Jesus the Servant
Key Passage: Philippians 2:5-11
Date: June 7, 2024
Brother Ted was texting, I thought, right? You know, he has his online business. I thought, well, he’s got a deal. He just can’t pass something. I was this close to saying something. I really was, because he was just right there the whole time on that phone. Come to find out he was writing that song, amen. You know, he said, “I would never do that, never do any business while I was in church,” and I appreciate that. He said, “I’d never do that.” She said, “God just gave me a song. I had to put it down,” you know. So praise him.
Amen, amen. Praise the Lord. Philippians, chapter number two. Amen, Philippians, chapter number two. We’re trying to keep rolling. That way we’ll be out of here before 6 o’clock tonight.
Philippians, chapter number two. We’re going to start verse number five. Would you please stand if you’re able to show the word of God respect? And Philippians 2:5, the Bible there says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a—what’s the next word there?—servant, and was made in the likeness of men, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, of things under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.”
What a day that’s going to be, amen, and it’s going to be exciting. I read for you another verse, just let me read it for you: Matthew 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Let’s pray, would you please? Father, thank you, Lord, for people that love you, they love your church, and they’re obedient to your word about not forsaking you. Bless them, Lord, and give them something from your word. Father, keep us safe. Lord, I do a prayer over the next couple days. Let us be closer to you and closer to each other. It’s all said and done, and Lord, we’ll thank you for what you do. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Our passage is interesting. Verse number five right there. He says, now this is the mind Jesus said. I want you to have that mind. And then verse number six, I talked about eternity past when Jesus, he was with the Father. And he was God. And he knew who he was. Wasn’t robbery to be equal with God. But then verse number seven is amazing: “But he made of himself no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.” What? To have that mind. Jesus was a servant.
You know, he left heaven, and when he was laid in that manger, he was serving you. Just past Christmas time, and he was serving humanity. Eighteen years, he was a carpenter; he was serving you. I never really read in the Bible about Jesus complaining about what he didn’t have or what people did or didn’t do for you. He just came to serve. Jesus was a servant. He had compassion on the multitudes. He met the needs of others. Acts 10:38: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good.” He was a servant.
I think about the Last Supper and the apostles there, the eleven—Judas had left at this point, but the twelve there—and they were arguing about who was going to be the greatest. And while they were arguing about that, Jesus, he got his garments ready and went over and got a basin of water. And they were arguing about who was going to be the greatest, and Jesus stooped down and said, “Hey, why don’t you argue about who’s going to be the greatest? Let me wash your feet.” What a servant Jesus was. Jesus was a servant. I mean, they were fussed and fighting about who was going to be the greatest, and Jesus was serving.
Jesus was moved with compassion. He had been very, very, very busy defeating the fight. Very, very busy. Kind of like he was trying to get away a little bit, and his apostles would follow him, and they just couldn’t get away, and he went away. And yet the multitudes followed him. Thousands were there. And Jesus was moved with compassion. The apostles were like, “Hey, we ain’t got enough money or food to feed them. We need to send them away so they won’t just starve to death.” And Jesus said, “No, no, I want to serve them.” And he took that little fish and bread, and he blessed it and broke it, and he served them. Jesus was there to serve them.
He held little children in his lap; he was serving. It’s amazing how many times the Bible talks about Jesus touching people. The lepers—you weren’t supposed to touch them. He was supposed to stay at a distance from them, but Jesus went over and touched them. He touched people. He was just serving everywhere he went. He made the blind see and the lame to walk, and the lepers he cleansed them. He was serving. Jesus was a servant.
He wasn’t really concerned about his own needs. He didn’t really have a place to lay his head, but he was serving. He was busy caring and concerned about others’ needs. He met the needs of thousands. I’m just trying to say this evening, if we’re going to be true followers of Jesus, we’ll be servants, just serving everywhere we go, doing our best to serve.
Now, I’m not just talking about serving so everybody can see, you know, “Hey, just see me serve.” You know, showboat servant, I call that. But when you’re alone, when nobody else sees, home may be the greatest place to be a servant. Us husbands, we ought to be serving our wives. You said, “Well, we’re going to be the head of the wife.” You know, Jesus was a servant leader, serving.
Just serving, serving our children. They’d be more apt to listen to us if they know we serve them. They ought to obey no matter what; we ought to be serving them. Why? Sometimes just the sweetest and most godly lady is a lady just serving, serving her husband and serving those at home, just busy serving.
We don’t have many young people here tonight or families of young people; they’re all grown, amen. But it’s amazing how in our day and time so many children are growing up being served, served, served, and they’re not being taught to be servants. Oh, what a mistake! My goodness, if we’re going to be Christ-like, we must be serving.
Serving, no one else is looking around. Nobody else knows about it. Hey, I’m asking, how about your conversation with other people? Is it always about you, or are you serving them? Serving just everywhere you go, trying to serve. Do people feel better because they’re around you? Are you serving people? It’s just in your mind. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” What is the part of that? He became a servant. You’re serving. That’s your mindset. You’re busy serving.
