Isaiah 53:7-10 - The Servant: Silent Obedience

Stake your Bible and go to the book of Isaiah, chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

If you're visiting with us, right around page 650, you'll find just about where we're at, Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

There are moments when silence is better than words.

Sometimes, amidst another person's grief, simply a silent presence is better than trying to say something.

Sometimes when you're angry, silence is definitely better than what you're about to say.

And when you don't know what to say, silence is good too.

My mom would say it's better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Thanks, Mom.

But there's also another silence.

Scripture has a message about silence.

In Isaiah 53 in verse 7, like a lamb led to the slaughter, he opened not his mouth.

In a world that loves self-preservation, in a world that loves self-defense and self-expression and self-assertion, the servant's silence is jarring.

It doesn't make any sense.

But we're going to learn this morning something about that silence.

We're going to learn that that silence is not weakness or passivity.

We're going to learn that this silence is purposeful and that it is a submission to divine justice and loving redemption.

And it's also, as we'll learn, a model for how we're to behave in times of difficulty.

Because what we're going to be looking at in Isaiah 53 and other places this morning is a truth that I'm afraid too many believers in our day haven't yet learned.

And I know that because I missed it myself for a long, long time.

As many of you know, I was not raised in a Christian home.

I came to Christ when I was in my twenties.

Didn't come from even a nominally religious home.

It wasn't that religion was opposed, it was just ignored.

And so when I came to Christ, I had no framework for what it meant to be a Christian.

I quickly let go of habits that became very obvious to me that they were not in alignment with Christ.

And I began to take on things that were new to me: the Bible reading, prayer, fellowship of the body, and even sharing a message about Christ to others.

But over time I began to realize that Christianity was more than just taking stuff off and putting stuff on, that the Lord meant to do something inside of me and that he was conforming me to the character of Christ.

I understood that.

But there came a point in my life when that realization deepened in a very significant way.

A life-changing way.

And it happened when I was facing unexpected, ongoing, and intense opposition in a church I was pastoring in Northern California.

And nothing I could say and nothing I could do could solve the conflict.

In fact, the way I acted when it first started to happen probably just made it worse.

And in that crucible, I began to ask myself, what am I supposed to learn through this?

And I began to ask the Lord to show me more in Jesus in the middle of that moment.

And I was confused at first.

I even at a moment of time went to one of my Hebrew professors in seminary and asked him, I said, What does Paul mean in 2 Corinthians 1 5 when the sufferings of Christ flow into us?

And I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Does God bring pastors into the sufferings of Christ like that?

Or is that meant to be apostolic?

I really didn't get an answer.

But as I began to read more and more 2 Corinthians, I began to understand that I was participating in suffering by God's design.

And in an intimate conversation that I had with one of the elders there, I told him in a moment of just transparency and openness as we shared the trouble together.

I said, I'm learning something about Jesus Christ here, I don't think I could learn anywhere else.

And I didn't mean the town, I meant the situation.

And when I read Isaiah 53, I saw its connection to passages like Philippians 2 and 1 Peter 2 and others, and I began to realize that this was something about our Savior that was meant to be reflected in my life in a very deep way.

And in the middle of that weakness and in the middle of that suffering, I began to learn what it meant to be a Christ-like believer and a Christ-like pastor.

And uh I'm still learning, still learning that.

And so I've anticipated for a long time us coming to this passage of scripture.

It's that deep in my heart.

Because what we're gonna look at in this servant song is not just seeing that Christ suffered and that he endured that suffering.

We're gonna see how he endured it and how we are to live our lives in the light of it as believers in Christ.

And when we scan the whole of this song here, we're going to notice something about Christ.

We're going to see a movement or an arc, as I'll call it, over the course of this morning.

That he begins in glory and descends into humanity and faces opposition and endures suffering and plunges into death, but then rises from the grave and then ascends into the heavenlies, and then is sat at the right hand of the majesty on high and given all his enemies under his footstool.

There's an ark that begins in glory and ends in glory.

And we're going to see that here.

But it's not just a description of Christ's movement, it's a pattern for us.

And this posture of Christ is a pattern for believers.

