Page 12 - September 2023 - Truth & Tidings

“ aul, a servant of Jesus Christ” was to follow, for our Lord Himself came as

more than just an opening to one a humble servant. Mark’s singular state-
Pof his letters, for he never got over ment regarding the Lord’s mission is
the wonder of what he had been made in crystal clear: “The Son of Man came not to
Christ. As he recalled the awfulness of his be served but to serve, and to give his life
life as the “persecutor,” he revelled in the as a ransom for many” (Mar 10:45 ESV).
transforming power of God’s grace that Who can fathom what it involved when
had not only saved him but had made He humbled Himself and took upon Him
him a servant of Christ. He stated, “By the form of a servant? But He did – and
the grace of God I am what I am” (1Co what marked Him is now to mark us.
15:10). But does God really need us as The OT writers were thrilled with the
1
servants? After all, He is the omniscient characteristics of Jehovah’s Servant. He
“Architect” and the omnipotent “Builder” was marked by an “open ear” – an ear
who is never marked by frustration or tuned to the will of His God and in which
failure. The Lord Jesus said, “I will build He found infinite delight (Psa 40:6-8). He
my church; and the gates of hell shall not exemplified a “submissive spirit” – that
prevail against it” (Mat 16:18). That’s not despite the tremendous suffering He
exactly our résumé! Man has failed miser- endured, He was not rebellious or turned
ably, and we have made a mess of all that backward (Isa 50:5-6). He graciously mani-
God entrusted to us. Amazingly, our God fested care and tenderness in dealing with
has not abandoned His eternal purposes broken sinners – the “bruised reeds” and
to both “save” man and “employ” man in the “faintly burning wicks” (Isa 42:3 ESV).
the unfinished work of His kingdom. His Like the Hebrew servant of Exodus 21, He
focus centred on the servanthood of His revealed at Calvary His sacrificial love for
creatures, whether in the garden to tend His “master, wife and children” in allow-
it at the beginning of our history or in the ing His body to be pierced and becoming
eternal ages to come, for “his servants a servant forever. It’s no wonder that the
shall serve him” (Rev 22:3). And in so heavens could be opened with the call,
doing, grace has given us the wonderful “Behold my servant!”
blessing of being a small but significant The Scope
part of His great work. Being a servant of Christ is a big work,
The Template but it’s not confined to a select few. Too
We have not been left without a model often we look at what we call “full-time
¹ Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV servants” as the only ones involved in the
unless otherwise noted. Lord’s work, but this is both short-sighted

268 TRUTH kTidings September 2023