SERVANTHOOD OF JESUS
SERIES
SERVANTHOOD OF JESUS
Turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of
Philippians, Chapter 2, verse 5-11 Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal
with God but made Himself of no reputation taking the form of a servant and
coming in the likeness of man and being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of
the Cross. Therefore, God also has
highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in Heaven and of those on earth
and of those under the earth, (that talks about demons too), and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the
Father. Say Jesus is Lord, Jesus is
Lord, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord.
Now
it is very important for us to see Jesus Christ as the servant of God. I believe the reason why many times people have
problems in their lives and why Churchianity has
problems, that is the organization of Christianity called Churchianity,
is that because we have always seen Jesus to be King of Kings, Lord of Lords
and so we go about saying - I am the King's kid, I am the King's kid, get out
of my way - I am the King's kid, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. I am King, He is King of Kings. And go around talking about our rights and
authority in God. In the name of Jesus I
have authority; walk like you have authority and so you walk - like you have
authority. Jesus has so many
aspects. And I believe there is one
aspect that is neglected of Jesus.
Why
we are gathered here always is only to study and look about God and look to
Jesus and get to know Jesus more and more.
That is our purpose for gathering here - that we may know more of
Jesus. So there is a part of Jesus that
we need to know - His servant's part.
The Spirit of a servant was also upon Him. There was one aspect the Jews could not
understand - the suffering Messiah. They
could understand the Kingly Messiah but they could not understand the suffering
Servant Messiah. And what you see is what you become! If you see Jesus as Jehovah-Jireh
you have all your needs provided; if
you see Jesus to be the Healer, you become healed; if you see Jesus to be the
Baptizer in the Spirit, you become baptized in the Spirit; if you see Jesus as
your Savior, you become saved. And I
believe deep in the hearts of all believers there is a need for us to see Jesus
as the servant. If you see Jesus as the servant of God, He will make believers
more servants, more in servitude to one another. So there is a part of Jesus. And in fact from
the Scriptures that you read there, it is not just a part of Jesus.
Jesus’
Kingship came from His Servanthood. God exalted Him because He humbled Himself in
the form of a Servant. In Mark 10, James
and John were asking to sit on the right hand and left hand of Jesus and leave
the other ten out. Here Jesus was going
to go into Jerusalem
and they had a misguided theology. In
those days the theology was that Jesus Christ would come as a Kingly
Messiah. After all His years of Ministry
they were expecting Jesus Christ to go into Israel
and restore the Kingdom
of Israel. So when the other ten disciples heard about
this they got angry. Here it says, the
ten when they heard it, were greatly displeased with James and John. Immediately you see here that disharmony
comes when we don't understand what is greatness in the Kingdom of God.
Greatness
in the Kingdom of God is not being on T.V. Greatness in the Kingdom of God is not being famous in the
Church. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me
about this and said, “Whatever you see inside Christianity is not what God sees
from Heaven. Not all the great men of
God that you see and classify to be the great men of God are the only great men
of God.” You know there are famous preachers - there is no doubt about it. God has a purpose involved. There are, from Heaven's perspectives, a.
different view altogether. And the Holy
Spirit says this that sometimes what we call greatness is an artificial
greatness that is created by the mass media, not created by God. So you see all you have to do is if you could
get on to the T.V. you straightaway become famous to a certain extent in the
natural. See there is an artificial fame
that does not come from God. And you
have to take note that when human beings promote you it does not mean you have
reached the apex of the Ministry. So our
concept of greatness may not be the concept of God's greatness.
Now
there will always be great people in the Kingdom of God
but the concept of greatness is different.
I know there is a great God produces great servants. But when God looks down from Heaven, the picture
that He has of the top Christians in this world may not be the picture you have
in your head. If I were to ask you right
now who do you think are the most spiritual people on the planet earth? Who do you think are the most spiritual
people? I mean all of us walk with God -
so all of us are on different levels walking with God. And if I were to ask you a question who do
you think are the most spiritual people on earth, the so-called great men of
God, you would name only those you know, whom you heard as famous. Some of you would name Kenneth Hagin, I
mean those who are alive! Some of you
would name some other names - Cho Yonggi or some
other names. Now these men have their
place in the Ministry but our concept of greatness is different. I believe if we all were to be transported
into Heaven and if in Heaven, God's Throne, we were to ask God this question -
on this planet earth who are your greatest people
today, there will be a lot of names that we never hear. And some of us will get surprises because
there will be some famous names that are not so great in Heaven's side.
