Building the Servant Attitude of Christ in Us

Steve Corley

Given in Roanoke and Kingsport on First Day of Unleavened Bread, April 6, 2023

Given (with modifications to first paragraph) in Knoxville on April 8, 2023 (weekly Sabbath during Days of Unleavened Bread)

Let’s think back to two days ago.  The First Day of Unleavened Bread represented our journey out of sin, just as on that day the Israelites began their journey out of Egypt – which typifies sin.  And we can think of two more very important events which happened on that day in history.  The first was God’s original covenant with Abraham.  I mentioned in a previous sermon the introduction of the New Testament Passover (or at least two of its three elements) at least 430 years before the Old Covenant Passover was ever established.  After sunset on the following day (Nisan 15) God established His original covenant with Abraham – giving his descendants the land of Canaan (which later became a symbol of the whole earth).  As I mentioned, on that day 430 years after the covenant with Abraham the Israelites left Egypt on their journey toward the land which God had originally promised Abraham in this very same covenant.  And, more than 1500 years after that, that day became a symbol of the forgiveness of our past sins (just as when the Israelites left Egypt, which had become a symbol of sin).  Just before the beginning of that day, Jesus had died on the cross and had been put into the tomb – being the perfect sacrifice, enabling the forgiveness of our sins – starting the process by which we can come out of sin.  And what about today?  The weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread was the day on which Jesus was resurrected (at the end of the Sabbath).  Romans 5:10 points out the importance of both the Passover (a reminder of Jesus’ death) and today the anniversary of His resurrection to eternal spirit life).  (By the way – the world of traditional “Christianity” has the time of Jesus’ resurrection only a few hours wrong this year.  Some years they have it many days wrong.)  As we know, leaven symbolizes sin.  How do we put out the spiritual “leaven” – how do we come out of sin?  In a nutshell, it is building in us the attitude of Christ, the One who never sinned.  And that is an attitude of service to God and to our fellow human beings.  We might title the sermon “Building the Servant Attitude of Christ in Us.”

Leaven “puffs up” bread – and is therefore a symbol of pride.  Pride is the most basic and fundamental of sins.  Every sin – that is, every sin that we commit while knowing in advance that it is a sin – can be described at its root as a sin of pride.  When we sin knowingly and willingly, we are showing to God that we are too proud to come under the rule of His law.  Pride was at the core of the very first sin – when Heylel (Lucifer) rebelled against God and became Satan.  Lucifer was proud of all his power and grandeur – forgetting that everything he had, he had only because it had been given to him by the God who had created him (Ezekiel 28:12-15).   He wanted more – the rulership of the universe (or at least to share that rulership with God (Isaiah 14:12-15)) and was so proud that he rebelled against God – and thereby invented sin.  Lucifer was the complete example of the “leavened” or “puffed-up” attitude we must avoid.

In his great Passover epistle of 1 Corinthians, Paul upbraided the brethren in Corinth many times for being “puffed up” (1 Cor. 4:6,18-19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4).  (In some translations, especially those based on the principle of “dynamic equivalence” instead of “complete equivalence,” the Greek word  φυσιόω  (“fusioo,” Strong’s #5448) is translated “to be arrogant” rather than the more literal “to be puffed up.”  Even though “arrogant” is also a correct translation of the Greek word, it is not the best translation in these passages since it masks the Passover imagery that Paul is using through the entire letter.)  When a piece of bread is leavened, it appears to be more massive than it is.  Likewise, when we are proud – “puffed up” – we are pretending to be more than what we are, just as Lucifer did.  Paul told the Corinthians to put away the spiritual “leaven” of “malice and wickedness” – attitudes stemming from pride, or being “puffed up” – just as they had put the physical leaven out of their houses.

