SERVANT!

You can’t see his face. He’s kneeling and he’s looking down. Locks of hair fall over his countenance as he stoops. You can see Peter’s face, though. Stunned? “What! You wash my feet?” Incomprehension? Resignation?

One of the bronze copies of Max Greiner’s sculpture, The Divine Servant, adorns the campus of Dallas Theological Seminary—a most appropriate image for an institution whose mission statement runs as follows: The mission of Dallas Theological Seminary as a professional, graduate-level school is to glorify God by equipping godly servant-leaders for the proclamation of His Word and the building up of the body of Christ worldwide. Training godly servant-leaders after the likeness of the Divine Servant, who …

… did not come to be served,
but to serve,
and to give His life
a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:28

That is the One of whom Isaiah wrote, quoting God, several centuries before Jesus Christ, …

… the Righteous One,
My Servant,
will justify the many,
as He will bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:11

The Divine Servant. What a paradox!

Meekness and majesty, manhood and Deity,
In perfect harmony, the Man who is God.
Lord of eternity dwells in humanity;
Kneels in humility and washes our feet.

Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible;
Love indestructible in frailty appears.
Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly;
Lifts our humanity to the heights of His throne.

O what a mystery, meekness and majesty;
Bow down and worship, for this is your God.

Graham Kendrick, 1986

The Divine Servant. Not only our Savior, but also our example. Therefore, Paul exhorts:

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, 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.
Philippians 2:5–8

Indeed, in the economy of God, in His Kingdom, this paradox is manifest through and through. God’s leaders are to be servants, servants to God’s people. Like the Divine Servant.

Jesus called [the disciples]
to Himself and said,
“You know that the rulers
of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their great men
exercise authority over them.
It is not this way among you,
but whoever wishes
to become great among you
shall be your servant,
and whoever wishes to be first
among you shall be your slave;
just as the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve,
and to give His life
a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:25–28

Called to Christlikeness. Being fashioned daily after His image. We, followers of this Divine Servant, are to be divinely appointed servants, serving in love.

… through love serve one another.
Galatians 5:13

We know love by this,
that He laid down
His life for us;
and we ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:16

A life of servanthood after the manner of the Divine Servant which, the Bible promises, will yield its reward on the last day.

For God is not unjust
so as to forget your work
and the love which you have
shown toward His name,
in having ministered
and in still ministering
to the saints.
Hebrews 6:10

So let’s keep at it. Serving. In love. For His glory. Following the Divine Servant.

The Divine Servant. No, you can’t see His face … unless you kneel down.