You
see the concept of greatness with God and with earthly human beings are
different. Not only that the greatness,
as God sees from Heaven, is the actual reward you will receive in Heaven when
you go there - not what man here do to you, but it is
from God's perspective. So let's finish
reading that Scripture in Mark, Chapter 10 - Jesus called to Himself all His
disciples, in verse 42, and says, you know those who are considered rulers
over the gentiles, lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority
over them. Yet it shall not be so among
you; for whoever desires to become great - I want you to know that Jesus is
not opposed to you desiring to be great.
You
need a desire to be great in order to accomplish something. You need a certain
desire before you can accomplish. I f
you do not have the desire to do great exploits for God, you would become lazy. It is the desire that drives you, that
self-motivates you - it is the heart's desire.
Jesus didn't say that the desire to be great was wrong. Jesus didn't say, "Don't desire to be
great". All of you desire to be
small because you get what you see. Did
Jesus desire to be great - yes, but He used different methods because He
desired to accomplish salvation for the whole world - that was the great
achievement. The desire to be great is
not wrong. The desire to do something
that will last a lifetime and eternally affect all generation is not
wrong. I desire things in God. I desire to affect my nation for God. I desire to affect this generation for
God. I desire to shake up the Church
where it ought to be shaken up. I desire
to affect the Church throughout the whole world.
Now
the desire is nothing wrong. I encourage
each of you ought to have desires to do the things of God. You have to have burning strong desires to
accomplish something for God. Only when
you desire you can dream and you can see and you can visualize and it will
propel you to work hard to accomplish what God wants. There is nothing wrong with desiring to be
great. But the economy of God and the
economy of Man are different. Yet Jesus
says - if anyone, whoever desires, whosoever desires to become great among
you, shall be your servant, must desire to serve, desire to give your lives
to people. I can see Jesus desiring and
Jesus gave His life to the fullness and God promoted Him. The desire to be great must become the desire
to give our lives to people. It must
consume us to the extent that we desire to bring a person to the fullness of a
potential. That is serving,
true serving is to bring the best out of a person and to draw forth the
goodness that God has placed - the gifts and the talents that God has placed in
a person. The desire must be great in
our lives, desire to be a servant and he says - for even the Son of Man did not
come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. He said even I Myself, Jesus says, did not come
to be served.
When
Jesus first started His ministry, it was a servant's ministry. But today in Christianity, concepts have
changed. When we talk about Ministry we
think of something of prominence; we think of pre-eminence. Right!
When we talk about people saying, the Ministry of God, what do we think
about? We think about - Hallelujah, I am
going to get recognized. See how the
concept is today. When we think about
God has something in our lives we straightaway think about - I am going to be
recognized, Hallelujah I have been in the low lows but I want to be in the
high, highs. That is what we think about
in the Ministry, whatever Ministry we have -Why is that so? I believe because
the worldly ways and the gentile ways, Jesus call it the Gentile ways, we call
it the worldly ways, the worldly concept of achieving from the world has rubbed
into the Church. See, in the world
people desire fame; people desire to make such an impact so that they will be
recognized. Actually, behind it is a
great desire to be accepted. Everyone
wants to be accepted, no one wants to be rejected. So sometimes we are not accepted so we do
something to become recognized, then we are accepted. Deep inside is a hunger to be accepted,
that’s all. Deep inside is a desire to
know that you are loved. There is a fear
of rejection in-born in all men, the original sin. And so sometimes Ministry becomes something
that we do in order that we get recognized, prominence
and then we get accepted. Then in getting accepted we get love, we get
recognized and then we say – that’s the Ministry. But that’s the wrong concept
altogether. We have to eradicate that.
Ministry,
as Jesus sees it, is the more you are hidden, the better. The more you pursue to glorify Jesus, the better
- that is Jesus' concept of ministry.
So, when Jesus talks about the Ministry, He speaks about how we would
give our lives to the extent that we have no desire to see ourselves being put
up. We have no desire to have
pre-eminence but our desire is consuming us to serve. Why worry about what the world says; why
worry about whether the world knows you or not and knows you by your name. Why worry about fame, why worry about being
famous. Why worry about all these things
when the most important thing you need to be concerned is that not that your
names are known to man but that your names are known to God - that God knows
you by your name and what you are doing, that you are well known in Heaven. I
want you to know that Daniel was a person who was famous in Heaven when the angel came to him, in the
Book of Daniel, he said "Oh Daniel, beloved of God". God must have been talking about him in
Heaven. The concept of ministry that we must have is one of giving our lives away. The more we can be hidden, the better.
