Sermons
As Servants Of Christ
Series: The Way Of The CrossAS SERVANTS OF CHRIST
Sermon By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / October 21, 2018
Matthew chapter 21 tells of the triumphal entry of Jesus.
As Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey, a multitude paves the avenue with garments and branches
A great crowd of people began to cry out: Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
At this point in time, no one knew, except Jesus Himself, that Jesus would soon be crucified on a cross.
I want to backpedal just a bit to an incident that Matthew records just prior to the triumphal entry.
Open your Bibles to Mt.20:20-28
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to (Jesus) with her sons, bowing down, and making a request of Him.
And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine
may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left.” But Jesus answered her and said, “You do not know what you
are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.”
He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is
for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.” And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the
two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord
it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. IT IS NOT TO BE SO AMONG YOU,
BUT WHOEVER WISHES TO BECOME GREAT AMONG YOU SHALL BE YOUR SERVANT,
AND WHOEVER WISHES TO BE FIRST AMONG YOU SHALL BE YOUR SLAVE;
just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.
Marion Mill wrote an autobiography titled, “All I Want Is Everything”.
Marion's early life was a fairy tale of sorts. She was born in a palace in Hungary.
Her life was an apt illustration of a child who was “born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
She was sent to the best school. Her college years were spent at the most prestigious university in Vienna (Austria).
There she fell in love with a young medical student named Otto, and the fairy-tale life continued. Otto & Marion
migrated to the U.S., and chose to live in Hollywood, where Marion would pursue her dream of being an actress.
While in Hollywood, Otto became so interested in movies that he gave up his medical practice and became a director.
His star rose quickly and he became the famous director, Otto Preminger. Marion became famous in her own way.
Her beauty, wit and charm made her a international hostess in their homes in New York, Hollywood, and several other
homes in Europe. But Marion couldn't handle the fast life and she began to drink and take drugs. She had numerous
affairs and her life became so sordid that Otto finally divorced her. Marion went into a tailspin - - depression led to three incidents of attempted suicide. In a final effort to get her life together, she moved back to Vienna. There, at a party,
she met another well-known medical doctor named Albert Schweitzer. Albert was home on leave from his hospital
work in Lambarene, Africa. Marion became fascinated with Schweitzer, who was giving up fame and fortune to labor
in an obscure African village. She asked to meet with him and over the next six months he shared how he was trying
to make a lasting difference with his life. When his sabbatical ended and it was time to return to Africa, Marion begged
to accompany him and, to the surprise of many, Dr. Schweitzer agreed to permit it. Marion ended up spending the
rest of her life emptying bed pans and tearing up sheets to make bandages for the putrid sores on the poverty-stricken
African nationals. When she died, Time magazine quoted these words from her autobiography:
“Albert Schweitzer says there are two kinds of people. There are helpers, and the non-helpers.
I thank God that He allowed me to become a helper, and IN HELPING, I FOUND EVERYTHIING.”
What a keen insight for life (one we hopefully will not have to learn the hard way):
God has created us humans in such a way that we will not find ultimate fulfillment until we begin serving others.
Even the secular world of psychology acknowledges that people who serve others are typically happier and healthier.
God has designed us find DEEP SATISFACTION IN BECOMING SERVANTS TO OTHERS - - not slavery, but willful servitude.
Yet, like James and John (and their mother), we often have a difficult time grasping this truth.
Jesus took time to school His disciples on this important matter. We, too, need to go to school on this concept.
WE MUST CONSTANTLY CHECK OUR MOTIVES
The apostles had left all to follow Jesus, but one has to wonder if they did so with the purest of motives.
As Mk.10:35 indicates, James and John petitioned Jesus for “chief seats”.
Matthew's account indicates that it was their mother who was leading the charge, but this doesn't
let the boys off the hook. After all - - Were they not grown men, able to think for themselves?
The pursuit of chief seats was a round about way of seeking honor, glory and power.
No doubt their preconceived misconceptions of “the Messianic kingdom” led them into delusions of grandeur.
The had a blind spot. It is seen not only in this text (Mt.20:20-28), but is also verified by other citations.
Mt.18:1f begins with the disciples arguing about “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”.
Jesus rebuked them by placing a child in their midst to extol the virtue of HUMILITY.
Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Mt.19:13f shows that Jesus' earlier illustration went right over their heads.
When children were brought to Jesus to be healed, the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus again rebuked the rebukers saying, Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
This is not just a James and John problem. Mt.20:24 states that the other ten apostles were indignant. Why? Was it because they had less ego or was it actually that they were angered because they wanted these positions as well?
Lk.22:24 records that there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be the greatest.
This dispute, according to Luke's fastidious chronology, reared its ugly head in the context of The Last Supper.
Like so many of us, the apostles had fallen prey to “the pecking order syndrome” - - Whose the best … the greatest??
