Reflections from Christopher Wright's book entitled "Knowing the Holy Spirit through the OT"
Moses was a leader and a very great one, and yet, he was a servant and a very lowly one (Nu. 12:3 “…Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone on the face of the earth.”). Moses knew that “our competence [or sufficiency] comes from God.” (2 Cor. 3:5) The key for him, and for us, is God-sufficiency. Moses knew that any real power lay in the Spirit of God while self-sufficiency resulted in a precious waste of time, resources and energy. Whatever his gifts & strengths, he did not depend on them. He found no reassurance in his own resources (sounds a lot like Paul actually). Rather he turned to God. The words “Moses fell on his face before God” are found often in Scripture (Nu. 14:5, 16:4, 22; 20:6). Moses knew that he was a “servant of the Lord.” His strength and his freedom to live his life and be known as a “servant leader” rested in his knowledge of this secure fact. He was the servant, but more importantly, he was the servant “of the LORD”!
We hear similar language as John tells us that “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that He had come from God and was returning to God” (Jn. 13:3) Because Jesus knew these things to be true, because He was so utterly secure in his relationship with his Father, so fully aware of his identity and his destiny, he was free to be the servant of men, and, while the disciples were arguing jealously about who was the greatest, Jesus instead freely & lovingly performed the work of a slave (as he washed the disciples’ feet). As Jesus said, “He came, not to be served, but to serve.”
I like how Wright put it, “When we [truly] know that our own life is securely bound up with Christ in God and that nothing and nobody can rob us of it; when we know that our identity and security lie in God’s grace, not in anything we can do to prove or earn either of them; when we can rest in the assurance that all things in heaven and earth are ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 Cor. 3:21-23); when these are the things that fill our conscious and subconscious mind” (p55)…then our lives too will begin to reflect the same kind of genuine servant kind of living that was displayed not only in the life of Moses but in the very life of Jesus himself, who came to show us true living (kingdom living)…it’s SOTM kind of living : )
Moses was a leader and a very great one, and yet, he was a servant and a very lowly one (Nu. 12:3 “…Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone on the face of the earth.”). Moses knew that “our competence [or sufficiency] comes from God.” (2 Cor. 3:5) The key for him, and for us, is God-sufficiency. Moses knew that any real power lay in the Spirit of God while self-sufficiency resulted in a precious waste of time, resources and energy. Whatever his gifts & strengths, he did not depend on them. He found no reassurance in his own resources (sounds a lot like Paul actually). Rather he turned to God. The words “Moses fell on his face before God” are found often in Scripture (Nu. 14:5, 16:4, 22; 20:6). Moses knew that he was a “servant of the Lord.” His strength and his freedom to live his life and be known as a “servant leader” rested in his knowledge of this secure fact. He was the servant, but more importantly, he was the servant “of the LORD”!
We hear similar language as John tells us that “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that He had come from God and was returning to God” (Jn. 13:3) Because Jesus knew these things to be true, because He was so utterly secure in his relationship with his Father, so fully aware of his identity and his destiny, he was free to be the servant of men, and, while the disciples were arguing jealously about who was the greatest, Jesus instead freely & lovingly performed the work of a slave (as he washed the disciples’ feet). As Jesus said, “He came, not to be served, but to serve.”
I like how Wright put it, “When we [truly] know that our own life is securely bound up with Christ in God and that nothing and nobody can rob us of it; when we know that our identity and security lie in God’s grace, not in anything we can do to prove or earn either of them; when we can rest in the assurance that all things in heaven and earth are ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 Cor. 3:21-23); when these are the things that fill our conscious and subconscious mind” (p55)…then our lives too will begin to reflect the same kind of genuine servant kind of living that was displayed not only in the life of Moses but in the very life of Jesus himself, who came to show us true living (kingdom living)…it’s SOTM kind of living : )
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