So
we have to search our motives. I have to
search my motives in the Ministry because in the early days of the Ministry
when I began, I didn’t learn about all these principles and I had to search my
motives, and in the ministry there can be several stages. The first stages you are seeking to establish
your ministry, seeking that the body will recognize your Ministry. But that stage, that stage is not the final stage, that is developing your ministry. And I have to search my own heart before God
and so God dealt with my heart and God said "What I want you to do is more
important that what you want to do. And
if I want you to just go to a small village and minister to the people there
you must be as obedient as when I tell you to go to a city and minister to the
people there." Whatever you do! And
so to search my heart in the Ministry, God began to touch and transform areas
in my life that I began to understand what ministry means.
Ministry is not seeking recognition from the
Body of Christ but Ministry is when God tells you. You do, whether the world knows it or not, -
whether you have done something quietly.
And God has to deal with our carnal nature in that sometimes when you
have done something in God and in Christ, through Christ and for Christ, you
have to fight the desire to tell people about it so that people will say - what
a good fellow you are. He is a jolly
good fellow, jolly good fellow! jolly good fellow.
Watch out and he will fall too! We want people to know. God had to deal with me in all these things
and told me, “Every time you receive an invitation from any country, it is not
necessarily from Me; they may be from men. If you want to establish your ministry - go
ahead, but if you want Me to establish My ministry in
you, you obey Me. So I had to. In my
early days, I had to fight the desire to move and travel and minister. I love
ministering, especially to different places, minister and see the work of God
there. But God says you must be
concerned about Me, not about anybody else, and, if
you are given an opportunity to go on T.V. and if I don't want you to go, you
must not go. If you are given the opportunity to go on radio you must not go if
I don't want you to go. Are you
willing? So God searched our hearts,
determine what is inside, what we actually want to do as we go more down to
earth on areas that may affect your very life.
When God asks you to do something, when you start doing it there will be
opportunities for you to do it in your own strength; there will be
opportunities for you to do it by yourself, you have to guard that and watch
that.
Let's look at Philippians, Chapter 2 that
we have read. Many years I read this
scripture and I didn't understand this and Jesus said - for one to be anointed
greatly, for one to carry my anointing as I want it, they will have to serve in
proportion. The anointing that you have
upon your life, the calling and the signs and wonders that you can operate on
your life is directly proportional to the amount of servitude that you are able
to give. So, because Jesus Christ went
right to the uttermost, He was raised right to the uppermost. In Phil. 2, there is a verse that I read it,
I passed it by and never stopped to look carefully till God began to speak to
me through this area in verse 5 and 6 - let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery
to be equal with God. I always read
that passage, in verse 5 and verse 6 - that Jesus did not consider it robbery
to be equal with God - I said what does it mean and I just took the superficial
meaning that it is alright for Jesus to be equal with God, that's what you get
- that Jesus felt that it was alright for Him to be equal with God. And then it goes on to talk about how Jesus
humbled Himself and poured His life out and did all kinds of things to be a
servant, took upon Himself a form of a servant and He served and then God
raised Him up. I didn't see the relationship between that word "robbery"
and the word "servant". But it
is there in those words - suddenly, as I read that passage again the word robbery
just stands out. It seems to stick out
like a sore thumb - no relationship to the entire verse - suddenly talks about
robbery; being equal with God and there is no relationship to the other
verse. Suddenly that verse - He did not
think it robbery to be equal with God - that means He is equal with God! That
means, He is equal with God! And then on this point Paul talks about His servanthood, humbling Himself - how does it relate?
Then the Holy Spirit began to open my eyes
to understand that the word robbery is not quite what it means so I had
a deeper look - the Holy Spirit made me look deeper at the meaning. The word robbery is not just what you think
of robbers today – grabbing just anything. The
word robbery is from the Greek word harpagmos,
which means to seize, to carry off by force. But it has a little bit of
meaning on that - it is the same Greek word - the root of it. As when Jesus Christ had done a miracle of feeding the five thousand people
and in the John 6 - it says that the people wanted to seize Him and make Him
King. That is the same root word - the word seize - seize Him and make Him King. The people wanted to take Him away - not
robbing. The word rob conveys
only of taking of possession. But here
it is seizing. They wanted to take Jesus
and make Him King, forcibly by making Him King.
