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“Serve – Part 1”
Serve – Part 1
Wade Wester
When we think about Christianity, we think about the religion that is based on who Jesus was and what Jesus taught. At the heart of both of these concepts is Christ. If you take Christ out of the word Christian, what do you have? The letters I-A-N. You know what that spells and what it means? It means “I am nothing” without Christ. Jesus says, “Without me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Without Him, we are nothing. He is our everything. We want to be like Him in every way that we can. He is what makes us who we are. Take Him out of Christianity, and you do not have Christianity. You lose both the person He was and what He taught. You are missing the key element of what Christianity is supposed to be about.
When we understand who Jesus was and what Jesus taught, we understand that “serve” has to be one of the key words of Christianity because it is at the heart of who He was. Since He is at the heart of who we are, serving must also be central to our identity. We sometimes sing a song in youth devotionals: “Make me a servant, make me like You, for You were a servant. Make me one too. Lord, do what You must do, but make me a servant. Make me like You.” This song reflects our understanding that Jesus was a servant, and if we are to be like Him, we must be servants as well.
The Mind of Jesus
First, we find that the mind of Jesus was tied to the word “serve.” Paul wrote, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5-8). We are to have the mind of Jesus. What was in the mind of Jesus? What did Jesus think about? At His core, Jesus thought about serving. Booker T. Washington was one of the greatest men to ever live in our country. Despite facing significant obstacles due to his race, he rose to great heights because he was a servant. Washington once had tea with the Queen of England. He was the first black man to have dinner with a president at the White House. He was a very important man. One day, after delivering several lectures in Iowa, he returned to his hotel. A guest mistook him for hotel staff and asked for a glass of water. Washington did not protest or flaunt his credentials. Instead, he fetched the water and asked if there was anything else she needed. This humility and dignity earned him the admiration of many, including President Teddy Roosevelt. Jesus, the greatest man who ever lived (Colossians 1:18), was also a servant. Paul tells us that Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage. Instead, He took on the nature of a servant and became obedient to death—even death on a cross (Philippians 2:4-8). This mindset of service is what we are called to emulate. Paul said, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13). Love serves. Jesus embodied love and therefore embodied service. First Corinthians 13:4-5 shows that love “is not proud . . . it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking.” Jesus, in love, did not seek His own good but ours. Though He was rich, He became poor for our sakes, so that through His poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He died so that we might live. Jesus, even in His most agonizing moments in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). This is the mind of a servant, and it is the mindset we are commanded to have.
The Mission of Jesus
The mission of Jesus was also based on the concept of service. Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Jesus’ mission was not to be served, but to serve others. He came to serve as our Passover lamb (John 1:29), taking our place on the cross so that by the grace of God, we could be saved. Jesus declared, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). His mission was to seek and save the lost, and He accomplished this mission by serving. The Old Testament refers to the Messiah as God’s servant. Isaiah wrote, “By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many” (Isaiah 53:11). Jesus came with the mission to be God’s servant. Is that our mission? Is our mission to make God’s will known and to make His name great? The psalmist sang, “Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised” (Psalm 113:2-4). Our goal is to lift up the name of God, not to seek our own glory. Jesus’ mission was a mission of service, and it must be ours as well.
