He Came to Serve

God intends for everything that is in Christ to end up being fully embodied in the Church.

Rodrigo Abarca

"For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45).

The meaning of the gospels

This verse summarizes what the Holy Spirit wanted to say about Jesus Christ in Mark's gospel. Each gospel emphasizes a different aspect of the Lord, His life and ministry. And this is the particular emphasis of Mark's gospel, described here in a masterful and synthetic way.

Beloved brothers, I want to share about the purpose that God has for His church in the present time. As we all know, God has an eternal purpose for the church, and that eternal purpose is centered in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the church as Christ's body. But, when I say "the present time", I refer to the time that has lapsed since the moment the Lord left until the moment he returns for His church. The present dispensation, as the apostle Paul called it.

The gospels were written approximately between the year 55 and the year 63, when Peter had already left Jerusalem, and John Mark was with him. That's a long time from the time of the foundation of the church in the year 33 in Jerusalem. That means there were already 30 years of church history, 30 years of glory, expansion and growth. When the gospels were written, Paul had written most of his letters to the churches. One should ask why the Holy Spirit took so much time in inspiring men to write the gospels. When we open our Bible in the New Testament, the first things that we find are the gospels. But in the Church's history, the first were Paul's letters.

In the gospels we find Jesus Christ. But the context for which they were written is the church, and the church that had already received a revelation of the eternal purpose of God.

So, brothers, we then find that God intends that everyone who is in Christ ends up being fully embodied in the church; that everyone who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ also belongs to the church. And this is the time which we live in, when the church is being prepared. And its preparation is nothing other than progressively appropriating all the fullness that is in Christ.

Paul had already written of this when Mark wrote his gospel. So, when we read this gospel, we should understand that we don't just have Jesus' life in historical terms here. What we read here about Jesus Christ is what God wants for His church. That everything in it be conformed to Christ.

Maturing for service

Today, I wanted to share with you an aspect of Christ that the church is called to embody and to manifest. It is an aspect that has to do with maturity and with bearing fruit. The purpose of God is that we mature and bring fruit, and this is expressed in service. Service is the fruit of maturity. As Mark's gospel says: " For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister…".

When you are new born and during the whole period of your childhood, you are mostly someone who is served. The characteristic of small children is that they are served. They are dependent on the help of their parents. And while they grow they are still tremendously needful.

It is the same in the spiritual life of the children of God. When we are born again, as children of God, we are also spiritual babies and we need to be served. But the purpose of God is that His children grow. If a boy doesn't grow, something abnormal is happening. And what characterizes growth? That he stops being served and begins to serve. Service is a sign of maturity in the house of God.

Of course, brothers, I am not saying that we cannot serve from the beginning. Because even small children are given tasks and they are taught to serve. But the will of God is that we end up being transformed to the likeness of His Son.

When opening Mark's gospel, you will find that, contrary to the other gospels, this begins with the ministry of the Lord. John begins in eternity, before the world existed. Luke begins with the classification of the circumstances in the moment when Jesus was born, and Matthew begins with the genealogy of the Lord.

But one opens Mark's gospel and immediately finds Jesus serving. Here Jesus had already reached maturity. During thirty years, the Lord grew. During thirty years, he was listening to the Father's voice, having fellowship with him, in intimacy with the Father. He was filling himself with the Father's will, with the thoughts and the heart of the Father. He grew and matured.

The purpose of service

But when the time came, we are told: " And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in the Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him: And a voice came out of the heavens, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased." (Mar 1:9-11). Here we have the moment in which the Father recognizes His Son, and Jesus enters into the age of maturity, that is to say, into the age of service.

"For the Son of man also came not to be ministered". Remember this. In Hebrews 10 we see the prophecy about Christ. And in this prophecy, we find that Christ's Spirit announces the purpose of His coming to the world. Mark says that he came to serve, not to be served: "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me " (Hebrew 10:5). Who came into the world? Jesus Christ. And, for what reason did he come? It says: "But a body didst thou prepare for me". God prepared a body so that His Son could enter into the world. But, what was that body for? Verse 7 tells us: " Then said I, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. " The body that the Father prepared for His Son was so that he could do the Father's will. What was the Father's will for His Son? Let us return to Mark 1:14-15. " Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel. " Here we see how the Lord did the Father's will; how He used His body to do that will. " preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel."

"The time is fulfilled". What time? The announced time, the time promised in the law, the time of grace, the time of life, the time of the restoration of all things, the time of salvation and of the revelation of the eternal purpose of God, when the heavens would open up on the earth. Well, until that day, heaven was closed on the earth.

