Week 23: How was Jesus a servant?
For several months now, Family Time has explored ways we can love God and love people. We’ve learned that truly loving God means being committed to His Word, making prayer a part of your daily life, and worshipping Him continually. God then gives you a desire to love other people by connecting with a community of believers and sharing Jesus with nonbelievers. There is one more piece of the puzzle though. This month we’ll discover ways to live out our love for God and other people by having the heart of a servant. Let’s begin by looking at the greatest example of a servant – Jesus.
Be ready to read the following passages:
Let’s start it.
What recent achievement are you pleased with? If you can’t think of one right away, ask your family to name something you’ve accomplished.
Let’s learn it.
There are lots of reasons to be proud of your family and of yourself. Working hard and having strong character are just a few things that we can be pleased with because they also please the Lord. There’s a big difference, however, between being satisfied with a job well done and being prideful. The sin of pride creeps in when you take credit for your accomplishments rather than recognizing how God helped you to do it. Pride causes you to think you’re better than someone else.
If anyone ever had reason to think highly of Himself, it was Jesus. He is the perfect, sinless Son of God. Yet the Bible tells us that Jesus was humble – the exact opposite of being prideful. Have a family member read Philippians 2:1-11, and make note of the ways Jesus humbled Himself when He lived on the earth.
Even though He is Lord, Jesus became a human being, knowing all the time that He would be humiliated on the Cross. Not only that, but He lived each day with the attitude of a servant. He looked out for the needs of other people – the same people He would die to rescue from sin. A great example of His servant’s heart is found in John 13:1-17. Check out what Jesus did in this passage that shocked His disciples.
People in the Bible usually walked everywhere they went, so they needed to wash their feet when they went inside. Can you imagine how dirty your feet would get if you walked down dirt roads in sandals every day? The servant with the lowest position had the job of washing the feet of whoever came into the house. No servants were present because Jesus wanted to be alone with His disciples. Instead of humbly volunteering for the job of washing feet, the disciples had been disagreeing about which one of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24)! So Jesus modeled humility as a servant and washed their feet – even the feet of those who would shortly deny and betray Him.
No one else could ever accomplish what Jesus accomplished. He paid the price for our sins on the Cross, and He did it with perfect humility. Every day that Jesus walked on Earth, He gave us an example to follow. He showed us how to live with the heart of a servant.
Let’s discuss it.
- Think about the accomplishment you mentioned in Let’s start it. How could that accomplishment tempt you to be prideful?
- We have different customs than the people in the Bible had. What tasks today would be similar to washing someone’s feet?
- Discuss ways that you can serve the people you spend time with each day.
Let’s do it.
Followers of Jesus should follow His example – right? Well then, we should approach each day with the heart of a servant. That means looking for ways to help others instead of focusing only on your own interests. In order to follow Jesus’ example fully, we need to be humble as well. Are you quietly competing to be greater than a sibling, a fellow student, or a co-worker? Or has someone hurt your feelings or betrayed your trust? Name one way you can serve that person this week. Close your time together by asking God to give you true humility and the willingness to serve people as Jesus did.