The Word became flesh (7)

[John 1:1-4, 9-14]

            The third purpose for God the Son, “the Word,” to become “flesh” (man) is to die (become a peace offering).

                Someone had to die in order for God to save us.  We humans cannot die instead, and neither can angels.  Christ, who is God, became a man and died to save us from eternal destruction.  God the Son became a man and served us until He died on the cross.  Look at Matthew 20:28 – “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  Here, ‘the Son of Man came’ means “the Word became flesh” (Jn. 1:14).  Its purpose is twofold: (1) The first purpose is to serve, and (2) The second purpose is to give His life as a ransom.

                Today, we are going to meditate on the first purpose, ‘to serve,’ and at next week’s Wednesday prayer meeting, we are going to meditate on the second purpose, ‘to give His life as a ransom.’  Our human instinct is to be served.  In other words, we love to be served.  However, the coming of Jesus Christ did not come to be served, but rather to serve.  If we are to serve, we must humble ourselves and exalt others.  Look at Philippians 2:3b – “…  but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.”  Jesus humbled Himself.  The very fact that Jesus, who is God, became a man was humbled (we can never count all of Jesus' humiliation).  The fact that Jesus, the Son of God, was humbled to the point of becoming a man is incomparably lower than that of we becoming a dog or a pig.  This is Philippians 2:6-8, which tells how humble the Son Jesus was: “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  God (“the Word”), who existed in the form of God and equal to God, became a man (“the flesh”), became a servant, and became obedient unto death.  Jesus was humbled to the point of death and died on the cross.  At that time, crucifixion was always applied only to the lower classes because of the harshness of the punishment.  The fact that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified speaks of His social status at the time.  Although He was the Son of God, it can be seen that He belonged to the lower classes of society at the time (Internet).  In this way, Jesus Christ, who is God, humbled Himself to serve.

                If we look at John 13:3-14, which tells how humble the Son of God Jesus was, Jesus served until He washed the feet of His 12 disciples.  Look at verses 13-14: “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.”  Just as the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, humbled Himself to the extent of washing the feet of His disciples and served them, so we must humble ourselves and serve one another humble enough to wash one another's feet.  In the Philippian church, two female leaders did not humble themselves and serve each other like Jesus did.  First of all, looking at the background of the Philippian church, God opened the heart of Lydia, a seller of purple fabrics and a worshiper of God, who was listening to Apostle Paul’s preaching in Philippi (Acts 16:14).  The meeting in her house is the beginning of the Philippian church.  So, the Philippian church had female leaders like Lydia, and the names of two of them are recorded in Philippians 4:2 – “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord.”  When we see that Apostle Paul used the word “urge” twice, what he emphasized was that the two women, Euodia and Syntyche, should have the same mind in the Lord.  The reason seems to be that the two women did not have the same mind in the Lord and had a conflict.  It seems that the two women did not “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves” (2:3).  They did not strive to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3).  So, the Philippian church was not becoming one.  That's why the Apostle Paul strongly urged the two women to have the same mind in the Lord.

                Aren’t our family and our church becoming one right now?  In order for us to keep the unity of the family and the church well, we must humble ourselves and serve like Jesus.  We should serve rather than try to be served at home and at church.  We must serve by humbling ourselves and regarding others more important than ourselves.  If we serve even unto death like Jesus (Phil. 2:8), we can keep the unity of our family and church well.  But if we do not serve until death, we cannot say that we have served.  This is the result of Jesus humbled Himself and served even to death: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (vv. 9-11).  Because Jesus served to the point of being extremely low, God highly exalted Jesus.  We must imitate Jesus and serve even to the lowest.