Sermon Transcript — June 2, 2007
On a Sabbath afternoon of August 26, in the year 1346, a sixteen-year-old boy named Edward Plantagenet looked down a long sloping field in front of him. He was watching the massing of a French army preparing to attack the position where he stood. Sixteen-year-old Edward had followed his father, the king of England, Edward III, some weeks earlier when he arrived in France at the head of an army of eight to twelve thousand Englishmen and Welshmen to press his claim to the French throne. The battle that was about to begin would be the first in what is called the hundred year's war.
When the French king, Philip VI heard about this incursion, he raised an army of thirty to forty thousand, about four to one, perhaps even more than that, forty thousand troops of which at least seven thousand were armored knights. And he marched out following this English army to give battle. The chase took several days, several weeks actually, and finally the armies were about to meet on this sloping field where Edward stood near the village of Crecy northwest of Paris.
King Edward wanted his son to win his spurs that day. He wasn't yet a knight; he was only sixteen, had never distinguished himself by a feat of arms, so the king put Edward, his sixteen-year old son, in command of the vanguard at the front line of the center of the English troops. He was going to be in the thick of the fighting. He was going to see it up close in what was going to be one of the most important battles in the history of Europe.
Somewhere around four P.M., the French finally attacked. They started by sending six thousand Genoese mercenary crossbow men forward. The crossbow was a terribly destructive weapon, as you can imagine, in fact, at one point, the Pope had outlawed it for wars between Christians. It was okay against non-Christians, but you couldn't use it on Christians, but the French were using it at this time. The Genoese crossbow men began firing up the hill, but they had the sun in their eyes, and they were firing up the hill, and their arrows were not very accurate.
It was then that the French found out that the English had brought along with them a secret weapon. It was the longbow. The Welsh longbow was an extremely powerful weapon. It could shoot farther than a crossbow, and above all, it could shoot more quickly. When the longbow was used, it could fire ten to twelve shots per minute compared to two, approximately two to three for the crossbow. And when they used heavy arrows, it could penetrate the best armor that existed at the time. It would go right through the armor of even the strongest knight's armor.
So, after exchanging a few arrows, the French crossbowmen fell back in disorder, heavy casualties, and this so angered the French knights who were waiting; they'd been paying these mercenaries for weeks, and now they retreated at the first skirmish, the French knights couldn't contain themselves, and they charged. They charged piece meal. One group would go, then another group would start. It wasn't particularly organized, but charge after charge was made and repulsed every time. The bowmen fired clouds of arrows that hit the horses as they charged up the hill, and hit the knights, and animals and men began to fall, and they fell thick on the field.
The French charged fifteen or sixteen times. Several times they made it up to the English line only to be repulsed by armored knights who were standing on the ground. They dismounted and fought the French on foot, and young Edward was in the thick of fighting and was in danger several times during that day. He saw all of that up close. The attacks continued until midnight when it was finally too dark to see, and the French king left the field. The French had lost thousands upon thousands of troops. The English only a few hundred.
Early the next morning at first light, young Edward walked out among the dead and the dying to witness the carnage of this battle where he had won his spurs. The field stunk of blood. Men slipped in it as they walked. The cries and the groans of wounded men and animals filled the air. The flower of French nobility, a thousand strong, lay all around him. It must have been a terrible experience for a sixteen-year-old boy who had just earned the right to be a knight.
Then Edward came to a sight that stopped him in his tracks. He came to the body of John of Luxemburg, the king of Bohemia who had fought on the French side. What moved the prince so much on the finding of one more body among so many that lay on the field was the fact that old King John was blind. He was known to be blind, and in order for him to enter the battle along with his men he had tied the reins of his horses to the horse of a trusted knight, one on either side, and they guided the old king into the battle so that he could lead and be present with his knights for whom he felt responsible.
He and his men had been struck down on the second or third charge early on in the battle, and he lay on the field all through the night. Edward marveled at the old man's courage and at his commitment. And as he stood there looking at him, he noticed that the dead king's helmet was lined with ostrich feathers, and that he wore on his armor a two-word motto in old German. Ich dien. He saw that those words were true. He saw from his example that they were true. And those words and John's example inspired the young prince to the point that he made those symbols his own. Three ostrich feathers, and the words Ich dien underneath became his official heraldic badge. And they have remained the official heraldic badge of every Prince of Wales since then to the present time. It is still the heraldic badge of Prince Charles today. Interesting story. Does it have anything to do with us? I believe it does, obviously, or I wouldn't have told it to you.
The reason is that ich dien means, or at least meant, I serve. And I'm submitting to you today, brethren, that those two words are words by which we must live. Not because of John of Luxemburg, or Edward who became known by history as the Black Prince. Not because they liked those words, but because somebody much more important than they also chose them as a motto.
Ich dien means I serve, and someone who is our Lord and Master also made that a motto for Him. Turn to Matthew 20 if you would, please. Matthew 20:28.
Matthew 20:28 - . . .the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Those are very simple words but very profound words. I didn't come to be serve. I came to serve. This is the Messiah, Jesus, and He's saying that one of the main reasons He came to earth, we could even say THE reason He came to earth, was so that He could serve, in particular in laying down His life as a ransom for many others, and those include, of course, you and me.
This really wasn't a new idea, that He'd come to be a servant. One of the prophecies in Isaiah about the Messiah called the Messiah specifically, the Servant. Turn back with me to Isaiah 52, if you would. This is a chapter that we normally read as we approach the Passover. It does talk about the sufferings of Jesus Christ, why He suffered the way He did and why He died.
