"But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."" (Matthew 20:25-28)
The Bible tells us that God is continually molding all who follow Christ into Christ's very likeness (see Romans 8:28-29). As a result of this, all of us who grow in Christ-likeness will also have one of the most defining and amazing characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ: servanthood.
The Lord Jesus Himself, though He was and is God, chose to serve in love. He showed us that greatness is not measured by the amount of possessions that we have, or the level of academic and social achievements we have reached. It is measured by our humility and compassion for others.
That said, how do we become Christ-like servants? Here are three things crucial to Christ-like servanthood:
1) The Lordship of Christ
The Lord Jesus Himself said that "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40). If we want to be like Him in serving others, then we should follow Him. We do this by following Him as our Lord.
Following the Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect path to becoming a true servant. We deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and obey His commands (see Matthew 16:24). We will learn to disregard ourselves, put others ahead of us, and love them like Jesus did.
2) The love of the Father
If the Lord Jesus Himself received comfort and love from the Father in order to do what He did, what makes us think otherwise?
We need the love of God to teach and empower us to love others, especially the unlovable, and serve them. The moment we realize just how much God loved us is the moment we realize we should love others too (see Luke 7:47).
3) The fellowship of the Holy Spirit
Lastly, we will need to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, just like the Lord Jesus did (see Luke 4:14).
We all need to grow in fellowship with the Holy Spirit of God. The great thing about this is that it's not a one-way affair: the Spirit of God, who resides in each and every believer, is more than able and willing to do what we ask or even think (see Ephesians 3:20). He is more committed to making us Christ-like than we know (see Philippians 1:6; 1 John 1:9).
