Jesus: Servant to Others

Jesus: Servant to Others

Pastor Joe Fuiten, March 26, 2006

This is the Lenten Season, the 40 days leading up to Easter exclusive of Sundays. We have been spending our time with Jesus in the wilderness looking for ways of weaking the grip of the flesh and strengthening the grip of the Spirit.

In today’s message I want to consider two events in the life of Jesus. Luke 4:9-12 has the third temptation of Jesus: 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.

First of all “just the facts Ma’am!” The Temple in the time of Jesus was a real place. You can visit it today as I hope to do at least one more time in April of next year. The southeast corner is still visible. When the Romans destroyed the city, the pushed stones off the wall and cracked the street below. The picture shows the cracked pavement that resulted. They found an inscription in the rubble which in Hebrew reads “…to the place of trumpeting…” It is an inscription from that high place in the Temple.

Secondly, the devil doesn’t always lie. He will always speak some truth, just not the whole truth. His quoting of Ps 91 is a case in point: 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. (NIV) You need to remember that not everyone who quotes some verse in the Bible is giving you the truth. We are seeing a lot of this in the public debates over morality.

Here’s a third fact: God does command his angels in our behalf. Every one of us has a guardian angel that constantly watches over us. This reality is a great comfort to all of us.

Jesus does not respond in a simplistic way. Even though the words are in the Bible just as the devil quoted them, Jesus does not go down the devil’s path. Instead he applies an important interpretive principle. One Scripture is interpreted with other Scriptures also in view. Liberal theologians fail in this area all the time. They do not believe in the unity of Scripture. In Latin it is scriptura ex scriptura explicanda est. Scripture is explained by Scripture.

In the temptation, the devil wanted Jesus to use the truth to serve himself. Make God prove one more time that he is God. “God, if you will do thus and so, then I will believe in you and serve you.” This is a common human agreement with God. Psalm 95:9 speaks to this issue: “…your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did.” You already know what Jesus did on the cross. You already know that he healed the sick and raised the dead. You already know that he preached that he alone was the way of salvation.

Thomas a Kempis got the picture when he prayed, "O Lord, for your sake, I will cheerfully suffer whatever shall come on me with your permission. From your hand I am willing to receive indifferently good and evil, sweet and bitter, joy and sorrow; and for all that befalls me I will be thankful. Keep me safe from all sin, and I shall fear neither death nor hell. If you do not cast me from yourself, or blot my name out of your book of life, whatever tribulation befalls me will not hurt me."[1]

The writer of Psalm 106:14 tells us about Israel’s failure: “In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test.”

If you insist on being religious, the devil is ok with that. However, it should be all about what God can do for you. You counter that by instead of focusing on what God can do for you, focus on what you can do for God.

The devil wanted to tempt Jesus by placing the focus on what God would do for him. That is part of the “throw yourself down” scenario. It is about putting God to the test in his aid of you.

When Jesus left the wilderness, he was on a mission. He was full of the Holy Spirit. When he got to his first destinatin, Nazareth, “Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed…,[2]

We know the relevance of this text for the modern day because Jesus himself read it and said it has been fulfilled. This is not strictly something future. It is to be present reality: Luke 4:20-21 “Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (NIV)

Notice the five things the Spirit motivated Jesus to do.

1. to preach good news to the poor.

2. to bind up the brokenhearted,

3. to proclaim freedom and release,

4. to comfort all who mourn, and

5. provide for those who grieve in Zion—

What is distinctive about each of them is that they all serve people. His mission was not about himself. It was about others. John 13:2-4 you see Jesus still mission focused: "The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God: so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist......" Jesus served others rather than looking for something from them.

This is also what Paul taught in Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Matthew 20:25-28 gives a context for us to consider. "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. Not so with you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave, 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."

Jesus issued the call to "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me." Mark 8.34

We just have a few more days before it is Easter. There is not much time left to try to apply this concept to your daily activities. Who can you bless besides yourself?