Others Centered

#1 Servant

“Whoever wants to be first must be slave to all”

This section discusses the first part of the nature of Jesus and what He tells the disciples they must do to be the greatest in the Kingdom.  Jesus came to serve rather than be served.  This was very strange to the Jews who were looking for the Savior King to come rescue them.  Why would a King come and be a slave to others?  They didn’t realized that the King had a very different purpose for His first coming.  They were looking for the Jesus of the second coming where He would come as a conquering King who ruled over all the Earth.

Erwin discusses a very important distinction between two different types of servanthood: coerced slavery and servanthood by choice.

When you tell people that you are going to work on being a better servant, they usually respond with, “Great, I have a list of things that you can do for me.”  They may try to give you a guilt trip into doing what they want and accuse you of nothing being a good Christian if you say no.

Jesus said no many times to people who asked Him to do things for them.  How could this be if Jesus was supposed to be a servant to all?  Jesus was comfortable enough with Himself to not fall victim to flattery or manipulation.  He had no problem telling someone no when He knew they were trying to coerce Him to or trying to get Him to do something that He knew was not best for them.  Being a servant does not mean having to do anything people ask/tell you to do.

The type of servanthood Jesus tells us to perform involves a choice and it involves doing things for people out of love.  If someone is trying to manipulate you into doing something for them, they are taking away your choice and that is not healthy.  That results in resentment and bitterness.  It is ok to say no to a request.  The key is letting the Holy Spirit guide you in wisdom to do what’s in everyone’s best interest.  Sometimes no is the best answer to someone who is being manipulative because the first thing they need help with is the way they treat others.  If they are allowed to continue in their attempts to manipulate, this negative characteristic is encouraged and they continue in that behavior.   This is not always easy, but doing what is right seldom is.

Erwin ends this section by discussing humility and defines it as having an honest self-image of ourselves.  Jesus had no problem declaring Himself to be THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE.  He declared Himself to be God.  One could say, “That sounds pretty prideful to me!” but is it?  Jesus was and is those things so is it boasting to describe who you are?  Humility does not lift yourself up nor does it tear yourself down but paints an honest picture of who you are to others.