radiates the beauty of His servanthood.  Centuries before Christ lived, God allowed the prophet Isaiah to glimpse that beauty and record it for us.  In chapters 40-55, Isaiah expounds on God’s chosen servant, Israel—and the righteous Servant to come:  Christ.  Like Israel, we are useless servants—blind and deaf—without the chosen Servant.  We choose idols of earthly things; we choose death over life; we choose self over the Sovereign Lord.  Yet the Servant came to bring us back to the good purposes of God.

Submitted to the will of the Father, the Servant came to this fallen world with gentle power.  Quietly, confidently, and with great compassion, the Servant fulfilled the purposes of God and brought humanity out of the captivity of sin and death.  The victories of the Servant, though, came through great suffering.  The incongruity of King and Servant—Victor and Sufferer—has concealed the righteous servant from the chosen servant, Israel for a time.  In the fullness of God’s perfect timing, He will one day reveal the Servant’s victory in its complete glory to all.  For believers today, gazing upon the Servant prepares us for the life of service He calls us to live.

The Servant of the Lord demonstrated service to mankind but He does not serve man.  Heeding that distinction in our servanthood is vital.  The Greek word most often used for servant in the New Testament focuses on the relationship of one to the Master; it reflects submission to the will of the Master. Servants of the Lord value the relationship with the Master above all else.  Eternally valuable service flows only from a heart devoted to the Master.  Serving the needs of man derails many from living as servants of the King.

As Servant of the Lord, Christ never served ‘self.’  He served the will of the Father—choosing God’s will above His own even to the point of death.  We are to serve in the same way preferring the will of God above our self-will and self-interest.  Sincere servants never seek their own glory or even their own spiritual growth.  The passion of the servant is the will of the Father. 

With such a passionate preference for the Lord, servants become friends of God understanding His purposes.  Christ, the Servant of the Lord, learned obedience through suffering.  He came to deliver us not as a King but as a Servant enduring unbelievable hardship to fulfill the will of the Father.  He calls us to the same kind of servanthood that He might elevate us to friends of the Father!  May our focus on Christ as Servant inspire us to live as servant-friends!