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The Attitude of Serving
(13th in the series of expositions on Communion delivered on Dec 24, 1978)
The Lord Jesus came into the world at Christmas time, He came to serve as one who serves. In Luke 22:14, the Communion is being instituted, v19 is the well-known verse of the Communion, and vv24-27 is the next passage. The background is that there was an argument as who should be the greatest. The disciples thought that the institution of Communion meant that the end of all things was at hand and the Lord Jesus is about to bring in the kingdom. They still couldn't understand that the Lord is going to die. They thought He was going to usher in the new kingdom of God. Even when Christ was spoken of as the broken body and the shed blood, they were only thinking of themselves - who is the greatest. This passage explains to us why in John 13 the Lord rose from the Communion table to wash the disciples' feet. Words were not enough and He gave them a demonstration to serve. All these tie up the Communion teaching, which can be seen by biblical exegesis of the linkage word 'table'.
This word 'table' occurs in [Lk 22] vv14, 21, 27, 30, which shows the intention of table talk, the fellowship around the table.
While they were at the table, and they were still at the subject of the table, the Lord asked: "Who is greater, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? Since it is talking of the greatest, of course it is he who sits at the table is the greatest, so in this case, the Lord said, 'I will serve'. So Christ broke the bread and poured the wine and served them. This is the work of a servant or rather a slave. He was serving His disciples. So when we speak of the Communion, we cannot overlook the right attitude - the attitude of serving and caring for others.
How would we be able to receive the Communion in a manner that is pleasing to God? Only when we come with this attitude of serving, especially at this Christmas time.
The only kind of Christmas spirit is the spirit of serving. It is why when we partake the Communion in this way that we will be able to please Him. God loves those who are of contrite spirit, who are of lowly spirit. The Lord Jesus deliberately chose not to be born in a palace nor anywhere else but in a manger. It is not accidental at all but is God's will to find the most lowly in the world to come. God is a humble God and is exceedingly lowly as the Lord Jesus said, "Learn from me as I am meek and lowly of heart," because God loves those who are humble and lowly, if you want to be loved by God, the only way is to learn to serve. If the King of Beings can serve, why can't we then serve?
Paul in 2 Cor 4:5 said, "For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants (slaves) for Jesus' sake." How can we serve God if we still have our pride and think that we are better than others? Therefore seek everyday to serve others in something lowly. Grasp the opportunity to serve and learn the spirit of Christ. The lower that you learn to go, the higher God will exalt you.
During the Last Supper, the disciple had great difficulties to learn this lesson. The Lord explained plainly, yet still they didn't understand the way to serve the Lord. Judas completely missed the point in understanding the spirit of Christ, and took Him in a worldly sense. Today we have the same problem that we have made Him as an earthly authority, that we enjoy His glory and we don't realize that He chose His place in the manger as His birthplace and the cross as the place of death as a common criminal. Now we put Him on a golden cross as if we can lift Him up from the degradation. Judas failed to understand the teaching of Christ and ended up as a betrayer. There are two ways to choose: either do what Judas did, or join Jesus and do what He has done, i.e., take up the cross and follow Him.
The principle of the greatest in the kingdom of God is that the greatest shall serve. In the kingdom of God, all values are being turned upside down from the world's, all values are reversed - the greatest in the kingdom of God is often regarded as the lowest and as a nobody in man's eye.
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Communion Series:
- Worship
- A Sharing in the Body of Christ
- God's Expression of Love to Us
- Pressing toward the Mark of the High Calling
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