And the Greek word conveys a meaning of just coming and just grabbing
suddenly, very fast, very fast, suddenly grab.
They wanted to grab Him - what a way to be King! Most other politicians would be grinning with
glee but Jesus knows that something is wrong with this kind of forcible
coronation.
This kind of Kingship is not so much being
a King over them but a cook for them.
They were fed, their stomachs were filled and they thought if they make
Jesus King, everyday they would get their free food. They wanted to seize Jesus. Any time they need food just go to the King,
nice way, they don't need a King, they need a cook, a
chef! The same Greek word was used when
it refers to the apostle Paul, I believe in Acts, Chapter 23, where Paul was
talking to the Jews and then the Jews got more violent. They wanted to tear him to bits and
pieces. And the Roman soldiers quickly
came in, grabbed Paul and took him away - so it not so much as conveying the
meaning of robbing, but conveying the meaning of seizing a person suddenly.
Now we go to this word - robbery - the
word should actually convey the meaning of the word seizure; that means
you seize a person - a seizure - seizing something. In other words He is talking about His
position with God, that equality with God.
Jesus did not think that to be equal with God was something He could
just grab away and say - I am equal with God.
That's the meaning Paul was conveying - something to be seized - that
the equality with God was by seizing it; and I have looked into several translations
to bring that verse out.
By
the way just to let some of you know, New King James
is our official version. I studied Greek
for two years; I studied all the translations and I like some of the modern
translations but most of them do not give a literal meaning so I stick with the
Old King James because at least it gives the exact translation and whenever it
is not in the Greek - it puts it in italics which modern translation don't do
that - so at least when I read, I know which part is added in for the English
meaning. And when they came out with the
New King James, I read through and I liked it and I studied it for a year. I studied important passages.
So I read to you from the amplified
Philippians, Chapter 2 - I like the meaning that it brought up, in the Greek,
where it says that Jesus did not consider it robbery, robbery to be equal with
God and here it says in Philippians, Chapter 2, verse 6, who although being
essentially one with God and in the form of God possessing the fullness of the
attributes which make God, He did not think this equality with God was a thing
to be eagerly grasped or retained.
Let me put it in simple English - perhaps
it amplified too loud for you all. It
says in that word, Chapter 2, verse 6 that Jesus, although He was in the form
of God, when He emptied Himself of the Godhead, when He went forth unto God to
receive, as the God-man, the equality and the fullness of God, He did not
receive, think that to be equal with God, that position was not something that
He could grab and just get it. But Jesus
knew that the position to be equal with God was something that He had to
receive slowly, step by step, by humbling Himself – that ties up with the verse
7. Now you read the whole passage now with the understanding. The meaning will
just shine out to you, Phil.2 - and I will change that verse 6 a little for
your understanding and don't be afraid we are not changing the bible I am
reading a little bit on the Greek lexicons - you can check all the Greek
lexicons - I have one at home. It will
give you that meaning of seizing, seizing that position with God, the great
word, ROBBERY.
Here in verse 6, who being in the form of
God did not consider or think that to be equal with God, the position to be equal
with God was something that He could seize it suddenly or quickly, but in verse
7 He knew that the position to be equal with God must be received this way;
that He must make Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant,
coming in the likeness of man, being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself, became obedient to the point of death - even the death on the
Cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted
Him, given Him the name which is above every name i.e.
God has exalted Him to be at His right Hand.
Now you see the relationship to the word ROBBERY to the whole
verse. In other words, that verse is
trying to tell us that Jesus understood in His mind, He considered, He thought,
He knew and He think that the position to be equal with God was not something
that He could just grab but He understood that the position that God was going
to raise Him to was something that He was going to receive by humbling Himself
down, pouring His life out, obeying God as a servant, as a servant, for 33 years
as a servant and then God would bring Him up and put Him on that position -
that is the meaning of that passage.
Now you
understand why the word ROBBERY is there. Doesn't convey that well? So,
understanding this principle what the bible is trying to tell us, that all
positions of authority with God come in proportion to your servitude, to your
being a servant. If you want a position
with God, you have to serve - to serve others, you have to give your lives to
others as a servant and God will give you special positions, God will give you
special grace and authority with Him.
