Bending Down: The Attitude of Service

Come Down for Christmas is more than a slogan or title. It is the calling of those who follow Jesus as Lord. We are called to conform our lives to his life. He came down that first Christmas. We are to have this same attitude, this same mindset.

What would it mean for you to follow Jesus and come down this Christmas? One line here reinforces what he taught us over and over again: “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.”     

Swaddling Clothes:

These were the garments Jesus first wore on this earth.

This was his debut on the planet as a human, this scene in the manger. Jesus was properly cared for by his mother and perhaps others who wrapped him in strips of cloth here called “swaddling clothes.”

You have seen this way of keeping the newborns safe and warm, or you have seen pictures of babies wrapped in this way. Some cultures in the world still swaddle the infants in this way. And I guess all generations have wrapped their babies in blankets and cloths, though probably not so immobilized as the Eastern practice we see here.

Some people speak harshly about this innkeeper and the townspeople who could not make room for a woman in labor. They find it scandalous that Joseph and Mary were sent to a stable.

1. But we must remember—he emptied himself. He humbled himself. No one did this to the Son of God. He volunteered for this assignment, this humiliation. “He took upon himself the very nature of a servant” (Phil. 2:7).
2. “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). Yes, he was “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:3-4).
3. Dear people, this is only the beginning. This infant will do fine for a year or two until King Herod sends his henchmen to kill him. He will endure a season hiding in Egypt. He will emerge as an adult one day and surprise and fascinate his world. But in the end he “was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:6).

The tomb. The women will wrap his body again at his death just as they did at his birth. He will be laid in the grave with linen around him like a cocoon.

The Resurrection. He left those wrappings behind when he rose from the dead. Peter and John, they found them there on that cold stone slab. The linen wrappings were empty. The napkin that had covered his face was folded and placed by itself on the stone.

Servant Status:

This describes the identity that Christ Jesus chose.

The Suffering Servant-

• The Servant Announcement of Jesus

The summation in Mark 10-- "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve." (Mark 10:46).

The sermon of Peter in Acts 4:27,30 where Jesus is called God’s “holy servant.” The word is pais which is translated “child” about half the time, and “servant” the other half. The KJV went with child and the NIV with servant.

• They knew of Jesus as the servant of God.
• He was a servant that was set apart for God’s purpose.
• He was the minister of God among people.

Philippians 2:7 the word is doulos, used 120 times in the NT, all translated a slave or servant. The root means a “bond or knot.”

1. The root idea of doulos is one who is bound to another, pledged to another. Thus the translation bond servant.

“The very nature” translates morphe which in KJV is “form.” The word points to appearance or presentation as well as to essence or nature.

• “The morphe of God” is not simply appearance. The NIV is helping us with “very nature.” He was “equal with God.” This was his status in heaven.
• “very nature of a servant” stands in parallel with “the very nature of God” in verse 6. Just as he was fully divine, so he chose to become fully human including the servant role.

Here is the attitude we are to follow:

• Christ Jesus was in very nature God.
• He did not consider this status something to use to his own advantage or to hang on to at all cost.
• Instead, he emptied himself. No one did this to him anymore than anyone can do it to you. True humility has to come from within.
• And he took the very nature of a doulos. This was his choice.

Floor Exercises:

This describes the work that Christ Jesus chose.

We find Jesus on the floor.

1. This washing of feet is low work.
2. This is dirty work. The feet are the dirtiest part of the body for these who walk everywhere they go.
3. This is culminating work. Jesus is not on the front end of his ministry with these young men. He is doing the wrap up. This is a very important moment to pay attention, those of us who want to follow Jesus.
4. Jesus is very explicit here about the example he is setting. This low work is for every one of his followers.
5. This is not easy. This goes against the grain. This is what we pay the servants to do. Why would I do this if I can toss a $20 to the help and get it down quicker and better? After all, they know where the mops are.

Woman anointing Jesus’ feet—the welcoming duties.

Washing feet—anywhere there is dirt

• Mother Teresa left the group. They found her cleaning the toilets in the children’s home.
• Melissa disappeared in the dressing room of one of the clubs on Bourbon Street. She went into a filthy bathroom there, and she cleaned it from top to bottom. The church ladies actually clean a good bit as they reach out to the dancers, I am told.

I was reminded this week of how close to footwashing gutting houses can be. It is intimate and personal work, tearing out the interior of a house, hauling all personal goods to the curb. The owners watch with emotion. We all remember. People came by the thousands to wash our feet in the wake of Katrina.

Come down for Christmas—all the way to the floor. Resolve to be the one who serves this Christmas. Find a toilet and clean it. Mop the floor. Vacuum under their feet. Do it joyfully as your Lord would do.

• There is no task to low for us.
• We do not want to just hire someone to do the serving. We want the joy of doing it ourselves. There is something about this lowly service that shapes you in the image of Christ who took on the form of a servant.
• Floor exercises could be the trademark of our family of faith.

Laying down for crucifixion—the full measure of devotion, as Lincoln called it in the Gettysburg Address. Jesus stretched out his hands for the nails in his service for us.