The Servant Image of God

Matthew 20:20-28

Jim Davis

The world is telling us our purpose is discovered in doing something great. Win the Medal of Honor, become president, become rich, play sports well or go through an extreme make over to be better looking. Sin is seeking to tell Christians, “To be great you have to do something great, or occupy great positions.” Following this philosophy does nothing but diminish the image of God in every heart. God is telling us we were created as part of his great creative purpose. 

The worldview of greatness was prevalent among the chosen disciples. Jesus speaks of this worldly idea about greatness.

Matthew 20:20-28
20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 

21 "What is it you want?" he asked. 

She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." 

22 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" 

"We can," they answered. 

23 Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."  

24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  NIV

Sadly we associate greatness with position. A child of God is great regardless of position. God created us a little lower than the angels, but he crowned us with glory and honor. God has as much respect for anyone of us as he does the other.  God’s salvation plan teaches us we are already great. Grace is a paradox. Grace tells us we are unworthy to be saved on any personal merit. Yet, grace teaches us the priceless estimation of our worth. Christ sacrifice also tells us we are the object of God’s love. Do you know what it means to be the object of God’s love? What does this say about God’s estimation of us? 

Serving as Christ Served

Do you know why Jesus came as a servant to his disciples? Serving is not just something Jesus does. It is who He is—he is a servant. Jesus came to express the exact image of God (Hebrews 1:3). One version says he is the exact representation of God. A serving God personified through Jesus. The Bible is imaging God for us. When someone starts a business a sign is made to advertise. Many use an image on a business sign or a business card to portray a message or an idea. Christ was imaging the exact representation of God through his passionate service. 

What an image of God!!

Can you imagine a God who is much more comfortable washing our feet than we are at washing one another’s feet? Imagine a God who is more interested in living within our hearts than we are about knowing his heart. Imaging a God more interested in serving us than we are in serving him. Imagine a God more interested in dying for us than we are in dying for him. 

To see Christ as he served others was to see God. God is imaging himself to us through Christ’s actions. God wishes to stamp the image of Christ on every heart. God’s greatness is discovered in his desire to seek the highest good of all his creation.

Ephesians 5:21
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. NIV

Ephesians 5:25-29
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. NIV

Our modern world interprets submission to mean who is boss. We bring our ideas of the caste system to the text. Its true meaning is discovered as we see God in Christ giving himself for us. He asks us to do the same for each other. It is a mistake to impose the world’s view of subjection upon the Bible. It makes biblical subjection a despicable concept. 

Submission to the Hebrews in Egypt meant bowing to rulers who claimed to be God. Submission was used and abused solely for the purpose of fulfilling the Pharaoh’s every need. If it meant throwing your baby in the Nile River to be eaten by the crocodiles, so be it.  This is the reason the Hebrews had such a difficult time in the wilderness. They projected worldly ideas of subjection learned in Egypt on to God. It was difficult for them to believe this God who led them out of Egypt was totally submitted to seeking their highest good. 

Our world is not a submissive world. Have you ever heard people quarrel? Their language is revealing. “How’d you like it if anyone did the same to you?” “That’s my seat, I was there first.” “Leave him alone, he isn’t doing you any harm.” “Why should you shove in line first?” “Give me a piece of your orange; I gave you a piece of mine.” “Come on you promised.” 

If you have lived in a situation where your needs were displaced by those who turned subjection into abuse, you may have difficulty entrusting--submitting your life to God. You may have difficulty subjecting yourselves in your marriage. You may have difficulty submitting to one another in Christian fellowship. 

When Paul was writing to the Ephesians, he warned them of the dangers of authority without submission. He began the discussion speaking of wives and husbands being in submission to one another. Christ was the model he used. 

Ephesians 5:21
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. NIV

Ephesians 6:1-4
6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."   

4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. 

In a collection of children’s correspondence, there was a letter from Wayne, age eleven: “Dear God, my dad thinks he is you. Please straighten him out.” This is the message of these verses. 

Have you ever had a parent so overbearing you wanted to scream, “You’re not the boss of me?” Have you had your spouse—I am speaking of husband or wife—to disrespect your needs? Have you ever had a boss so overbearing you wanted to tell him/her to take the job and . . .?

Ephesians 5:5-9
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. 6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. 7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. 

9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. NIV

Galatians 3:28-29
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. NIV

Equality is found in submission to one another. We may think we have a position where people must submit to us, but it is absolutely essential that the one with the position is the one in submission. People are not here to serve us. We are here to serve each other.

Philippians 2:1-5
2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 

5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 

Romans 12:10
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. NIV

Romans 12:16
16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. NIV

Romans 15:7
7 Accept one another , then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. NIV

Ephesians 4:2-3
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. NIV

A Refreshing Way to Living

It is hard to fathom Christ giving up not only the glory of heaven, but also the power of God, to come and lead us out of the mess we are in as a meek and lowly servant. Yet, it was Christ’s submission to our needs that demonstrates a power the world knows little of. Christ’s submissive life became a message that turned the world upside down with the greatest news ever told. God came to be our servant. This is the message of the gospel. It is the message that must be written upon every heart.

It is not enough to just say we are going to change our ways. We must ask God to give us a change of heart. God wants to give us a submissive heart. He wants to transplant the heart of Jesus Christ into us. We want to do it without God. It can’t be done. We must repent and be converted calling upon the name of the Lord. 

Acts 3:19-20
19 Repent , then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. NIV

Refreshing from the Lord comes when He moves into a contrite heart to revive and restore it to Gods original design.

Isaiah 57:15
15 For this is what the high and lofty One says — 
he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
"I live in a high and holy place,
but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly 
and to revive the heart of the contrite. NIV

Our hearts are revived as we allow God to move us to give our lives in service to others. In the kingdom of heaven, he or she who wishes to save their life will lose it (Luke 9:23-24). What did Jesus mean by that? Instead of control and power and strength and holding tightly onto everything you have, the kingdom of heaven is more characterized by trust and obedience and acceptance and submission and letting go and, yes, weakness and the cross and suffering. 

Conclusion:

Repentance is the key to God moving into our lives to serve others through us. 

Only God can give us a new heart. God promises to give us a new heart as we turn to him in obedience. It is not our obedience that gives us a new heart. Repentance and obedience are absolutely essential, but only God can refresh our lives as gives us a new heart. 

May God open our hearts to his presence?

Acts 16:14-15
14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. NIV

May God bring his will to fruition in our hearts?

Philippians 1:3-6
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. NIV

Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. NIV

May God give us a new heart?

Bible Study Questions

1.	How does the world’s idea of greatness contrast with Christ’s idea of greatness?
2.	In what ways do we associate greatness with position?
3.	How do measure our worth by our positions or accomplishments?
4.	Why did Jesus come as a servant?
5.	Discuss what Paul says about submission in Ephesians 5:21-6:9.
6.	What is the world’s idea of submission? How does it resemble the caste system?
7.	What does it mean to be united with Christ in Philippians 2:1-5?
8.	How are we to honor one another? (Romans 12:10).
9.	How is harmony in the body of Christ brought about? (Romans 12:16).
10.	How do we accept one another? (Romans 15:7)
11.	What does Ephesians 4:2-3 instruct us to live in the unity of the Spirit?
12.	How would all of this bring about a refreshing way to live?