Sin is defined in 1 John 3:4 as ἀνομία (“anomia,” Strong’s #458) – a Greek word which comes from “nomos” (law) with the prefix “a” (without).  “Anomia” is being without law, living outside the law, living as though the law did not exist, behaving as an “outlaw” – translated variously as “lawlessness” (NKJV) or "the transgression of the law” (KJV).  If we sin knowingly and willingly, such is a manifestation of pride – a “puffed up” or “leavened” heart. In any case, when we sin we are:

• Not building the attitude of Christ within us
• Not abiding in Christ and in the Father (John 15:4-7, 1 John 2:24)
• Not letting Christ and God the Father make Their home with us and in us (John 14:23)
• Showing that some of God’s Law has not been written in our hearts (Jer. 31:33)

Remember that the Law can be symbolized by a chain (although this specific symbol itself is not used in the Bible).  When we break any part of the Law, we have broken the Law (James 2:10) – just as breaking any link of a chain breaks the chain.  In order for us not to sin through ignorance (Lev. 4:2ff) we must know the Law and study it – we must learn all of it and strive not to break any part of it. As New Covenant Christians, we are supposed to be letting God write His Law in our hearts.  (Remember that elements of the Law, the commands of God, are found not only in the first five books of the Bible (which are traditionally referred to as “the Law” but all through the Bible.  Whenever Christ commanded us to do something in the New Testament, that command of course also became part of the Law.)  Remember the requirement for kings in Deut. 17:14-20 – the king was supposed to write his own copy of the Law from the one kept by the priests.  The king was supposed to read his copy of the Law each day throughout his life so he would know it and be able to administer it properly in governing the people.  He was similarly to remember that he himself was required to obey the Law – the Law was over the king (contrast Gentile kings – an example being Nebuchadnezzar – who often were allowed to do anything they wanted).  (Remember that our violations of the Law were what nailed Jesus, the King of kings, to the cross – so one might say that in that sense the Law nailed Him to the cross.  Even though He was the One who had given the Law, it still stood over Him and He had to be subject to it as a human being.  But He in turn nailed to the cross the record of our violations of that Law, erasing this record which stood against us (Col. 2:14).) 

And Christ knew perfectly the Law and what it really meant – remember He was the one who had given the Law to Moses (and to humans before then) in the first place.  He was continually correcting the misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the Law which had become common in the Judaism of His day.  And of course the King of kings was the One who never sinned – who obeyed perfectly the Law which He had given.  And we in the future are to be lesser kings and priests (Rev. 5:9-10), serving and ruling under the One who is both the King of kings and our permanent High Priest.  Priests are to teach the Law to the people so that the people in turn can internalize it.  Whether we are to be a king or priest (or both), in either case we will have to have internalized the Law!

Going back to Deut. 17:20, we can also note that the king’s heart was not to be “lifted above his brethren” (maybe lifted like leavened bread?).  Again, the King of kings obeyed this precept perfectly as shown when He washed the feet of the disciples!

And one of the chief impediments to having God’s Law written in our hearts – and one of the chief sources of a “leavened,” “puffed up” attitude, is a tendency to compare ourselves with each other.  The only valid comparison is with the sinless Jesus Christ – and when we compare ourselves with Him (as we were supposed to be doing before Passover) we all see that we fall incredibly short.  If we compare ourselves with each other we are not wise (2 Cor. 10:12).  If we start looking at the faults of other humans and begin thinking that we are “better” spiritually than they are then we will tend to be blinded to our own sins and sinful tendencies – and thereby forget the meanings of both the Passover (how sinful we are and how badly we need the sacrifice of Christ) and the Days of Unleavened Bread (how much we need to confront our own sins and root them out of our lives).  We will tend to become “puffed up” and have the dangerous “leavened” attitude.  Rather, we should esteem others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3).  We do not know their heart – they may have overcome much more than we have overcome.  We see the outward appearance but God sees the heart (1 Sam. 16:7, 2 Cor. 10:7).  In line with esteeming others better than ourselves, we should all be submissive to one another (1 Peter 5:5).

The principle of esteeming others better than ourselves and of being submissive to one another brings us to one of the key attitudes we must have as Christians – and that is the attitude of service.  If we think about it – what is agape love, as described in 1 Cor. 13, but an attitude of willing, joyful service?  Remember that agape is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:10) – and hence, also if we think about it, the whole law is about how we should be willing servants of God and of one another.  Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, tells us in many commands in both Testaments how we are to live, what we are and are not to do – and as servants we are to obey our Master (cf. 1 Peter 2:18, Col. 4:1).  [Even the health laws such as the law of clean and unclean meats – which at first glance might seem to have little to do with service – are there so we can have longer, healthier lives to enable us to be better servants of God and of each other.]  We will always, even through eternity, be servants of God the Father and of Jesus Christ.

