Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 9 - The mind of the Servant Jesus Christ. Isa 42:1-4.Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 9 - The mind of the Servant Jesus Christ. Isa 42:1-4.
Announcementsopening prayer:
3. The Master's master principle: servant and slave of all.
In Isa 42 Jesus to come is given the title "My Servant." In it we read about the attitude and inner motive of Him, giving us a pattern.
The chapter starts with the word "behold" in contrast to beholding the failure of Israel to be the servant of God.
Isa 42:1 "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.
The inner workings of the Servant: Dependence - He emptied Himself of the divine prerogative and became dependent on the Father to uphold Him.
Approval - "in whom My soul delights." The Father took great delight in His Servant Jesus and that delight was reciprocated, for Jesus delighted to do the Father's will.
Psa 40:7-8 Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do Thy will, O my God; Thy Law is within my heart."
Col 1:9-10 that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Filled with the Spirit - He relied on the Holy Spirit to guide and empower Him in the commission given by the Father.
The unseen, unfelt ministry of the Holy Spirit is often either overlooked or misrepresented through ecstatic's or charismatic's.
The spiritual leader must do what he does by means of the Spirit of God. He must walk by means of the Spirit. He must not quench or grieve the Holy Spirit and when He does He must recover quickly.
If the Lord relied upon the filling of the Spirit then how much more must we? Are we greater than Him? Do we not need the Spirit when He did? By faith you trust the Holy Spirit to lead you, guide you, empower you, and teach you, and you are sensitive to the times that you grieve and quench Him and you recover quickly through acknowledging the sin or evil before the Father and then with His power you change your way of thinking from sin and evil to godliness, and you do so all in grace.
Isa 42:2 "He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street.
Humility - instead of a noisy gong that ostentatiously self-proclaimed, He was quiet, gentle, and modest.
Although he is certain of His divine call, and brings to the nations the highest and best, His manner of appearing is nevertheless quiet, gentle, and humble; the very opposite of those lying teachers, who endeavored to exalt themselves by noisy demonstrations.
1Co 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
He denied Himself the pomp self-advertising that many in Israel thought He would market. He is self-effacing, quiet, unobtrusive. He does not seek His own, and therefore denies Himself; He brings what commends itself, and therefore requires no forced trumpeting.
Don't forget, this Servant is the ultimate leader. What a contrast to the arrogant, bragging, vociferous, self-proclaiming of so many leaders today, both in and out of the church.
This aspect of the LeaderServant was tempted by Satan in the wilderness.
Mat 4:5-6 Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down;
This was a temptation to show Himself to Jerusalem with a daredevil type of stunt or miracle. With such a leap, 400 feet into the Kidron Valley, He would have been grabbing headlines, but He refused, "You shall not put the Lord to the test."
So quiet and unobtrusive was the Lord that many today do not even believe that He ever existed. Such is the price of the humble servant. He won't make headlines in the mainstream, but he certainly will make the history of God in the heavens.
1Co 12:23 and those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members [hidden, behind the scenes] come to have more abundant seemliness,
1Co 2:4-5 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Paul could have used his extensive education to sound really intellectual and people who admire that quality certainly would have followed him for that reason.
The spiritual leader must not self-promote. God will bring the followers if God has ordained and promoted him to lead. He should be meek in reference to himself, which is confident but humble.
Isa 42:3 "A bruised reed He will not break, And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
Compassion - He is compassionate and will save those whose inner and outer life is only hanging by a slender thread.
The Hebrew word for "bruised" means something that is cracked or a reed that is half broken already. The dimly burning wick is one that is very nearly extinguished.
The reference is a general one, to those whose inner and outer life is only hanging by a slender thread. In the statement that in such a case as this He does not completely break or extinguish, there is more implied than is really expressed.
Not only will He not destroy the life that is dying out, but He will actually save it; His course is not to destroy, but to save.
How often a leader just steps or runs over the weak and the failing.
The spiritual leader who has no time and compassion for the weak is not spiritual.
Mat 14:13 Now when Jesus heard it [beheading of John the Baptist], He withdrew from there in a boat, to a lonely place by Himself; and when the multitudes heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.
Mat 14:14 And when He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and felt compassion for them, and healed their sick. |