The Humility: Attitude Of a Godly Servant

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5)

Jesus taught His disciples that those who wish to be the greatest, must be the servant; and those who wish to be first, must be the slave. This does not mean to go and hire oneself out as a servant, or to sell oneself into slavery. Jesus was speaking of an attitude that dictates your actions (Matthew 20:20–28). On the night before His death Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, and thus gave them an example of humility. Imagine—the Creator lowered Himself to perform the duty of a servant, a slave! (John 13:1–17)

God the Son put aside His equality with God the Father, and humbled Himself to take on the form of a man (Philippians 2:5–8). He had the attitude of being a bond-servant^[1] and was therefore obedient to His Father in every way (John 10:25–38; 12:44–50). “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Jesus left His glory in heaven in order to live and die in human form so that He would pay the penalty for our sin (Romans 5:8–10).

At the appointed time Jesus was crucified; He was murdered on a cross (Luke 23:33). The religious leaders hated Him and were guilty for their part in this; however, Jesus had made it very clear that He was not a victim. He humbled Himself and willingly took our punishment by offering His sinless life as a sacrifice to take away our sin (John 1:29; 10:7–18).

After Jesus died His body was placed in a tomb, and then a large stone was rolled in front of the entrance (John 19:38–42; Matthew 27:59–60). In the minds of His enemies, Jesus was dead, the problem was solved—case closed. However, that was not the end.

FOOTNOTES

1. Some English translations of the Bible render the Greek word doulos as servant or bond-servant. However, the correct meaning of the word is, slave. Various resources point out that Bible translators have consistently hidden the fact that the original text of the New Testament uses the word doulos about 130 times, but is not always translated correctly as slave. For more information on this topic, see the book, The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur, (Zondervan 1988, 1993, 2008). ↑