Isaiah 52:13 – One of the most famous prophecies in the Old Testament about the Christ. It says: Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently,… Probably in your Bible, Servant is a capital "S." It's a title; one of the titles of the Messiah is God's Servant. . . .My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
Verse 14 – Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men;
Verse 15 - So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall consider. Many things are still not known about what Jesus really accomplished. Let's drop down a little bit farther now.
Isaish 53:1 – Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Verse 2 – For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form (or) of comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He wasn't a particularly handsome Man. He was just average, like us. He wouldn't have been a Hollywood movie star. He wouldn't have been on American idol. Just an average looking guy.
Verse 3 – He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him.
Verse 11 – He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many. . .My righteous Servant. . . .for He shall bear their iniquities. And it goes on to point out that He will be exalted in the end.
This is often called, "The Servant prophecy." And one of the titles by which the Messiah was to be known was "the Servant," or "the perfect Servant." He was the greatest Servant that's ever been on the earth. It had long been prophesied that the Messiah was to come as a great, but also, you noticed in there, suffering Servant. It's not easy to be a servant. Service isn't the easy way. It's often uncomfortable. Sometimes it gets downright painful. Sometimes the people we try to serve don't thank us, don't appreciate the service we are attempting to give them. Sometimes they even get angry at us for doing it. We've all experienced that. As it's been said before, no good deed goes unpunished. You've probably heard that one before. There's a price to pay for wanting to serve. And even though we may accept theoretically the idea that we need to be servants, it goes against the grain of our human nature. Human nature doesn't want to serve. Human nature wants to be served, and a starting point when we discuss service is the realization that all of us have a human nature in us that pushes us to want to be served rather than to serve.
Turn with me to Galatians 5. You may recognize that as the place where we find the fruit of the spirit. It's also where we find the work of the flesh, and what we have here is kind of a before and after. The works of the flesh are what you have when you start with your basic human being before God enters the picture. And then we have the fruit of the spirit, what happens when God's spirit enters and there's an internal change, there's a conversion that occurs. But when we look at Galatians 5:19 we see the sort of standard normal edition human being. This is where we all start.
Galatians 5:19 – (Now) the works of the flesh are evident. . . and I'm going to read this to you now in the New International Version. There it says: The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. This is standard edition human behavior. Sexual immorality. . . I don't know if you've ever stopped to think about it in that way but does sexual immorality, has that ever served the good of somebody else? Or is it about getting what I want now. I think you'd agree; it's the latter. When you have sexual immorality, it's not about doing what's best for somebody else or serving them. It's about serving oneself and getting what one wants. . . .impurity and debauchery. . .goes along the same lines.
Verse 20 - . . .idolatry and witchcraft. . .We don't hear a lot about witchcraft in this country although there are people who claim to be practicing witches and warlocks, and what have you, but we probably don't meet such people very often. I do run into these kinds of things in some parts of Africa where I go where people are still practicing voo-doo and various kinds of witchcraft. In fact when you go to many markets, open markets in African areas, there'll be a section of the market where you can buy all sorts of ingredients that you need for charms and voo-doo dolls and it's really gross stuff. I mean it's dried out dead animals and you know, just weird gross things. I don't spend a lot of time, obviously, in that part of the market.
But one thing I've noticed is I've heard the stories about the voo-doo and witchcraft, it's never used in a service toward someone else. They don't make a charm so that someone else is going to have a wonderful, happy life and get rich. The only stories I hear about it are, "I'm going to make a charm so that this person's going to have an accident and get sick. Or their family's going to die, you know, or I'm going to poke pins in the voo-doo doll, and they're going to have arthritis here or there or whatever."
It's always about getting payback, or getting on top, over someone else. It's never about serving. It's always about selfishness. . . .hatred. . .is the next one mentioned. Well, that's obviously not about serving, is it? . . .discord. . .inability to get along, arguments. . . .jealousy. . .I want what he has or she has. . . .fits of rage. . .where people are no longer controlling their emotions. The anger gets out of control. . . .selfish ambition. . . Well there the letter is black on white – selfish. It's about self. . . .dissensions . . . That means I disagree and I will not go along. . . .factions. . .break ups of groups into subgroups that fight with each other. . . .
Verse 21 - envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. And it probably goes on to say: I warn you as I did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. These are the natural inclinations of our nature. These are the natural inclinations of our flesh, and they are not the attributes of someone who is sincerely focused on serving other people. On the contrary, it's about serving the self. That's what our human nature wants to do.
So as we're trying to be like servants; as we're trying to be like Christ who was the perfect Servant, we're always going to be struggling against a human nature that pushes us in the other direction, and we have to be aware of that. We're going to be struggling against that for as long as we're trying to become proper servants.
This is born out, I believe, in the verses that lead up to what we read in Matthew 20. Let's go back to Matthew 20. This is quite an amazing thing, but it shouldn't surprise us perhaps as much as it does. It grieves us a little bit when we see the example of the disciples, but they didn't yet have God's spirit in them. They were normal, natural men. We see though how that human nature can make it difficult.
