Bible verses about "servanthood" | Moffatt

²⁵ but Jesus called them and said, "You know the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men overbear them: ²⁶ not so with you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; ²⁸ just as the Son of man has not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

⁴² so Jesus called them and said, "You know the so-called rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men overbear them: ⁴³ not so with you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever of you wants to be first must be your slave; ⁴⁵ for the Son of man himself has not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

¹⁶ Live like free men, only do not make your freedom a pretext for misconduct; live like servants of God.

²⁶ If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall my servant be also: if anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.

¹⁷ Indeed, whatever you say or do, let everything be done in dependence on the Lord Jesus, giving thanks in his name to God the Father.

²¹ Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

¹ Now before the passover festival Jesus knew the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had loved his own in this world and he loved them to the end; ² so at supper, knowing that though the devil had suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, ³ the Father had put everything into his hands — knowing that he had come from God and was going to God, ⁴ he rose from table, laid aside his robe, and tied a towel round him, ⁵ then poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, wiping them with the towel he had tied round him. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter. "Lord," said he, "you to wash my feet!" ⁷ Jesus answered him, "You do not understand just now what I am doing, but you will understand it later on." ⁸ Said Peter, "You will never wash my feet, never!" "Unless I wash you," Jesus replied, "you will not share my lot." ⁹ "Lord," said Simon Peter, "then wash not only my feet but my hands and head." ¹⁰ Jesus said, "He who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed; he is clean all over. And you are clean — but not all of you" ¹¹ (he knew the traitor; that was why he said, "You are not all clean"). ¹² Then, after washing their feet and putting on his robe, he lay down again. "Do you know," he said to them, "what I have been doing to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right: that is what I am. ¹⁴ Well, if I have washed your feet, I who am your Lord and Teacher, you are bound to wash one another's feet; ¹⁵ for I have been setting you an example, that you should do what I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than he who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know all this, blessed are you if you really do it. ¹⁸ When I say 'you,' I do not mean you all; I know the men of my choice, and I made my choice that this scripture might be fulfilled, he who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me. ¹⁹ I am telling you this now, before it occurs, so that when it has occurred you may believe who I am. ²⁰ (Truly, truly I tell you, he who receives anyone I send receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.)" ²¹ On saying this, Jesus was disquieted in spirit: he testified and said, "Truly, truly I tell you, one of you will betray me." ²² The disciples looked at each other, at a loss to know which of them he meant. ²³ As one of his disciples was reclining on his breast — he was the favourite of Jesus — ²⁴ Peter nodded to him, saying, "Tell us who he means." ²⁵ The disciple just leant back on the breast of Jesus and said, "Lord, who is it?" ²⁶ Jesus answered, "The man I am going to give this piece of bread to, when I dip it in the dish." Then he took the piece of bread, dipped it, and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; ²⁷ and when he took the bread, at that moment Satan entered him. Then Jesus told him, "Be quick with what you have to do." ²⁸ (None of those at table understood why he said this to him; ²⁹ some of them thought that as Judas kept the money-box, Jesus told him to buy what they needed for the festival or to give something to the poor.) ³⁰ So Judas went out immediately after taking the bread. And it was night. ³¹ When he had gone out, Jesus said, Now at last the Son of man is glorified, and in him God is glorified: [if God is glorified in him,] ³² God will glorify him in Himself and glorify him at once. ³³ My dear children, I am only to be with you a little longer; then you will look for me, and, as I told the Jews I tell you now, where I go you cannot come. ³⁴ I give you a new command, to love one another — as I have loved you, you are to love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will recognize that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." ³⁶ "Lord," said Simon Peter, "where are you going?" Jesus replied, "I am going where you cannot follow me at present; later on you will follow me." ³⁷ "Lord," said Peter, "why cannot I follow you just now? I will lay down my life for you." ³⁸ Jesus replied, "Lay down your life for me? Truly, truly I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have disowned me thrice over.

¹ So by all the stimulus of Christ, by every incentive of love, by all your participation in the Spirit, by all your affectionate tenderness, ² I pray you to give me the utter joy of knowing you are living in harmony, with the same feelings of love, with one heart and soul, ³ never acting for private ends or from vanity, but humbly considering each other the better man, ⁴ and each with an eye to the interests of others as well as to his own. ⁵ Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus. ⁶ Though he was divine by nature, he did not set store upon equality with God ⁷ but emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant; born in human guise ⁸ and appearing in human form, he humbly stooped in his obedience even to die, and to die upon the cross. ⁹ Therefore God raised him high and conferred on him a Name above all names, ¹⁰ so that before the Name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven, on earth, and underneath the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that 'Jesus Christ is Lord,' to the glory of God the Father. ¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have been obedient always and not simply when I was present, so, now that I am absent, work all the more strenuously at your salvation with reverence and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who in his goodwill enables you to will this and to achieve it. ¹⁴ In all that you do, avoid grumbling and disputing, ¹⁵ so as to be blameless and innocent, faultless children of God in a crooked and perverse generation where you shine like stars in a dark world; ¹⁶ hold fast the word of life, so that I can be proud of you on the Day of Christ, because I have not run or worked for nothing. ¹⁷ Even if my life-blood has to be poured as a libation on the sacred sacrifice of faith you are offering to God, I rejoice, I congratulate you all — ¹⁸ and you in turn must rejoice and congratulate me. ¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send you Timotheus before long, that I may be heartened by news of you. ²⁰ I have no one like him, for genuine interest in your welfare. ²¹ Everybody is selfish, instead of caring for Jesus Christ. ²² But you know how he has stood the test, how he has served with me in the gospel, like a son helping his father. ²³ I hope to send him then, as soon as ever I see how it will go with me — ²⁴ though I am confident in the Lord that I shall be coming myself before long. ²⁵ As for Epaphroditus, however, my brother, my fellow-worker, my fellow-soldier, and your messenger to meet my wants, I think it necessary to send you him at once, ²⁶ for he has been yearning for you all. He has been greatly concerned because you heard he was ill. ²⁷ And he was ill, nearly dead with illness. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me, to save me from having one sorrow upon another. ²⁸ So I am specially eager to send him, that you may be glad when you see him again, and thus my own anxiety may be lightened. ²⁹ Give him a welcome in the Lord, then, with your hearts full of joy. Value men like that, ³⁰ for he nearly died in the service of Christ by risking his life to make up for the services you were not here to render me.

⁷ but emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant; born in human guise

²⁷ Which is the greatest, guest or servant? Is it not the guest? But I am among you as a servant.