Our Servant, Jesus

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Not only was he the servant of his people while he lived on earth, but he will also be our servant when he comes again. “Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them” (Luke 12:37). Jesus gave that as a picture of what he will do at his return.

Not only that, he is our servant now. “‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6).

Does this belittle the risen Christ — to say that he was and is and will ever be the servant of his people? It would, if “servant” meant “one who takes orders,” or if we thought we were his masters. Yes, that would dishonor him. But it does not dishonor him to say that we are weak and need his help.

It does not dishonor him to say that he is the only one who can service us with what we need most.

It does not dishonor him to say that he is an inexhaustible spring of love, and that the more he helps us and the more we depend on his service, the more amazing his resources appear. Therefore, we can confidently say, “Jesus Christ is alive to serve!”

He is alive to save. He is alive to give. And he is thrilled to be this way.

He is not burdened down with your cares. He thrives on burden-bearing, not burden-giving. He loves to work “for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4). He “takes pleasure . . . in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:11). His eyes “run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Jesus Christ is exuberant with omnipotent service for the sake of all who trust him.

John Piper 

Breaking the Alabaster Box

BIBLE MEDITATION:

She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint My body to the burying. Mark 14:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Mary loved Jesus so much that she gave all she had. She didn’t just pour out a little perfume to anoint Him, she gave it all (see Mark 14:3-9). She couldn’t put that perfume back in the bottle. She had broken it! Maybe it was her inheritance or hope chest. She didn’t hold back any for a rainy day or her retirement.

Most of us would have said, “Lord, I would like to give You a little of this perfume. But It cost me a year in wages, so I can’t give it all to You. But I want You to have some of it to show You how much I love You.”

ACTION POINT:

Does this speak to your heart as much as it does mine? Confess, “Lord, I’m not willing to break the alabaster box. Forgive me. Enable me to give my all. Here I am. Take all of me.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Amazed at the Resurrection

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. (2 Peter 3:1)

As Easter approaches, let’s stir up our thankfulness and joy and admiration and amazement at what the resurrection of Jesus means for us. The curse of our fallen nature is that what once thrilled us becomes ordinary. The reality hasn’t changed. We have changed.

This is why the Bible exists. Peter says of his two letters that they are written to “stir up” or “arouse” by means of “reminder.”

So, let’s stir up our sincere minds by way of reminder.

What has God done in raising Jesus from the dead? Here are a few biblical answers.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we are born again to a living hope.

1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Because of Jesus’s resurrection, he now has the glory for which we were made. Our ultimate destiny is to see him as he is.

1 Peter 1:21: “God . . . raised him from the dead and gave him glory.”

John 17:5, 24: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. . . . Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

May the risen Lord Jesus himself awaken and arouse your sincere mind to new depths of worship and allegiance and joy.

John Piper 

What does God want most of all?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If you asked a Christian brother or sister why God made us, they would probably say that we were made to serve God. But don’t you believe it. If God wanted servants, He could do a lot better than mere mortals.

When the scribes asked Jesus what was the first commandment, He said, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment” (Mark 12:29-30).

The first commandment is not to do something for God, but to love God. He made you and me in the likeness of His image, that He might have fellowship with us and that we would praise Him.

ACTION POINT:

Meditate throughout the day on this wonderful thought: God isn’t asking for your performance. He wants your love.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Kind of Cold That Kills

He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. (Psalm 147:15)

Tonight it will be forty degrees warmer in our kitchen freezer than it is outside here in Minneapolis. The high temperature tomorrow will be five degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). We receive this from the Lord’s hand.

He sends out his command to the earth;

his word runs swiftly.

He gives snow like wool;

he scatters frost like ashes.

He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;

who can stand before his cold?

He sends out his word, and melts them;

he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

(Psalm 147:15–18)

This is the kind of cold you do not play with. It kills.

When I came to Minnesota from South Carolina, I dressed for it. But I did not prepare life-saving support in my car in case of a breakdown.

One Sunday night on the way home from church, in this kind of cold, my car died. This was before cell phones. I had a wife and two small children in the car.

There was no one on this road. I suddenly realized, this is dangerous.

Soon it was very dangerous. No one came.

I saw in the distance through a fence a house. I am the father. This is my job. I climbed the fence and ran to the house and knocked on the door. They were home. I explained that I had a wife and two small children in the car, and asked if they would let us in. They did.

This is a kind of cold you do not play with.

It is one more way God says, “Whether hot or cold, high or deep, sharp or blunt, loud or quiet, bright or dark . . . don’t toy with me. I am God. I made all these things. They speak of me, just like the warm summer breezes do, and the gentle rains, and the soft moonlit nights, and the lapping of the lakeside, and lilies of the field and the birds of the air.”

There is a word for us in this cold. May the Lord give us skin to feel and ears to hear.

John Piper 

Are you hanging out with the devil’s billy goats??

BIBLE MEDITATION:

The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek Him: your heart shall live forever. Psalm 22:26

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever wondered why people stumble into pornography? Perhaps you even struggle in that area. It’s because they are not feeding on Jesus. They are seeking satisfaction in the evil pleasures of this world, rather than the eternal promises of eternity.

Suppose you just finished a wonderful meal and somebody knocks on your front door. You answer it, and they hold forth a plate full of stale crumbs saying, “Take this. Eat.” You would say, “No thank you, I don’t need that. I’m already satisfied.”

When you feast on the goodness of Jesus, you won’t be down a dark alley eating tin cans with the devil’s billy goats.

What does it mean to “feast on the goodness of Jesus?” It means to find your contentment in Jesus. How will you find that? You’re going to find Jesus in the Word. For Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures, these are they which testify of Me." You're not going to be pure until you put your eyes upon Jesus, the one who's altogether lovely, and gaze into His face in the Word of God.

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

ACTION POINT:

Load up on the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus will become so precious to you that you won’t envy people seeking satisfaction in evil; you'll pity them. You'll say, "I'd sooner eat dirt than do that" because you have something so wonderful in Jesus. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When You Are Immortal

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. (Acts 23:12)

What about those hungry fellows who promised not to eat till they had ambushed Paul?

We read about them in Acts 23:12, “When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.” It didn’t work. Why? Because a string of unlikely events happened.

A boy overheard the plot.

The boy was the son of Paul’s sister.

The boy had the courage to go to the Roman centurion guarding Paul.

The centurion took him seriously and brought him to the tribune.

The tribune believed him and prepared “two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen” to take Paul to safety.

Every one of those events was highly unlikely. Strange. But that’s what happened.

What had those hungry men lying in ambush overlooked? They failed to reckon with what happened to Paul just before they made their plot. The Lord appeared to Paul in prison and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome” (Acts 23:11).

Christ said Paul was going to Rome. And that was that. No ambush can stand against the promise of Christ. Until he got to Rome, Paul was immortal. There was a final testimony to be given. And Christ would see to it that Paul would give it.

You too have final testimony to give. And you are immortal until you give it.

John Piper