Readings: Matt. 20:25-28; John
13:16; Luke 19:17; Phil. 2:7-8; 2 Tim. 2:20-21.These passages all bear upon the matter of
service, and they deal with service from centre to
circumference; that is, right at the centre in the matter
of service the Lord Jesus Himself is placed. He took the
place and the form of a bondservant, and He said of
Himself: "The Son of man came not to be ministered
unto but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for
many". So that the Master is presented to us as the chief Servant,
as the exemplary Servant, the very model Servant and the
model of service.
It is not so much the
service as the spirit of the Servant that we want to
consider at this time, not mainly the work, but the
atmosphere of Him Who did it. It is something to
contemplate and to meditate upon. "The Son of man
came not to be ministered unto but to minister" is a
tremendous statement. The ministry of the Son of man is
not that of an official, but of a bondservant. On more
than one occasion He sought to impress upon His disciples
that their lives here were on the same basis, and were to
be governed by exactly the same spirit. They were here to
be servants, and servants of all.
If you knew what that
word "bondservant" meant in the realm where it
was the common language, you would know that it was a
very strong word. It certainly did not mean that the one
who was in that position could consult his own
preferences, and do as he liked or desired. There could
never be any consultation with self. The bondslave had no
rights whatever in the realm of what was personal to
himself. The very fact that he was a bondslave meant that
all his own personal rights were removed. He was
possessed for a purpose - it may have been (as was usual)
to serve a household - and for that household he must
live, and never consult his own feelings or interests.
The Lord Jesus said that He took that position.
Probably if we had
looked at the face of the common bondslave of those days,
we should have seen the depressed, joyless countenance of
one who had very little interest in life. But that was
not so with the One Who presented Himself as the chief of
the bondslaves, the Lord Jesus; that is, this position of
His did not mean that because He could not consult His
own interests or feelings He was miserable, and life had
very little meaning for Him. The spirit of this Bondslave
was the spirit of joyous, glad and grateful abandonment.
To be cut off from Himself and all that would please
Himself meant no hardship, because He was always viewing
it from the positive side, and not from the negative -
from the side of gain to others and the satisfaction to
the One Whose Servant He was.
The
Governing Motive of Service
That introduces the
governing motive of service. What is the governing motive
of the bondslave of Jesus Christ? It is not compulsion,
it is not option; it is love. No ministry of the servant
of Jesus Christ can be a triumphant ministry unless there
is a deep, strong, abiding love. Love is the motive force
of this kind of service. There is all the difference
between that and what is official, by appointment - what
we call organised work and service. Sooner or later we
shall break down, find ourselves brought to a standstill
where we can go no further, in a terrible state of
confusion about the whole situation, unless there is an
adequate love, not only for the Lord but for all those in
the midst of whom we are called to serve. Love is going
to solve our problems and to bring us into victory; but
apart from a sufficient love the problems of human
make-up, the many differences of disposition and
character and all that goes to make up a company, and the
continuous drain and strain, with all the pressure that
comes from the enemy, will present a problem, a
perplexity and a paralysing task. Only love will get us
through, and love is the motive-power of the servant.
We may ask, How did the
Lord manage to maintain the relationship with His
disciples? They were so difficult, so different, so
disappointing. "Having loved his own... he loved
them unto the end". That is the answer. Love got
above all that they were; love gave the extra thing which
enabled Him not to take them just as they were and end
there.
So in our
relationships, the spirit of the true servant is only
possible as there is a deep love. Upon all those who have
ideas of serving the Lord and working for Him I would
urge this consideration, that the work of the Lord is not
some thing which you outwardly and objectively take up.
It is (if it is the true thing) the outworking of love
for the Lord and for those who are the objects of His
love. That is very simple, but it goes to the heart of
things. Sooner or later you and I will be brought to the
position where the question will be, Have we sufficient
love to go on? Can we find enough love in our hearts to
get us through this particularly difficult situation? The
situation will be constituted by all those factors which
resolve us into servants, bondslaves. It would not have
become so acute if only we had been esteemed and
honoured, and held in high regard. But when the situation
is created by a great deal being expected of us, by
demands being made upon our generosity, our kindness,
calling for an almost inexhaustible fund of patience, and
the letting go of personal feeling; when really the main
issue in the crisis is this - I am being imposed upon:
too much is being expected of me: I am treated as a
servant - that is where we are found out. Love alone can
support this service. We all need a great deal more love
to get through with our servanthood.
