Thursday, March 18, 2010

Not Lording It Over Those Entrusted To You

1 Peter 5:2-3 - Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

Mark 10:43-45 - Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Philippians 2:6-7 - Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Conclusions:
  • Jesus overturns the value structure of the world
  • The life of discipleship is to be characterized by humble and loving service
  • Mark 10:45 is a key verse in Mark’s gospel
  • Jesus came to the world as a servant—indeed, the Servant—who would suffer and die for our redemption, as Isaiah clearly predicted
  • Ransom means the price paid for release (from bondage)
  • Jesus gave His life to release us from bondage to sin and death
  • “For many” means in place of many, pointing to Christ’s substitutionary death
  • Giving His life for many is in contrast to the one life given for our ransom
  • Made Himself nothing literally means emptied Himself
  • Christ Jesus made Himself nothing, not by giving up deity, but by laying aside His glory and submitting to the humiliation of becoming man
  • Jesus is truly God and truly man
  • Another view is that Christ Jesus emptied Himself, not of deity itself, but of its prerogatives—the high position and glory of deity
  • Nature of a servant emphasizes the full reality of His servant identity
  • As a servant, Christ Jesus was always submissive to the will of the Father

Application:

  • Are you characterized by humble and loving service?
  • Have you been released from bondage to sin and death?
  • Are you always submissive to the will of the Father?
All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

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