Because his descent into obedience and the suffering obedience that he did is meant to shape our relationships, is meant to shape how we respond to injustices.

It is to be the very form for our conduct in the workplace and in our home and among the body of Christ.

And also our witness in the world.

There's not many other places that I can think of that aren't covered by all of that.

And so today I want us to trace two movements.

Two movements.

First, we're going to behold the servants' movement, this arc of descent from divine glory to silent obedience back into exaltation.

And then we're going to go into the New Testament and consider how that ark is meant to shape a believer's life in every sphere.

We'll give some examples of that.

So let me begin by reading the passage that's just immediately in front of us.

It's Isaiah 53, 7 to the beginning of verse 10.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.

Like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep silent before her shears, he did not open his mouth.

He was taken away because of oppression and judgment.

And who considered his fate?

For he was cut off from the land of the living.

He was struck because of my people's rebellion.

He was assigned a grave with a wicked.

But he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.

And yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely.

So this first movement is going to be the movement of Christ from glory to glory, from glory to exaltation, through the movement of this ark that brings him love.

But it has to start at divine glory.

We need to start there, not with his suffering, but with his glory.

And look at the very first part of chapter 53, where we were at just a little bit ago.

There we saw last week that the question is asked, who has believed what we've heard?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

And last week we saw that that phrase, the arm of the Lord, signifies divine power, divine initiative, divine presence.

And the power, initiative, and presence of God is there to bring judgment or to bring deliverance or to bring salvation or to bring rescue.

It's a powerful movement of God.

In the beginning of this letter, in verse 13, my servant will be successful.

He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.

So there's a statement there about beginning power and ending power.

But we have to start here.

That he is in heaven, in a place of divine authority and divine strength.

Because Jesus is not just a man enduring hardship.

He is the visible expression of God's redemptive strength.

He is the arm of the Lord.

And John echoes this in his gospel.

And the word was with God.

And the word was God.

The servant is the eternal Son, co-equal with the Father, one through whom all things were made.

And Paul affirms this in Philippians chapter 2, a passage we're going to look at a little bit more.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

This year we're celebrating the 1700th year of the Nicene Creed.

And the Nicene Creed talks about this.

It begins, of course, we believe in God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

But listen to the next strips.

And the one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of the same essence as the Father.

And so the descent begins in glory.

And that matters.

Why does that matter?

It matters because the silence that we're about to look at is not the silence of confusion.

It's not the silence of defeat.

Did you hear that?

This is the silence of strength quieted on its own.

This is a silence of one who knows exactly who he is and knows exactly what he could do, but chooses not to assert it.

Peter, could not I call to my father and have legions of angels come down here and fight this fight?

Put your sword away.

He had that kind of authority.

The Ark of the Servant.

It is more than poetic, it's historical.

And it begins there.

And it moves down into rejection and suffering.

Take a look at verse 3.

He was despised and rejected by men.

A man is suffering who knew what sickness was.

He was like someone people turned away from him.

He was despised and we didn't value him.

Boy, we get rankled when somebody who ought to know what kind of position we are in relationship to them doesn't regard it.

I am your father.

Like they didn't know.

But when they say something that rubs against that, all of a sudden the construct of relationship comes out.

And here is the creation.

The creation that has the image of God stamped on it.

And they see God in their image, and he's despised and neglected and not valued.

But this is not circumstantial suffering.

This is chosen suffering.

His descent here is deliberate.

And he's not stumbling into this, he's walking, he's walking right into it.

He said in John 10, No one takes my life from me.

I lay it down of my own accord.

In John 10 and verse 18.

So the suffering that he's facing is not imposed, it's embraced.

And it's purposeful and it's covenantal.

And it goes even further in verse 5 to tell us he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities, and punishment for our peace was on him.

This suffering is purposeful because it is a saving suffering.

He's a substitute for our own judgment.

This is redemptive suffering.

He bears what we deserve so that we might receive what he alone can give us.

And that's salvation.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And so his pain and his suffering is purposeful.

Suffering in order to give us salvation.

And it is, and we won't turn there, but this is the exact very passage that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when Philip comes beeboping by him, and he goes, wait a second.

