THE SERVANT CONNECTION

Greetings and Salutations O Ye Humble Servants of the Lord. How's your tennis game. Are you practicing your SERVE? The picture to your left is a cartoon drawing of a guy by the name of Gayle Erwin. He is the author of many books...including one called THE JESUS STYLE. The Jesus Style is a portrait of how Jesus manifested the will of the Father on earth as it is in heaven. Many people love to pray that humble ending to their prayers...
"Thy will be done..." or another version..."If it be THY will." This is not a bad thing to pray...but it can be prayed with a sense of false humility...with an air of religious superiority...or as a way to submit to that Doris Day type of faith...Que Sera Sera...WHATEVER will be will be...the futures NOT ours to see Que Sera Sera...thy will be done.
To see what the WILL of the Father is...on earth as it is in heaven...we need to take a close look as JESUS...and see His STYLE. We need to take a look at the four GOSPELS...and get a snapshot of how He spent 3 years walking around on this earth...and what he imparted to His disciples. Acts 10:38 states..."You know of Jesus of Nazareth...how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went about DOING GOOD and HEALING all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him."


In the Gospel of John...chapter 13...Jesus gives us a physical example of a spiritual principle. The ART OF SERVANTHOOD...is exemplified. Jesus the teacher...seated at a place of honor at the supper table...rose up...and lowered Himself to the lowest place possible...at the feet of the students. He took on the role of a SERVANT...and began washing their feet. I don't know about you...but I don't like my feet. I don't like the way they feel, look, or smell. I've got missing toenails...sock lint...toe jam...callouses...it ain't a pretty picture. In the days of Jesus...I've got a feeling that the footcare was not as meticulous as it is now days. I've got socks...nicely made shoes...foot poweder...toenail clippers...and in those days...sandals...dusty roads....etc. This is what Jesus lowered Himself to...dirty feet. The purpose....was to SERVE the students. When you read John 13...the first three verses... you see WHY Jesus could HUMBLE Himself to the place of a SERVANT. He (1) knew where he came from (2) knew why he was here (3) knew where he was going back to. He knew that if he left a place of honor and lowered himself to a place of dishonor...that he would be elevated back to a place of honor. He knew that the first would be last and the last would be first. He knew that if you wanted to be great in God's Kingdom...you have to learn to be the servant of all. He knew that if you humbled yourself under the mighty hand of God..that He would EXALT you at the PROPER TIME. Jesus ended His lesson on humilty and servanthood by checking to see if they understood what had just taken place. Then He told them..."You call Me the Teacher (Master) and Lord, and you are right in doing so, for that is what I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher (Master), have washed your feet, you ought---it is your duty, you are under obligation, you ow it---to wash one another's feet. For I have given you this as an EXAMPLE, DO [in your turn] WHAT I HAVE DONE TO YOU." (John 13:13-15 The Amplified Bible) The problem is...that we try to follow the example...from the point of the washing of the feed (the physical work)...but we have failed...to realize that TRUE SERVANTHOOD does not start at the actual DEED...but starts way before we DO SOMETHING. It starts with intimacy with the Father...where we know where we came from...we know why we are here and we know where we are going back to (John 13:1-3). We must first realize that whatever we are doing in the physical to someone else...is really an act of obedience to the Father...manifested on EARTH as it is in HEAVEN.

The Jesus Style...the lifestyle of a Servant...goes against the grain of the flesh. Pride screams that IT'S ALL ABOUT ME...SERVE ME...GIVE ME...I DESERVE...I WANT...I NEED. This thing called SERVANTHOOD is a matter of ATTITUDE. Everyone has an attitude...it is either a good attitude or a bad attitude. It is either a wrong attitude or a right attitude. The question is...is it a JESUS ATTITUDE.

Phillipians chapter 2...speaks of the JESUS ATTITUDE...that is a reflection of John 13. Encouragment, consolation, fellowship, affection, compassion, and joy will be manifested in peoples lives when they developed this JESUS ATTITUDE. There must be continuity in the JESUS ATTITUDE...where the servant is of the same mind, maintaining the same love, regarding one another as more important than himself, looking out for not only your personal interests...but also for the interests of others. Everything that was just mentioned was the ATTITUDE that Jesus had. "Have this ATTITUDE in yourselves which was also in CHRIST JESUS. (Philippians 2:1-5)






THE JESUS ATTITUDE MANIFESTED (Philippians 2:5-11)

1. Although He existed in the form of God...did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.

NOTE: What are you grasping? What are you regarding compared to others around you? What do you feel that you do in your religious duty...makes you better than the one who needs to be served?