Now there will be in all generations men and
women of God who will reach a point in God so strong that they could do things
that normally people don't do - like for example, think about Joshua stopping
the sun. Here they were fighting away
and they needed more time to kill all their enemies so Joshua said "Sun
stand still" and the sun stood still - "Moon stand still" and
the moon stood still. The time was held
back - they calculate over 23 hours. It
was held back almost the whole day. What
kind of authority is that? He didn't
even pray, he didn't pray. He called, at
that time he couldn't call “Father, Yahweh, Oh most loving gracious Yahweh,
could you please stop the sun, etc, etc – such long prayers and by that time
all their enemies would have slaughtered his people. He had such authority
simply to order the sun and the moon to keep still.
I mean we can find favor with God. God is
such a person. Sometimes you can be so close
with God that God will say of you - He is my friend. You know what God spoke about Moses? Moses’ family, his elder sister Miriam and
his elder brother, Aaron they had a position with God but different from
Moses. They didn't like Moses' wife -
Moses married a wife who was Ethiopian.
They were a bit racist; they looked at the color of the skin and not the
heart and so they had problems with Moses and so they grumbled, grumbled,
grumbled....... They find problems with Moses.
They could not find anything wrong with the commandments because he was
obedient to God; they couldn't find anything wrong with what he did for God
because it all came from God and he obeyed God.
They could not find fault with his ministry so they could not find any
problem there - but they found problems with his wife! I don't know what problems they had with his
wife - whether his wife -with the way she dressed, the way she did things, but
they found problems and you know what God said to Aaron in the Book of Numbers
- Aaron, come here, Miriam come here.
Yahweh God is going to deal with them now
and God gave them a special secret. God
said, "Moses is special to Me". How do you like God to say that to you! I know in Christ all of us have that but positionally all of us may not have grown into that. Moses had grown so much to know the heart of
God that God treats him that way. In the book of Numbers 12: l Miriam and Aaron spoke
against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he
had married an Ethiopian woman. This
was not his second wife - don't think of that - this was his previous
wife. They never found problems with her
earlier but now they begin to find problems with her. They said, "Has the Lord spoken only
through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also? Are we not like
him?" Is he the only man of God? They said that of him. Now Moses was very humble, more than all
men who were on the face of the earth; that is a remarkable statement. We will
look at that later. Suddenly the Lord
interrupted their conversation. You see
the Lord loved Moses so much so personally that when they said that against
Moses, Moses never said anything back - suddenly, God interrupts. How do you like to be interrupted while you
are complaining - dangerous! When it is
God who is doing it, it is dangerous.
Here they are complaining and God interrupts and said "Aaron, Miriam
come". I am sure their knees were
shaking as they went into the tent - they were shaking, shaking away not under
their power but shaking under their fear.
And then God said, "Come out you three to the tabernacle of
meeting". So the three came out. The Lord came out from the pillar of cloud,
stood at the door, that's how much He likes Moses, and says "Hear now My words - if there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord,
make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face"
(verse 6-7).
He is a prophet. But here God knows him not as a prophet
because He compares him to an ordinary prophet.
God is saying Moses is not only a prophet, he is My
special servant. God says "He has a
special place in My Heart" - so you can read the rest of the results of
the judgment of God. But the point we
want to gather here is that there are positions in God which you can reach too,
so that God has so much favor that when you say "Sun stop" and the
sun will stop; “Moon stop” and the moon will stop. You have to find special favor with God
before God allows you to do things like that. You have to walk close with God
until God knows you and you know God.
You really know Him and not just about Him. In Christ we are all seated at the Right Hand
of God but in reality, in actuality, we need to grow into that position. And in the Kingdom of God
there are positions that God gives to those who love Him. You see there is a special grace that God
gives to those who touch His heart, who draw near and know Him for who he is;
'and there is a special blessing. Once
you reach that stage God seems to go a bit out of the way for you.
Just think about Abraham - the Father of
faith. He was a man of certain
weaknesses too. There are certain areas where
he is weak in - like he told lies sometimes.
When He went to King Abimelech, that is not
the first time he did it, he did it several times. How do you like a man who could not protect
his wife? I mean we would say shame to
that person. But Abraham came to King Abimelech, in the Book of Genesis and King Abimelech looked at the wife and he likes the wife - and
mind you she was 90+, young and sweet.