From the day in which man fell in the garden, heaven was closed on humanity. Man could cry out, could invent his religions, but the heavens were closed for him. Man died in his sin, dominated by the powers of darkness; because the heavens were closed. Men went to their death, but heaven didn't speak; God remained silent.

But, suddenly, Jesus Christ arrives. And He announces: "Now the heavens are no longer closed. The time has been completed. Heaven has opened up, and the Kingdom of heaven has descended to the earth". It is heaven come down to earth. All the authority of heaven, all the power, the whole glory of heaven, is now on the earth. Never before in the history of humanity had the heavens opened up on the earth. But now heaven was open, and the throne of God and the authority of God had descended to the earth.

And, for what reason had it descended? To undo all that the devil, sin and death had done to man since the beginning. Christ descended to undo all that that death, the fall and sin had done to man. When one reads this word in Greek, it says: "The Kingdom of the heavens is at the door". In the olden times, when a powerful army came to take a city, it camped in front of its gates, they sent an ambassador to the king of the city, and they told him: "Out there, behind the gate of the city, there is a tremendous army, and they announce that you had better surrender, because if not, they will take the city, and nobody will live".

And now the Lord says: "Here, at the door, round the corner...", and this is for Satan: "Listen, here, round the corner, is the whole army of heaven waiting to come, to invade and to take your place from you! " The Kingdom of the heavens has come closer, and that means that all the power of the heavens is now acting on the earth. Where? Embodied in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The angels of God, all the power of the heaven, all the authority, the Father's will, everything is gathered, concentrated, and coming through Him to the earth.

To serve is to impart life

And that means life. If there is a word that can summarize all that we have said, it is the word Life. Life that enter into the dominion of death and begin to undo all that death has done. It is the life that came from above, from heaven. "I have come so that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly " (John 10:10). Oh, not a little; heaven is not scarce! Not a little bit of life; life in abundance!

Because we lack life. We lost it one day in the garden. But now the way is open. " In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not. " (John 1:4-5). And when we read this, we are told that the Son of Man came to serve. But, how can we serve? Giving life. Because he said: "The Son of Man came to serve... and to give... life". How did Christ serve? Giving His life. And the life that he gave us is the life of God. Eternal, abundant, limitless, powerful, and glorious, beyond all understanding. Life of God imparted to man.

What does it mean to serve? To impart life; the life of God, the life of Christ. Serving doesn't mean doing lots of things, it is not about filling one's time with activities; it is to impart life wherever death reigns. If you are not imparting life, you are not serving.

Areas in which Life operates

Now then, in Mark's gospel we find that life, imparted by Christ, touching different areas where death, Satan and sin reign. We find at least four areas where the Lord served imparting life, which are also areas where we should be serving, imparting life.

The first of those, the one that gives origin to everything, is the preaching of the Word. Mark 1:14: " after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God". Jesus preached, it imparted life; preaching the gospel, the word of God, to men.

In 1 Timothy we are told: "God... wants all men to be saved". And wanting, here, is the will of God. Do you understand what something which is the will of God means? It is not simply a question of: "I want, I yearn, I would very much like...". It is not that. "I want. All my will, all my resources, all my authority, all my power is working so that all men be saved". That is what His will is. And that will begin in the world, by means of the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. It is the preaching from the word of God to men who are lost, saying to them: "The door is open; a door of salvation and of life has opened up. There is salvation for all who want to come and to drink from the waters.

Then, the second is freedom from sin. Christ imparted his life freeing people from sin. That is man's starting point: a slave to sin. And there are two passages in Mark where we find freedom from sin. In chapter 2, the story of the paralytic, and in 1:40, the story of a leper.

Leprosy is a figure of sin. In the Old Testament, lepers were driven outside of the camp. That is man's condition before God: he is outside God's will. Leprosy is a figure of what sin does to man. It is a terrible illness that eats away the flesh, and causes him to fall to pieces. It is incurable, and the man ends up literally disintegrating. And sin does the same thing within, in man's soul. Sin disintegrates and destroys us inside.

One can see people who, seemingly, are enjoying themselves and having a good time. But it is only an appearance: sin is eating away at them like leprosy. Sin destroys family relationships, friendships, the value that man attributes to himself, burdening himself with guilt, and living in a state of abjection. It is like a monster, a second nature that we don't want to have with us, and that makes us do shameful things which destroy our life. It is a type of leprosy which invades and destroys man.

