The Word became flesh (8)

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

                Let me ask the question: When God created Adam and Eve, did God intend for them to be served or to serve? The answer is that God created Adam and Eve for the purpose of serving.  So, Adam and Eve must have served well.  But in Genesis 3, Eve was deceived by the serpent, the most cunning of the wild beasts (Gen. 3:1).  The key to that delusion was “You will be like God”: “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v. 5).  Why did the serpent, Satan, deceive Eve like this?  The reason is that Satan himself, a fallen angel and an evil angel, wants to be like the Most High God.  Look at Isaiah 14:12-14: “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!  But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.  'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'”  Satan wants to “raise my throne” and not only wants to raise his throne, but he also wants to be like the Most High God.  So, Satan disguised himself as a serpent and tempted Eve to make her eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9).  So he said to her that if she eat that fruit she would be like God (3:5).  Eve, who fell into that temptation, eventually took and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable enough to make one wise, and gave it to her husband Adam, who was with her, and he ate it too (v. 6).  Sin came into this world because Adam and Eve, having been deceived by Satan disguised as a serpent, sinned by disobeying God's covenant commandment, "You shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (2:17).  Therefore, because Adam disobeyed, sin entered into the world, and death through sin (Rom. 5:12).  Eventually, because of the sin of one man, the first Adam, sin entered this world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (v. 12).

                The core of Satan's temptation is for us to be exalted, to sit in a high seat, to be like the Most High God and to be served.  A good example is a man named “Diotrephes” in 3 John 1:9-10: “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.  For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.”  Diotrephes was a man who loved to be first.  He refused to welcome the brothers.  He also stopped those who wanted to do so.  Even now in the church, there are people who like to be the first like Diotrephes.  Such people prefer to be treated rather than treated by sitting in a high seat rather than a low one.  Satan deceives these people into sinning by disobeying the word of God, so that they do not have the same mind in the Lord (Phil. 4:2) and do not strive to keep the unity of the church, which is unified by the Spirit (Eph. 4:3).

                However, Jesus Christ, the second Adam and the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45, 47), came to this world to save us from death due to sin in the first Adam.  Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant and becoming like men (Philippians 2:6-7).  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.”  Jesus’ 33 years of life on this earth was, in one word, a “life of service.”  Jesus not only washed the feet of His disciples, but also fed the hungry, healed many sick, etc.  He lived a life of serving people.  Jesus served until He gave His life, that is, shed His blood and died on the cross.  Look at 1 Timothy 2:6 – “who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.”  Here, “Himself” refers to the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (v. 5).  The mediator Jesus Christ gave Himself as a ransom for us (our salvation).  If we look at Exodus 21:28-36, even though an ox’s owner knew that the ox he was raising had a habit of goring and its owner had been warned, yet he did not confine it and it killed a man or a woman, then the ox and its owner had to be stoned to death.  This is because the owner of the ox neglected it even though he knew the danger of the accident, so the owner had to take responsibility as the owner of the ox which killed the person.  However, there was an exception here, and that was so that the owner of the ox could be released if he paid the amount of compensation for the deceased as determined by the judge.  The reason is because the family's livelihood is tied to it [If the person killed by the ox is the head of the family, the grudge can be resolved by killing the ox and the ox owner, but the remaining family members will face immediate livelihood risks.  And for the person who caused the accident, if the head of the family is killed because of the ox, the rest of the family will also find it difficult to live (Internet)].  So, if the owner of the ox paid the amount of compensation for the dead person as determined by the judge, he was exempted from the death penalty.  Understanding the “atonement” we are talking about in the Old Testament will help us understand 1 Timothy 2:6, where Jesus gave Himself as “a ransom.”  Just as slaves and prisoners of war came to the slave market to be sold at the slave market, ransom was bought and the slave was freed.  In order to free us from sin, Jesus Christ paid the price with His precious blood shed on the cross.  Look at Ephesians 1:7 – “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”  Through the blood of Jesus Christ, we can enjoy freedom from sin by receiving the redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

                Therefore, we too must imitate Jesus and live a life of service.  Like Jesus, we must live a life of service that can offer our lives.  In other words, we must serve until death like Jesus (Phil. 2:8).  But because we are weak, we cannot live a life of service like that.  But the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, helps us.  In other words, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of serving, helps us in our weakness so that we can imitate Jesus and live a life of service.  Look at Romans 8:26a – “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; ….”  The Holy Spirit not only helps us in prayer, but also helps us with everything we need to do with the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit makes all things beautiful in the Lord.  Therefore, we must pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Heavenly Father promised to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Lk. 11:13).  We should not be drunk and debauched but be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and live a life of service like Jesus.  In this way, when we live a life of service like Jesus, not only will we be personally full of joy and gratitude, but also we will achieve the kingdom of heaven both at home and at the church.  I hope and pray that all of us will imitate Jesus and strive to serve rather than try to be served, so that not only ourselves, our families, and churches, but also the Lord will be pleased.