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IBS 33 - Matthew 20:26-28

Matthew 20:26-28
“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Everyone wants to be great. We want to be number one without working for it. But as this verse says, we must be servants. Just like Jesus. He is a King, the son of God. And yet, He didn’t come down to earth as any King we would ever expect too. He came down and was born in a stable. He worked. He served. The King of Kings served his people instead of making them serve Him. Most Kings have many people serving them. They sit up high on their nice thrones with their royal robes and have servants all around them ready to jump at whatever task it is that the King demands. I’ve never heard of a King who serves instead of being served except for Jesus. He was the one who got down on hands and knees to wash dirty feet. He was the one who showed us want it meant to be servants. 
Kings also never die for anyone. They have guards and many people to jump in front of them when danger comes their way. They are always protected. Jesus, on the other hand, gave His life for His people. The King of Kings was brutally beaten and killed for all of His people instead of having someone else jump in the way. He loves us and died for us. I’ve never heard of a king doing that. 
We all talk about wanting a person that will lovingly serve us and if it so happened would die for us. That person is Jesus. No one realizes, though, the extent of His love. That a being with that much power would serve us, get down on hands and knees to wash our feet, and die a horrible death. All because this wonderful King wants to be with us. With His power, He didn’t have to do that. But He did, because of the love. 


Application: The next time I find myself complaining about doing a serving thing, I’ll remind myself that Jesus did this first and I need to be joyful about it instead of upset. I’ll pray that God will change my heart to serving and that I’ll begin to love it. 

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