What does a servant look like? In this short communion service message Pastor Clark explores the ordinance of humility – and how to really follow in Christ’s example of serving others.

What does a servant look like? In this short communion service message Pastor Clark explores the ordinance of humility – and how to really follow in Christ’s example of serving others.

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Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Ready to Serve


When I was a boy, my siblings and I would play games at home. Boys and girls, have you ever done that? Have you ever taken maybe all the chairs and lined them up in a row and played train? And the choo-choo's up front and the caboose is in the back and you gotta put, well, if you don't have enough siblings, you have to put stuffed animals in the chairs in between, right? You've gotta have all of the train filled with passengers so you can go on your imaginary journeys.

Maybe, boys and girls, you used to play house. I won't ask for a show of hands how many boys and girls or older boys and girls played house. Maybe you would even dress up the part, you know. I remember 1 time when my sister and I, my older sister, I have an older sister that's 4 years older and then a younger sister that's 3 and a half years younger and a brother that's 6 years younger. And 1 time we decided we would play a wedding.

And so of course we needed a bride and a groom. So, the bride idea came to, I don't know if it was me or my sister, but we decided that my brother would be the bride and my sister would be the groom. And we dressed them accordingly. And they were too young to really understand the irony of the situation. But as I recall, we even took a picture of the great momentous event.

And we had them, we got some crackers, rice crackers out of the kitchen and we had them feed each other. Rice crackers, yeah. Dressed up for the event. Maybe besides dressing up for playing events, there are other times when people dress up for real events. You know, there's sometimes people put on a certain uniform and you just know what they're about to do, right?

I mean, when we see a person dressed up in a fireman's uniform, we understand that they're in a fireman and they're going to fight a fire, right? We understand when we see a policeman in uniform, We automatically understand what his role is in our society, I hope, and what he's about to do to protect and to serve. In today's world, we even, it seems like, are coming to understand what a terrorist uniform is, what they might be about to do. But what about a servant's uniform? The Bible here says that Jesus got up from supper and He took off His outer garments and he girded himself, he took a towel and he girded himself.

Now, there's more than 1 way to understand what happened here. I don't know, I can just look in my mind's imagination and try to understand what is going on. When in biblical times a person girded their loins, you've heard that expression, right? When they girded their loins, it was a way that they took the same clothes that they were wearing and they transformed them for a different purpose. And Let me just explain it to you this way with the little limited knowledge that I have.

When a man wore a robe in Bible times, it wasn't exactly the same, you know, like a dress that the women wore in Bible times. It was a little different, the way they took the cloth and wrapped themselves. And, but 1 of the things that we have when it says girded their loins, a man who would take their long robes, and it was very difficult to, let's say, run in those long robes without losing them and other difficulties. So what they would do is they would take and somehow there was a part of that wrap, they would take and they would pass through their legs and they would pull it up sort of tight and tuck it into the belt or the part that wrapped around their waist so that they essentially looked like they had shorts on. And then they would be able to run.

Or when the Bible says, gird up your loins, it means get ready for battle, get ready for action. You can't do anything very aggressive dressed in your fine clothes, right? And in fact, if you'll go to some parts of the world, in the Middle East or India, Pakistan, Nepal, that part of the world, you'll find that you'll see men wearing robes and you'll also find you'll see men with their loins girt. You'll see them just like that. When they're out working in the field, they've got that piece of fabric wrapped up and tucked in.

That's 1 definition for girting. Another understanding is simply if it was a big enough towel, it could have meant that he took the towel and he wrapped it around himself. It probably, it probably is more the former. It's probably more that Jesus was getting ready for business. Here he is in his robes and he didn't wear very expensive robes, but we know that he wore clean, presentable clothes, enough so that those same robes would be cast lots for in just a few hours.

He girded his, He girded himself, he took a towel, and he began to wash the disciples' feet. I'd like for us to recognize for just a moment that Jesus took on himself the uniform of a servant, didn't he? All of a sudden, the other disciples, they weren't girding themselves, they weren't wrapping themselves in a towel or tucking in their long robes. They were still in the dress of a dignified individual. They were still in the dress of a dignified individual.

They were still in the dress of the guests to the occasion while Jesus was taking the uniform so that he would be ready to serve. He was preparing himself that he might be the servant of servants. Now what Jesus was about to endure, they had no way of understanding. What Jesus was about to go through was the ultimate humiliation, the ultimate humbling, condescension, that he would be willing to not only take on himself the form of a servant, but that he would go to the death of the cross. Jesus was about to do that, but they didn't know that yet.

All they knew is that Jesus, their leader, was transforming himself to, in appearance and function, be the servant of the house. Transforming himself to Be the servant of the house. Transforming himself to be the servant of the house. The Bible says he rose from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel, girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel with which he was girded.