Ah, but Jesus came to give life, and Christ's life is powerful enough to heal wherever sin has done its work. This leper came completely destroyed by leprosy, but Jesus told him: "I am willing, because it is the Father's will that you be clean. Be clean!". And he was made clean! That is life, life that entered into that man's rotten body, and re-made it. And his flesh became new! Likewise, brothers, we come to Christ full of sin, and His life enters us and renovates us inside; it makes us a new creation and liberates us from sin forever. Sin is removed from us, far from us, nailed on the cross with Christ, and we are free. He gives us His life to live above the power of sin.

We go to the third point: Freedom from the power of Satan. When we read Mark's gospel, we find the following: " And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine..." (1:21-22). What did they admire? When one hears the word doctrine, one thinks about sound teaching. But Mark explains his doctrine in a different sense. He writes: "... for he taught them as one that had authority" (v. 22). The doctrine of the Lord, His teaching, is a teaching with authority. It is not that He simply taught. Through what was taught, the power of God and the authority of God flowed.

Brothers, when we speak or teach we must always make sure the authority and the power of God are flowing. When the teaching doesn't have life, when it doesn't have power, it just becomes a heavy burden for the brothers. When there is life and power, there is liberation and a renovation of the heart. Brothers and sisters feel that their heart begins to rise and that the chains begin to fall, the doubts remain behind us, fears disappear and we begin to live in victory.

Jesus taught this way, with authority. And that which He did in His body of flesh, He now does in His spiritual body, which is the church. It is what He wants to do through each one of its members.

Liberation from the power of Satan... "And straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And the unclean spirit, tearing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? a new teaching! with authority he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." (1:23-27) It is a word with authority! Authority even over the powers of darkness.

Here is something very interesting. When Jesus was on the earth, one could almost conclude that all the demons of the world were present in Israel, because wherever He walked, those possessed with demons arose on all sides. This was the nation that God had chosen. And here in their synagogue, in the central meeting place of the Jewish religion, there was a demon! Truly, they had fallen under the power of Satan. This is terrible and tragic. But He came to undo the devil's works! My beloved brothers, the religion, the law, the commandments, don't have power against Satan; but Jesus Christ does; he came to undo the devil's works.

Formerly there were attics in the highest part of the houses or in the basements, and they didn't have any light. And in those places, one would store all one's old possessions. And there were mice and spiders, and all types of insects. And then, when you entered that attic without light, somewhere around you would hear the screech of a mouse. Then you would touch something sticky, maybe a spider's web, because you didn't have light, and you couldn't see anything. But when you turn a strong light on, the light illuminates the whole room, and all that is present there, appears.

Dear brothers, when Christ came to the earth, he lit an immense lighthouse. All the mice, the cockroaches, the spider's webs, came out into the light. The demons were naked. They were very well hidden, immersed in doctrines, hidden in the heart of men; but before Christ's light, nothing was hidden. Everything came out into the light! And then, when they came into the light, the Lord simply said: "Out!" And they began to flee, because they could not withstand the presence of the Lord. That is the Kingdom of God; that is Christ's life that has power over the kingdom of darkness.

And a characteristic of Mark's gospel is that you will find that the Lord didn't rest. "And the following day", "and the following day", "and the following day..." it is a recurrent expression in this gospel. And the Lord continued, and continued, and continued... And wherever He had to be, there He was. Once He was so tired that the disciples had to take Him to a boat, so that He could sleep. He had worked the whole morning healing sick, and driving out demons. He spent the whole day preaching. Then they brought sick people to Him, and the whole city was outside the door. And, what did he say? "Wait until tomorrow"? No, dear brothers. "I came to serve". So He stayed up until three or four in the morning serving, until each man or woman was healed and liberated.

And what did He do after that? Did He go to rest? He left to pray, to recover strength from the Father, in order to continue serving. This is the source of freedom from the power of Satan and is the life that conquers the darkness.

And finally, perhaps the strangest of all, what we would never expect to find here: Freedom from the religious systems. There is no work of death or darkness which is more terrible than a religious system. Why? Because men are subject to the power of diseases and sin in very coarse and evident ways. The same, however, is not true of those in religious systems.

From Mark 2:13 up to 3:6, we find the religious system. In 2:16 religious people appear on the scene. When the religious scribes and Pharisees see Him eating with the publicans, they say to the disciples: " How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?" But what they are really saying is that they are neither publicans nor sinners. And therefore: "He should meet with people like us; good people, pure people, who love the law and God". Religious people!

But this is what religion does to man. Because these sinners and publicans, as lost as they were, received Christ, they repented of their sins. But those religious men rejected Christ, they never believed him, and finally they crucified him. Despite this terrible blindness the Lord came to free us.