Love
Includes Humility
Love embraces other
things. He took "the form of a bondservant... and...
humbled himself". To be a true servant according to
Jesus Christ means humility. The exact opposite of the
servant spirit is the spirit of pride, and there is that
in most men and women which at some time or other is
discovered and manifests itself, which does not like to
be regarded as a servant. There is a revolt against being
a servant, at everybody's beck and call. Liberty!
Freedom! Do as you like! Be your own master! State your
own terms! To let go all such personal rights, to be a
servant, is not human nature as we know it. "He
humbled himself." There is no place for pride in a
true fellowship with the Lord Jesus, because it is the
fellowship of bondslaves. Pride keeps many people out of
the kingdom of God. They will not humble themselves to
acknowledge that they are needy sinners. They will not
come to the place where they would be publicly recognised
as one of those Christians! Pride keeps them out. Pride
will take them to hell, just as it took Satan from heaven
to hell. Pride is the enemy of believers as much as of
the unsaved. It robs us of the real value of service. We
have such stilted ideas of service. We do not mind being
in the Lord's service if it means something that brings
us recognition. There are tremendous dangers about
recognised service. The Lord Jesus humbled Himself.
Love
Includes Faithfulness
What is
the way of increased and added usefulness? In the parable
of our Lord we read that it was said to the servant:
"Well done, thou good servant: because thou wast
found faithful in a very little, have thou authority over
ten cities" (Luke 19:17). Does not that often find
us out? Our bit is not important enough! It does not seem
to count very much! It is so small as hardly to be worth
notice! "...thou wast found faithful in a very
little..." Does that fit you? Do you say, 'Yes,
"very little", that truly is my position.' Do
you see that you are in the very place where the Master
takes account of your faithfulness, with a view to
increasing your usefulness? Do believe it! Whether you
feel you can accept it or not it is true, that you will
never be given an enlarged usefulness by the Lord until
you have been faithful in the very little. You may take
it that if the Lord promotes He always does so because He
takes account of the faithfulness in the very little. The
thing that matters is not what people think about us as
servants but our attitude to what the Lord has given us
to do. If He has said: 'This is what I want you to
do...', and then He can go on and say 'And this!' 'And
this!', adding to our responsibilities, it will always be
on that principle of our being faithful in a very little.
We are in the school which has higher standards, larger
possibilities.
"If a
man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a
vessel unto honour, sanctified, meet for the master's
use, prepared unto every good work" (2 Tim. 2:21).
That is another aspect. "...a vessel unto honour...
meet... prepared unto every good work". On
what condition? "If a man... purge himself from
these..." From what? "Now in a great house
there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also
of wood and of earth; and some unto honour, and some unto
dishonour". Our translation is defective. It does
not really say that in the original. It is difficult to
put it into one English word. It really says, There are
vessels unto honour and there are vessels not unto honour
(not dishonour). The Lord has not in His House vessels
unto dishonour in that positive sense. All His vessels
that He has chosen are for good purposes, but there are
differences. There are some unto honour, there are some
not unto that honour. It is possible to be a vessel unto
honour, by separating, by sanctifying, by consecrating,
so that it is something more than just an ordinary vessel
without any noteworthy purpose. It is a matter of being
wholly consecrated to the Lord. That is the principle of
honour and meet-ness for use and being prepared unto
every good work. It is the positive side - not just being
in the House without any special feature or character,
but a vessel there right out for the Lord, as we say.
These two kinds of vessels are there - those which are
just there, really featureless vessels, not marked by any
real value, and the others which are wholly devoted,
wholly consecrated, stretched out to be all they can for
the Lord.
The
Basis is the Cross
The basis
of all this is the Cross: "...and to give his
life..." He became obedient unto death, the death of
the Cross. This love can only spring out of a heart in
which the flesh has been dealt with by the Cross. The
self life must go to the Cross. This patience, this
humility, this devotion, this love is all the out-working
of a crucified life, a life which from the beginning has
come to the Cross and abides there.
The Lord
give us the spirit of the servant, and may there in the
future be about us all more of that which was about Him -
"not to be ministered unto but to minister."
That is what we are here for. Demands - constant and ever
growing demands! That is what we are here for. Being
imposed upon! Never allowed to have a position of our
own! Put it that way if you like; but what we are here
for is to serve. We are bondslaves. The day of exaltation
and glory is coming, it is not now. There will be a
change some day: "...have thou authority..."
But just now we are the bondslaves of Jesus Christ. May
we be that in truth.