Some of you, ladies, better learn from her. How did she get it? By confession of God's Word and meditation on the promises of God. So there she was, sweet by God's natural
fragrance, perfume, beauty and words.
She did not use love portion and charmed Abimelech
but it was all God's natural beauty on her and King Abimelech
saw her, 90+, and lusted for her. So,
here he is, he wanted his wife and Abraham said - she is my sister! I mean, sometimes you read it you feel like
giving him a kick in his pants. Abraham, how can you do it? You should lay your
life down for your wife. But here he
was, he told a lie and he even got Sarah to conspire with him - I say brother,
you say sister. So with brother and
sister going there so often that it rubbed on to Isaac later on.
Isaac also did the same thing. You can read that in the Book of Genesis - so
Abraham told a lie and allowed his wife to be taken to the harem of King Abimelech - that is disgraceful. But that's what happened. I wonder how Abraham reacted after that! He probably would have said that - Ooh! ,
she's just my sister - he didn't seem to fret but here was Sarah and I wonder
what Sarah was thinking - wait till I get hold of him and give a knock on his
head. And in the midst of all this sin,
if you want to understand God, look at Him this way in this passage. God came to King Abimelech
and said "That is my friend's wife that you are taking there". King Abimelech got
a shock of his life. He said ... aaha - and he knew that it was God speaking and God said
"That's my prophet over there, you know and this is the prophet's
wife. He dealt with King Abimelech and all of them got sick - the whole nation -
just because of Abraham's carelessness.
The whole nation suffered because of King Abimelech's
greed and lust.
The thing that amazes me most is when Abraham
was not quite walking that close with God, why did God go so specially to
protect him? I believe he has found a special grace in God's sight. He has touched God's heart to a certain
extent. I believe Abraham, many times,
had gone out of the way for God. You
remember the time when God came with the two angels - Abraham saw them Abraham
said, "Quickly, quickly go and kill our best calf, do this and
that". I mean he has gone out of
his way for God. In spite of his
weaknesses he does love God and he does show it. He has won the heart of God to
a certain extent and here he is when he is not in that perfect stage, God could
go out of the way on his behalf because he has found the grace of God. He has found a position with God in his
heart. In Moses heart, in Joshua's heart, in Jesus' heart - there was a
servant's spirit inside. See, the spirit
of Christ is a spirit of a servant.
When we receive Christ, He gives us a
spirit of a servant and Jesus, remember I was talking about Jesus Christ dying
on the Cross, took all our sins, etc. and the Holy Spirit was speaking this to
me whilst I was sharing. He said
"Not only did I suffer on the Cross, my suffering
was not only 6 hours". He said
think about it - if we live close with God and suddenly we are taken and put
among people who curse, people who swear, people who speak bad things and do
sin openly, you will feel uncomfortable because your nature has been
changed. You are not accustomed to that
kind of things. It just hurts you, makes
you uncomfortable. There is a
displeasure you feel and think about it.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who have only known purity, love and perfection,
for Him to come down to live with men, not only was He suffering the Cross when
He was there that day - on the Cross on Mount Calvary - but for 33 years He was
actually carrying the Cross. And He died
on the Cross as the ultimate. He died on
the Cross He had been carrying, not talking physically only, but for 33 years
as He was growing up, such a Holy Son of God, perfect. He had to live with imperfect people - that
is suffering and it is not easy. It
caused Him suffering to live like that among people who are so imperfect, human
beings full of sin, around 33 years and He died on the Cross. This is found in the Book of Philippians,
Ch.2 - notice this passage here that says, verse 8 - being found in
appearance as a Man He humbled Himself and became obedient, that means, He
was obedient throughout all his 33 years and then at the end of his 33 years
the climax was to the point of death, even the death of the Cross. That means it was very humbling for Him
through the 33 years to go through that.
He stripped Himself of His glory; He stripped Himself of all and came
down here, born in a manger, lived in a humble home of a carpenter. That is
where I believe as we claim prosperity, as we claim the things of God, do not
forget that our purpose on earth is not for ourselves - is to SERVE.