Then he came and so forth, the story goes on. So here he is, he's girded, he's got the towel, he's washing their feet, he's poured the water himself. And the Bible says in verse 14, it says, if I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash 1 another's feet, for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Now, that's why before we partake of the Lord's table in the Seventh-day Adventist church, we practice following the example of Jesus and washing 1 another's feet. But I want us to just stop for a moment.

And I wonder if while it's a meaningful, I hope, remembrance for us to wash 1 another's feet, I wonder if sometimes we might be able to do that without really becoming a servant. Do you think that's possible? You think it's possible that we might be able to go to the communion service and even partake in the foot washing without really becoming a servant? It might be because it's part of our culture. It might be because it's a form and a ceremony.

We might even feel religiously somehow, I don't know, some self-satisfaction with having done this deed and followed this example without having really humbled our hearts as Jesus gave us the example. And it caused me to think as I was preparing my heart this week, it caused me to think what would Jesus look like if he was giving us the example of servanthood today. Now, when we rode here in our cars, or even if we happened to be blessed to have the exercise to walk to church this morning, we probably came on relatively clean streets, wearing enclosed shoes. Very few of us here have mud caked on our feet from the trip over here today or dust from the journey. And if we took off our sandals, you wouldn't see the stripes from where they're clean and where they're dirty, right?

What would Jesus look like if He was a servant in the Dalton Church this morning? Do you ever think about that? I wonder. We know what a policeman looks like, we know what a fireman looks like, we know what the bride and the groom look like. But do we know in modern times what a servant looks like?

I'd like to suggest to you that Jesus, if he was here in 2015, almost 2016, he would still find a way to be the servant. I don't think that he would probably want us to relegate only 1 uniform to the role of service, But I can think of many who in this church, many offices and many roles in this church who are serving and service. It might look, it might look a lot like the deacon who's dressed on Sabbath morning who gets here early to unlock the church. It might look a lot like the apron that some of our ladies put on on a weekly basis to feed hungry worshipers, physical food after their spiritual food. It might look a lot like those who set up the tables and chairs for potluck.

It might look a lot like those who stayed by after the services ended to make sure the church is all locked up. There's so many things that happen in the life of a church that's not even noticed. It might be the same uniform as those who are running the soundboard, or those who are collecting the offering, or those who are preparing a children's story, or those who are practicing the music. I think It wouldn't even be limited to the uniforms we wear on Sabbath morning. Jesus' servant uniform might look like those who are helping the needy during the week, Like those who are going out of their way to call somebody or to visit somebody.

Like those who are noticing when their co-worker is having a rough day. I think that if Jesus were here, he would still find ways to wear the uniform of a servant. And you and I, when we find those ways also, We're following in His footsteps. We're following in His example, even perhaps more so than when we observe the ordinance of foot washing. When we follow in His steps, we're doing what He has told us to do.

If I, then your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet." You have to understand, my friends, it's not because Jesus had gotten discouraged with His ministry of saving the earth. It's not because He, on this Thursday night, had decided that, you know what? Maybe he really wasn't the Messiah after all. He might as well just do any job. The Bible is very clear.

John goes to pains here, saying that Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he came from God and that he was returning to God. Why do you think Jesus, why do you think John goes to this effort to point out that Jesus was fully aware of who he was. This wasn't some slip in the self-consciousness of Jesus. This wasn't some accident where Jesus forgot that he was really the scent of God, the Messiah, the Son of God, God Himself. Jesus knew full well who He was and He knew He was not so important that He could not be a servant.

And He, my friends, gave us an example that we should follow in His steps. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. I don't know about you, But my prayer is that God could make me a servant following in the footsteps of Jesus. Is that your desire? May the ordinances of humility that we participate in today just be a symbol, just a symbol of the life of service that Jesus wants us to enjoy.

Father in heaven, today I thank you. I thank you because Jesus is an amazing God. I thank you because He was willing to come and to lay aside His garments and to gird himself with that towel, to wrap not just that towel around himself, but to use it to bless others. Lord, today, I pray that you would make me a servant, or it may be the desire of someone else here, that no matter what our station, what our gifts and abilities are, that you'll help us find the ways that we can put on the servant's uniform, that we can be of service. I thank you, Lord, for the many, many servants in this family.

And I thank you for the joy that we have when we're doing it for Jesus, Knowing that while we may not be thanked or rewarded here, there is going to be a reward in heaven. I pray that as we partake in the ordinances, so we remember your life and death, salvation that you bought and earned for us on Calvary's cross, that you would help us to become more like you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org.

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