Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “To Serve and to Save”. This week’s lesson looks at several chapters in Isaiah that references a “servant”. The quarterly then asks the question. “Who is He and what does He accomplish?” (Sabbath’s lesson). It is important to know that Jesus the Messiah is that over-arching “Servant”. That He precisely reflects our God who “serves”… even to the death. For our Father God so serves. The quarterly mentions other “servants” listed in our weekly reading, too. Cyrus for example. And I hope this does not surprise you. For in the final analysis, every true follower of our God will become more and more like our “Servant King”. We will become servants, too. Servants who will love others more than self. Love others even to the sacrifice of our own eternal security. Just like our Servant-God.
Let us not forget this. That we are the servants of God equally with Christ. The work given Christ to do is our work, too. All the encouragement the Father gives to the Son, He gives to us, for we are His sons and daughters. Jesus calls us to join Him in His servant-work, saying “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart…” (Matthew 11:29).
“He shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles (and will) set judgement in the earth” (Isaiah 42:1, 4). For this purpose, the “Spirit of the Lord God is upon (Him)” (Isaiah 61:1). Christ is the representative of God. He carries on the work of God proving God’s case before the world. The Father does not appear in all this except in Christ, who has full authority to speak and act in every matter in the name of the Father. The Father has placed His reputation and the demonstration of His character in the hands of His Son. But here again we are faced with the fact that we are the servants of God as well and that this high honor is entrusted to us, too. The Father has committed His case on this earth to us. His character is in our hands. We are to be His agents to establish judgement on the earth and to let the world know who is God.
But how to establish justice? The same way as Christ. Gently. So gentle. And so gentle is every servant of the Lord. “He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth” (Isaiah 42: 2-3). This is the way to establish judgement. It is by building-up that which is weak. We who are charged with establishing the Father’s case before the world can win that case only by exercising the same meekness and gentleness as our Lord. While on earth, the Lord’s care for the poor and needy disproved the charges that had been brought against God. And the only place God’s judgement on the earth is found is in the hearts and minds of people. In our hearts and minds.
And so we see how God is to be vindicated before the world. How judgement on the earth is established. By us, His servants, displaying the loving care, meekness and gentleness toward all. To sinners… the worst of sinners. Especially those who are bowed-down with sin and so, so broken that they lash-out trying to break everything within their reach. By this, we His servants “set judgment in the earth”… in the hearts of mankind. Not a work that can be done by any of us without being born again each and every moment of every day.
We are without strength. In Isaiah 41: 14 we are called by God a “worm”. He does not call us this to discourage us or belittle us. On the contrary, it is but a statement of truth. For to “worms” he says what He will do with us. He will transform us into a threshing machine able to thresh even mountains and make them small. To make the hills as chaff. This is what God does. We are nothing… even less than nothing. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,” (1 Corinthians 1: 27-28). Let us therefore rejoice. Let us therefore serve. It is the highest place… serving our fellow sinners just as our Lord so serves.
With brotherly love,
Jim