SERVANT LEADERSHIP - The Blue Letter Bible Institute

Servant Leadership – Lesson 15 6
Jesus, Part III by Gayle Erwin
“No.”
“Well then give me a chance.”
“Okay.” And then you start getting letters like that. This is blind ambition.
Jesus was not driven by blind ambition. There never seemed to be a panic in His life.
Let’s move on to the next verse, which is a rather scary one for me. It is not my favorite
verse in the Scripture. It says, “He made Himself of no reputation”—or no image, or He
emptied Himself and made Himself nothing. This is not my favorite verse because I am
kind of into reputation. I like it. I want people to know who I am, to know my name, to
know how to spell it, to know that I am a guy. But Philippians 2:7 says that Jesus made
Himself of no reputation, no image. Why would He do that?
The thing about reputation and image is that it separates you from people. It really does. I
live over in the desert and there is a town right near me where there seems to be more
Rolls Royces per square foot than any place I have ever seen. Now why do you drive a
Rolls Royce? It is not because you are desperate for transportation but image, you know.
But it really separates you from people.
You have probably heard of Johnny Cash. I interviewed him once when I was editing a
youth magazine. He had made a public profession of faith. His pastor was a friend of
mine and said that he would get me an interview. I said, “Wonderful!” I will never forget
that day. I was sitting in his plush office, waiting for Mr. Cash to arrive. I had memorized
my questions and for days I had practiced being cool. And then he walked in and said,
“Hi, I’m Johnny Cash.” I did not realize he was that big! I lost it. I said, “Hi, Johnny. Can
I have your autograph? It is for my son.” When that was over, I thought, “I don’t believe
this. He puts his shoes on one foot at a time just like I do. Why was I so intimidated?”
Fame. Fortune.
Jesus makes Himself of no reputation so everyone in the world—“whosoever will”—can
come boldly before Him and be comfortable. Wow! In fact He did such a good job of it. I
want to show you some ways that He made Himself of no reputation here. This is an
awesome thing to me. Imagine for a moment that you are God. Just give me one day,
huh? And there is this ball of mud out in the middle of space called earth and little critters
running around on it called people and you loved them. And you want to tell them that
but they do not even speak your language. And then you think: “I know what I will do. I
will send my Son. I will make Him just like them and just like Me.” Now you have a
problem—a premier, an introduction.
Now if God would have checked with me, since I have had some experience in public
relations, I could have helped Him. I would have said, “I know how premiers go. I live
near Hollywood so turn it over to me. Every searchlight in the world will be there.
Everybody who is somebody will be there.” And then God says, “Well, no Erwin. I don’t
think I will do it that way. I think I will have My Son born like other people.”