A Look at Jesus from Hebrews: Jesus: The Complete Servant Pt 1 – Why did God become a Slave?
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It is important to remember that the usual word translated
“servant” in the original is the word “slave!” When we think about Jesus as the
Complete Servant, it will help us to first reflect on what a true servant is.
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One of my favorite stories about how to be a servant is this
one:
At 3:00 A.M. one cold morning a missionary candidate walked into
an office for a scheduled interview with the examiner of a mission board. He
waited until 8:00 A.M. when the examiner arrived.
The examiner said, “Let us begin. First, please spell baker.” “B-a-k-e-r,”
the young man spelled. “Very good. Now, let’s see what you know about figures. How much
is twice two?” “Four,” replied the applicant. “Very good,” the examiner said.
“I’ll recommend to the board tomorrow that you be appointed. You have passed the
test.”
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In Romans, Paul connects
our actions to each other in the Body of Christ, correlating it directly to the
attitude of Christ.
Romans 15:3-4 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached You fell upon me.” For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:3-4 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached You fell upon me.” For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
This section of Hebrews introduces a doctrine that is beyond
our comprehension and opens the important door to the one of the two “Keys” to
being a true servant.
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The important question to ask is, “Who made Jesus lower?”
the answer is found in Philippians:
Philippians 2:5-8 Have
this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He
existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made
in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
There is a translation that uses more modern English, but
is still from the Greek and translated properly. It is the NTL – notice what it
states in terms that we use today:
Philippians
2:5–8 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus
had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something
to cling to. Instead,
he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and
was born as a human being. When
he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a
criminal’s death on a cross.
The “Key” to being a true servant is that no one forced or
manipulated you to do it, you made yourself a servant! That is what Jesus did.
GOD became a slave!
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The fact remains that the Scripture plainly states Who Jesus
is! Again in Hebrews, after discussing what Angels are, the Scripture speaks
about Jesus:
Hebrews
1:8–10 But to the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. You rule with a scepter of
justice. 9 You love
justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out
the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.” 10 He also says to the Son, “In the beginning, Lord,
you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.
God calls the Son, God! We have a problem with that because
many times in the N.T. it seems like the Father is above the Son. Yet if you
truly study the Scriptures you will see, that the answer to that question is
Yes & No!
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Why did Jesus become a Servant? It is obvious that Jesus so
loved the Father and so loved us, that He gave up His rights as God and became
a servant to make a way for us to have eternal life!
There is another “Key” to true servanthood and 2
Characteristics we should see which, we will look at in the next Devo.
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[1]
Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700
Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 809). Garland, TX: Bible
Communications, Inc.
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