I'm reading Isaiah here, and I'm reading these words.

Who is Isaiah speaking about himself or somebody else?

And Philip opens up the scriptures at that place and reveals to him Jesus.

And the man believes because he realizes that this suffering servant suffered for him.

And he believed.

Again, the Nicene Creed for us and our salvation.

He came down from heaven.

He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary and was made human.

And he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered and was buried.

And that now brings us into verse 7.

The silent obedience.

And again, this is a jarring silence.

Amid our world of self-defense, amid our world of self-expression, self-assertion, our Savior offers silence.

Why is he silent?

Because he's anchored.

He's anchored in the Father's will.

And so he was silent.

So when we go to Matthew 26 and verse 63, we read these words.

He was silent before Caiaphas.

He was silent before Pilate.

He was silent before the crowd.

And that silence, again, was not an absence of power, but power under the control.

It was the silence of the Lamb.

The silence of one who entrusted himself to the Father's will.

And again, as we'll see in a moment, this is not just something to behold.

This movement is formative.

It's formative.

His silence teaches us how to endure injustices with trust and not vengeance.

It teaches us how to respond, not with retaliation, but restraint.

And it teaches us to be silent and not self-observ assertive, but in submitting ourselves to the just Father.

But we have to go down further, one more step.

Verse 8.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

He was cut off from the land of the living and assigned a grave with the wicked.

This is where the descent reaches its lowest point.

Death.

The wages of sin is death.

Jesus said, Can any of you convince me of wrong?

No one.

And yet he suffers the penalty of sin when no sin was in him.

This is not symbolic or metaphoric.

He died.

Luke 23, 46, Jesus' final words, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

And he dies in submission, not defeat.

Again, the Nicene Creed, he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered and was buried.

But the grave's not the end.

But we shouldn't rush past it either.

In fact, Paul, when he quoted the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, said, And he died for us, according to the scriptures.

This descent now is complete, from glory to rejection, from rejection to suffering, from suffering to silence, from silence to death, and not the death of a hero, the death of a criminal.

But every step of that descent fulfilled in Christ, every moment and movement of this prophecy, not abstract, but embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Philippians 2.8.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

Again, this art doesn't end here.

And so this is the last movement toward resurrection and exaltation.

Now we're going to look at this more next week, so I'm just simply going to mention it here, but next week it's all going to be about that.

Look at verse 10.

When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed.

He dies without any ability to have any, but he will see his seed.

And it continues on.

The descent gives way to ascent.

And in Luke 24 and verse 6, when people are looking for his body, the messengers from heaven say, He's not here.

He's risen.

And in Acts 1 9, he was lifted up, and the clouds received him out of their sight.

In Philippians 2 9, therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every other name.

The ark of the servant now is complete.

From glory to humble human existence, to rejection and suffering and silence and death to resurrection and ascension and exaltation.

But again, it's not just descriptive, it's a pattern.

It's a pattern by which we're saved, but it's also a pattern by which a believer's life is shaped.

What Christ embodied is what we're called to reflect.

What he endured, we're invited to receive for life, but invited to understand to live now.

We say about ourselves that we're a Christ-centered church.

It begins with Christ-focused believers, not just the preaching.

And so now we turn to the second movement from surrender to glory.

The servant's ark is, I said, not just descriptive, it's prescriptive.

And so those who are united to Christ are called to embody his humility, we're called to embody his obedience, we're called to embody his endurance in every sphere of life, as we'll see among fellow believers in society, and home, at work, everywhere.

But before we speak about those relationships and those responsibilities and our responses, we have to start right here.

Right here.

The mindset of the believer in embracing this arc has to begin with us internally before it ever gets expressed.

So let's go to Philippians chapter two.

Philippians chapter two.

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.

And on it goes.

And gives you the ark.

What is your mind supposed to be?

Christ-like.

In the same sense of willing submission to humiliation, silence in the face of opposition, to suffering for what is right.

Let this mind be in you.

This arc begins here.

It begins with us.

It begins at the center of who we are.

It begins in that place where we yield ourselves.