Matthew 20:17 – This is what preceded Jesus' statement that He came not to be served but to serve. Then Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said something really important to them, He was revealing something that was going to happen, trying to prepare them for something that was going to be shocking and disagreeable and painful. He said:
Verse 18 – "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
Verse 19 – "and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge Him. . ." They knew what that meant. That was incredibly painful, brutal. ". . .and to crucify. And on the third day He will rise again." Could there have been any more important subject that Jesus would have revealed and discussed with His disciples? That's about as important as it gets at that time. And what happened? Well about that time, apparently, Verse 20, up bustles the mother of Zebedee's sons.
Verse 20 - . . .came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and seeking something from Him.
Verse 21 – And He said (to her), "What is it that (do) you wish?" She said to Him, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one (on) at Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom." Now, she wasn't just talking about chairs around the dinner table. She's talking about who's going to be the number two man and who's going to be the number three man in the kingdom. I want son number one right under You, and son number two right under him. In other words, they're going to be over everybody else. Just a small request. Could You sort of shuffle everything around in the kingdom so my sons get the number two and number three spots?
Wonder what Jesus was thinking at that point? Didn't they understand what I just told them? I'm trying to tell them something really crucial about what's going to be happening in the next forty-eight hours or so, and they're arguing, they've obviously set this up in advance. If you look at the parallel version, and we'll go to that in just few moments in Mark 10, you'll see that in Mark 10 it says that the sons ask that. So they're obviously in it together. They've planned this out. They're arguing. Jesus is going to die, and they're arguing about who gets to be number two and number three.
Verse 22 – (But) Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" Are you able to go through everything that's entailed by what you ask? And they didn't have a clue what He was talking about, but they said, "Sure. No problem. Whatever it is, we can do it." Little did they know.
Verse 23 – (So) He said to them, "You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father." God, the Father, makes that decision.
Just as an interesting side point, it would appear that they probably did drink something like that cup. We know that James was martyred early on. That's mentioned in Acts 12 by Herod Agrippa, and according to tradition, John was also martyred, but that would have been much later on toward the end of the first century. That's only tradition. We don't know that for sure. The Bible doesn't say it. But it would appear that they had to go through something very much like what Jesus intimated there. Now:
Verse 24 – When the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. Why? What do you think? Hey, you can't get in front of me. Why didn't I think of that first? Why didn't I think of that first. What gives you the right to ask to be number two and three in the kingdom? What about me? I'm one of the twelve. We can put ourselves in their shoes. We can understand how we would feel if somebody tried to kind of pull a fast one like that. We wouldn't like it.
There's another interesting thing that I'll just throw out for your consideration, it is possible, although we can't prove it conclusively, that the mother of James and John was the woman also called Salome or Shelomah in other passages, and it is possible that she was Jesus' aunt. That Salome, the mother of James and John was the mother of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus. Now we can't prove that conclusively, but I'll give you a couple of scriptures, if you're interested in comparing and following up on that. You can compare Matthew 27:56 with Mark15:40 with John 19:25. Now what happens there is that in each of those gospels, three women are mentioned who were there at the foot of the stake or the cross where Jesus was crucified, and they're named kind of differently in each one, and if you compare with them, it would appear that the mother of James and John is also called Salome, who was also called in the passage in John the sister (it would appear) the sister of Mary.
Now, maybe there were seven or eight women there, and each one picked three different ones, that's possible, but it would appear, you could make the case, that Salome was Jesus' aunt. Now, what does that add to the picture? Well now, you've got Jesus who already picked two of His cousins to be His disciples. That's kind of nepotism, isn't it? That might raise a few jealous thoughts, and then not only that, but now, His aunt is coming and asking for a special request so His cousins can be number two and three in the kingdom. How would you feel if you were sitting there as one of the twelve? That would not seem very fair, would it? You would feel some indignation, and there certainly was competition going on among the twelve as to who was going to be the greatest.
As I mentioned Mark 10:45 is the parallel passage in the gospel of Mark, but what's interesting is that wasn't the first time that this topic had come up. Apparently there was kind of an ongoing argument, a continuous discussion about who was going to have the chief seats, who was going to be greatest in the kingdom.
Go back with me to Mark 9. Now I told you Mark 10 is where we have the same account as what we just read in Matthew 20, but already back in Mark 9 they had been arguing about this previously.
Mark 9:33 – Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?" So there were maybe thirteen of them, maybe there were some of the seventy that were along, we don't know exactly, at least I didn't research that to find out exactly who, but if you've ever walked with a group on a road while you were going someplace, you know, sometimes it gets strung out, and then you get back together again, apparently a few of them had kind of dropped back and they're arguing, discussing who was going to be the greatest, and they thought maybe they could do that without Jesus overhearing them. They thought they were far enough back, He wasn't going to hear anything. "Shhh. I think that would be me. No, it wasn't you. You blew it the other day. It's going to be me." However they did it; that's going on.
And then Jesus just casually asked them. "What were you arguing about?" Of course, He knew what they were arguing about. And:
Verse 34 – (But) they kept silent. . .They were embarrassed. They knew they weren't really supposed to be arguing about that. That was a hot topic of discussion among the twelve. So He gave an object lesson.
Verse 35 – (And) He sat down, (and He) called the twelve, and He said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."
Verse 36 – Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, he said to them,
Verse 37 – "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me." You need to have a childlike attitude. Be trusting, not competitive. Now children learn competition pretty early, but there is a wonderful phase in their life when there's not too much competition. They're just very open, easy going, and that's the kind of childhood acceptance that Jesus was talking about.
