Servant & The Principle of Authority - Love like Jesus

Servant & The Principle of Authority – Love like Jesus invites a fresh look into the Servant redemptive gift. There is a gospel hymn with lyrics that say in part, “No one understands like Jesus.” How well the Servant portion of our human spirit can relate to that thought, especially if, and when, we feel like no one else really does.

Servant is valiant in service. When wounded, though, our Servant portion can default to Satan’s specially designed stronghold of a victim spirit. This crafty and cruel strategy of the enemy is revealed when we understand that God’s intention is for Servant to walk in its Wisdom principle of God-given, redemptive authority.

no greater authority

There is no greater authority than Jesus’ love. However, to walk in love’s authority means we must first embrace Jesus’ redemptive authority in our own life. Because Jesus, in obedience, received and made His own, the will of His Father, He could truly declare, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” ¹He then released it into the atmosphere and lives of those who drew near and received.

Jesus, Divine Servant of servants, walked in – and modeled for us – the selfless and pure authority that cleanses, changes, and charges the atmosphere so that God’s life-giving healing and salvation may flow –

Walking in dominion, not domination. Authority over, not victim under a poverty spirit.
Receiving the peace that Jesus gives, not settling for peace at any cost. Rising up, not shutting down.

Over several posts we will explore the redemptive and non-redemptive essence and outworking of this portion of our human spirit. We will look at Servant through the grid of who / what / when / where / why / how lenses. Before we do, Servant’s greatest asset is Jesus’ love – that is equal to the occasion.

Servant’s Birthright*

“To be a life-giver to others, especially leaders.
To provide the cleansing and authority others require for their destiny.”

Jesus, in Servant fullness, began with His disciples what has not yet ceased. Not until the last one comes into His body, the Church. He still needs and uses the Servant portion of our spiritual identity expressed in our place and time. There are several examples in Scripture to whom we can look. Let’s look at Jesus.

Love like Jesus

The redemptive gifts are really about who God is, what He is like, and how we reflect His nature. Jesus, the suffering servant of Isaiah’s prophecy, ² embodied love as a humble servant.

John 13 stands apart in its description of how much Jesus loved His disciples; those who would go on to ignite the fire of His love that is still blazing pathways into people’s hearts and lives. A love that washes and cleanses and purifies of contention and pride – the opposite of humility. Verses 1-5 tell of this love.

John 13:1-5 (NIV)

It was just before the Passover Feast.
Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot,
son of Simon, to betray Jesus.
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power,
and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet,
drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

It is in the context and continuation of John 11 through 16, that chapter 13 epitomizes the servant spirit. The disciples, on their way to the Passover Feast, were behaving badly. Satan had already prompted Judas to follow through with his betrayal of Jesus. The air was restless. What did He do? He washed their feet.

He predicted Peter’s denial of Him. The night of betrayal and kangaroo courts was yet before Him. And still, He washed their feet.

Jesus told those closest to Him who He was, even though He forewarned them they would not understand till afterward. And still…He washed their feet.

He promised to send the Holy Spirit and juxtaposed the hatred of the world against Holy Spirit’s effectual work. Sorrow was not excised from his vocabulary or His person, but neither was joy. One would lead to the other, and it was this that He hammered home as the Night of Transition commenced.

But take heart!

“I have overcome the world.” There is, I think, no proclamation of truth that encourages our Servant portion more than this statement by Jesus – the Divine Servant of servants everywhere.

He had not yet hung on the Cross – Time’s scene of Satan’s judgment, where his prince of the world power was broken. It was not on the Cross that Jesus overcame the world. He overcame the world as He lived out His earthly life in like manner of humanity. Jesus overcame by obedience to His Abba Father.

He confronted every legitimacy lie that dogged his heels. He knew things from His Father that empowered Him to walk in the greatest show of authority ever displayed. All from the humble place of a Servant who loved deeply, in spite of the world and because of the love that led to birthright fulfilled.

He identified with us before we would ever identify with Him. Truly, “No one understands like Jesus.”

Take heart, Servant portion! You were formed to display Jesus’ love, the greatest authority of all. No one, least of all Jesus, said it would be easy. But to walk in love’s dominion and not from a victim spirit – that is an eternal gift received and unwrapped this side of the Veil.

The Second of Seven Pillars

Servant & the principle of authority is second of the seven pillars hewn out by Wisdom as she set about to build her house.³ Servant takes their place alongside Prophet, lending their principle of authority to the outworking of Prophet’s principle of design.

Lady Wisdom – The Voice of Understanding shines her sound wisdom for Servant, particularly in verses 12-21 of Proverbs 8 (shared in full in the Lady Wisdom article).

Posts that follow give further description of the characteristics of the Servant gift, in order to increase understanding of the behavioral strengths and weaknesses on the Redemptive Gift of Servant Checklist.

In the next post, we will begin to unpack the Servant redemptive gift.