Bedrock – Be the Servant and Slave of All
Early the other morning I had a dream. In my dream I was visiting a new facility built by my previous employer. One of the employees, a colleague I had known when I worked there 10 years ago, was giving me a tour of the new building. In the dream I sensed it was a pleasant visit. After the tour he offered to take me to lunch at a restaurant he knew I liked. In the dream we were standing in line to order lunch. While in the line, he told me that this year he came out low in the employee ranking, but next year he was going to make sure he made it to the top. I know about the ranking system because I used to work there in real life. It is a relative ranking system – you could have a productive year, but if one of your coworkers had a better year, you would be ranked lower than him. So, for you to go up in the rankings, someone else had to go down.
In the dream, a man standing in front of us in the line obviously had been listening to my colleague’s ranking woes. He turned to my colleague and said, “Christians are not supposed to do that. You are supposed to be the servant and slave of all.” I chuckled and said to the man, pointing to my colleague, “But he is not a Christian”. Looking at me, the man said, “I know, but you are.” Then the dream ended.
When he told me, “I know, but you are”, I didn’t hear that as a rebuke or a condemnation. It was just truth – both about who I am and how I am called to live. But I didn’t understand what the dream meant, so I asked God what He wanted me to know.
God reminded me of the Scripture in Mark 10 where John and James take Jesus aside, apart from the other disciples, and ask Him to let them sit on either side of His thrown in heaven. In other words, let them be ‘at the top’ relative to the others. Here are the verses:
“Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him. “Teacher”, they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask”. “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied. They replied “let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in Your glory.” . . . “When the ten heard about this they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 11: 36 37; 41 – 45 NIV).
In the passage, the Greek for ‘servant’ is diakonos, which also means ‘minister’ or ‘pastor’, and is the root word for ‘deacon’. The Greek for ‘slave’ is doulos, or a man of servile condition.
These words of Jesus describe the heart of His gospel. To be great in the Kingdom of God, you must be least. To be like Jesus, you must become the servant and slave of all – not some, all. Some have called this “the Upside-down Gospel”.
To the world, these are totally ridiculous, preposterous, foolish ideas. No wonder the world thinks Christians are weak. But in truth, this is the way of real power.
I believe that it is hard-wired into every human being’s spiritual DNA to be valued, to belong, to be accepted. And everyone in the world knows that to be valued you must be valuable in the world’s eyes. You must be clever and strong, you must succeed by pushing others down or out of your way, you must have something others want or envy; you must, in your own way, be powerful or feared; or you must have accomplished noteworthy things in your life. You must be liked, relevant, or important. Your value can even come from being a servant (but never a slave), for example, the chief of staff to an important man, like the CEO of a company, or the President of the United States, because those servants have power.
For those living in the kingdom of the world, their value comes from what they do (or did) and what they have. Their value comes from those ‘things’ outside or external to themselves. This is the way of the flesh. And the flesh has a voice; a voice that is loud and insistent – a voice that is unstoppable. A voice that continually says, “feed me”. And tragically, it is a lying voice.
And what the world gives, the world can take away. Our wealth, power, beauty, even our accomplishments can be ‘revoked’ by the world. We all, at some level know this. As Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6: 19 NIV). The lie that these ‘things’, whatever they are, will fulfill us is the greatest source of anxiety, fear, and even hatred in the world. What if we lose that which gives us our value, our sense of significance in the world? Most will be devastated, many will turn to drugs or alcohol or other destructive ways to medicate the pain; some will contemplate or carry out suicide. Most will fight, some to the death, to preserve that thing that gives them value.
And for these reasons about human nature and our flesh, the idea that a person living in the kingdom of the world should be the servant and slave of all is ridiculous, offensive, and even frightening. And to tell that person the only way to true freedom and fulfillment is a life of servitude and slavery – well, they will call you completely insane. From the world’s perspective, if my ultimate objective in life is to be fulfilled by being valued, the last place I will turn to find value is in being a servant or a slave of all, because servants and slaves, in the sense that Jesus meant, have no value, no power, nothing to make them appealing to the world. The role of slave is humiliating and devaluing. No one wants that!
The Gospel of Jesus, who did not come to be served, but to serve – even to give His life for many – is foolishness, offensive, even unthinkable. It is completely contrary to the way the world works – it is upside down.