Why would they be disputing who was the greatest? Well, we can only sort of speculate about that, but if you go back to the beginning of Mark 9, that same chapter, you have the story of the transfiguration when Jesus gave them a vision of what He was going to look like, or at least an idea of what He would look like at His return. And you know what? He only took three of them with Him. He only took Peter, James and John. Did that rankle with some of the others? "Well, what's wrong with me? How come it's always Peter, James and John? I work just as hard as they do." Maybe that egged on a little bit of competition, comparing amongst themselves, some dissatisfaction. We don't know that for sure, but it's interesting to think about. Sure, He takes Peter and His two cousins up there. That's not very fair. The Master has favorites. He could have taken me along. It wouldn't have cost anything, you know. We can put ourselves in those shoes, right? It's not hard for us to identify with some of the things that they may have been thinking. Which points out to me, I hope to all of us, that sometimes, on the human level, there may be seemingly logical and good reasons from a human point of view to dispute and compete with one another. But that disputation and competition is the opposite of the attitude of service that we need to have. Look at James 3, please.
James 3:13 – We see two attitudes contrasted again, serving others and serving one's self. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness humility of wisdom.
Verse 14 – But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking. . . see, that's the opposite attitude. . . . in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
Verse 15 – This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual,. . . It's based on the senses, what feels good, tastes good, sounds good and ultimately. . . demonic. Satan's behind it.
Verse 16 – For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and everything evil (thing) will be there. When we get away from the attitude of wanting to serve others, a whole host of problems are going to deploy in front of us.
Verse 17 – But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, (then) and peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Verse 18 – Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
James 4:1 – Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
Verse 2 – You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
Verse 3 – Or if you do ask (and) you do not receive, because you ask amiss, wrongly, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Wars and disputes and disharmony come from the little tiny attitudes, the seeds of envy and covetousness. I want something I don't have, or I want something You won't let me have. That's where it all comes from, and that's the opposite of the attitude of service.
It's interesting. James said, "That's where wars come from." You mean, a conflagration like World War II started because of envy and jealousy. Yeah. Something as simple as that. And that finds itself in the heart of every human being.
God expects us to learn to be servants before He will use us to do anything else. And we have lots of examples in the Bible of God doing exactly that, like Joseph. God had His eye on Joseph already for great things in the future, but first, He had him do a stint as a slave, and then a prisoner. And when he learned to deal with all of that and work in humility, then God raised him up to the high places of Egypt.
Moses, born to the top levels of the powerful elite in Egypt before he could lead Israel, he had to flee and be a shepherd and live out in the desert with very little compared with what he would have had before.
Joshua had to spend forty years or more as Moses' servant before he rose to the top leadership position in Israel. We could talk about David who had to serve Saul who went through all sorts of difficult circumstances before he became king. Timothy, who served Paul, and you can find many others. It's a theme that goes all the way through the Bible. God expects us to learn to be servants. As someone once said with a smile, "As far as God is concerned, a person who is all wrapped up in himself is overdressed." God has to work on that a little bit before He can use us to do some things He might have in mind for us.
You know even farther along in the chronology, even as Christ was very close to His death, the disciples couldn't help themselves from arguing about who was going to be the greatest among them. Let's look at Luke 22. We're in the context of the Passover here, and Jesus makes a grave announcement to them.
Luke 22:21 – "(But) behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table." One of you here is going to betray Me.
Verse 22 – "(And) truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"
Verse 23 – Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. Now that opens up a couple of interesting thoughts. You know, Judas didn't have this big neon sign that said, "Traitor" on it, you know, over his head? They didn't know. It wasn't obvious. Nobody said, "Well, don't look at me, Lord. Judas is over there." They didn't know, and they probably were comparing notes. Well, you didn't understand the parable the other day when he understood it, so it could be you. There are all the kinds of things that we do comparing ourselves amongst ourselves, that's what they were doing. And you know what? It slipped back into the old pattern.
Verse 24 - (Now) But there was also (a dispute) rivalry among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. That worm was always in the fruit there; it was always wiggling around just waiting for a chance to come out. Again, we have a pretty sad picture, don't we? Here's Jesus saying, "One of you, my closest companions for the last three and a half years, one of you is going to sell me out for a bag full of coins." And instead of trying to understand the deep import with humility of what that meant, it descended into an argument about who was the greatest among them, and who was the worst, and who the traitor was going to be.
Now, we can't really point fingers at the disciples because they didn't have God's holy Spirit yet. They were still natural normal people without the help of God's Spirit. But my point in underlining these examples for you is just to show to us all, and to remind us all how hard it is to move from selfishness to servanthood. It's hard to move from selfishness to servanthood. Jesus explained it to them over and over again, and they didn't get it. They thought they did, but they didn't. So He took the time to explain it to them one more time.
Verse 25 – (And) He said (to them), "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called "benefactors.'
Verse 26 – "But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger,. . . " the younger. It was understood at the time that younger people gave deference to their elders. There was to be a respect from the younger to those who were older. Sadly, in our twenty-first century American society, we're getting away from that now. And younger people don't have as much respect for older people as they should simply for the fact of being older. That was understood at the time. That was the way Jesus looked at it. Let him be as the younger. He understood that to be someone of less "rank," if you will, or lower on the respect ladder, however you want to put it. ". . . and he who governs be as he who. . . there's our word again. . . serves." To lead, you must learn to serve.
