Is God man's servant?

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In the film Life is beautiful a wise man tells the fool, there is a big difference between serving and being a servant. God serves people, but He is not man's servant.

A serving God

God the Son served mankind by righting wrongs, feeding the hungry, and healing the sick, lame and blind. God the Son served mankind by trying to convince us that his father in heaven sent him to show us that there is such a place for all of us to enter.

Jesus served us whilst on earth with his many miraculous deeds, but this alone did not convince the human race. What people needed to know was that this kingdom was real - that there really was such a place of eternity with a loving God.

Jesus served us by becoming a living sacrifice. He served us by obeying his father in heaven until death. He served us by revealing the Father in heaven. He served us by his faith that he would resurrect after three days, or else he might not have gone through with his sacrifice.

Once Jesus had done what he was sent on earth to do, he was ready to leave the world and return to the Father.

Has Jesus stopped serving us now that he is with his father?

When Jesus died on the cross, he said, "It is finished." He referred to the act of sacrifice that allowed all the sins between God and man to be removed. He was referring to his task on earth. His task on earth was over, but the work continues. He has commissioned his disciples to do what he has done, and even greater things than these.

Serving God the Father

What happens now is the miraculous. From the time Jesus ascended into heaven, he didn't leave mankind to his own devices again. He left with us the Holy Spirit - His Holy Spirit. The very spirit that Jesus had - the one that allowed him to serve - has now been given to us.

The Holy Spirit allowed him to have an intimate relationship with his father, the ability to right wrongs, to feed the hungry, and to heal the sick, the lame and the blind. He gave us the strength to endure and the faith to obey. He gave us the promise of the Kingdom of Heaven. And once we, like Jesus, have completed the tasks God has set out for us to do on earth, we too will be ready to be with him in heaven.

The idea that God the Father is man's servant is preposterous, if we understand servitude as someone lower in social status and ability, for God is sovereign. It is preposterous to think that man should tell God what to do, when God made man. It is preposterous to think that God is man's servant, but what a God we serve that He should serve us!

Amen.

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