Others Centered

#2 Not Lord It Over

Erwin starts off his book by giving the background on how Jesus appeared.  Remember, Jesus is God in the flesh, the Messiah, the Creator of the Universe and all that we see.  The Jews were expecting their Savior to come but they were looking for the wrong person.  We would expect such an important figure in world history to be impressive, great looking, worthy of all praise and recognition but God did not come down that way.

Instead, God came down as a baby born in a dirty smelly animal shelter in a little known town amongst chaos as the people were flocking back to be counted in the census.  His grand announcement was to a few shepherds in a field while everybody else was busy being counted.  Jesus grew up and became a common looking man as Isaiah tells us.  He didn’t have any money, He didn’t have a home, He was always hanging out with less than spectacular men and women.  He grew up in a town with a bad reputation and he died a criminals death by hanging on a cross.

The people wanted a great King that they could rally around and overthrow the Romans and surely God in the flesh could do just that.  That wasn’t what Jesus came to do though.  He came to save us all from sin, not to free the Jews from the Romans.  He came to live a life of example of how we ought to live.  He turned the entire world upside down and went against all human nature and how we think things should be done.

The second thing Jesus told the Disciples about how to be great was that they were not to lord over their followers as the rulers of the world do.

Mark 10:42-45
“You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life ransom for many.”

The world puts the leader at the top but Jesus flipped this.  He told the Disciples that if they want to lead, they must become servants to those they are leading as an example to them on how they should live.  The rulers of the world tell their followers to submit and punish them when they do not.  Jesus told His Disciples to submit and then demonstrated to them how to do so by doing it Himself.  Here was the Creator of all things giving up all He had in Heaven to come down to Earth and wash the feet of fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots.  This is not right according to all we are taught.  The Disciples should have been washing the feet of Jesus.  They should have treated Him with reverence and respect but Jesus turned it around and put the responsibility on the leader.

We see this in the marriage relationship.  Erwin uses this example to discuss how we love the verse, “Wives, submit to your husband as unto the Lord”.  Men love this verse.  They use it to lord over women and say, “Woman, submit, for I am your Lord” but we conveniently forget the rest of the passage.

Ephesians 5:21-25
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your husband as to the Lord. 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. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…

While it does tell the wives to submit as to the Lord in everything, the husbands must take a closer look at their roles as “Lord”.  Jesus told the Disciples to rule and lead as a servant.  This changes things quite a bit for the husbands.  The rulers of the world lord over their followers but Christ nurtured the Disciples, He loved them, He taught them, He washed their feet, He lovingly corrected them, and ultimately died for them.  If a husband is doing these things for his wife as Christ did for His Church, the wife has an easy job.  Of course she will want to submit.  When the husband starts demanding respect, telling her what to do, and disregarding her feelings, the wife will rebel and will not want to submit.  The wife’s submission starts with the husband’s ability to serve her and demonstrate submission just as Christ did.

Too many Churches today and too many Christians today want to follow the example of the rulers of the world and take control at the top while telling others how to follow.  Jesus lowered Himself to the bottom and showed others how to lead.