One aspect of God we don't talk about enough
Awaken Generation recently released our single “Friend of Sinners”, which centres on the theme of Jesus choosing to love the lowly, to go to the cross for sinners so that we may be in eternal communion with him. In this blog, we talk about the humility of Jesus.
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."
John 13:14-17
We don’t talk about the servanthood of Jesus enough.
When we look at the life of Jesus, his posture was not as a king to be served, but as a servant ready to do as the Father wills. Jesus demonstrated this profoundly when He washed the feet of His disciples just before he was betrayed and made his journey to the cross. Washing feet was something servants did for their masters. But here, we have the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, the Son of Man, washing the feet of sinners.
Why would Jesus do such a humbling thing?
During our convergence in May 2022, Samuel Whitefield suggested that Jesus' act of feet-washing is a demonstration of greatness, and His words in John 13, and invitation to share in this greatness.
"If you want to be great, be a servant, because I am"
We need to understand greatness not as the world defines it, but as the Lord defines it. It says in Philippians 2, that Jesus,
though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:6-11
Paul is making the claim that Jesus was exalted BECAUSE of his lowliness and his choice to take the form of a servant. How does this shift our understanding of greatness?
To be great is to be a servant.
Let’s be real. Servanthood is something despised in our culture. It is seen as a lowly job, one left for those who in Singaporean terms, are “unable to make it”. It is additionally jarring when we observe how we treat those who serve us in our daily lives. Those who wait on us at restaurants
As believers we should be well-acquainted with servanthood. In fact, more than an intellectual understanding, it should be our primary response to the Lord: how can I serve You and those around me?
Servanthood is not to earn a reward or a place in heaven. It is an invitation to be more like God.
In beholding Him, we are transformed into His image (2 Cor 3:18). As we behold the glory of Jesus in his humility & servanthood, we will find ourselves growing into greater humility to serve out of love & selflessness.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, …
Philippians 2:3-6
Paul suggests that we can have this mindset of servanthood because we have received it from Jesus. We do not attain this through our own striving, but to find it in Christ and a longing to be more like Him.
May we be a people who will behold Jesus, who chose to take on the lowly form of human, to walk amongst sinners, and to ultimately die a shameful death upon the cross so that we may be reconciled to Him.
May we be transformed into Christ’s image as we behold Him, and to eagerly desire servanthood not for our selfish ambition, but because we want to be more like Him. Like Jesus, may we be friends of sinners, to serve one another as the Lord did to us so the glory of God may be made manifest upon the earth.