But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him 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.”

Mathew 20:25-28

In the previous parts of the article on the Power of Servanthood, we mentioned that to many, being a servant is a belittling job and it lowers their status in life. However, Jesus has a different opinion about being a servant to His believers for when we get to heaven, He is only going to say, “Well done, my great and faithful servant.” He mentioned the word “servant” time and again to His disciples and He even set Himself as an example by washing their feet. To this, He told all His disciples to do likewise for each other. We are called to serve God and His people. If we are not serving God, then we better take a seat back and review our lives. Are you making somebody’s life better today by serving them here on earth?

In today’s passage, Jesus said that the world sees power is by lording over people, by demanding, by pushing people around, by instilling fear, by controlling them, and etc. But to Jesus, you are a looser if you do that. The way to the top is by serving. Jesus has all the authority and power in the world yet he was kind to children, taking care of the poor, healing them, and comforting the widowers. With hard headed disciples, He was still kind and patient to them.

Jesus has called us to be different in our attitudes from that of the world – lording and controlling over people as mentioned in Matthew 20:25,26. Jesus is not against rulership, success, greatness, desires to be first. He is not against all these. But being a servant to Jesus does not mean you become servile. To be servile means gullible, easily controlled by others, weak, being bullied by people around them. In Psalm 71:20, 21, it says that God will deliver you from your troubles, increase your greatness and comfort you from every side. Psalm 18:35 also says that the gentleness of the Lord and His hand will hold you up high. This should be the prayer of a saint who has the right self-esteem. There is clearly nothing wrong with seeking greatness but the way to do it is through the Lord, to be a slave as in Matthew 20:27.

The word “Servant” in Greek is “Diakonos”. A servant at that time has a different status from a slave. A servant still has control over his life and job. He has the right to reject the job offered to him. A slave is different from a servant. The word “slave” in Greek is “Dulos”. A slave does not get to choose his path. He has to do what his master wants him to do. He doesn’t go around saying he wants to do what he wants to do or according to his own talents. A slave has no choice. Jesus is saying this…have a new mentality, a new attitude towards serving. There are Christians serve with the wrong mentality and attitude.

A Christian who deserves to be great in the kingdom must be willing to do the hard things, the demeaning things, even if he or she is not appreciated or praised publicly – Matthew 20:28. When you serve God, it is not always where you will be appreciated.

There are 3 steps leading to promotion outlined in Luke 16. If you do not get promoted, then the kingdom of God will not get promoted on earth either.

1. Handling the Little Things
2. Money
3. Think of Others first

We will see them in the next parts.