Philippians 2:5-11 "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (NASB)
In my life experience so far, I have met people that were thrust into positions of leadership that were ill-equipped, I have met people that have real leadership ability that don't want the position of being in charge, I have met people that want to be in charge that have next to no leadership ability, and I have met real leaders. In fact, at given periods, I have probably inhabited all of those spaces personally. Although I could speak in detail on what qualities of leadership make or break someone in command, it would be pointless, because everything the world thinks is successful is turned upside down by Jesus Christ.
Jesus took a completely different attitude. He did not put on airs of command, though He would have been the man that legitimately could. It says he "emptied" Himself. The sense I got from a survey of 14 different translations that included KJV, NASB, and others, is that emptying was a putting aside of His own nature as God (verse 6 says He existed in the form of God). The King James, Modern King James, and Webster translations all say "He made Himself of no reputation" in an attempt to express that. (Young's Literal Translation uses the word "empties", and the Greek word κενόω has the meaning of emptying or making void, like erasing a blackboard or emptying a pot of its contents. After that, it says he took upon Himself the form of a slave, the servant of all. In fact, it says that he bound Himself under God's laws, and obeyed them, even though it cost Him His own life in the most painful way I can imagine. But what did this mean practically? It means that Jesus took the lowest place and served everyone, not just by His death, but by His life as well.
John 13:2-5 "During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded." (NASB)
This act of washing the feet was, in the culture of the day, an act of hospitality, that equally represented both humilty and affection, particularly when performed by the host. It was a loving act, and true to form, the disciples did not recognize it as such, but my point here is that the one man that could have commanded us all took the lowest place and served us. One commentator (J. N. Darby) has said that now that He has returned to Heaven, He is still serving us. And He expects us to do likewise.
It is by serving others that we become more Christlike. The Scripture says that we should "have this attitude" in ourselves that also characterized our leader. The Greek literally says "let this mind be in you." What I think this indicates is that we need to yield ourselves to our new nature in Christ and LET this service flow from that new life, as opposed to struggling and straining to do this from our old (even religious) nature. (We have this perpetually driving need to DO something. I believe this can be a representation of our old nature trying to get back to God all on its own as opposed to simply believing what the Bible says in Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.")
Brothers and sisters, let us be those that let ourselves believe the Word of God, and believe that we have traded our old, pathetic, perhaps even religious life for His new and perfect, gloriously liberating life. Let us allow our minds to be transformed into the mindset of the servant, as Christ did when He walked among us - and let us then go and be the servant of all, as our own leader did, and learn from Him the path of true leadership.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to set us free from the penalty and power of sin in our lives. Thank you that we can now yield ourselves to His new nature in us, and let His mindset, the mindset of service, be in us. Father, we pray that you would transform our minds that we could also be your servants and follow our Leader, Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
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"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
-John 8:32 (NASB)
