Jesus told His disciples “I am among you as One who serves” (Lk 22:27).
His public ministry was just that, about three years of public service, three years of preaching and teaching, three years of healing and doing good; and His ultimate act of service was the ultimate act of self-sacrifice, when He bore the wrath of God on our behalf on the cross. That is part of the uniqueness of the Christian Gospel: God has done the most glorious act of service imaginable! He paid the debt and secured salvation for all who would believe! The message is not: ‘Serve God and perhaps He will be pleased enough to let you into Heaven’, it is rather: “Believe that you cannot give God the service He deserves; believe that you have failed to give God the service He deserves; and receive the service of the Son who gave His life as a ransom for many as your only hope of salvation.”
