John 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
Serving
Serving royalty is a high honor. Even in America, to be an executive assistant to the President would be quite a job indeed. What about a servant who serves other servants? Does this job carry the same prestige; is there the same power involved in that kind of a job? Jesus, just before He was crucified, made it a point to serve His servants. He washed the feet of His disciples and said, “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” Jesus then said, “The servant is not greater than his lord.”
That is interesting. Jesus served his servants, His disciples, and then He said, “The servant is not greater than his lord.” Well, if the servant is not greater than his lord then how could this Lord serve His servants? In other words, was Jesus any less Master by serving His disciples? Clearly, He was not. Am I any more a master by refusing to serve? In verse 14 Jesus says, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”
It is easy for us to serve when we think we are going to be recognized for it. It is even easy to serve as long as people know that what we are doing is noble. It is hard when we are serving and people are just expecting that we would do what we are doing.
Are you willing to do great things for the Lord? In verse 37, Peter told the Lord that he would follow Him to the death. Was he able to do that? No, he denied he even knew Jesus shortly thereafter. Eventually, through the Holy Spirit’s empowering he would follow Christ and die for Him.
Most of us are more interested in doing great things than doing the small things that we can do right now. Are you willing to do small things? Verse 17 says, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” There is often a large gap between what we know and what we do. It is easy to preach on servanthood, but it is hard to actually serve. In fact, it is impossible because it is not in our nature. That’s why we need the power of Christ Who also gave us His example.
Peter was willing to follow Christ to death, but all these disciples struggled with serving others. Doing small things for Christ means serving here and now, not waiting until later to do some big thing. Serving Christ means serving other people. If I’m not serving people, I’m not serving Christ. When we serve others, we copy Jesus. Jesus was no less the Master by serving others, I am no greater because I refuse to serve others, and the servant is not greater than his lord.