The second case is fasting. " And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they come and say unto him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day. No man seweth a piece of undressed cloth on an old garment: else that which should fill it up taketh from it, the new from the old, and a worse rent is made. And no man putteth new wine into old wineskins; else the wine will burst the skins, and the wine perisheth, and the skins: but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins." (Mark 2:18-22).

What does this mean? This is Jesus' reaction to religion. "Religion, he says, is like an old wineskin, manufactured by man. And it has old and mature wine inside. But He brings a new wine, and a new life. But, for His new wine, one needs a new wineskin. There is no room here for human religion. His wine cannot enter into the wineskin of religion built by man. His wine needs His wineskin. He will provide the wineskin. He provides the wine, but He won't allow us to provide the wineskin".

What did this have to do with fasting? They wanted to mix the old wineskin of their Jewish religion with the new wine of Christ's life; to try to put that wine in that rancid old wineskin of worn-out Jewish religion which no longer contained life. But, Christ's life can never be put into an old wineskin. If Christianity has become an old wineskin, then the Lord will have to make a new wineskin for His new wine.

We cannot come with our religion, and bring it to the Lord saying: "Lord, here's our religion, put your wine here". Because our religion is no good to the Lord, our customs are no good to the Lord and our ways of doing things are no good to the Lord.

We want to put limits on Him. The Pharisees said: "Lord, you cannot meet with sinners. Because our religion has taught us this f or four hundred years; our rabbis, our great teachers, they have told us that nobody can mix with those people, because they are contaminated".

That is religion, and it is a lie. But Jesus is not bound to it. His wineskin is new. It is the river of God that is flowing and it cannot be stopped by man. May God protect us from building dikes, structures, religions, old wineskins that prevent Christ moving freely among His people. The religious system wanted to limit the Lord. If the Lord healed a man on the Sabbath, they said: why is he healing a man on the Sabbath?

That is religion. Rules, and more rules. Men filled with rules, filled with ways of doing things. It is good to have ways of doing things, but when those ways become "sacred", then they have become a religion. Different ways have to be used, but they must be left aside when they no longer work. One day we did something this way, because the Lord showed us that it was had to be like this. But tomorrow we have to be willing to stop doing it this way and to do it differently. What must remain unalterable is the wine; what must never change is Christ among us, His glory and His centrality. But the means have to adapt to Christ, and not Christ to our forms and our means.

He came to free us from religion, from all old wineskins, from all religious systems with His powerful life. Christ's life has power to free us from religious systems.

The mission of the Church

I finish with this. " And he goeth up into the mountain, ...". And here is the Lord's most important mission. He came to preach the gospel, to impart life through the gospel, to free from sin, to free from the power of Satan, to free from death and to free us from all religious systems. That is the power of Christ's life, and that is the service that Christ came to fulfill. But all this will converge toward a greater purpose: " And he goeth up into the mountain, and calleth unto him whom he himself would; and they went unto him. " (3:13)

Why did the Lord come to free us? Why did He come to save, to break chains? So that they might come to Him! So that they might be joined to Him, and come to be one with Him. That is to say, to edify His church. And that is how He began to edify His church: He called the twelve. And they were with Him. And they saw all that Jesus did. Thus the same thing that He came to do, the mission that He brought to the earth on behalf of God, was also deposited in them. He called them to be with Him, but also to send them out to preach. And so that they might have authority to heal diseases, to have power over death, power to free men, and to drive out demons, to bring an end to the devil's works.

Thus, just as He had a physical body like ours on the earth, to do the Father's will, which He spent doing the Father's will, now He has another Body, a spiritual body, a body that He won for Himself on the cross, the body that is His church. And that body is called to complete the same mission that He completed.

You, brother, sister, are called by God to do the same thing. To preach. You are called to heal the sick, you are called to free men from the power of death. The priests of God and of Christ, ministers of Jesus Christ, Christ's living body is here to do His will, to finish His will on the earth.

Dear brothers, if we don't do it, nobody will. Because Christ will use His church to finish His work in the world. What He began in Galilee and in Nazareth, He will finish to the ends of the earth by means of His church. Until He comes, He will continue healing, He will continue liberating, He will continue calling, He will continue rescuing, and He will continue bringing men to Himself, with the power of His life, with the power of His authority, with the power of His glory, by means of His church.

Synthesis of an oral message shared in the Rucacura 2004 Conference, Chile.

Copyright © AGUAS VIVAS | CHILE 2004