Top Five Things About Servanthood in the Bible
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Steps to Servant Leadership
My friend was truly distraught. “I tell you. I’ve been in ministry for my whole life and I thought I was a pretty good leader. Now, as I care for my aging mother 24/7, I find that I’m not a good servant at all. That means I was never as good a leader as I thought.”
I felt the sincerity in his voice, and it grabbed my heart. Here was a man that I respected and honored and looked up to. And here he was telling me that servanthood was something he was truly learning for the first time in his life.
I want to be a good leader. I began to ask myself: Am I good servant leader? To find the answer, I began to search the Bible about servanthood.
Here are the top five things I’ve learned about servanthood in the Bible so far:
1. Servanthood Existed Before Time
The very Godhead itself, the Trinity, exhibits a servant relationship.
Jesus serves the Father. Jesus quotes from the prophet Isaiah in Matthew 12:18. In that passage Jesus says that He fulfills the role of a servant, “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen.” Indeed, Jesus stressed again and again that He did not do anything He wanted. He only did what He saw the father doing. Jesus did not even do the things that pleased Himself, He only did what pleased the Father (John 8:29).
Jesus did not even decide what His work would be. He got his “To-Do” list from the Father and He finished that list as a faithful servant would (John 17:4). Jesus did only what He saw the Father doing and did nothing apart from his Hather (John 5:19-20). In Philippians 2:6-7, it says that Jesus did not seek equality with God and chose the role of slave instead.
In turn, the Holy Spirit serves both the Father and the Son. Jesus described the role of the Holy Spirit several times. He said that the Holy Spirit would testify about Jesus (John 15:26), that Holy Spirit would not speak on his own authority (John 16:13), and that Holy Spirit would declare the things of Jesus to the people (John 16:14).
If this is the case, then being a servant cannot be demeaning in God’s kingdom. There is no sense within the Trinity that it is “unfair” or “demeaning” for Jesus and Holy Spirit to serve God the Father. In fact, it is good, right, orderly and honoring to all of the Trinity. Thus servanthood was the state of things before the world itself was even created. Servanthood existed before time.
2. Jesus Serves Humankind
It is one thing to think that God serves himself. After all, He is perfect, true, just, and holy. He is worthy of being served. Jesus, however, took the idea of service one step further. He said that He served humankind as well. People are sinful, lower, created beings, but Jesus serves them. This seems counterintuitive. Nevertheless, Jesus clearly stated that He came to serve rather than to be served (Matthew 20:28). He said that He will offer His own life for ours. Even though we ought to be serving Him, He serves us.
This statement of Jesus’ comes in the midst of what probably became an “embarrassing mom” moment for James and John. Their mother seeks to make sure that her sons are given honor in the kingdom that Jesus would usher in (Matthew 20:21). In fact, she is doing what responsible parents today still do: trying to make sure her children have a good future. In many cultures in the world today a parent would rightly go in and ask for a good job for their child. To western eyes it may seem like this mom overstepped her boundaries. However, in a normal first century Jewish setting, she was likely just being a normal, responsible mother. It’s just that Jesus didn’t turn out to be a normal king. (Praise be to God, for that!)
Jesus denies her request to give her sons a position of honor, because he is a servant to his father.He denies them the position of sitting on his right and his left because it’s not his right to decide that. Why is it not his right? Because he is a servant to the Father and only the father can decide that (Matthew 20:23). They do not realize that Jesus is in a servant relationship with His Father. So, they get angry. (Matthew 20:24).
Jesus takes this opportunity to explain some things to the disciples about how the kingdom of God works. In this kingdom, great ones are servants (Matthew 20:26). Jesus wasn’t somehow lacking greatness because He was a servant to both God the Father and to humankind. In fact, this is what made Him great.
It is likely that this teaching was confusing to the disciples. To underscore His servant nature and create an object lesson that the disciples would never forget, Jesus washed their feet (John 13:1-20). People often forget things that are said, but they rarely forget things that are acted out. Here, Jesus carries out a teaching action (some participatory and kinesthetic learning). He models something in His behavior so that they will not forget. He takes on the role of one of the most menial of household servants - the one who washes people’s feet. This is not a position worthy of a teacher, and yet He does it. Jesus serves the men gathered around Him as He gets ready to also give His ultimate act of service to all of humankind.
Jesus makes it clear that He is modeling a behavior He expects for them to follow (John 13:15). He reminds them that they who are servants and messengers are not greater than He who is their master and the one who sent them (John 13:16). There is no sense of Jesus being demeaned or losing face or losing His position when He washes their feet. He wants them to remember that He served humankind and they should too.