So, when I asked, “Jesus, what does this dream mean?”, God first reminded me of these ideas about the flesh and the world’s deceptive view of value and fulfillment. Then He opened my eyes to a deeper understanding of His truth.
He told me there is only one place that we can find legitimate value – value that will completely, totally fulfill us, and never be taken away. That value is Jesus. But God went on to point out something that, until now, I had missed. In other posts I have written, “I must find my value in Jesus” – and I was wrong; well, partly wrong.
There is a sense in which the words “in Christ” mean living within the sphere of Christ’s influence as a Kingdom person – Him in us, and we in Him. That is not what I mean by “in Jesus” here. Rather, I mean if we are seeking our value by reading and memorizing Scripture, praying, or doing good works, if these are the external ways in which ‘Christians’ find their value, significance, importance, or relevance, then we are looking for our value “in Jesus” in the wrong way. Don’t get me wrong – prayer, being in the word, and service are all important things to do, all mandated by Jesus. But if we do them to ‘feel’ valuable rather than to draw closer to Jesus, they are no different from the ways the world seeks value. We might feel good about serving Jesus, but in reality, we are chasing another god. And if these are the ways we seek value, like the world, we will never be the “servant and slave of all.” How can I be “the slave of all” if my value comes from being relevant, significant, or important in my church or Christian community?
“OK, smart guy, where do I find my value I am created to need if not in Jesus”, you might ask. Here is my answer: instead of finding my value in Jesus, as I just described; my value must come from the value of Jesus in me.
Jesus is the most valuable person in the Universe. He is the very definition of value. When we accept Jesus as our savior, repent, and are born again, we enter into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the rule and reign of Christ in us – “Christ in us, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27); we are God’s temple and God’s spirit is dwelling or living within us (1 Corinthians 3: 16). It is no longer I, but my life is now Christ in me. Describing this great, wonderful, and amazing mystery, what Hudson Taylor called the Exchanged Life, Paul writes:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2: 20 KJV).
I live this new life, not in my own power or even in my own faith in God. No, I live this new life by the faith of the Son of God in me. Not my faith in Jesus, but the faith of Jesus in me! Jesus has literally put Himself into me, over me, on me, around me, or however you want to think about what He has done. His power, hope, peace, joy, faith, and value are now mine. This is a strange and mysterious idea – I am me, and yet I am no longer me; Christ – all His attributes, character, and nature – lives in me, and God now calls me His home or temple.
I no longer have to seek my value through my flesh in the world, which is bondage. And Christians who are striving and struggling to find their value (or faith) through their own efforts can breathe a great sigh of relief. I am free and I am valuable because all the value I will ever need is mine when Christ dwells in His richness and fullness within me. This value will never be taken away; it is secure, and will always be more than enough. This is life and peace. Paul writes:
“Those who live according to the sinful nature (the flesh) have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man (he who looks for value in his flesh) is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 5: 5, 6 NIV).
Now, my value is secure. I no longer have to worry about what the world thinks of me or how I will find the value in the world I need to feed my flesh. And so, I am free to become the servant and slave of all. All of my needs are met by the Christ who lives in me. I am free to fulfill my purpose in life: to release the Kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world, to push back the darkness, take back the territory, and defeat the power of evil; to glorify Him with my whole life. And so are you!
How do we do this? In many ways, but according to Jesus however we do it, we will always do it as the servant and slave of all – the bedrock on which Christ has built His Kingdom. And for sure, we can never be the servant and slave of all, even if we do it imperfectly, apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit.
One final thought. In this life, as a follower of Jesus, your flesh will always be at war with your spirit; even though the Spirit of Christ in you in stronger than your flesh. The Holy Spirit is continually working to make your crooked places (the flesh) straight (the journey of sanctification). So, when you feel your flesh rising up, just take the microphone away from the flesh and give it to your spirit and let the voice of Jesus wash over you with peace, hope, and joy. Or as Paul writes, “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking (symbolizing your flesh) but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17 NIV). If you have been born again, whatever that looks like to you, you have the Spirit of Christ within you – you have His faith, His peace, His joy, His power, and His value. All of these attributes of Christ are your inheritance – claim them! Live free and die to self, so that He might live through you for His glory.
Hallelujah,
John
PS. How do I live as “the slave of all”? Good Question. The answer is at least one new post.