It's not just our behavior, it's about our ambition or our pride needing to be set right and our desires to be put where they meant to be focused.

Romans 12.

Present your body as a living sacrifice and be transformed, it says, metamorphosized, absolutely revolutionizingly renewed and changed of mind.

It's not a surface-level thing.

This is a deep reorientation of who we are.

And it reshapes our values and it will shape our instincts and it will control our reflexes.

To follow the servant's heart, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, will be an embrace embracing a mindset of humility and not self-promotion.

It will mean embracing a mindset of obedience and not self-will.

It'll mean embracing a mindset of endurance and not entitlement.

It'll mean embracing a mindset of trust and not control.

Or fear, which is really just another sense of feeling like you can't control.

This is the soil from which our lives grow.

And without this internal surrender to Christ as Lord in our hearts, listen to this.

Without Christ set as Lord in our hearts, every expression of humility and gentleness and endurance that's self-generated, well, it's going to be strained and it's going to be short-lived because it doesn't come with the force and power of God behind it.

But when this ark of Christ is embraced in the heart, when Christ has set as Lord there, it will change how we speak when we suffer.

And it'll change how we lead and how we love.

So let's take a look at this.

We're right here in Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

And the first place we can look is how this ark changes how we relate to one another as fellow believers.

That we are to live with humility that fosters spiritual unity.

And if the servant's ark started in glory and descends down to humanity and humility and rising again in exaltation, then a believer's ark begins in the same way.

It bends the same direction.

It begins with surrender.

Now, what benefits have we received?

Certainly not the praise of the angels in heaven, certainly not the prerogatives of being the Godhead.

What prerogatives do we have?

Take a look at verse 1, Philippians 2.

If then there's any encouragement in Christ, any consolation of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any affection and mercy, you've got a lot of benefits.

Make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, considering others as more important than yourselves.

And everyone look not to his own interest, but rather to the interest of others.

Adopt the same attitude which is in Christ Jesus.

It doesn't begin with behavior, it begins with mindset.

And the mindset is that ark.

Christ didn't grasp for status, he didn't cling to privilege, he didn't assert his rights, he emptied himself and took on himself the form of a servant and became obedient even to the point of death.

And that's not just theology.

It's important theology, mind you, but it's relational instruction.

Relational instruction.

Have this mind among you.

Let this ark of Christ shape how you think about one another in the body of Christ.

Let his descent and humility become a pattern for your posture in the community of Christ.

Ephesians 4 2.

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

Unity is not something maintained by the force of personality or power.

It's cultivated through humility and gentleness and patience.

It's Christ-likeness.

Romans 12 10.

Take the lead in honoring one another.

If you want to get your elbows out, get your elbows out to say you go first.

That's what it's saying.

Go lower, not higher.

Lift others up, not yourself.

Why?

Because Christ did.

Because the servant's ark was not self-serving, it was self-giving.

Because his posture is meant to be our pattern.

His humility is meant to be our code.

His self-emptying is meant to be our way of life.

And so among the body of Christ, there should be no whisper of self-assertion and demands for our own pleasure, our efforts to dominate, but rather to humble ourselves and bear with one another and honor each other and follow the ark.

Now let's go outside a little bit.

We've been inside for a while, but let's go outside.

Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

And we're going to see the ark in our relationship to society where grace needs to be our reply to pressure.

It goes outside our private devotions, it goes outside our church life, it goes into the public square.

And Isaiah 53 shows a Savior who endured injustice without retaliation, who bore hostility without bitterness, and who entrusted himself to the Father rather than defending himself before men.

And again, that posture is not just descriptive, it's prescriptive.

That posture is our pattern.

In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 21.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

For to this you've been called.

What?

Well, just take a look at verse 20.

What credit is there when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it?

But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.

For to this you were called to bear the suffering from society without retaliation or bitterness.

Why?

Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

And unless you think I'm just making up this Isaiah 53 connection out of out of my head, take a look at the next verse.

He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

That's Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

When he was insulted, he did not insult in return.

And when he suffered, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died to sins, we might live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

Isaiah 53.

And you were like sheep going astray.

Isaiah 53.

But you have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your soul.

That is not just a historical ark.

That posture is our pattern.