This is interesting. Woodrow Wilson, our president years and years gone by, he said this. He was at a barbershop, and he said a man had come quietly in for a haircut. And in the next chair to me, every word that he uttered, though it was not in the least preachy, showed a personal and vital interest in the man who was serving him. Before I got through with what was being done to me, I was aware that I attended an evangelistic service because I figured out it was Mr. Moody in the next chair. I purposely lingered after he left and noted the singular effect that his visit had upon the barbers in that shop. I felt like I had been to a worship service.
Did you notice how he was saying he said Moody over there, every word that barber that was serving, cutting his—every word that Moody just was listening to everything he said, showed a personal interest in that man and served that man and listened to that man and cared about that man. That way a little bit later on he could witness to that man. I mean, Jesus was a servant everywhere we go. We ought to be a servant. I think an old preacher, he said, remember one time he said, “I never try to leave a public restroom wherever that it’s not a little bit cleaner when I leave than when I went there.” You call that a servant? Just everywhere you go trying to serve, even when people don’t know about it, you’re just trying to serve those that you’re around. Hey, if I ask those that you’re close to if you’re a servant, what would they say? Just busy serving. Jesus was a servant.
Look over, you’ll know it, Acts chapter number 20. Acts chapter number 20. Look in verse number 35. And this is Paul here; he’s reminding the leaders of the church at Ephesus of something Jesus had said. And I want you to notice it. Look over in Acts 20 and verse number 35. Acts 20, verse number 35. He says, “I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Now, can I say it’s not just necessarily talking about giving monetarily? He’s not about supporting the weak; that could be money, but it could be just serving them. More blessed to give, if you will, more blessed to serve than to be served. Jesus said, “I didn’t come to be ministered to, but to minister to.” Friend, the old world’s philosophy about, well, it’s time you think about yourself and take care of yourself and do for yourself—friend, that tends to lead to selfishness, and selfish people are never happy. If the heart’s very short-lived, doing something, serving other people, that will bring you joy.
And I had the privilege on Tuesday of helping my neighbor cut some trees down in his yard. And we worked a long time on that thing; we were about lower slab out. And the neighbor crossed from us, the boy came home from school. And my neighbor said, “Hey, if you help us old men, crippled men over here, help us pick up these lemons, and I’ll pay you some money,” you know. And I thought, praise the Lord for that right there. We need help, you know. And so the boy helped, and he was a good worker. And so my neighbor, he kind of seemed that I—he was, you know, that I seen—he was paying this boy some money. And, you know, so he said, “Hey, I’ll be glad to pay.” And I thought, oh, Mark, man, that would take away from the joy if you paid me. There’s just a joy. There’s a joy in serving, doing for others.
Not too long ago, I was having a bad day. You never have those days? I understand that, but I do every once in a while, you know. Just not my day. And there’s a family that had a tragedy. And I got to go over there and just spend some time and try to serve them for a while. And I knew in the back of my head, God allowed this tragedy happened, but God allowed the timing of that happened because I needed to go serve someone. It kind of brought me, lifting me up. Friend, I’m telling you, have a bad day? Hey, make some cookies and go to the nursing home and give them out. He’ll encourage you. I mean, just serving.
He’s, “Well, I need my mind, time and me time.” And I understand there’s some of that that’s real and understandable. But, friend, so often the thing that’s going to encourage you more than others is doing something for someone else—serving. Jesus was a servant. He said, “I want this mind to be in you.” What was it? He left heaven. He left everything perfect and wonderful. Everyone, the angels adored him. Anything he said or wished you wanted was his. Model prayer, he said, “Hey, pray, ‘Thy will be done in heaven.’” He had all that, but he left it all to come down and serve. Jesus was a servant.
Maybe if we keep our eyes on Jesus, we’ll be servants. Look, 19:10: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” He was a—he is salvation. He came to purchase our salvation, but he came to seek. He was a personal soul winner. And he said, “Then to follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Maybe the greatest way we can serve humanity is to tell others about Jesus Christ, serving them, serving them.
It’s amazing how opposite Christ’s philosophy and the world’s philosophy is on this. Polar opposites on this point here. It just seems to be more obvious and evident that the world’s philosophy is, “Well, put yourself first. Time to think about yourself.” Hey, it’s time that I just—I’ve been focusing on everybody, which I don’t know if it’s true or not—but time I’ve got to focus on myself. That’s just the philosophy that’s out there nowadays. Christ’s philosophy is not like that. Christ, he came to serve.
