Biblical Servanthood

Have you ever served? Most of us serve every day. Our jobs demand that we serve others, but at some point and time we receive a pay check for our service.

When you look at the life of Christ you will see the ultimate servant. Starting from His Baptism, the Bible records over and over again His service to the deserving and the undeserving. Christ served others with a passion that we can only begin to strive toward. Not once in His servant hood is it recorded that He expected something in return or ever received anything in return. As you look at Christ as a servant you will see that the return He received from serving others was lives. These lives were changed forever. They put their faith in Christ and were never the same. They became sealed until the day of redemption.

As His children, He has called us to a servant hood that does not expect anything in return. This type of servant hood is not known in the world. My eyes are open. I have been watching others and learning. God forgive us, but we have the mentality of receiving for doing. This mentality dwells within each of us because we live in sinful flesh. I see this in my own life as I not only examine myself but watch others. This is not of God. It is of Satan. Christ calls us out of this mentality.

As He was hanging on His cross He was still calling others to put their faith in Him. He alone could save them not only from their physical bondage but also their spiritual. People looked to Christ and were awed. Many of them saw the promised Messiah whom God described and promised to Adam, Noah, and Abraham.

Smith's Bible Dictionary defines the name Messiah as "Anointed. This word answers to the word Christ in the New Testament, and is applicable in its first sense to any one anointed with the holy oil. The kings of Israel were called anointed, from the mode of their consecration. (I Samuel 2:10, 35; 12:3, 5) This word also refers to the expected Prince of the chosen people who was to complete God's purposes for them and to redeem them, and of whose coming the prophets of the old covenant spoke in all time. He was the Messiah, the Anointed, consecrated as the king and prophet by God's appointment."

Today Christ is with His Father but many see who He is and what He did. As He hung on His cross, to see Him, you would think His work had come to an end here on earth but oh, no. He was not finished; on His left and right hung two criminals. One was bitter and called out to Him verbally attacking Christ demanding harshly that if He was the true Christ to save himself and them. The other criminal however, called out toward this railing and asked this man, who was in the same position as himself:" Do you not fear God? We are paying justly for our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong." The criminal who feared God and admitted publicly that he was a criminal, looked toward Christ, as He hung there ready and willing to pay the price that His Father's holiness demanded, and humbly asked Christ to remember him when He entered His kingdom. Christ looked toward this man who would be the last man that put his faith in Him as the God man. Christ said to him: "today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23: 43) This criminal publicly claimed Christ to be the Son of God upon the simple proclamation "when thou comest into thy kingdom." (Luke 23:42)

As you look at the definition of humbleness you will see descriptive words like modest, meek, respect, lowly, without pretensions. These descriptive words describe our Savior. He was and is the picture of humbleness that God defines. Christ taught this over and over again to His apostles, disciples, and all who would listen to Him. He is still teaching this today through the Word. We can read about it but until we put it into practice we will never understand what humbleness truly is.

Serving others with a humble heart is not exactly modern, is it? However, this is what Jesus Christ calls His followers to do in their daily walk on Earth. See more in the article below.