The word SERVICE (today’s word) is overused. You take your car in to get serviced. We talk about the kind of service we get at a restaurant. We call our church gatherings worship services. Jesus talks about service quite a bit in the gospels. What does he mean by it? He came to be a servant and he called us to SERVICE, but what does he have in mind?
Perhaps he means a letting go of control or a giving up of power. If we follow his example, it is not one of having dominion over others, but of holding them up from underneath. It is not one of handing out a list of rules, but of handing out a basket of food. It is not one of lording it over another, but walking beside them. It is not one of seeking honor for one’s self, but of seeking honor for another. It is not one of laying down policies, but of laying down love. It is not one of meeting expectations, but of meeting needs. This is SERVICE.
Look at the Christmas story. It has nothing to do with power but everything to do with humility. It has nothing to do with gaining status, but with lowering status. It has nothing to do with maintaining control, but everything to do with SERVICE.
“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death.” (Philippian 2:1-8)
“You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served.” (Matthew 20:25-28)
Leave a Reply