The Lord Jesus Christ: The Perfect Servant

Feature 1 – October 2022 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Lord Jesus Christ:
The Perfect Servant

The absolute perfect servant is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He has no equal; He stands alone as Jehovah’s Perfect Servant. All that the Father wanted to see in a servant was seen in perfection in the Lord Jesus, His beloved Son. The Lord, the Perfect Servant, said, “When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do’” (Lk. 17:10 NKJV ).

John Mark, the writer of the second gospel, presented the Lord Jesus as the Perfect Servant. He knew what it was to fail in one’s service, but he was used by God to write about the Servant who did not fail and could not fail. The Lord Jesus was the Perfect Servant because of who He was, and is, and ever will be. He was in the form of God; He is God. “Taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7), He took a body prepared for Him in the womb of the Virgin Mary. In that body He was here on earth as the Perfect Servant. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45). He came to do His Father’s will. He said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (Jn. 6:38).

As the Perfect Servant He perfectly knew the work He came to do and the hour in which it should be accomplished. That work of redemption was entirely accomplished when on Calvary’s cross He said, “It is finished!” (19:30). It was not only done, but the work was also completed in perfection.

The Perfect Servant, the Man Christ Jesus, started the day with prayer. He sought guidance from His Father who sent Him. “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed” (Mk. 1:35). He is the perfect example for us who would seek to be His servants.

Servants must be obedient. “Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back” (Ti. 2:9). The Lord Jesus, as the Perfect Servant, was obedient. “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). He was well pleasing to His Father. “Christ did not please Himself” (Rom. 15:3). He could rightly say, “I always do those things that please Him” (Jn. 8:29). The Father said of Him, “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!” (Mt.12:18).

Here was He come –
’Twas meet for Him Thy Servant Just to be; Though sorrow’s cup
O’erflowed its brim, The joy He gave to Thee. —Anonymous

Servants must be subject: “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear” (1 Pet. 2:18). There was none more subject to His Father’s will than His Perfect Servant. In the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Lk. 22:42). “Not what I will, but what You will” (Mk. 14:36).

A servant must be faithful. The apostle Paul wrote: “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:1-2). There was none so faithful as the Lord Jesus, the Perfect Servant. He was “the faithful witness” (Rev. 1:5).

He exhorted the church at Smyrna, “Be faithful until death” (2:10). He was indeed faithful to death.

O Lord, when we the path retrace Which Thou on earth hast trod, To man Thy wondrous love and grace, Thy faithfulness to God. —J. G. Deck (1802–1884)

May we be more faithful as we seek to serve God and wait for His Son from heaven.

By Paul Palmer