Jesus commissioned His followers to continue His work in His power.
God’s power is released in us as we choose to serve and to sacrifice our own wills to the will of the Father.
Jesus Himself lived out His life, in humility and obedience and in service and sacrifice. Jesus came not to be served but to serve, even to the point of death.
As we consider this question of humility and obedience, this article content is inspired by one of Bill’s messages which he presented at a meeting in 2010.
In John 13, we read about Jesus, Lord and Teacher, washing the feet of His disciples.
So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.”
Jesus came in the form of God and is equal with God and yet He humbled Himself to wash the feet of these simple, worldly men.
His example shows us how we should treat each other.
In Philippians 2:5-8 we read that Jesus made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant. And coming as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even to death on the cross.
Jesus chose to follow the will of the Father and to become as nothing in the eyes of the world. But He is everything in the eyes of the Father.
Philippians 2:9 says that God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every other name.
In Jesus, we see that God values humility and obedience. We see in Jesus a life (and death) committed to service and sacrifice.
Our example is Jesus Christ and our goal is the Father. Let us choose humility and obedience and walk together in service and sacrifice so that we too can say, Thy will not my will be done.