Christ The Servant

Christ The Servant

“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 10:45

There is something other-worldly about this living Christ unto whom all glory is to abound: something pervasive and overwhelming. It is one thing to read these Words of life, but it is in knowing He who spoke them that the impact of His HEART and His nature will have radical effects on how we live.

–  The High Call  –

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form* of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form* of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form*, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him”
Philippians 2:5-9

This mind, this nature, is ours in Christ Jesus! Not because we have read the Words, but because He has sent the person, the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts. As we live and abide in Him, we become partakers of His nature. Only then does the reality of His mind and His Will become our own; we are freed from the contagion of self-seeking and self-serving and the bitterness and striving associated with such.

“He Emptied Himself”

The essence of His nature revealed the truth of the Godhead. The heart of God that willed the emptying of Himself into His creation. He took the initiative to not only become a man but as a man, He took on the “form* of a servant”. There is something beyond comprehension in the Greek Word translated as “form”.

* ”morphe“ “A “form“ would exist were it alone in the universe even if there were none to behold it.” The Complete Word Study Dictionary “is therefore properly the nature or essence, not in the abstract, but as actually subsisting in the individual, and retained as long as the individual itself exists” Gifford

It is here we touch the depth and power of what the incarnation of God presents to us.

“though He was in the form of God…
He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant”

Jesus in “human form” willed Himself to become a servant, He willingly emptied Himself as a man and became obedient EVEN to the “death on the cross” for our sake. It is one thing to glory in teachings, revelations, and miracles but the verity of our life in Him is in this Will becoming our own!

We are exhorted by the Word of the Lord:

“Have this mind among yourselves”

Many contend that there could never be pure unity in the Body of Christ. Yet if we lay hold, by virtue of abiding in Him the nature and mind of Him, the real question is how can such unity not be the reality of His true church?

The prayer of Jesus cannot and will not fail to be realized IN THIS WORLD.

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”
John 17:21

As true as this One Body is, it will only come to pass in those who have yielded to the nature of Him within their own hearts. May we see by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that He came to impart HIMSELF into fallen man that by virtue of our receiving Him, we might become the “sons of God”.

“but as many, as received Him, to them He gave authority
to become sons of God—to those believing in His Name”
John 1:12 (LSV)

The process of becoming is that we are to become “like Him”. Wherever there is pride, contention, and self-serving ambitions, we may know the words of truth but have not yet touched the wonder of becoming by our submission to the nature of Him who is Truth within our own hearts.

The barriers to overcoming our own inherent obstinacy to His Will are revealed in our victories over self. A few of the common issues by which we can prevent our growth and development in partaking of His Nature.

To hold unforgiveness is to deny ourselves of His forgiveness. (Mark 11:25-26)

To seek supremacy over another is to offend Him who is “meek and lowly in heart”.

To denigrate our brother is to grievously transgress His redemption and salvation.

To disassociate ourselves from another except for the following conditions (2 Timothy 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:14; 1 Corinthians 5:11-13) is to contravene the Royal Law of Christ.

To refuse the expression of God in another because of jealousy and envy is to violate the bonds of His Love. In so doing we lose the power of His life within. (1 Corinthians 12:21)

To isolate ourselves from participating in His salvation in our brothers and sisters reveals an estrangement from the heart of God. (Matthew 25:34-41)

“He that saith he abideth in Him
ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked”
1 John 2:6

Nature determines conduct.

 

Please see the related post: Have This Mind In You

“As is true of man who is born naturally and receives a human nature from his parents, so man born anew receives a new nature, a new capacity for service and devotion to God.”
– John F. Walvoord

Brian Troxel