Verse 27 – "(For) who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves." I am among you as the One who serves. That's why Jesus came. That's the example that He set for us, and it's harder than it looks. It will be the effort of our whole lives to try to achieve that goal.
I use the example that I explained to you, or told to you, in the introduction of the sermon about the Black Prince and old blind King John. I used that in a speech that I gave when I was a senior at college around graduation time. And I fully intended, that story really inspired me, and it stayed with me ever since, and I really intended for that to be my motto. I wanted it to be. And I've tried, but I can look back on my life and see times when I failed. I didn't do it as much as I should have. Sometimes I forgot all about it in the heat of the moment. It is an effort that is going to take our whole lives, and we have to understand that we're never going to be through with that struggle this side of the grave.
Let's be a little more precise then. Who do we need to serve? Who do we need to serve? Let's look at John 4:34.
John 4:34 – Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.""My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." Jesus is saying, "It's as important to Me as eating to do God's will."
Now as human beings, eating is a very regular part of our routine, isn't it? At least, if we have any choice in the matter. We probably eat at least three times a day, and maybe we snack a little bit in between time. I don't know about you, well actually I do know about you. I was going to say I don't know about you. I do. You never forget to eat, do you? Do you ever forget? Well, you know, it's been since last Monday I haven't eaten. I'd better eat something. I'm going to have health problems pretty soon. No, the stomach starts grumbling; you feel it. It's a biological need. Nobody has to remind you, "Oh, by the way, have you eaten?" No, we know. We're driven to find a frige at various times when our body tells us it's time to eat. It's a biological need.
To Jesus, it was a spiritual need every bit as important. He compared it to His food. "It's like eating for Me to do the will of My Father." That's how pressing it is. That's how important it is. So whom do we need to serve? First of all, we need to serve God. And that means doing His will and finishing His work. But you know what? That requires us to give up things. It requires us to submit our will to His, and as we've seen, it goes against our human nature.
Lucifer was created to serve God, but finally he only wanted to serve himself. Lucifer saw some amazing things. He was right there in the center of God's throne room with his wings stretched out over His throne, and he saw the angels coming and going. He saw the magnificent creation of God. He saw what God was planning for the future, and perhaps he was allowed to participate in it in some ways. Probably was, but he ended up saying in Isaiah 14:14:
Isaiah 14:14 – I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. The time came when Lucifer said, "You know, I don't want to serve You anymore. I want to serve me, now. Now, it's my turn. It's my turn to get what I want." And he still wants that.
What was the last thing he tried to get Jesus to do in Matthew 4, the three temptations? Remember what he said? He said, "All these kingdoms I'll give You if You'll bow down and worship me. If You'll serve me, I'll give You all of this stuff." That's what he wants. He doesn't want to serve. He wants to be served. That attitude is really Satanic, and it's why it's so prevalent in the world today because Satan is pushing that emotional message out there all the time. We swim in a sea of that spiritual message.
It wasn't that Lucifer didn't have a chance to serve. He did. He was serving at the highest levels of God's angelic creation, but at some point, that wasn't enough for him anymore. He wanted more. He wanted more. And I believe there's an important lesson for us there, too. We may not always get to serve in the ways that we want. We may wish we had a different role to play. We may wish that we had a different form of service. And if you've been in the church very long, you've seen people get angry and leave the church, or refuse some sort of service because they want to be doing something else, or they want conditions to be different. And they abandon the service that they can do because they're concentrating on what they can't do and they want to be able to do. It's always tempting to concentrate on what we can't do, that we want to be able to do. But we have things that we can do, and that's what we're called to do. At any given time in our life, the conditions will change. But at any given time of our lives, we have things that we can do, and that's what God expects us to do.
Someone said, "It's possible for you to be too big for God to use, but never too small." And that's true. It's possible for us to get too big for God to use because we think, you know, we should be doing something else, and so we won't. But it's never possible for us to be too small for God to use. So we always have to ask ourselves, what is God's will? Not what is my will; what is God's will? How can I best advance His plan and His will. It's going to be a struggle for us, but we have got to keep the big picture as much as we can, and ask God to help us have the big picture, the overview of His plan and our part in it. What is my part in His plan?
Of course, one thing we have to do is mentioned. I John 2:1-6. We have to keep God's commandments. We claim to know Him, if we claim to be Christians, if we want to serve Him, the first place to start is to keep His commandments, obey what He says. That's pretty simple, but a lot of people don't want to do it. In fact, somebody said one time, "Some people are willing to serve God, but only as consultants."
You know what a consultant is? You know, it's somebody – "Well, I need some advice on this.
So there are people who – they're willing to consult with God –,"Yeah, I'll give You some advice. You really need to straighten him out over there, whew! And this one over here, she really needs some attention, too, could You take care of that?"
But consultants don't actually do anything on the ground. They don't get their hands dirty. They just give advice. Some people are willing to serve God, but only as consultants. And we obviously don't want to do that.
Let's look a few pages farther along in John 12. John 12:44.
John 12:44 – (Then) Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. He said, "What I do doesn't really count. You're just looking through Me to the Father."
Verse 45 – "And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
Verse 46 – "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.
Verse 47 – "And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
Verse 48 – "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." Notice verses 49 and 50:
Verse 49 – "(For) I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak." I do what He tells Me to do. I don't take away from it. I don't add to it. What He tells Me to do, that's what I do. I want to accomplish His will. That's My mission.
