“A Servant Is Not Greater Than His Master”

 

I once used a popular “witnessing” course with a congregation, and while it had some valuable elements to it, if I could revisit that time and place I either wouldn’t use it at all or I would supplement it in order to place it in a more Biblical context. Well now, those words “more Biblical context” suggest that I wouldn’t use it again because, in spite of its stated goal, a message and training are either in a Biblical context or they aren’t. Do you see the tension here? Some of the elements of the course are helpful, but the overall image it presents of a Christian who shares the Gospel is frankly missing the Cross of Christ, and by extension the Christ of the Cross. This is common today, we draw crowds when we have touchy – feelie messages of how to be a Christian without the Cross of Christ and the Christ of the Cross. Tragically, we called these crowds a success.

 

I regret that I did not teach my people about suffering for Christ in our witnessing, about sharing His sufferings the way we share His Body and Blood at the communion Table, about rejoicing when we are privileged to be rejected and suffer for His Gospel.

 

Yahweh tells Ezekiel, “And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house” (Ez. 2:6).   

 

 We like to quote the Beatitudes, until we get to the last two, which are yoked together as one:

 

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:10 – 12.

 

The Beatitudes in Matthew comprise ten verses in our English Bibles, three of them are about persecution for the sake of Christ. That is, Jesus gives more attention to the blessedness of being persecuted for His sake than to any other subject in the Beatitudes.

 

The Beatitudes set the stage for what follows in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5 – 7), they set the trajectory. The final stage of the trajectory is verses 10 – 12 – persecution. Where do the first seven beatitudes lead? They lead to verses 10 – 12, they lead to persecution. Is it possible to live in the first seven beatitudes and not experience persecution for the sake of Christ? Is it possible to be a peacemaker and not experience what the Prince of Peace experienced? Is it possible to live so counter-culturally and not know the pushback and hostility of the world?

 

In Luke’s setting for the Beatitudes, Jesus also says, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.” (Luke 6:26). Might there be something amiss when our witnessing and outreach is driven by a desire to be acceptable to everyone? When we teach techniques so as not to offend others? After all, there is an inherent offense in the Cross of Christ, for the Gospel convicts of sin and requires a response, either one of repentance or of continued rejection of God.

 

In the Upper Room, on the night of His betrayal, Jesus teaches that since we are not of the world that the world hates us, and that, “A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:18 – 16:4; 17:14-16).

 

Yet, in the midst of hostility, our words and actions are to be in wisdom and “with grace, as though seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:5 – 6). Our goal is always to save others and win them for Jesus (1 Cor. 11:19 – 23); hence we make ourselves the servants of all. Let us make no mistake, we are called to represent Jesus Christ and not ourselves.

 

“The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:24 – 26).

 

As Ezekiel, we are sent to a hostile world; but we are not to be hostile, as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous." (Matthew 5:44 - 45).

 

We are to be firm, we are to be clear, but we are not to be hostile. We are to be confident but not conceited. After all, we no longer belong to ourselves; we are the servants of Jesus Christ.

 

Are we living as His servants? Are we serving others?