WE MUST STAY FOCUSED ON OUR MODEL
In order to become true servants we must keep Looking to Jesus as our role model.
In terms of how to attain power & authority and glory & honor, Jesus turns conventional wisdom upside down.
Lk.22:26 / let him who is greatest among you become as the youngest, the leader as the servant.
As disciples of Christ, our aim in life is not to seek to be admired, but to seek to serve. Back to Mt.20:28,
Jesus states, The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.
Nowhere is this depicted more powerfully and poignantly than in Jn.13:4f - - Jesus rose from supper,
and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. Then He poured water into a
basin, and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
In Jn.13:15, Jesus states clearly: I gave you an example that you should do as I did to you.
A nursing school graduate too a job in a long-term care facility. One of her first patients was a woman named Eileen.
Eileen's major problem was that she had had an aneurysm burst in her brain, leaving her totally unconscious to the observing
eye, and apparently unaware of anything that was going on around her. Every hour of every day Eileen had to be “turned” to prevent bedsores and twice a day she had to be fed through a stomach tube. She never had visitors - - no one seemed to care.
More and more Eileen came to be treated as a thing. But this young nurse decided that she, in living out her Christian faith,
would treat Eileen differently. She talked to her; she sang to her; she said encouraging words to her and brought her small gifts.
On Thanksgiving Day, the young nurse came to work reluctantly (she preferred to be home for the holiday). As she entered
Eileen's room, she knew she would be doing normal tasks with no thanks whatsover. She decided to talk to Eileen, and said,
“I was in a cruddy mood this morning, Eileen, because it was supposed to me a day off. But now that I'm here, I'm glad. I
wouldn't have wanted to miss miss on Thanksgiving Day.” The phone rang and the nurse turned away from the bed to answer.
As she was talking she look back at Eileen. Suddenly, she said, Eileen was “looking at me...crying. Big damp circles stained her
pillow and she was shaking all over.” That was the only emotion that Eileen ever showed, but it altered the attitude of the entire staff. Soon thereafter Eileen died. The young nurse closed her story this way: “I keep thinking about her...It occurred to me that
I owe her an awful lot. Except for Eileen, I might never have known what its like to give myself to someone who can't give back.”
WE MUST NOT EXPECT THAT SERVING OTHERS WILL BE EASY
Let's go back to Mt.20 one more time. After asking for chief seats (one on the right and one on the left), notice Jesus' words in vs.22 / You do not know what you are asking for, Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?
That cup, of course, was a reference to the cup of suffering and sorrow that would accompany the cross.
(We'll talk more about this next Sunday morning, as a series on The Way Of The Cross draws to a close).
Serving others is not always easy. It is often unappreciated. Sometimes we'll be pushed away.
Perhaps, more often than we'd care to admit, others will take advantage of us.
Have you ever poured out yourself in serving others only to be sorely disappointed.
If we're are not careful we may become pessimistic, declaring, “what a waste of time, energy and money.”
We might even get cynical and announce, “I'll never let some one use me like that again.”
Listen carefully - - this is a concluding point that we dare not miss.
As disciples we are to live as servants OF CHRIST.
To serve only when the response is positive is not the Jesus way.
We cannot control what others do with our service.
We must not allow someone else's gratitude and growth to be our chief motivation.
If that's the case, we will be sorely disappointed time and time again. We can expect disappointment
and even rejection; We can expect the misuse and even abuse of our servant heart.
BUT WE SERVE NONETHELESS, BECAUSE WE ARE SERVING CHRIST JESUS.
Serving others come in all shapes and sizes. According to Mt.25:35ff - -
It might be feeding the hungry or even giving a cup of cold water to one who is thirsty.
It might be welcoming a stranger or giving clothing to the needy.
It might be visiting the sick or those imprisoned.
It might be caring for a special needs child or an elderly mother or father or aunt or uncle.
A door of service often opens when we give an ear to listen patiently to the problems of others.
Truly, when it comes to serving, the sky is the limit.
Sometimes opportunities to serve fall into our laps and at others times we might need to seek them out
- - not because we must, but because we earnestly desire to do so as disciples of our Lord Jesus.
Dear Lord,
We are quite often like James and John and their mother.
We size up other people in terms of what can they do for us, how they can further our program,
or feed our ego or satisfy our needs or give us some strategic advantage.
We confess, Lord, that sometimes we exploit people, ostensibly for Your sake, but really for our own sake.
And we often look to You to get the inside track and obtain special favors: Your directions for our schemes;
Your power for our projects; Your sanction for our ambitions; Your blank check for whatever we want.
CHANGE US LORD GOD. Make us men and women who sincerely asks of You and of others,
“What can we do for You?”, with no strings attached.
Through Christ who has shown us how to serve, we pray. Amen.
P.S. I am grateful to Bruce Ballast (The Servant Heart) for most of the above thoughts, ideas and illustrations.
