The character of service

Jesus never separated greatness from service. He said, “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:26). This is almost the opposite of the world’s philosophy. The world asks, “How many people serve me?” Christ asks, “How many people am I willing to serve?” The world measures status. Christ measures service. The world celebrates the person at the top. Christ points toward the person willing to stoop.

The towel and the basin

One of the most powerful scenes in the Gospels takes place shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus took a towel. He filled a basin. And He washed His disciples’ feet. The One through whom the universe was created knelt before ordinary human beings. As we saw in chapter 4, He then said, “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15). Jesus was not merely teaching foot washing. He was teaching a way of life. Serve. Humble yourself. Do not consider yourself too important to help others. This is the character of heaven.

The Good Samaritan

A lawyer once asked Jesus who his neighbour was. Jesus told of a man beaten and left half dead on the road. A priest and a Levite passed by on the other side. A Samaritan, from a people the Jews despised, stopped, bandaged his wounds, put him on his own animal, took him to an inn and paid for his care. Then Jesus asked which of the three had been a neighbour:

And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Notice that the Samaritan gained nothing from the stranger. He gave his time, his money and his transport, and he did not ask to be thanked. “Go and do likewise.” Service is love given a practical form.

Quiet servants

The New Testament is filled with people whose service is recorded with respect, though they were not famous. Tabitha, or Dorcas, in Joppa, “was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did” (Acts 9:36). When she died, the widows stood weeping and showed Peter the garments she had made for them (Acts 9:39). Her service had made her loved.

Epaphroditus was sent by the Philippians to help Paul, and he nearly died doing it. Paul writes that “for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life” (Philippians 2:30). Onesiphorus, in Ephesus and in Rome, “often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain,” and searched hard to find Paul in prison (2 Timothy 1:16-17). None of these people held an office that history remembers, and Scripture remembers them. Their service reveals their character. Paul’s instruction to the Galatians is simple: “through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).

Service without self-importance

Service asks a searching question: What am I willing to do for someone who cannot repay me? Christlike character does not need applause. It finds joy in doing good because love has become the motive. Peter gives the principle that ties service to the grace we have received: “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). In the kingdom of heaven, greatness is expressed through service rather than self-importance.

Where Part Seven brings us

We have now looked at the qualities that mark a life in which Christ is being formed: love, forgiveness, humility, truth, self-control, obedience and service. They are not seven separate achievements. They are different views of the same character, the character of Christ seen in His people. And Jesus said that this is how the world would see Him: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). The aim of every one of these qualities is not our own credit. It is that others may see Christ.