Rootedness | Transformed into Communal Servants Like Jesus

"The Church's witness (should)
take the form of Jesus' witness,
whose power was manifest
in love, weakness, and suffering"
(Michael Goheen, True Story).

How do we grow as humble servants
who are baptized
in the name of the Son, Jesus,
whose servant leadership
continues to change human history? 

Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me and for the Gospel will save it. 

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.  

In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called 'friends of the people.' But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.

+ Jesus 

(Mark 8:34-35, 10:43-45; Luke 22:25-27)

As we began Emmaus City Church, and as we continue to seek Jesus' wisdom in how to be servants who are becoming more like Jesus, it's good to come back to His words again and again. 

If we have been baptized into the name of the Son, how do we continue to be rooted in our identity as His friends who love Him, do what He says, and bear the image of His servants' heart to our neighbors, friends, strangers, family, and enemies?

In light of this meditation, I continue to be convicted by the list below of 20 ways I think Jesus intends to transform us into servants. Using Jesus' method of comparison, the contrast of what leadership should and should not look like can be helpful. And I hope that future servant leaders I will get to learn from will be able to add to it so I can continue to grow in becoming more like Jesus (see also a previous post from Soma School on "How We Lead Others with Jesus"). The current list below is merely a starting point for holy curiosity and courage to become more like Jesus together.

For we do not preach ourselves,

but Jesus Christ as Lord, 

and ourselves as your servants 

for Jesus' sake 

(2 Corinthians 4:5).

20 Ways Jesus Transforms

an Entitled Individual

into a Communal Servant

 | 1 | 

Entitled individuals
need to be recognized
for what they've done for others.
Jesus' communal servants
focus on Him and
what He's done for them
and for others.

 | 2 | 

Entitled individuals
bring their past bitterness
into the present.
Jesus' communal servants
bring humble future hope
into the present.

 | 3 | 

Entitled individuals soak
in the world's cynicism.

Jesus' communal servants
seek the Kingdom
of heaven's realism.

 | 4 | 

Entitled individuals
wait for failures 

to happen any moment.
Jesus' communal servants
expect failures to shape
their faithfulness 

for every moment.

 | 5 | 

Entitled individuals
choose to keep a record
of others' sins with them.
Jesus' communal servants 

choose to love others 

in order to cover 

a multitude of sins against them.

 | 6 | 

Entitled individuals demand
others to repent first
in order to forgive.
Jesus' communal servants 

forgive first 

because they have repented 

and been forgiven.

 | 7 | 

Entitled individuals listen
to some portions of Jesus' words
in order to adapt it
to their knowledge of the world.
Jesus' communal servants 

work to be nourished 

by all of Jesus' words 

so they can be transformed 

to serve others.

 

 | 8 | 

Entitled individuals
expect others to come
to them for insight.
Jesus' communal servants 
go out to serve, 

learning from others 

along the way.

 | 9 | 

Entitled individuals separate 

from others 

during trials and conflict. 

Jesus' communal servants 

go to be with others 

during trials and conflict, 

including those 

they are in conflict with.

| 10 | 

Entitled individuals accept
being led only on their own terms.
Jesus' communal servants 
know they need to be led 

by others on Jesus' terms.

| 11 |

Entitled individuals 

casually read Jesus' words, 

assume their own goodness, 

and serve the community 

when it comes conveniently. 

Jesus' communal servants 

regularly pray and work 

to live from Jesus' words, 

ask to be filled 

with the Spirit He gives, 

and seek to serve their community 

because they expect all of the above 

not to come conveniently.

| 12 |

Entitled individuals self-protect 

and participate when the activity fits 

with their personality. 

Jesus' communal servants 

self-sacrifice and trust 

God will shape them 

to become more like Jesus 

to be fit for the needs that arise.

| 13 |

Entitled individuals fuel doubt 

with self-focused despair. 

Jesus' communal servants 

face doubt with Jesus-focused trust.

| 14 |

Entitled individuals want 

only invitation and community. 

Jesus' communal servants 

ask for challenge and vision as well 

that are needed in order for growth 

in forgiveness and grace to happen.

| 15 |

Entitled individuals want 

the glory without the cross. 

Jesus' communal servants 

know they need the cross 

in order to give Jesus the glory

and others their good.

| 16 |

Entitled individuals want
God and others only to lead them
to streams of living water.
Jesus' communal servants  

trust that Jesus is the Shepherd 

who can and will also lead them 

with others through the inevitable valleys 

of the shadow of death 

and sit with them at the table 

in the presence of their enemies.

| 17 |

Entitled individuals 

are self- and comfort-oriented 

complainers. 

Jesus' communal servants  

are others- and worship-oriented 

encouragers.

| 18 |

Entitled individuals wait 

to see "success" first, 

and then decide to give 

their commitment to what 

they want to do. 

Jesus' communal servants  

know "success" is first bringing 

their faithful presence and patience, 

and then giving themselves 

to what God wants them to do.

| 19 |

Entitled individuals try 

to love their family, 

tolerate their neighbors, 

and ignore their enemies 

with their own strength 

when they feel like it. 

Jesus' communal servants  

choose to love their family, 

neighbors, and enemies 

knowing Jesus can provide 

what's needed 

even when they don't feel like it.

| 20 |

Entitled individuals look 

at all of the above 

and think about everything 

that's not worth the sacrifice. 

Jesus' communal servants  

are convicted by all of the above 

as they wonder about 

how they can seek to be 

about God's work in the world, 

what they will follow Jesus 

into as servants alongside Him, 

and what the Holy Spirit will do 

in them and through them 

in the journey ahead.

For an example of how this approach impacted the growth of the first faith communities who followed Jesus, we have the story of a small group of people in Thessalonica under severe persecution in an insignificant area of the Roman Empire at the time. We get to read how they chose to be servant leaders so that more people would come to follow Jesus:

We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our lives as well. Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the Gospel of God to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into His kingdom and glory. And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus.  

+ 1 Thessalonians 2:4-14

Because of their not perfect, but living, example, we also hear how the part of Jesus' Church in Thessalonica imitated this servant leadership that reflected His life and cross-bearing death:

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers ...

+ 1 Thessalonians 1:3-7

Jesus made it happen in Thessalonica then. I believe He can make it happen again now. May He do it again among you and me in the days to come.

Next post:
Healing in the Name of Jesus

– Sully

Curiosity piqued? Something inside you being stirred? Go ahead and connect. For other updates, like and follow Emmaus City on Facebook.