So if there is anything in our lives that cause
us not to be servants, we should get rid of them, we should get rid of
them. And I repeat again, if you are
called to the Ministry, we have to live a lifestyle such that we still can be
servants to people. We cannot live a
lifestyle like a king and shove your weight around. No, it has to be like a
servant. In the Army of God the highest
have to be willing to come to the lowest.
I believe at the critical time in Jesus’
life, one of the most important times in His life was when He was about to be crucified. Now when you are going to go somewhere or you
are going away for quite a while, your last words are among the most
important. If this is my last day here,
the last words I would be speaking here are special words that I want to
impress upon you and it may be a summary of things I want to say. So Jesus Christ was about to go to glory
after His death and His last words and His last actions are very important. In
John 13: 3 after the Lord’s Supper and Holy Communion, it says, “Jesus knowing
that the Father had given all things into His Hands and that He had come from
God and He was going to God.”
You see He knew that the time
had come when He cannot be physically living with His disciples. After the cross, He had just about a month or
so but not much time. And this important
time before He went to the Cross, He must tell them some important things that
would keep them throughout the 3 days.
Jesus rose from supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded
Himself. I mean this is the Master, this
is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords - remember He was the boss during His
earthly time. For 3 years He was with
His disciples, teaching them, instructing them; they saw great power flow
through His life. His words were with
authority. He spoke and demons came out;
He spoke and the sick were healed; He spoke and the dead were raised. This is a Man of Authority and power. Suddenly when He was alone with His
disciples, He took off His robes and all He wore was the servant's towel. Could you imagine what the disciples were
thinking? Their minds blew. What is the
Lord Jesus doing? Is He sound? Is He all right! - to
see that the Lord Jesus suddenly doing that - taking off His robe. I mean He was robed and suddenly He puts on
that loincloth. He took a basin of
water, looks like an ordinary servant, doesn't look that dignified, came to His
disciples' feet, took off their sandals, start wiping and washing their feet
and here the disciples were stunned.
You too will be stunned! Could you imagine the Lord Jesus Christ
coming and washing your feet! It is
possible but it is difficult. That is
why in John 13, Peter reacted. Peter
said - No, no, no Lord, cannot - I am not comfortable with You
doing this. How can the Lord Almighty do
this? The Army General doing that, you
see the Army General doing that to the privates - NO! He is the Army of God; He is doing it. He
starts washing their feet. When He came
to Peter's turn and Peter usually reacts a lot, Peter said No, No, not Lord and
Jesus said "If I don't do this, you don't have any part in Me. Then he said,
“Okay Lord, not only my feet but my whole body too.” He is a bit of a cartoon. He said that in John 13 - not only my feet,
my whole body, Lord. I mean, he really
loved Jesus in spite of his blunders.
Jesus had to teach him properly and say - if you have bathed, you don't
need that - you are clean! But Jesus was
saying - Jesus said in John 13 verse 13 - that He is doing this as an example
so when He had washed their feet - I could imagine Jesus Christ washing all -
He didn't just wash one or two, but all - all their feet, no exception, even
Judas' feet too. Judas was still there,
by the way; Judas had not left them yet.
He was there because Jesus had said - not all of you are clean among
them. He knew Judas was among them. How do you like when God reveals to you that
someone is going to betray you and you have to go and to wash the person's
feet? I am sure some of us will act in
the flesh! You would go there and bring
a very rough scrub, give him a good scrub and Judas would say - Ouch! Why do you do that to me! But Jesus gently wiped and it takes time to
wash 12 apostles' feet. So, for a
moment, I can imagine in the room there was silence - nobody understood what He
was doing! How long was it? He could
have taken 1/2 hour, 1 hour - but Jesus was washing and for the 1/2 hour, 1
hour - nobody said anything. Some of
them could have been crying, don't understand why the Lord Jesus was doing
this!
After Jesus completed it, He explained to
them - He says in verse 12 and 13 - Do you know what I have done to
you? You call me Teacher and Lord and
you say well, for so, I am. If I, then,
your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another's feet. Jesus is saying it
is not going to stop here! I want you to
know I am going to give you power. I
want you to know I will make you apostles; I give you authority as apostles - a
head of all the ministries. Jesus said,
"I want you all to wash each other's feet". And He says "I have given you an example
that you should do as I have done for you". Some people were asking, “Did Jesus ordain
the washing of feet? Does it mean that
Jesus is calling for the washing of feet? If it is, should we practice it? I
know there are some places and some churches where they wash one another's
feet.