Verse 50 – "And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." I do exactly, precisely, what He wants Me to do. I seek to accomplish His will. Now I'll paraphrase that a little bit. This is the "JM" paraphrase: He said what I want really doesn't matter. What makes Me comfortable or happy, or what makes Me feel good doesn't really matter. What really matters is doing God's will, doing My part, whatever that part is, whatever part He gives Me to do to see that His work and His will is accomplished. That's the example of our elder Brother. That's the example He's left us. That's the example He encourages us to follow. And sometimes I say this to myself, we all get frustrated at times; it's part of life. We can say, "If God wants to give me another job sometime; if God wants to give you another job to do, another role to play, who's going to stop Him? Anybody going to stop Him? If it's really important to God that we have a different role to play, who's going to stop Him?
John 13:12 - Another kind of service that we owe. So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you?"
Verse 13 – "You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
Verse 14 – "If I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
Verse 15 – "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." We study this every year at the approach of the Passover. You think Jesus was just worried about dirty feet? No, we know that wasn't the case. He wasn't saying, "Boy, you guys have been out in the dust. Clean that up. Why don't you wash each other's feet? Well, I'll wash them first and then you wash them to each other every year as a remembrance." No, it wasn't about dirty feet. It was about an attitude of service.
Jesus showed that example first of all by washing everyone's feet who was there, including Judas. And then He said, "From here on, you wash each other's feet. I want you to have a reminder from year to year that you need to have an example, the attitude of a servant for each other from here on out." So the second kind of service we owe is to serve our fellow Christians, to serve each other, and it's not something we do – Oh, okay, since He tells me. I don't really like this, but I'll do it. We're supposed to do it with an open heart as He said in John 13:34.
John 13:34 – "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." We're supposed to serve one another in love because we want to. We do it willingly. Paul had an interesting take on that. He considered himself the servant of the churches over which he had some responsibility. You can start turning to II Corinthians 4. I think this is very interesting the way Paul put it here in II Corinthians 4:5. Paul mentioned several times he considered himself to be a bond servant. Here he talks about being a bond servant to the Corinthian church, which was a church that gave Paul many, many problems. It was a difficult area to live. A very debauched city, and that affected the church. We are affected by the society in which we live.
II Corinthians 4:5 – (For) we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your (bond)servants for Jesus' sake. Paul said, "I consider myself to be your servant for Jesus' sake because I owe Him complete obedience. He is my Master, and He tells me I am supposed to serve you, so I consider myself your servant because of what I owe Him. Christ is my Master, and I am your servant because He wants me to be, and He does. He does want us to be servants to each other. Galatians 6:6. We'll see what we can learn about the service we owe each other in this passage.
Galatians 6:6 – Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. The ministry was supposed to be able to live off the tithes of the members, in other words.
Verse 7 – Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Verse 8 – (For) he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption,. . . depends on what our values are, what's important to us. . . . but he who sows to the spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Verse 9 – And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart. And I would submit to you, brethren, that that happens in all our lives at one time or another. We just get tired, think – it's not worth it. I don't think I can do it anymore. I'm tired of trying so hard when it doesn't seem to be accomplishing what I want it to. That's part of life, too. That's why we're encouraged to not grow weary in doing good. We will reap. God will reward appropriately if we don't lose heart. That's really important to keep our courage up, to keep our enthusiasm, to keep a positive frame of mind, looking forward, keeping our eyes on the kingdom.
Verse 10 – Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. You notice in verse 6 and 7, it's talking about physical things. In that context, he said, "Let's do good to everyone, especially the household of faith." So the service that we give to one another should be spiritual in part, but also it's just talks about physical service, helping one another out, helping each other out in our needs.
Let's also look at Philippians 2, probably really a key classic passage about the kind of service Jesus gave, and the fact that He wants that from us as well.
Philippians 2:1 – Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, (if) any affection and mercy. And all of those things really come, we're going to see in the next few verses, from having an attitude of service, a desire to be a servant.
Verse 2 - Fulfill my joy. . .Paul said, and when all of those characteristics previously mentioned, when they're all there, when they're operating in the church of God, our joy is full. We're joyful. It's a positive, happy, uplifting place.. . .by being like-minded,. . .You'll fulfill My joy if you have those characteristics, if you have those attitudes.. . . having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Verse 3 – Let nothing be done through selfish ambition. . .Now we have the opposite of the attitude of service, self, selfish ambition, or conceit, thinking better of oneself than we should.. . . but in lowliness of mind. . .humility. . . let each esteem others better than himself.
Verse 4 – Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. So just like we're supposed to be keeping an eye on what is God's will, what most effectively accomplishes His plan, we're also supposed to keep an eye out for what are the interests of others. How can I help this person? What would be best for this person?
I was a young minister, just newly ordained and moved to France, I asked an old experienced pastor over there, I said – I did that with several older time ministers, "Would you give some advice to a young, green pastor going out? "
And one minister from Switzerland told me, "Whenever I meet someone, I always ask myself, "What can I do to help this person make it into the kingdom of God? What can I do today to help this person keep going forward and make it into the kingdom of God?'" And I've never forgotten that advice. That's keeping an eye on the interests of others.
Verse 5 – Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, What mind? Well, what we've seen up until now, the first couple of verses of the chapter, and then we have a description afterwards of how He lived it, how He carried it out.
Verse 6 – who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.
Verse 7 – but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a (bond)servant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Verse 8 – And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross.
