If anyone in the universe had a right to insist on their rights and that people would respect them it would have been Jesus, God the Son, the eternal perfect and infinite creator of all. But no, although He was and is God, He did not insist on His rights at all before the Father and did not flaunt himself even before mankind.
Satan, by contrast, was and is always trying to raise his throne ABOVE God's, though he be an unworthy creation of God. He is always trying to gain power and prestige and lordship over the individuals and kingdoms of this world.
Man too, is busy raising his own status in the world, a status in the eyes of man alone and not our creator. We put on show and pomp, we insist on our rights before God and man and bitterly complain and sulk when we don't get the full respect we think we deserve.
This was not the attitude nor the nature of Jesus. (Matthew Henry) [Displayed] “here are the two natures of Christ: his divine nature and his human nature:” Here we see the perfection of His divine nature in human flesh.
He made Himself poor, ugly, weak, limited. Born in a little backwater province of a little backwater country to little backwater people, the King of Heaven limited Himself to earth as a dependant baby without status or acclaim. Even though great men from the east came and worshiped him as coming King what evidence of splendor do we see in His life from that time on? None.
This is the opposite to Satan's error who was always trying to puff himself up in pride. Even man desired to make themselves like God or as gods by eating the forbidden fruit. We always want to fill ourselves up in ego instead of humble ourselves before the Great One.
Are not slaves the lowest class of people? Yet this is the position Christ put Himself into. The people of this world all run around trying to gain power, have people serve them, lord it over them and build up their kingdom but here we see Christ doing the opposite, making Himself as nothing, like the lowliest servant that can be found by human standards. By human standards this would be like someone who is like a garbage collector or someone who's sole job it is to wipe up human feces in the hospital. By human standards that is the worst job in the world but by God's standards, that job performed in love is one of the greatest.
In this we can see that God's ways are not our ways, His understandings not ours. Satan too seeks obedience from others rather than to serve others. He's all about “me first” and self-service.
Who do you know that has been obedient unto death? Who here has faced that challenge and faced death to obey God and love your neighbor? I know that for myself even the slightest pain or bother is enough for me to seriously reconsider my obedience. The way of righteousness often seems so hard to humans and the way of sin looks so easy... until the price comes.
If we are looking and living for God, for Love, then I think the way becomes much more easier... but we are all living for ourselves, aren't we? Don't we live for our comfort, our pleasing, our self-esteem, our petty little kingdoms? Every little thing that inconveniences us or gets in our way to the slightest degree we characterize as complete evil and go to war over the slightest disrespect from people.
Christ though, was obedient unto death. He let no hindrance, no price to pay, hinder Him from the goal that was before Him: the salvation of the world from their sins. This is even evident when He was hanging on the cross in pain from the nails we had driven into Him with the whole world's condemnation resting upon Him in that He said "Father please forgive them.... they know not what they are doing." In the midst of His pain and suffering He remains committed to the task of saving people from their sins.
We on the other hand feel quite content as long as we have our personal salvation in hand. We hardly lift a finger to save someone from their sins by telling them about Jesus. The slightest chance of rejection or scorn and we go running with our collective tails between our legs. How much pain and inconvenience do we put up with and arrange our whole life around making a living and obtaining a certain “lifestyle?” Compare all those efforts with the efforts we put into evangelism and building God’s kingdom!
Here is another example of the lowliness of Christ. Crucifixion was considered the most demeaning of way to dies fit for only the very worst of criminals. Naked and bleeding for all to see, Christ the blameless One, took on Himself the punishment we all deserved. He was born and raised in the most humble of situations, He ministered in humble estate, and He died in humble estate. He esteemed not the opinions of men so that even the lowliest or the low could relate to Him and know that He accepts them just as they are, without any pretension whatsoever.
We need to humble ourselves, give up our rights and prides before God and man, to become the servant of God and His Kingdom in love and serve people by rescuing them from their sins. Though they mistreat us we must have love as our first concern, the beginning and end of all that we do.
As Jesus lowered himself below all and was lifted up to a position of high esteem, so to will we be lifted up to a place of high esteem in heaven if we are working for a heavenly reward. Are we confessing His name everywhere we go by choice now or will we be forced to do so only in the afterlife? Are we bowing our knee and serving Him now or will we do so only after we are dead? Live for Him now and forever because the treasures of this world are already failing and diminishing! Work for the great and eternal prize, the reward reserved for you up in heaven which shall never fail! Work for His glory because He is worthy and we are not.