Did Jesus ordain it for the church? No, I believe that Jesus was talking about
our attitude of a servant. Why? In the Book
of Acts you do not find any records. But
in the Book of Acts you do find a record of Water Baptism and the Lord's Supper
but you do not find the practice of washing feet. However, in the Book of Acts, you do find a
servant's spirit among them. And so
Jesus Christ is telling us to receive the positions of God, to receive the
graces and authority of God. We have to
receive the spirit of a servant. I pray
everyday and I cry to God every time I say, “Lord, I want a 100% through my
life that only Jesus to be seen.” Every
time before I minister, I say, “Lord, I want to hide behind you, that people
will only see Jesus and everything I do, if it is possible, people don't see me
- that would have been better.” We have
to pray that way, every day; we have to cry unto God everyday and say, “Lord,
whatever I do, we do not want to be known” - we must die to self. We will see further on as we look. We are talking about the spirit of servanthood. Servanthood in the Ministry is the only key to power. I know that in these last days, God is going
to give some special anointing. I pray
unto God, “God, give me special signs and wonders - I don't want the ordinary,”
and God says, "Pay the price! Pay the price. If you want the special signs
and wonders, you pay the price first". See, to receive positions of
authority, supposing you have a
special sign in your life - how did it come into you? It has to be a servant's
heart that you achieved that position – not something that you can just grab
into your life and seize it. But to have
it, you have to have God's way, being a servant. There will be many other areas that we are
going to cover on servanthood. Elisha could be where he is because for 15-20
years he was serving Elijah. Every
powerful man in the Bible has learnt it the servant's way.
Joshua, the one who stopped the sun and
brought the Israelites into the Promised Land when Moses could not, for many
years, Joshua was called the servant of Moses according to Exodus 33:11. He
learnt to serve first. The only way to achieve positions of power and graces
with God is through a servant's spirit.
Numbers 12: 3 says Moses, the man whom God used, is the meekest man, the
most humble man in the earth. In fact he didn't get there by himself. In fact
before that he was quite proud. Moses
lived for 120 years - the first 40 years he was a great orator, a great
military leader in Egypt. History records some of the wars that he led
the Egyptians. He was so strong and
powerful that when he visited his people, he killed the Egyptians thinking that
the Israelites would know that he is their deliverer. For 40 years he found out what he could do
himself. The next 40 years in the
wilderness he has to unlearn what he had learnt for himself; for 40 years he
had to learn and learn what he had studied in the schools of Egypt. For the next 40 years he has to unlearn
everything, completely until he realized he was nothing. Then, for the next 40 years he found out what
God can do with a man who is a servant.
We have to die to self. We have to completely die and the only way we
can be servants is to die to self. The
most difficult part about being a servant is because we are self-conscious, we
are self-preservation and we are self, self and self. The only way to be a servant is to lay down
self and serve. Remove the
"L", remove the 'F"; put the "R", "V" and
"E". Turn yourself into serve
and we will receive the positions of God.
God wants us to receive the spirit of a servant
into our lives that all we are interested in is to serve one another, to love
one another, to promote one another and not promote ourselves. God wants to minister the spirit of a
servant; the way to greatness is the way of a servant. We pray that God may open your eyes to Jesus,
the servant, the One who washed His disciples' feet is speaking to you now and
saying wash one another's feet. Go out of your way for one another - find some
way to serve one another. Ministry comes forth from service and the commandment
of Jesus still goes on today. He says, I have done this as an example and we
pray that God's spirit will search our hearts that in your lives, any area of
self-promotion, or desire to be having pre-eminence may be eradicated - that
our only desire, your only desire must be that others may see Jesus in me, that
you may glorify Jesus, all you want to do is when I do this, do people see
Jesus, when I share this, do people see Jesus; everything that you do, do
people see Jesus - that's how Jesus walked on this earth. Jesus, as He was walking, He says "I do
not seek My own glory" He says in the gospel of
John - but I seek the glory of the Father and the Father honors Me because I
seek not my own honor, I seek His honor, His glory. Seek to glorify Jesus, not self and I know
God is going to pour a special grace and anointing on your lives if you would
serve. The way to the positions with God
is the way of humbling ourselves to serve.
We are standing on Holy Ground and I know that there are angels all
around. Let's praise Jesus we are
standing in this place on Holy Ground.
