Matthew 23:11,12
“But the greatest of you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”
Gayle Irwin wrote a book called, “The Jesus Style”. These two verses explain it. Jesus came to serve. If we are in Christ, we are to do the same. The world and self say, “serve me”. The world doesn’t understand Him.
That’s part of the reason the pharisees rejected Him. He called them out. A few verses earlier, Jesus says, “to do as they say, not as they do”. He would say as much to their faces. It made them angry.
At our core we want selfish things. Here are Jesus’ words about that, ‘Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me”‘, (Matthew 16:24). We don’t know this initially, but it’s liberating. When we are at the center of things, we are miserable. It’s not intuitive. God’s ways are best.
We aren’t to promote ourselves. Again, that’s self. We do have a desire to be recognized. We like to get the glory. That’s not the Jesus style. He will give us some attention at times. Psalm 23 says, “He prepareth a table for me in the presence of my enemies”. It’s an honor banquet He gives us. He will toot our horn on occasion. There were times I expected it. Not so. He will do it in His time.
We are to serve others. Volunteer, step up, speak up. It’s His way. He modeled it. First by choosing parents of humble origin for Himself. He came into the world while on the road, born in a barn. He was raised in a humble region. Those in His home town had a hard time believing He was the Messiah. He called them out on it and they sought to kill Him.
Don’t seek the road of praise. One of His lessons had to do with choosing the humble seat at a banquet. Don’t promote ourselves.
Be sincere with our humility. As a young believer I was accused of being falsely humble. He was right. Like the pharisees I was trying to seem humble to get some praise. Jesus warned against this in Matthew 6:16-18, “Now whenever you fast, do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they distort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But as for you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be noticed by people but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Being a servant and following Jesus’ way is a blessing. Jesus said in Matthew 16:25, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” This is so true. My life is so full because of this. I am putting to death my selfish desires. That very thing that make self cringe. The way the world says is misery is God’s recipe for joy.
Thank You, Lord for the Jesus style. You’ve traded my mourning for You dancing.
