Suffering Servants

Living and loving for the wellbeing of others.

“But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.” - Isaiah 53:5

1. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him.

2. He was despised and rejected by all mankind.

3. He was a man of suffering, familiar with pain.

4. People hid their faces from Him, holding Him in low esteem.

5. He was oppressed and afflicted for our sakes.

6. He did not open His mouth for His sake.

7. He was cut off from the land of the living by those in authority.

8. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, condemned as wicked Himself.

9. Yet He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10. After suffering and conquering for us, He divided the spoils of His victory with us - see Isaiah 53:1-12

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” - Phil. 2:5

As a Christian, You Can’t Be a Victim

If we have little understanding of the nature of true Christianity, scarce knowledge of what the sacred Scriptures teach about living for others and not ourselves, and a faulty understanding of the character of our Messiah, we make a huge mistake.

We play the victim.

A Suffering Servant like Jesus doesn’t mean weakness.

It means the opposite. Jesus is the Supreme Conqueror because He suffered and submitted to the cross for others, not Himself.

This suffering servant mentality is to be in every Christian.

You can’t be more than a conqueror and right wrong in this world while being a victim.

• We see ourselves as victims if we point fingers at others in rage and loudly scream to the world that “those people” cause us pain.

• We see ourselves as conquerors if we are silent before accusers, but we endure pain, suffer affliction, and persist for others, for the wellbeing of others.

We are more than conquerors when we persist and endure silently for others.

This perspective transforms any pain we face into a tool for spiritual growth and communal support, affirming that true victory lies in selfless endurance and unwavering faith because we are living for others, not ourselves.

Christians are to be suffering servants and not spiritual leaders with authority who seek recognition, comfort, and pleasure.

More than Conquerors

• I gain “surpassing victory” when I suffer in silence and am afflicted in anger (by those in power) as I seek justice and well-being for others, not myself.

• I experience failure when I lash out in anger and defend myself because I am working for myself, not others.

Gain surpassing victory in life as a Christian by living for others as a suffering servant, not by being a self-proclaimed leader who gets things done.

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are “more than conquerors” (Greek: hupernikao) through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39 NIV).

Hupernikao (pronounced hoop-er-nik-ah’-o) is a Greek word that means “overwhelming victory” or “to gain a surpassing victory“.

You are familiar with the logo NIKE? The Greek word NIKE is the root word of hupernikao, and the Swoosh is the athletic symbol for victory.

We gain an overwhelming victory by having the mindset of a suffering servant, like the everlasting Suffering Servant, Who endured chastisement for our well-being.