In the case of Jesus, of course, no real crime has been committed. However, some type of crime has to be identified, so Pontius Pilate prepares a sign which reads, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19, also see Matthew 27:37, Mark 15:26, Luke 23:38), and has that attached to Jesus’s cross. 

However, many of the Jews from nearby Jerusalem, who have come out to witness the crucifixion, are not happy with the message on the sign. Some of their chief priests go to Pilate and tell him that the sign shouldn’t read, “The King of the Jews;” it should read, “He said, I am King of the Jews.” However, Pilate, who wants nothing more to do with this whole thing, refuses to change the sign, telling them, “What I have written, I have written.” (See John 19:21-22.)

Why did the chief priests want the sign changed? Well, clearly, there’s a big difference between somebody claiming to be something (in this case, the King of the Jews), and the person actually being that. Even though Jesus is wearing a crown (of thorns) and had earlier been wearing a robe and carrying a staff, it doesn’t mean He’s really a king. Even if He had been dressed exactly like an earthly king, it wouldn’t have made Him one — and the Jews want to make sure that distinction is understood.

We need to understand the same distinction when it comes to being a servant of God. We can easily “look the part” of a servant of God — coming to church dressed in nice clothes, saying “God bless you” to everyone we greet, singing hymns, bearing testimony, taking communion, etc. But while all of that certainly gives us the outward appearance of a servant of God, we need to make sure that we are really servants of God in our hearts — on the inside where it really counts. 

In Alma 5, Alma challenges the members of the church to examine their inner selves, asking questions such as these:

“And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?” (Alma 5:14)

It’s so important to make sure that you have experienced this mighty change of heart in your life, a change that caused you to repent of your sins and be baptized. This changed heart should be what causes you to do what servants of God do, and you should see the fruits of a servant of God in your life. At that point, it will be clear — to you — that you’re not just playing the role of a servant of God, but that you really are one. 

Here’s a favorite story of mine that illustrates this distinction:

As the story goes, some executives in an oil company were concerned about the future of their industry since college students were showing no interest in going into the field of geology. The executives become aware of a geology professor who happens to be a very charismatic speaker, so they decide to hire him to go from one university to another to speak to the students and inspire them to choose geology as a field of study. They provide him a limousine and a chauffeur to drive him from one school to another.

Panicked, the chauffeur thinks for a minute and then replies this way: “You know, that’s actually a very easy question. Just to show you how easy it is, I’m going to have my chauffeur come forward from the back of the room to answer that for you.”

As the above story illustrates, when someone pretends to be something that they’re not, the truth will eventually come out. When it comes to serving God, it’s not about dressing for a role — it’s who we are “inwardly” that’s important. It’s not enough to imitate a servant of God — we have to BE a servant of God!