Obedience to the Law – coming out of sin, a focus of the Days of Unleavened Bread – is recognizing that we are servants of God and of each other and embracing our servant status.  As we read earlier, we are to be kings and priests in the Millennium and beyond.  A king is to be the servant of the people over whom he rules – he is to imitate Christ, the perfect Servant Ruler.  Christ is perfect in both how He serves His superior (God the Father) and in how He has served, continues to serve and will serve in the future those over whom He rules (us now, and in the future all human beings).  And a priest is supposed to be the servant of the people whom he teaches, just as a king is supposed to be the servant of the people over whom he rules. 

And if we are indeed building the attitude of Christ within us, we will imitate His attitude of total service.  If we think back a few days to when we observed the Passover – each of the three parts of the Passover reflects service.  The unleavened bread (which we are still to be taking in for the next few days) represents His sinless body, broken that our sins might be forgiven and that we might have the opportunity for eternal life.  The wine likewise represents His blood, poured out by the wound of the soldier’s spear for the forgiveness of our sins (with the blood loss being the actual cause of His death).  And the footwashing was His act of direct physical service to His disciples – and we are to follow His example both in the act and the attitude behind it.

Just in passing, here I would like to point out a Biblical example of a minister in the Church who had anything but a servant’s heart – anything but a humble “footwashing” attitude.  As you probably suspect I am talking about Diotrephes.  Let’s turn to 3 John 9-10.  Diotrephes loved “to have the preeminence among them” – he was proud.  Diotrephes was “puffed up.”  He was “leavened.”  He wanted to be recognized as “number one” – or, as the Japanese might say, he wanted to be “Dai Ichi.”  [Just as an aside – many Japanese companies claim to be “number one” in their fields and have “Dai Ichi” in their company names.]  As we read earlier, wasn’t wanting to be “number one” exactly the attitude of Lucifer, which got him into trouble?  And, just as Lucifer’s attitude eventually led him to rebel against God, Diotrephes’ desire for the preeminence led him to resent, speak against and refuse to obey directives from his superior – the apostle John.  Diotrephes even started disfellowshipping the brethren who were loyal and who stood up to him.  John said he would confront Diotrephes if he had the opportunity but the account ends there – we do not know whether Diotrephes ever repented.  In any case, the attitude of Diotrephes shown in the verses we read is an attitude we most certainly must avoid – anyone who grabs for the “number one” position is being anything but a loyal servant.  Diotrephes was not being a servant of those above him who had placed him in his position, and he also was not being a proper servant of the congregation under him – he was certainly not a good example of a “servant ruler.”  We must avoid the attitude of Diotrephes!

In summary – coming out of sin means taking in the attitude of Christ, the One without sin.  The more of His attitude we take in, the better prepared we will be to become rulers under Him in His Kingdom in the future.  He is, and will always be, the perfect Servant Ruler.  And if we want to be rulers in the future, we must be building within ourselves an attitude of service now (Matt. 20:25-28) – and remember that to the extent that we continue to sin, that we are failing to come out of sin, we are not obeying our Lord and Master – not being proper servants.  In that way we will be preparing ourselves to be servant rulers under Him in the future, servants of the people over whom we will rule.  A good boss is the servant of the people he bosses – he helps them to do their job and removes obstacles which stand in their way.  An organization totally opposed to God’s way, the Mafia, has a title for the general head over all the different Mafia families.  That title is “il capo di tutti capi” – “the boss of all bosses.”  We can see here that the Mafia is guilty of appropriating a title which rightfully belongs to Christ.  Christ is, and will be when He returns to the earth, the supreme Servant of all who are under Him, the Good Boss of all good bosses – or, as the Italians might say, “il Capo Buono di tutti capi buoni.”  And during these Days of Unleavened Bread and in the future, let us strive to put sin out of our lives, to take in the attitude of Christ – and look forward to the day when we also will be “good bosses,” servant rulers under Him.  May God speed that day!