*** SHOW NOTES (not a transcript) ***

Lead:

Want to be unpopular? Just try telling someone they’re a servant. Want to get their attention? Be one yourself.

Intro:

Aaaand just like that we are 24 hours older. 24 hours closer to death, which is probably scary for some of you, but it doesn’t have to be! As a friend of mine told me before he died last year, “I’m afraid of dying, but I’m not afraid of death.” If that doesn’t make sense to you, give me a call. Really. My phone number’s on the website, and I’m a good listener.

Housekeeping: You will want to go there to watch the next video from The Bible Project. You know we follow a slightly modified version of their read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, and they have two videos that accompany the book of John. The second covers chapters 13 to the end, so check it out.

In yesterday’s program we saw miracles continue to confront Jesus’ audience with the need to make a decision — and some of the religious rulers believed who He was but would not say it because they loved the love of men more than the love of God.

Today we continue to see subtle-but-important differences between those who trust Jesus and those who do not.

Sponsor:

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Bible Segment:

Passage: John 13-15
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Verses: 96
Words: ~2062

All Our Minds Segment:

SERVANT — There are many different types of servants and service in Scripture: a personal attendant…a disciple and potential successor… a trusted employee…or those who offer service primarily for their own benefit... Service can be voluntary or involuntary, paid or unpaid, temporary or permanent. The difference between slave and servant is not as clear in biblical writings as in more modern slavery situations, and not as clear in the OT as in the NT…
What all of the models have in common is the existence of a superior (whether an employer, owner or overseer) to serve and a task of service to complete. Servants are called upon to have an attitude of deference to their superiors, to seek their benefit rather than to be self-seeking and to be obedient and useful. Those served have a responsibility to care for and protect their servants…
In general a servant is of low status, though this will vary with the kind of service involved and the status of the particular master. The quality most commended in servants in the Bible is faithfulness (a dozen references)…
There is thus a fairly easy transfer from the concept of human servant to that of servant of God. Service of God is expected from all, but because of God’s greatness, those who give special service and are considered worthy of the title “Servant of God” or “Servant of the Lord” are particularly revered and given high status. The title becomes appropriate for kings…prophets…the nation of Israel…and the Messiah… Service of God involves justice and righteousness… …worship, and the Servant of the Lord is the one who particularly portrays those characteristics. In the NT the believer is encouraged to live a life of sacrificial service to God and also to the community…
But the servant concept is turned on its head because of Jesus. Jesus is Lord… and to be a servant of Christ is to confess him as Lord… This service was not just symbolic; it involved low-status tasks like washing feet… and led eventually to his death. The Master voluntarily puts himself in subjection to his own disciples, and the concept of servant leadership is born.
In the new community initiated by Jesus, leaders are to follow quite different patterns from those normally found in the world. They are not to act toward the community as fathers, or teachers or masters, but as servants (Mt 23:8–12). The modern church picks up this concept in theory by using words such as deacons, ministers or pastors for its leaders. The appropriation of the image of servant for believers also participates in the Bible’s grand pattern of reversal of values: by worldly standards servanthood is something ignominious, but in the economics of the kingdom the epithet “servant of the Lord Jesus Christ” becomes an honorific title…(1)

The above emphases are mine.

The bottom line

I know you were just looking for ways to be less popular. But as Jesus put it back in John 8, we’re slaves to sin. You’re already a servant, the question is just who will you serve. And the crazy, upside down idea that Jesus delivers is that being a slave of Christ, a servant of Christ, delivers freedom and healing and life.

Wisdom Segment:

Passage: Psalm 84
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Verses: 12
Words: ~197

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

(1) Leland Ryken et al., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 774. (To support this ministry, here’s a book like the one I quoted.)

#889: John 13-15 | Servanthood | Psalm 84