Go to work tomorrow, if you have work tomorrow, with the snow and whatnot—38 inches of snow is coming tomorrow night—and go to work and start serving others. It’ll let you shine. And, you know, the world’s philosophy: “Don’t do anything more than that you have to do. Don’t you do anybody else’s work for sure.” Just go serve. Go to work and serve. It’ll help you shine. It’s so different than what the Bible’s philosophy is. Mark 8:35: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”
You know the Hebrews of the Bible, they weren’t perfect at it, but for the most part, they were servants. You ever think about Paul? Everywhere Paul went, he is a servant. Now, often it was in the form of witnessing. He’s in court, standing before a king, and he says, “Oh, King Agrippa, you got to get saved.” And he said, “Well, almost.” And he said, “Well, if you won’t, what about all—” try to get everybody, just always serving. He’s in a jail cell, and one of the cellmates over there, he’s a runaway slave, and Paul could have been there complaining about, “I’ve been present, I haven’t done anything wrong,” but he served that runaway slave and he led him to the Lord. I mean, just wherever you find Paul, he’s serving somebody. He’s on a ship; there are 276 people on board that, and you watch that—you read that over in the book of Acts—and Paul is serving them. By the way, you don’t think about that? They ended up on that island, Melita, I believe it is, and he was getting sticks. He’s serving. I don’t know what a snake bit him, but God took care of him, but he’s serving.
I mean, you look at these great heroes of the faith in the Bible, and they’re serving. David, that great, great hero of the faith—Acts 13:36, the Bible says, “For David, after he had served his own generation…” Moses, that great servant—so much of the Bible is about Moses. We’re studying on Wednesday nights about Moses. Thirty-eight times, maybe more, the best I can find, thirty-eight times the Bible calls Moses a servant of the Lord. Someone said—I haven’t checked this out—but someone said 60 verses in the Bible that Jesus—excuse me, God, Jesus is the same one—but Jesus, God, is calling someone “my servant.” Sixty verses that is calling someone, “That’s my servant.” Could he say that about me? Could he say that about you? Servant. This old world, they need Christians that are Christianity in shoe leather, and they serve. Oh, what a great testimony.
Jesus, he took upon him the form of a servant. You know the last things Jesus did before he ascended? He was dying on the cross; he was serving humanity. In just those last days, he’s just spending his life serving. One of the last things on the cross he did was he led that thief on the cross. Did he serve him? He spent his life. This is amazing, amazing truth. In eternity, marriage separates the land specifically—you know, Christ will serve us. I feel so unworthy, but he’s a servant. And where to be Christ-like, we will be serving.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes tonight? Maybe you’re there like me and you say, “You know, I would like to be more of a servant. I’d like to be more like Jesus. I’d like to be more of a servant.” I’m with you. I like to be there. Not always there like I should be, but I’d like to be there. “Preacher, God spoke to my heart. I’d like to be more of a servant like Jesus.” Matthew and I, preacher, that’s me. Would you slip your hand up? Preacher, I’d like to be more of a servant. I’m with you. Hands up. Oh, Jesus was a servant. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you for letting the Lord work with your heart.
Would you stand please tonight? Let’s have a word of prayer. Let’s spend some time just being obedient to the Lord and just follow his tugging, his leading in his heart. Would you do that? Father, thank you, Lord. You’re amazing. You not only tell us what to do, but just show us how to do it. Help us to follow in your shoes. Thank you, Jesus. Help us to be more like you. Father, we yield to you tonight. Bless these few minutes, Lord, in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Would you be obedient as our instance play and protect? And I like some of the greatest heroes we have as our police officers. We had one out here old month ago, and he was a deputy, and, you know, school kids were here, whatnot, and he went out and asked us, “Hey sir, would you mind if our kids could just kind of come and say hi to you?” And boy, he just—just overly abundantly—he said, “Oh, I’d be glad to.” And the kids were back here and played around to believe maybe not out, you’re somewhere on there. And he said, “Well, where would be a good place?” And he pulled up there. And man, he let those kids—he even let them get in his car. I thought, man, that boy, they don’t let him. He’s not able to pull down on that gear shift, you know. I mean, but he was serving. I thought, that’s a great police officer. He was serving. And I hope God used to kind of mold those children to police officers, too, as a smart one. But serving, serving. Christ was a servant. And praise the Lord.
Now, don’t get used to this, folks, all right now. It’s only 5:10. My goodness, now, you know, I’m teasing. Appreciate you being here. I’m teasing with you, but glad you’re here on a Sunday night. Let’s go home. Well, let’s just serve each other. You’ll be happier, I promise you. And glad you’re here tonight. Good to see Brother Moe slipping back there. That’s great. Him and his daughter. And that’s awesome. Glad to see him back there. What a blessing it is. And glad you’re here tonight. And now when you’re snowed in, that seven foot of snow is over your rooftop, you know, call up Brother Garrett. He’ll serve you, amen, you know. And I appreciate it, Brother Garrett. He’s a servant. He’s willing to do whatever out here. I appreciate it very much. And bless him. Brother Moe, would you dismiss us? And a word of prayer, please, brother. Hey.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Jesus the servant - Sunday PM 01142023