In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
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I was talking with the children a few minutes ago about Jesus as a different kind of King. That He most certainly was. He was the King whose throne was (at the beginning of His life) a manger, and whose throne (at the end of His life) was a cross. Those two images right there tell us that, indeed, Jesus was a different kind of King – especially when you compare Him to the kinds of Kings (tyrants mostly) who reigned two thousand years ago during His lifetime. Today, we may be fairly familiar with royals who have little power (we live in a monarchy, after all, in which the monarch is just a figurehead) but we would still think of royals as having certain privileges that most of us don't have – not the least of which is to have a big house to live in. Let's face it – and I mean no criticism with this at all – but one of the biggest dilemmas the Queen faces on a regular basis is whether to lay her head down at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Palace or Balmoral. It's a tough decision. I'm glad I don't have to make it! Jesus was very much a different kind of King. He had “no place to lay His head,” after all. And maybe more to the point, in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus said: “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” We often speak in terms of being servants of God or servants of Jesus – and yet, verses like this seem to suggest that such a relationship is the last thing Jesus wants. Jesus wants to serve and not to be served, and Jesus served up to and including the ultimate service of giving His life. More to the point – He did that even though, at least by His nature, He didn't have to do it.
I wanted to speak today about the nature of Jesus as both lord and servant, and in order to do that I realized that I had to organize my thoughts around this morning's passage from Philippians. In Philippians, Paul speaks about Jesus' identity (indeed, about Jesus' very nature) – and He speaks of the seeming contradiction between Jesus possessing, on the one hand, “equality with God,” but also of His willingness to take on “the very nature of a servant.” The two do not easily go hand in hand. They most certainly didn't go easily hand in hand for the Jewish community of Jesus' day, who had been raised with the image of a kingly and all-powerful God who led His people into battle and crushed their enemies and possessed all authority and power. And then on to the scene came Jesus – recognized from the beginning by at least some – as God in human flesh, Who claimed not divine power for Himself, but rather human servitude. He was the one “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!”
Here, in Jesus, is the very nature of God: the one Who serves His people completely and unselfishly. Not a mighty ruler, but a humble servant. On a number of occasions in the Gospels, Jesus makes it quite clear that His purpose is to do the will of God. For example, in John 4:34, He says, “My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to finish His work.” So we can be pretty sure, since Jesus was so convinced that He was to do the will of God, that what we see in His life is not only the will of God, but the very nature of God: and that it revolves around service. Jesus served; He was not served. This was the will of God. This is what God in Jesus does. As followers of Jesus, this is what we're called to do.
Martin Luther once wrote that “a Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all.” We have to live on that very same thin edge as Jesus. We are subject to no one, because we belong to God, but simply because we belong to God, we are subject to all. Our calling is to serve others. It's not to be concerned with status or privilege; it's to humble ourselves to simply serve without seeking anything in return. That's tough, because frankly the church has become accustomed to possessing privileges in our society. Sometimes we expect that society will just continue to act as if it's Christian, and when it doesn't we get upset and nonsensical cries of “persecution” get raised – nonsensical because there are places in the world where churches are being burned down and Christians are even being killed, while North American Christians cry “persecution” because cashiers don't say “Merry Christmas” anymore. I read a blog written by an American pastor the other day who summed this up quite well: “if you're looking for Jesus in the checkout line at Target, you're probably looking in the wrong place.” Or Wal-Mart. Or Costco. Or Food Basics or No Frills. Because Jesus will be found far more powerfully among those who can't afford to shop at even those places. Yes, it's that time of year once again when Facebook will be filled with those silly “Keep Christ in Christmas” posts. Which is really little more than a thinly disguised plea for Christian privilege to continue – even though Jesus Himself surrendered all His privileges, and humbled Himself even to the point of death.
I find myself thinking about 1 John 2:6 - “This is how we know we are in [Christ]: Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” If we take that verse seriously – if we really take it seriously – then being the church (being in Christ) would be a tough thing indeed. Live as Jesus did? Really? With no privileges? With no wealth? With no place to lay our heads? With a willingness to give our very lives for the sake of others? Live as Jesus did? That's a tall order. If we actually insisted that Christians live as Jesus lived we'd empty the churches pretty quickly! Because let's be honest. As much as we talk about being Christ-like, and following Jesus – how many of us really want to do it? I mean really? When you consider the entire story of Jesus' life – how many of us really want to follow Jesus? Probably none of us. Not to the extreme anyway. But at least we can follow Jesus' example of living a servant lifestyle – of serving others, and doing it willingly and even happily, because such is the will of God.
In Philippians Paul spoke of Jesus “taking the very nature of a servant.” If that's what Jesus did, then how willingly should we – who claim to be His followers – willingly serve others. And if we're truly servants, we look for no credit, we seek no glory, we appeal for no reward – we simply serve. We serve one another; we serve those around us; we serve those we find in need – because this is what Jesus would do. And, really, this is how we best serve Jesus. If we focus simply on the idea of serving God then it's easy for us to become content and complacent and to believe that we've accomplished something by being in church every week (or every other week, or once a month or whatever); we've accomplished something by singing the music loud and clear, or by clapping our hands, or by speaking in tongues, or with whatever our particular tradition says is the best illustration of faith. But none of that is what Jesus wants. He wants us to serve others – and the basic message of Jesus is that we serve God best when we serve our neighbours the most. We're not here to lord it over others or to judge them as to their worthiness to be served. Our calling is just to serve. Because that's what Jesus did.
So hear Martin Luther's words again: “a Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” We are subject to no one, because we belong to God, but simply because we belong to God, we are subject to all. Our calling is nothing less than serving others humbly and willingly. Because that's what Jesus did.
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