2. But EMPTIED Himself.

NOTE: I am FULL OF MYSELF. It is hard to SERVE others...when I am consumed with serving myself.

3. Taking the form of a BONDSERVANT

NOTE: A bondservant is someone who has been set free from the master...but chooses to willingly continue to serve...not out of forced labor...but our of love.

4. Being made in the likeness of men...and being found in appearance as a man.

NOTE: Identification with humanity. In II Corinthians 5:16-21...we see that if ANY man/woman is IN CHRIST...they are new creations.. the old things passed away...behold...new things have come (and are constantly coming). We see that from NOW on...we will no longer recognize man according to the flesh (theirs or ours). We are now called to be MINISTERS OF RECONCILIATION and AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST. Those are our titles...and the job description is...NOT COUNTING THEIR TRESPASSES AGAINST THEM...and begin ENTREATING THEM TO BE RECONCILED TO GOD. The ultimate act of servanthood by Jesus is found in verse 21..."He made Him who knew kno sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God IN HIM. " Outside of Jesus...there is none righteous not not one (Romans 3:10)...but IN HIM...we become the righteousness of God in Christ. It's hard to identify with people...when you hate them.

5. He HUMBLED HIMSELF

NOTE: Lowered Himself from His rightful place.

6. By becoming OBEDIENT

NOTE: Obedience is the key. John 14:21 "The person wh has my commandments...and keeps them...is the one who [really] loves Me... will be loved by My Father. And I [too] will love him and will show [reveal, manifest] Myslef to him---I will let myself CLEARLY BE SEEN by him and make Myself REAL to him." For revelations, disclosure, reality, manifestation of the Father and Jesus in our lives...the act of OBEDIENCE...is needed.

7. To the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus...allowed Himself (nobody took anything from Jesus...He did it willingly)...to be hung on the cross to become a curse for us. We have to identify with that act...and then die to ourselves..our will...our wishes...our desires...and live to Him. Paul new this principle...in Galatians 2:20 and I Corinthians 15:31 we see that it is a past event and a daily occurance.

8. Therefore

NOTE: In reference to what has been said from Philippians 2:1-8

9. Also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of the Father.

NOTE: The cause and effect of the JESUS ATTITUDE...the attitude that should become the RODNEY ATTITUDE...or the (fill in the space with your name) ATTITUDE...is exaltation. It is not easy...it is never easy to allow nails to be driven into our WILL...and then allow our dreams to go to the point of death. As we yield...as we serve...as we obey...just like Jesus was elevated...just as Jesus was RESURRECTED...God wil breath life on us...and blow away the chaff...and leave what is needed.

10. So, then, my beloved...JUST a you have always OBEYED...not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence...WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING...for it is God who is AT WORK IN YOU...bot to will and to work for His God pleasure. Do ALL things without grumbling or disputing.

NOTE: Obedience is the key. Working out your own salvation...is not you determining what will get you saved and devising a new salvation plan. That has already been established...D.B.R...NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS...BY THE GRACE AND MERCY OF GOD AND NOT BASED ON DEEDS WHICH YOU HAVE DONE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS...BUT BY THE WASHING OF REGENERATION AN RENEWING BY THE HOLY SPIRIT...BY GRACE HAVE YOU BEEN SAVED...THROUGH FAITH...NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS so that you can never boast about how good or what you did. This WORKING OUT...is letting the inward work be manifested in your life. It must be done with true, reverant fear of the Lord with trembling...not with some cavalier attitude. It must also be done without GRUMBLING AND COMPLAINING/DISPUTING.

Well...that's it. As Bob Dylan sang on his SLOW TRAIN COMING album...Ya Got To SERVE Somebody...It May Be The devil...It May Be The LORD...But Ya Got To SERVE Somebody.

Love and Serving Kisses
Rod "Attitude" Boyd