Master part 3
Service by serving. That's what Jesus came to do, and that's what Jesus continues to do in and through and as us. That's how we serve Him. By letting Him serve us. By serving each other. Philippians 2:3-4 says it like this, "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." If I take care of you, and you take care of me, then neither one of us has to take care of ourselves. It's that connection that love brings. It's the truth that we are all one body. And nobody hates his own body, but nourishes it and cares for it. If we could stop building walls and start building bridges... stop looking for things to separate us from each other and start looking for things to connect us to each other... then we could really understand this ever expanding Kingdom that we live in (that we ARE)! God is our master, right? Christ's love controls us? The King of kings rules and reigns in His Kingdom. That's the definition of Kingdom--the realm where the King rules and reigns. Now watch this: Jesus, "...hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:10). He doesn't RULE us, as an angry taskmaster who is looking for any mistake on our part so that we can punish us... He rules THROUGH us. He is the King of kings. We are the kings. WE are the realm where the King rules and reigns. We don't serve HIM, in the sense of, "Jesus is my boss." Because there's no separation. The ruling that Jesus does--and isn't it interesting that the ruling that He does is really serving?--He does in us and through us and as us. He doesn't expect us to do things FOR Him. He did everything that needed to be done for US (and as us). HE finished the work. HE rules and reigns. So in order for US to rule it reign it can ONLY be Him doing it in us. Let me say it another way. Jesus described Himself as the light of the world (John 8:12). And He also said, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid" (Matthew 5:14). Now there aren't a bunch of different lights. It's one light. The light of life. Look at John 1:4, "In him was life; and the life was the light of men." It's not us trying to live His life... trying to shine His light. Trying to "serve" Him. It's HIM living HIS life in and through and as us. It's HIM shining His light in us and through us and as us. It's HIM serving us, and the manifestation of Him serving us is us serving each other. It's Him loving us, and the manifestation of that love is us loving each other. That's what His life, His light is. It's love. That's true service. That's what we're here to do: Be loved and love God by loving one another with the love that we are loved with!