Verse 9 – Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,. . . Why is He exalted so high? Because He was the greatest servant. Those two things correlate in God's mind. The better we learn to serve, the more selflessly we serve, the more God can use us in His continual service.
Let me give you a couple of suggestions. I've got five here. Now these are things you know already, but it seems an appropriate time to mention them. Five specific things that we can think about as we serve one another. And I'll go through these very quickly. You've heard sermons on them and studied them yourself, probably.
Prayer – intercessory prayer is a service that we render to other people when we pray for those who are sick or unemployed or discouraged. We pray for our brethren in other parts of the world who live in great difficulty every day of their lives. We pray, as we heard in the very fine sermonette, about the growth of the work. All of that is a service that we render to others.
Secondly, we can physically help those in need, like was announced during the announcements, help out someone who needs some meals, you know, if they're having an operation, or they're having a difficulty of some sort, being ready to help physically as we're able to.
Thirdly, hospitality, inviting people over, really important to spend some time outside of church services with our brethren. Invite people out who are not part of your circle of friends. It's not wrong to have a circle of friends and to congregate with people whose personalities we enjoy, but we should break out of that also, invite other people, invite someone you don't know very well. It's a way of increasing the unity.
Fourthly, encouragement, keeping a positive attitude. Another bit of advice I got as I was a young, green pastor going out, I talked to my own father. I said, "Dad, what kind of advice would you give me, just going out?"
He already had decades of service in the ministry at that time, and he said, "Well, I have noticed over the years that what I feel people need most in the church of God is encouragement. That's what people need most." You know, we're all trying, aren't we? We're all trying to do what we're supposed to do. We're trying to please God. We're tying to fulfill His will, and we're swimming against the stream in this dirty old world that we have to live in. We need to be encouraged, and that's something the ministry tries to do. I've certainly always kept that in mind in my own speaking and ministerial work, but it's something we can do for each other as well. It should be an encouraging thing to come to church. It should be encouraging to have contact with other Christians. That's a great service that we can render to each other.
And fifthly, a willingness to get involved in the work of the church. Now we sometimes notice that there is a little more reticence sometimes in some areas about just volunteering and jumping in and helping out with some physical thing that's going on in the church. And I would mention this especially to the young adults here, the older teens, we need younger people to step forward. We need you to step forward and say, "Here I am. I want to help. This is my church, too. What can I do? How can I help?" Find a way to get involved, ushering, refreshment setup, announcement board, setup, take down, meals for those who need them, as we heard already. Some of you young men may be given the opportunity to speak sometime in the future. It's even possible, we don't know, that's God's selection, but perhaps some of you may be chosen to enter the ministry. We find sometimes a bit of reticence about that, not always, but sometimes. A really talented, energetic young man can come out of college and be making six figures in no time nowadays. It happens to many of our young people. Not everybody, but it does happen. And for someone like that to consider entering the ministry, that means a cut in salary. It means being available twenty-four-seven. It means helping people in their problems. That's something that's not always easy. The ministry doesn't always have quite as much respect as it did have in the past as I can recall from my youth. Partially understandable. Some of our colleagues in the past failed some tests that God let come their way in all of the unrest that we had over the past years. Some of them didn't do very well. And then we just live in a society where there's less and less respect for those who have any position of responsibility. And, as we saw in Corinth and others, some of that bleeds over into the church as well.
However, I'll grant you that all of that may be true. But Paul said to Timothy that it is a good work to serve in the ministry. So if God calls you to do that, I hope that you will accept His calling. It's part of what we say we're willing to do at baptism – I will do what You want me to do. I am your servant. And that will be what is most rewarding in life ultimately.
Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton who made several trips trying to reach the South Pole in the early years of the century, last century actually now, he put the following ad in a London newspaper around 1913. You can read more about his adventure, his travels to the South Pole in the book, South, if you want. It's quite an adventurous book. This was the newspaper ad:
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success." Signed Sir Ernest Shackleton. That was the ad. All ready to sign up? Well, there's more to that story. He actually did get a full crew.
But Shackleton was seated in an office in London speaking to a friend about his forthcoming expedition, and his friend said, "I'm surprised at the publicity that you're giving to your new ventures. That's unlike you." He was a rather humble man. He didn't like to publicize those things.
And Shackleton replied, "I have a purpose in doing this. I want my colleague, Mr. Wild, to hear about my plans. He has buried himself in the heart of Africa on a hunting expedition and has left no address, but I thought that if I would broadcast the news that I was going to Antarctica, it might filter through to the very center of Africa, and if Mr. Wild knows I'm going, he will come."
By coincidence, they both turned, and there in the doorway stood Mr. Wild. It was a dramatic moment as Wild and Shackleton shook hands, the handshake of loyalty.
"I heard you were going," said Wild. "The news found its way into the heart of Africa, and when I knew, I dropped my gun, picked up a bit of baggage and made straight for home, and here I am. What are your orders?"
Quite an amazing example, isn't it? Would we do that for our Father in heaven? Would we do that for our elder brother, Jesus Christ? Would we do that for our church, for our brethren? We should.
One last kind of service. John 3:16. It's probably a passage you know by heart. It's often said to be the most quoted verse in the New Testament, certainly by the Protestant churches, the Evangelical churches.
John 3:16 – (For) God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. . . .God so loved the world. . .God loves the world. They're not all called now, but they will be one day.
