“whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew.20:26-28)
One of the most powerful and challenging images I ever saw was when at the end of a church meeting in Durban, I watched my 65 year old dad put on rubber gloves, pick up a trash bag and go through bathroom after bathroom clearing the bins and cubicles, and all with a smile on his face. This looked to me like a job that you’d get if you lost a bet, but my dad did it with an expression on his face like he knew a secret that we all didn’t.
Lately, we have stumbled upon the quote that says, “Saved people serve people so that served people become saved people”. We are more and more convinced that our job is not to try and be the best church in the city but rather be the best church for the city. This is a huge mind-set shift as it is contrary to most other leadership models in the world.
From an early age we are ranked according to our ability to perform and we quickly learn to attach our worth to how close we are to the top of the pile. Too often this translates into not minding who we step on or side-step to get ahead. But then Jesus comes and turns this paradigm upside down. In John.13 we find an account where the disciples are flummoxed and even somewhat offended when Jesus begins to wash their feet. The washing of feet in that day’s context was done when welcoming a guest in your home a low ranking slave would wash the visitor’s feet. Jesus by doing this was putting himself in the stead of a gentile servant. However, Jesus wasn’t put off by his disciples discomfort as He was making a big point. Firstly, he was preparing his disciples to understand that He would become the world’s saviour by taking the lowest place, and secondly giving them a model to follow once He left the future of His church in their hands.
The secret Jesus was passing onto them, and now onto us is that if you want to be great,
you
must
serve.
Gabe Phillips
