We Must Imitate Christ to Resolve Conflicts

The sons of Zebedee come with their mother to ask for a privileged position when Christ is in His Kingdom, and the Lord confronts both them and the other ten disciples, who take offense at these first two brothers, and shows them that things in the Kingdom of God and matters of leadership are handled very differently from the way they are handled in the world.

And what the Lord Jesus Christ says to all of them when He calls them to account is interesting. And He tells them: "You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; rather, whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served," and then He continues developing His thought.

How interesting this assertion by the Lord Jesus Christ is, in which He establishes a very great contrast between the conduct of His disciples and His own conduct, as well as the way things are resolved in the Kingdom of God. All these disciples display carnality, selfishness, pride, and a lack of sincerity toward one another; a Machiavellian, calculating attitude, selfishness, and personal ambition. All these carnal attitudes are expressed in the way they behave toward one another in this passage.

By contrast, the Lord sets before them a very different attitude. And He says: Look at the world; observe the world. What people in positions of authority in the world do is take advantage of their position of authority to lord it over others and to gain an advantage for themselves; they do not think about the people they are supposed to be serving, but about themselves.

They often act in an overbearing, controlling, oppressive, exploitative way, and there we could have a portrait of what the political world is like in our time, when nations are continually suffering and being prevented from progressing in their economies and social conditions because those in power exploit them, take advantage of them, and become corrupt, using the resources of that culture and society—which has placed them there to administer those resources for its benefit—and instead administering them for their own personal gain.

The corruption of the world, the attitude of the world—and the Lord says: Do you know what? That is how the world conducts itself, and that is how you are conducting yourselves in this case, wanting to take advantage of your closeness to Me in order to profit when My Kingdom comes in the future. But in the Kingdom of God, things are not handled that way.

What the Lord is telling them is: Now look at how things are done in the Kingdom. Look at Me, for example: I am the Son of God; I have been sent by My Father to fulfill a mission, and I do not seek My own benefit. I do not try to serve Myself; I do not try to take advantage of My closeness to the Father or of the power God has given Me. Rather, I use My power to bless others, to serve God, and I deny Myself so that the Father's Will may be done in the world.

That attitude of generosity that the Lord exemplified, that attitude of service, obedience, self-denial, and surrender to the Father's Will—placing the comfort and well-being of others above His own comfort—is the attitude we must adopt in our lives. In every aspect of our lives: whether in marriage, in the way we treat our children, in the way we conduct ourselves at work, or in the way we conduct ourselves in ministry and in the pastorate. Never seeking our own advantage, never doing anything simply because we are in power, never trying to draw attention to ourselves.

Always acting with integrity, generosity, benevolence, and kindness, displaying the values of the Kingdom of God and the attitude of Christ Jesus. We must be imitators of Christ in the generous and self-denying way in which He lived. As Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 11, says: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being equal with God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself and became obedient, taking the form of a servant, and humbled Himself even to the cross."

That is the attitude we must exemplify; that is the attitude fitting for the Kingdom of God. And, as we can clearly see, that was not the attitude these men were displaying, but quite the opposite: a carnal, selfish, stubborn attitude as they tried to secure their own place and their own advantage. The Kingdom of God is very different.

If our churches and our ministries were conducted in accordance with that generosity, that kindness, and that humility which Christ reflected, things would be very different in the world, and I believe that many more people would already have been converted and would have believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

May the Lord grant that we apply ourselves to those kinds of principles every day in our own lives. If we apply them, our ministries will be places of peace, harmony, and blessing instead of places of conflict. Examine yourself and ask yourself: How can I use these principles in the role I occupy as a father, as a husband, as an employee, as a colleague, and as a friend? And I know that you will be greatly blessed by this. God bless you, and until our next meditation, Pastor Roberto Miranda bids you farewell.