The idea of one’s being a servant to a master is somewhat foreign to our thinking today. We sometimes compare it to the employer-employee relationship, but that does not do justice to the master-servant relationship. A servant is one who gives up himself wholly to another’s will. He is devoted to another to the disregard of his own interest. Jesus said, “But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:7–10.)
We are all servants. The question is what, or whom do we serve? Do we serve the devil, or do we serve God? Paul wrote, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey: whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16.) Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” (John 8:34.) The idea is whosoever keeps on committing sin is the servant of sin. Every child of God sins (1 John 1:8-10), but one need not continue to serve sin. In contrast, one is a servant of God or righteousness, if he continues to serve God.
When does one become a servant of righteousness? Paul answers this question: “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:17–18.) One becomes a servant of righteousness when he is made free from sin. But when is one made free from sin? Paul said, “Being then made free from sin.” “Then” when? When he obeys from the heart that form of doctrine. What is that form of doctrine or teaching? Note earlier that Paul said, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:3–4.) When one is baptized, he goes through a form of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Baptism is that form of doctrine that must be obeyed in order to be freed from the bondage of sin and then one becomes a servant of righteousness.
Coming forth from the watery grave of baptism is the beginning of servitude. The song, “Make Me a Servant” should be the prayer of each Christian. Just how does God make me a servant? He gave his word to tell us how to be servants of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
We must learn from the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ. The ten apostles were angry because the mother of James and John had asked Jesus to give her sons the right and left hand in the kingdom. The sons of Zebedee also had requested these prominent positions in the kingdom (Matt. 20:20-24; Mark 10:35-45). Jesus asked them if they were able to drink of the cup that he was to drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism of suffering that he would have to endure. They said, “We are able.” Jesus said you shall, but to give you the right and left hand in the kingdom is not mine to give, but my Father would give it to them for whom it is prepared. Then we read: “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matt.20:25–28.) So, Jesus said that he came to minister or to serve. No one has given up or ever shall give up as much as he did (Phil. 2:5-9).
Being made a servant of Christ entails a lifetime of change. Paul wrote, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18.) Again, he wrote, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Rom. 8:29.) So, the more we look into the mirror of God’s word, the more we become conformed to the image of Christ. This change does not take place over night but is a lifetime work in progress. It is like the song we sing, “None of Self And All of Thee.” We first say to Jesus all of self, and none of thee. Then, we grow to the point we can say, “Some of self, and some of thee.” As we grow, we are led to say, “Less of self, and more of thee.” We ultimately want to say to Jesus, “None of self and all of thee.” Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23.) Though the original word for “deny” is in the aorist tense in the Greek which indicates one-time action, one may have to learn what is involved in denying himself.
As we see in the word of God the image of Christ as a servant, we see one who first and foremost gave himself. He gave up the close relationship with his Father. He gave up the glories and beauties of heaven in exchange for walking among sinful men and dying on the cross for us. Paul wrote, “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.” (Rom. 15:3.) He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). He demonstrated what it means to serve by washing the feet of his apostles, even the feet of the one who would betray him, even the feet of one who would deny him three times, and the feet of those who would be scattered like sheep when he was arrested in the garden a few short hours later. He taught by what he did and what he said.
O to be like thee! Blessed Redeemer:
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, thy perfect likeness to wear.