Some Thoughts on Servanthood

G'day.   I did do some research in the Bible on being a servant.  The first verse that stood out to me was James 1:26.  "If you consider yourself religious but don't keep a tight rein on your tongue, you deceive yourself and your religion is worthless."    So if I do all the right things and do a bunch of things that the world would consider to be religious, or Christian in nature, but I don't have control over my tongue, then I am fooling myself and my religion is worthless.   So that seems to suggest at least a two-prongued approach to servanthood:  (1) doing good deeds for others, AND (2) having a self-controlled tongue.  So one without the other renders me non-religious.  If I have control over my tongue but I don't do good deeds for others, then my religion is worthless. 

Next, Matthew 20:28.  "The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His whole life as a ransom for many."   This verse tells me that the point of service is to assist others.  The ultimate servant showed us the true definition of service by giving His whole life to redeem the world.  In other words, true service in its purest sense, is to give of yourself to death.  Christ did that.  He came to serve.  He came to die.   Could servanthood always mean to give to the point of death?  Maybe not a literal death.  But maybe a metaphorical death is being suggested here.  A death to my selfish desires.   A death to my vain ambitions.  Serving others may kill off my selfish desires.  Serving others may destroy my personal ambitions. 

Quite honestly, I find serving others to be a frustrating endeavor.  It has its rewards, but if I am going to be honest here, I am going to say that we have offered to serve, and then found ourselves being taken advantage of.   Have you ever offered yourself to be of service to a person or to an organization and found yourself being used and abused?  Taken advantage of?  Not appreciated?  Exhausted?  Disillusioned? 

To read the above verses and consider how Christ offered Himself to God as a human sacrifice to redeem the souls of man, it's just almost more than I can take.  To willingly endure the torture, the pain, and the death, is just too much for me to understand.  It's a mystery to me.  It's beyond-beyond. 

Today on the radio on the way in to work, Alistair Begg spoke briefly of this mystery of the Lord.  He is indeed, unexplainable.  He is a mystery.  He is inexplicable.   It just doesn't make sense, what He did for me on the Cross, in my economy.  In my economy, in my set of weights and measures, the scale does not balance out.  On paper, it didn't work out for Him. 

Now, I know by faith that it DID work out for Him, but in the crucible of the attempt at servanthood, I find the prospect of service to be lacking.  It quickly loses its luster.  It's not what it is cracked up to be. 

Yet, the bottom line is that when I wanted to do research on the topic of servanthood, where did I go?  Where did I do my research?  I went to the Bible.  I actually didn't go to any commentaries.  I didn't go to Beth Moore.  I didn't go to John Macarthur.  I prayed and then I went to the Bible.  So I went to a good source of information.  I found a raft of verses that study servanthood and they all eventually ended at the cross.  Here is where we find our object lesson in servanthood.  Matthew 20:28.  The Son of Man came not to be served (sounds more like me) but to serve, and to give His whole life (not part of His life) as a ransom for many."   A case study in servanthood.