It's our pattern with our hearts, it's our pattern among the body of Christ, and lo and behold, it's our pattern with society.

Paul echoes this in Romans 12.

Repay no one evil for evil.

If possible, so as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Let me ask a question.

Does your social media characterize trying to live as peaceably as you can with all?

Are you just another weapon warrior with your words?

Right?

Again, this is not weakness.

Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God, he says in Romans 12.

This is not weakness, this is refusing to play God, is what it is.

It's a decision to entrust justice to the one who judges rightly.

Because we don't.

Our anger gets mingled in there, and all of a sudden, self-righteous takes on the third booster of a rocket, and off we go.

But to love, to bless, and to pray and to reflect the ark that brought Jesus to the cross.

And so it means that we are not losing here.

We're not giving ourselves over to passive resignation.

This is active trust.

It is responding with grace, it is choosing restraint, it is offering peace in the face of provocation, it is blessing instead of being bitter.

Those are all active words.

This is not resignation by any stretch of the imagination.

Why do we do that?

Because that's what Christ did, and that's what Isaiah saw, and this is what Peter taught.

So somebody at work messes up and you get shifted for the blame.

You didn't do it, but now you're the one in the spotlight.

You can go in the offensive, you can start pointing fingers, you can try to rally support, you can say, hey, we're we're not going to deal with this.

I'm not putting up with this.

Or you can calmly explain what happened, tell the truth, and let it go.

And not offer yourself to gossip or retaliation.

Or someone post something online that rankles you and maybe even be directed right at you, and you're tempted to fire back just to point your prove your point right or to shut them down.

Instead, pause and offer some kindness.

Maybe a statement that says, I get what you're coming from, and I'd love to talk with you more about that.

You don't water down the truth, but you don't flood it with the personality of anger and retaliation either.

Or you're in a tough conversation with your wife or your husband or a friend.

You feel misunderstood, they feel misunderstood, things are heating up.

Instead of pushing harder, you take a breath, you ask a question, you listen.

You speak honestly and own you're wrong.

When someone you trust turns on you, you've poured your life into a person, you've prayed for them, and now they're saying things about you that just aren't true, and it's public and painful, you could defend yourself.

You could make sure everybody else knows what your side is, or you could choose something different.

You could pray for them, you could decide not to speak anything ill about them.

And when someone asks you, you just say, I'm trusting God to sort this out because I don't want to get myself in the way.

Those examples are not easy.

They're not.

They require spiritual maturity, emotional discipline, and above all, the deepest dependence on God that you can imagine.

But they are possible because it's the ark of our Savior.

And when we want to align ourselves with our Savior, we enter into the realm where God strengthens us to do His will.

Let's go to 1 Peter 3.

We've gone to the heart, we've gone to the church, we've gone outside.

Now let's go to the house.

1 Peter 3.

In the same way.

In the same way, what?

Well, chapter 2.

In the same way that Christ submitted himself, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands.

So that even if some disobey the word, they may be won over without a word by the way their wives live.

For when they observe your pure, reverent lives, don't let your beauty be consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles, wearing gold or jewelry or fine clothes, but rather the inside of the heart, the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

The servant's ark shapes a wife's life.

But it also shapes a husband's.

Verse 7.

Husbands in the same way.

Same way what?

Same way as 1 Peter 2 that quotes Isaiah 53.

The Ark, the Ark of Christ's movement from glory to humility to rejection, to suffering, to obedient death.

Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner.

It doesn't say she is a weaker partner as if she were.

So if I've got a $2 clay pot that I planted my basil in, when I'm done growing the basil, I might not even take that thing inside.

I might leave it out there, and after winter, the freeze and the thaw and the freeze and the thaw, it's cracked.

Oh well, whatever.

But if somebody gave me a Ming Boz, I'd be like, right?

You'd be like, husbands, treat your wife as that.

As that.

She's not a two-dollar clay pot.

She is a vessel that deserves your care.

Husbands in the same way.

What's it going to take for you to do that?

It's going to take the Christ-shaped ark for you to enter into that kind of attitude and action with your wife.

Showing them honor as co-heirs in the grace of life.

