Student and Servant

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

STUDENT AND SERVANT

Matt 10:24-25

24 "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!

NIV

This seems pretty self-evident. How could we ever expect to be above Jesus? He is our teacher and we are his students, he is our master and we his servants. That should give us an insight as to how we are to live our lives, first as students of Jesus and second as servants. What does it mean to be a student of Jesus? That implies study of him, or the term that could be used is theology, the study of God. It is good to attend Church and hear the word of God preached by those who should be ardent students of Jesus. It is good to fellowship with fellow believers, which fellowship is Koinonia in the Greek. This carries the meaning of partnership, or to share with one has in anything. That means more than just talking about the weather or some sports team or the latest political or social event. Fellowship implies living life, sharing life together which includes being students in the same classroom listening to our teacher, but then participating in the discussion with one another so we all can learn more. This is not about learning denominational doctrines for Jesus is not and has never been nor will ever be a denomination. So then the purpose of our study, both our independent and classroom study is to emulate Jesus. “It is enough for the student to be like his teacher”. How much we need to study to be like Jesus, to see his character, so see his mannerisms, his sense of humankind, the traits he exhibited while he was among his people in the flesh. He has told us if we have seen him, we have seen the Father.

John 14:9-10

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father . How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?

NIV

So we study, we examine the word of God not to just gain knowledge, not to enhance our intellect, but to find out more about Jesus so we can be like him, so that we can incorporate his character into ours, so that it is not we living, but Jesus living in us. In addition to this we also are his servants which follows the fact that he is our master. What servant is greater than his master? What servant does whatever he wants? Does not the master control every aspect of his servant’s life? What servant tells his master where he is going to live and work? What servant tells his master what type of service he will do for him? Although Jesus has told us he would give us our hearts desire, what should our desire be? To be more like Jesus, or to live a life like the pagans?

Ps 37:4

4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

NIV

The condition of the desires of our heart are to delight ourselves in the Lord. This word delight carries several meanings. The first is to be soft and pliable, to be delicate, to be dainty. The second is to be happy, to take exquisite delight. Both of these definitions would seem to fit how we are to approach both our student and servant life. This also agrees with his teaching that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he will add the things we need in our physical life. It is not that we should run after them as the pagans do. It all comes back to be his student and his servant. His last statement here about being called Beelzebub has greater meaning then just what just meets the eye. The word he used was what the Jews called the god of flies, the god of the Ekron. They, however changed on letter and made it to mean Satan. This is what he has been accused of being when driving out demons. However the idea here is that as the world endeavors to discredit Jesus, the word of God, it also endeavors to discredit Christianity in general, which includes us, as we live by faith. They think us as being foolish trusting in God, not storing up for the future, as they do. They think us foolish for thinking God created the world and man as he is today. As Satan is the father of all lies, they consider us living a lie, having a false hope, a lying tongue about how life began, exists and ends. But we know the truth, we have seen Jesus, we have experienced his divine power in our lives, we have been with him, walked beside him, had him speak into our hearts and minds. We know who our teacher is and who our master is, for we are his students and his servants.