3. Servanthood is the Way to Greatness
As Jesus was finishing off this time of washing feet, He said that there is a blessing in serving (John 13:17). However, He made one thing clear: knowing about it wasn’t good enough. We have to do something about that knowledge to get the blessing of God. It says: “Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them (NLT).” There is a clear separation of head knowledge about the matter vs. actually doing something about it. All too often Christians seems to pay lip service to something rather than actually live it out. Merely intellectually assenting that they should be servants was not enough. They had to actually do something about it to get the blessings of it.
In the Matthew 20:25-28 passage, Jesus makes several contrasts. The first one is between the “great ones” of the gentiles and the “great ones” in the kingdom. The great ones of the gentiles “control and subjugate” their followers. However, the “great ones” of the Kingdom “run errands, wait on tables, and perform menial duties” for others. However, this person is still usually a freed servant.
Interestingly, there is a level above “great ones” in this passage. In verse 27, Jesus tells us how to be number one, how to be at the top of the heap: It is to become a slave. A slave gives up their rights to another and is devoted to another’s interests rather than their own.
Giving up one’s rights is not something that sits well with us. No one wants to be a slave. The entire modern world is in agreement that slavery is so bad that no one should ever be subjected to it for any reason. Slavery in Jesus’ time wasn’t nice either, and yet He still used this analogy. It’s a tough one.
4. Slave of Christ is a Major Identity of Believers in the New Testament
The identity of slave was so important that it is a recurring identity of believers that fills the pages of the New Testament.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, called herself a slave (Luke 1:38)
Jesus is called a slave (Philippians 2:7)
Paul called himself slave (Romans 1:1, Galatians 1:10, Philippians 1:1, Titus 1:1)
John called himself slave (Revelation 1:1)
Peter called himself slave (2 Peter 1:1)
James called himself a slave (James 1:1)
Jude called himself a slave (Jude 1:1)
Timothy was called a slave (Philippians 1:1)
Epaphras was called a slave (Colossians 4:12)
All believers are called a slave (Acts 2:18, 16:17, 2 Timothy 2:24, 1 Peter 2:16, Revelation 7:3, 10:7, 19:2, 19:5, 22:3, 22:6)
Even Moses is called a slave! (Revelation 15:3)
If this identity was so strong with New Testament believers, then we need to ask ourselves why we are so uncomfortable with it. There is very little teaching about being a servant today and even fewer worship songs are written on the topic. In fact, all the songs that I was able to find on being a servant are either old (> 20 years) or were written by nuns! I believe that if we were comfortable with the idea of Biblical slavery and servanthood, more of this concept would be emerging in sermons and songs.
5. Servanthood will Exist After Time
One of the primary ways that believers are referred to in Revelation is as slaves. At least six times, all believers are called “slaves.” Even more interesting, however, is how slavery is the culmination of all of human history. Revelation 22:3 tells us that for all of eternity the slaves of God and the lamb will worship him. Slave is part of our eternal identity.I will be a slave for all of eternity. All who follow Jesus will be a slave for all of eternity.
When I first realized that heaven was eternal slavery, it sounded horrible. All of my visions of the eternal city, the New Jerusalem, every tear washed away, etc. seemed deflated. I had gone from imagining all the people groups walking in and worshiping Jesus and His glory filling the city with radiance to suddenly picturing shackles. This, of course, was a wrong picture. Only when we become slaves to God and His son do we take the place created for us before the foundation of the world. Just as there is no shame or coercion or demeaning in the fact that Jesus is a slave to the father, there is no shame in us being a slave to Christ. In fact, it is good and right.
Being a slave of Christ creates in the ability to withstand shame and wrongdoing heaped upon believers on earth. When we know who we serve, we also know who we do not serve. If we are slaves of Christ, then He will provide for us, stick up for us, care for us. He is an entirely trustworthy master. Indeed, we all serve someone - either Christ or sin (cf. Romans 6:20). Christ is a good master who serves His slaves. Sin is a bad master that consumes and controls.
Servanthood is part of the very character and nature of the Trinity that existed before the beginning of time. Finally becoming a part of that and entering into eternal servanthood actually sounds pretty good after all.
Here’s my question for you:
Are you willing to become Christ’s slave? How would you live and lead differently if you lived out of this truth?
Dr. Pam Arlund is a Member of the All Nations International Leadership Team, providing leadership in the areas of training, research, and security. She began serving in missions more than twenty years ago as a church planter and Bible translator among an unreached people group of Central Asia. She currently lives in Kansas City with her mom, a cat, and a really great house mate.
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