A third kind of service that we owe is a collective service to play in the world by working together to see that that gospel is preached as a witness to the world. That's a kind of service that we owe as well. We do that collectively. We all work together on it, and the message goes out. In Matthew 10, we can turn over there. Jesus sent His disciples out, and He told them it wasn't always going to be easy, and sometimes it isn't easy to get the message out.
For some of our predecessors in the faith, it cost them their lives to be Christians. We've not faced anything like that in recent history, although some Christians have been persecuted under Communist regimes or other places where's there's hostility to Christianity. We do have some brethren who live in Muslim countries and they must be very careful because there is hostility, open hostility, toward Christians in some of those areas.
Matthew 10:16 – Jesus said, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Both of those are hard. Hard to be as wise as a serpent, and sometimes it's hard to be as harmless as a dove, but that's the job description.
Verse 17 – "(But) beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.
Verse 18 – "You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.
Verse 19 – "But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak.
Verse 20 – "for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." God guides the efforts of the church and each individual in it to see that the message goes out. God's behind that, but we have our part to play, and our hearts need to be in it, getting that message out to the world. Two more passages, I Peter 2. We do have a collective mission. We participate financially with tithes and offerings. We participate through our prayers, through our encouragement, and sometimes we have other ways that we can get involved in various projects of the church to get the gospel message out, placing programs on cable access or other, there may be other ways that we can get involved with it at different times. But here's one that we always have to be doing every day, regardless of whatever else may be going on.
I Peter 2:11 – (Beloved), Behold, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, We're been reading about that.
Verse 12 – having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers,. . . Sometimes Christians have that reputation, or people try to make it out that way at least. . . . they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. God's going to visit every human being at some point. For some few, it will be today. For others it will be during the millennium. For others it will be during the second resurrection. But everyone's going to be visited. Everyone will have a chance to know God, and this verse says live your life in such a way that God can point you out to them as an example when He starts working with them, and they can say, "Oh, yeah, that neighbor of mine. Now I remember. That's why they were different. Well, if they could do it in that world, I know with God's help I can do it now." And various variations on that theme. That's part of our job description as well. We're supposed to be considering ourselves to live in a fish bowl all the time never knowing when our example may make a difference to somebody who comes into contact with us. That's a way we all can be about serving the world, and God will bring people into contact with us as He sees fit. It's not up to us, but we can be good examples. We need to make sure that we're setting a higher example than just the strict minimum of what would be required as a Christian. God will call them someday, and our example may be of use at that time.
Let me share something else with you that I came across as I was researching this sermon, and I've still been kind of gnawing on it a little bit. Maybe you'll want to gnaw on it a little bit yourself, if I can use that expression.
Someone once asked a minister, "How can I know when I have a servant-like attitude?"
And the minister replied, "By how you act when you're treated like one." None of us really like to be treated like a servant, do we? But how we react when we're treated like one actually says a lot about how much of a servant-like attitude we really have.
One last passage. Isaiah 6. Some commentators think that this is representing Isaiah's calling to be a prophet, that this was right at the beginning of his ministry, if you will, as a prophet of God. And we have different interesting steps that occurred here, that parallel what has happened in our lives as God has worked with us.
Isaiah 6:1 – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
Verse 2 – Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Verse 3 – And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"
Verse 4 – And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. Isaiah had a vision of God's greatness, His majesty how far above human beings he is, and his reaction was to realize how small he was.
Verse 5 - . . ."Woe is me," he said. When he compared himself with God, he said, "Woe is me, (for) I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips,. . . I'm a sinner. . . . (and) I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. . . I dwell in the midst of a people of sinners. . . .for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. That's kind of what happens to us, isn't it, when we finally realize the difference between God and us and what we're really like in our sinful nature, and we say, "Oh, no, what can I do now?"
Verse 6 – Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.
Verse 7 – And he touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged." That's what happens when we accept the covenant of baptism with God. We go in the water, and our sins are forgiven. And through the laying on of hands we receive His Holy Spirit, His power, that starts working in us.
Verse 8 – Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, (and) who will go for us?" Now that wasn't God saying, "Boy, I hope I can find somebody who will do this. Man, okay, angels, spread out. See if there's anybody who will do this?"
No, He was working with Isaiah. He had just given this vision to Isaiah. He wanted Isaiah to do the job, but He also wanted Isaiah to be able to do it of his own volition, and accept voluntarily that service. And Isaiah did. Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." I want to be Your servant. I want to do what You want me to do. I want You to send me and let me participate in what You're doing.
Because when we really catch a vision of God, and we have an accurate view of ourselves, when we understand our need to be forgiven and we are forgiven, and we realize we glimpse that we have the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing, God symbolically says, "Who shall we send? Who will go for us?"
And each one of us has the opportunity to say, "Here I am. Send me. Let me be a part of what You're doing, too."
No service is too great. With God's help, no service can be too great. His power is unlimited. No service can be too small. He tells us He never loses sight of anything we do for His sake, for His service, for the service that we can render toward God, toward our fellow Christians, toward each other, and toward the world in preparation for the kingdom to come.
I hope you found that story interesting about John of Luxemburg and the Black Prince. Maybe you'll remember it, remember Ich Dien, but actually the kind of service they were trying to give was really misguided, wasn't it? Service to them was cutting down as many of the enemy as they could. That's not the kind of service God wants from us. Even more than that, I hope we'll always remember the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who set us the example that we need to follow when He said, "I did not come to be served, but to serve."