You see, your position as a leader is not a position of power, it's a position of posture, of Christ-like posture.

Paul emphatically states that in Ephesians 5.

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Where do you get that?

Isaiah 53, that's where he got that.

It's the servant's ark.

Says it in Colossians.

That we interact in the home not through dominance, but through sacrificial care, not through assertion, but through considered affection and respect.

In the home, the ark of Christ becomes the rhythm of love.

We go low to lift each other up.

We serve rather than demand.

We reflect humility in the way we speak, in the way we listen, the way we forgive, the way we lead.

Now let's go back to chapter 2, 1 Peter.

One more place, and I'll have to quit.

The workplace.

1 Peter 2, verse 18.

1 Peter 2:18

Household slaves.

Submit to your masters with all reverence, not only to the good and gentle ones, but also to the cruel.

For it brings favor because of a conscience of God.

Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, a consciousness of God.

Someone endures grief from suffering unjustly.

For what credit is there if you do wrong and are beaten and you endure it?

But when you do what is good and suffer, you endure it.

This brings favor with God.

For to this you were called.

Because Christ also suffered for you.

And there's the ark.

There's Isaiah 53.

You see, we bring this Christ-like character into our hearts, among our church body, into society in general, we bring it into homes, and we take it to work.

It goes everywhere we go.

Titus 2, 9.

Workers to be submissive, not argumentative, to show all good faith.

Why?

So that in everything they may endure the teaching of God our Savior.

Adorning the gospel, making the gospel look attractive.

How?

By that purposeful following of the ark of Christ.

It's the servant's ark, his obedience, his endurance, his trust, his submission.

And it becomes the template for us even at work.

Where we serve with excellence.

Not for promotion, but in order to have a platform for proclamation.

We endure mistreatment, not for with resentment, but resilience.

And we reflect Christ not only in what we say, but in how we work.

One more.

I'm just going to give you one more.

This one's free.

1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

1 Peter 5.

I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ.

Peter, did you have to talk about that?

Yes, why?

Because he's just hinting now.

He's already laid it out, but he's hinting at the ark.

As well as who shares in the glory about to be revealed.

There's the ark, the whole thing.

How's our leadership to be?

Shepherd God's flock among you.

Not overseen, out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not out of greed for money, but eagerly, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock when the chief shepherd, oh, here we go again, right into that whole Isaiah 53 motif.

Every bit of it.

How is church leadership to be run?

Exactly like Christ.

Following the ark.

We don't climb, we descend.

We don't control, we care.

We don't demand, we serve.

And if you've part of a church, if you're visiting here, watching online, and your your pastor declines, controls, and demands, get out of there.

Because he is not showing you Jesus, no matter what his mouth is saying.

He's showing you how to live in a worldly way.

This is what Christ did, and this is what church leaders are to do.

Again, we can take it everywhere.

In conflict, restore such one in the spirit of meekness, with gentleness, instructing those who oppose themselves.

We don't lash out, we lean in.

As Paul said, even in our witness, carrying about us in our bodies the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus might be made manifested, even in our gospel witness.

It's everywhere, literally everywhere.

How we forgive, how we speak, how we wait, how we serve, the ark is there.

This descent into humility, this endurance of injustice, this silence of trust, this obedience to death, and the hope of the resurrection.

And for all of us who are united to Christ, who are willing to follow this ark, there's going to be more to it.

There's going to be more to it.

It doesn't end in the grave.

Neither does your submission to Christ end in the grave.

We'll talk about that next week.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for a Savior who was so willing to do this for us, who offered himself up on the cross so that we might live.

Father, we're grateful that for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross and despised the shame.

And that he offered himself willingly to come to do your will.

And Father, we've been brought into an awareness of that in a way that goes beyond just information or theological precision.

It is a shape of who we are to be.

And Father, for that, we pray that the Spirit of Christ might dwell within each of us.

That you would remove all of those wayward movements that are plotted along the plot line of our lives and bring us into conformity with Christ.

And Lord, even if it means that we need the external pressures of suffering to do it, do it, Lord.

Do it so that we might know our Savior in a way we've never understood him.

And we pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.