Dave's Diary

John 13:1-17 and Philippians 2:1-11

“(Jesus) being in very nature God …
    … made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant …” (Selected phrases of Philippians 2:6-7)

In John 13 we see an example of what the apostle Paul described in Philippians 2. Jesus knew that He was the Son of God by His very nature. Yet, some 33 years previously He had chosen to humble Himself into Mary’s womb and had lived a self-limited human life. By God’s will He had grown up in the underdog village of Nazareth and, after 30 years of serving His family, He had taken on the public ministry and mission of a Servant-King. He had gone about doing good to others and healing their brokenness. The One who alone is worthy of worship, had humbled Himself and served others. Towards the end of His human life, in John 13, He had symbolically enacted what His whole life had actually been about – taking on the role and nature of a servant to meet the needs of others in love. The One who was “in very nature God (Phil. 2:6) took on the “nature of a servant“.

To use the image we’ve used all week: “The top-dog chose to become an under-dog in order to lift others up.” The perfect Lord of glory, the only human ever to live a sinless life, the greatest and most perfect one ever to have lived, lived not to please Himself but to give life to others. He was in very nature God, yet He looked not to His own interests but to the interests of others (Phil 2.4).

The call of Jesus to His disciples is His call to us too: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:14)

When one is an underdog in any situation, the challenging call of Jesus is to use that low position to serve the best interests of others and lift them up from below them. When one is in a top-dog position, the challenging call of Jesus is to use that high position to serve the best interests of others and lift them up. A life is not a Christlike life if it is aimed at lifting itself up. A life is only Christlike if it lifts others up.

King Jesus, Under-Dog King, Servant King, break my heart for what breaks Yours and give me the same heart You have – a heart that longs to lift others up in love. Help me Lord, for this goes against every self-centred human tendency. This goes against the culture of my day. This goes against the norm, it bucks the trend and it will set me apart as very different. Help me to live this way by the power of Your Spirit at work in me. In Your precious Name I pray. Amen.