The Heart of a Servant

There's an age-old problem in the church that I have personally seen. I'll share it with you. And that's a focus on people, on personalities, on positions, and on power. When you enter a room, when you used to enter a room, you knew who was there, and you were somehow impressed or inspired by who was in that room or who the speaker was that day, etc., etc. And some of that, looking at humans, and the desire actually for humans to get into positions of notoriety, of power, or visibility, is for kind of a personal validation that comes along. See, people who often seek position are very unconfident in themselves, extreme lack of confidence. And they will seek positions in order to find validation. In other words, if I don't think I'm worth much, if I don't think I can contribute much, if I don't think I'm even a very good Christian, but if I'm elevated up to a higher position, that validates me, doesn't it? I am a person of worth, I am a person of value, and I am a spiritual person because I'm a leader in the church. Are those things necessarily the case? Let's go over to Mark 10 and verse 35 and find that this is nothing new. This is part of our human nature, yours and mine. Mark 10 and verse 35. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and this is John, this is the Apostle-loving John. They came to Jesus when they were disciples. They didn't have His Holy Spirit yet. And they said, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. We're not even going to tell you what it is. Just promise you'll do it. And He said to them, oh, I'm not going to promise anything here. I'm not going to answer a matter before I hear it. What is it that you want me to do for you? And they said, well, just grant us that we may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory, in the kingdom of God. Then you see, we'll know that we've made it. We'll know that we really are something. Jesus said, you don't know what you ask. He says, verse 40, 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. A little principle there to unconverted people, but you see the tendency. Now notice the next verse.

And when the other ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James. They were jealous. They got, what? You were going to take those seats? We wanted those seats. And now they're greatly displeased. And next thing you know, what do you have? You have the self-promotion is now dividing the disciples, and they're upset with each other. My wife and I were on an airplane yesterday, and behind us were three religious individuals, various kinds of pastors. And they were talking very loud about religion. They didn't know each other before, but somehow they all three got seated in the same row. And they were talking about all the denominations out there, and naming many of them. And then how some denominations were different than others, and they used to be together. In fact, one finally said, you know, all the Christian denominations are just breakaways, because somebody got it in their head that it had to be their way. And then they went on to somehow justify how the Lord is, you know, with all of these divisions and things. God is not the author of confusion or separation, dividing. And He is certainly not the author of what we saw right there, happening among the disciples. The theme of the ministerial conference in Cincinnati was, look to Christ. Look to humans. Don't look to people. Don't look to policies and personalities.

Look to Christ in advance of the work. The church has a renewed focus on Jesus Christ as the active head of this church. Not just the figurehead, the icon, but the active living head that is living in you and me with the Father through the Holy Spirit, and able to bring us to daily repentance and imbue us with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to love and do good works and to perform His will. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 24 and 25. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 24.

It says, The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. It's not about us. Anytime you think, I'm pretty sharp, and believe me, you are pretty sharp, don't doubt that. Anytime we start thinking about some of the talents we have, or if you do something and say, wow, that was pretty good, just flip over to Daniel and read how Nebuchadnezzar had the spirit of man taken out of him. That living miracle that God probably didn't just give you at birth, He probably gives to you every moment. He is the sustainer, not just the life-giver, but the sustainer. That miracle of the Spirit in man, your ability to think and reason, is probably an ongoing, sustained miracle from God.

If God just turned that off, you'd be clawing around in the grass, chewing, whatever, and not even know who you were. Nebuchadnezzar finally said, then my reason returned to me, and then I knew.

You and I are nothing apart from God. That's just the carnal reasoning that He gives us, the human physical reasoning that He gives us. He says, verse 26, You see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many might, nor many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish of the world to put to shame the wise.

God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. I'll tell you what. We all felt at this conference real comfortable with the term, the B Team.

Because the A Team is God the Father and Jesus Christ.

We're all on the B Team. You know what? It feels good.

And we're all brothers and sisters together who are the foolish of the world. We are the weak things of the world. And verse 28, the base things of the world.

And why is that? Verse 29, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. That it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.

We should be full of thanksgiving, the Bible tells us. We should make our prayers and our requests known to Him with thanksgiving, with deep appreciation, realizing really what we are.

And in doing that, God can use you in me.

Jesus is the model of outgoing concern, the model of sacrifice, the model of humility.

Let's look over in Philippians 2 and verse 7.

Philippians 2 and verse 7.

He says in verse 3, let's start in verse 3, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. Conceit is, I think I can do something. I think I'm pretty smart. I think I'm pretty clever.

Next thing you know, I think I ought to be president.

Aye, aye, aye, aye. And here we go again.

That's always the problem. That's the problem at Lucifer head. We got the big eye going.

But here we find, In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

I'm not better than any of you. Sometimes we think of the shepherds and the sheep.

Well, I'll tell you what. I may be a shepherd, and I appreciate, and I'm honored in this role, and I take it very, very seriously.

But I'm also a sheep.

I am also a sheep. And God's going to come back, and what's he going to do? He's going to separate the sheep from the goats.

There's only two categories, and I want to be one of the sheep with you.

We are brothers and sisters together, fellow servants.

We are trying to be focused on God and not on ourselves. In verse 7 now, Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bond servant. A bond servant is not a slave that the Romans ran out and captured. When Rome needed more slaves to build highways and do labor, they simply captured a country. And everybody was enslaved, and they hauled them in, and now they had new labor force.

And guess what? Those people didn't really like the Romans. They didn't really like being slaves.

Jesus didn't get captured somehow against his will and drug in to be your Messiah.

He was a bond servant. That is one by choice. Who says, you know what? I'm going to elect to choose to lower myself and go higher into a household as their slave.

That's my choice, and I'm going to enter into a contract that I'm going to serve them. And so he made himself a desiring servant of you and me.

He is the head. He's the shepherd. He's the leader. Not the humans. We don't fall into the doctrine of other religions that say, Oh, I'm a leader, so I'm the vicar, or I'm in place of Christ. I'm your local representative of Christ. You don't see him. You see me. No, no, no, no, no. He is the great shepherd. I'm just the shepherd with the little s trying to help out. But without him, I'm nothing. Nothing at all. Let's go to Hebrews 13, verses 20 and 21.

Hebrews 13, verse 20 says, Now may the God of peace. The word peace, remember, is Irene in the Greek, and that word means to join.

The God of taking splits, divisions, different entities, different races, different cultures, and bringing them together.

This is what God is. He is the God of to join. If you want to use the exact accurate meaning of the words there. Now may the God of to join, who brought up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep. Make no mistake. He is the great shepherd. Notice the capital words, of the sheep. It's His church. You are His. He is your shepherd. He lives in you. He's hired some helpers. We're imperfect. But we're dedicated. We're zealous. We are not hirelings that run away when the wolf shows up. It's not going to happen. May that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. He gave His blood for you. Make you complete in every good work to do His will. See, He's still doing all this. Working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever. The title of this sermon is, The Heart of a Servant. That is what Jesus Christ is. He is a servant. And He is all about humbling Himself and perfectly loving and serving others. Let's take a look today at developing the heart of a servant in each of us so that we can be Christlike. So that we can be Christlike servants and serve in a Christlike fashion. In Mark 10.45, I won't turn there, but Jesus said, He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. That's what He came for. He came to serve. We are called to grow up into Him in all things, it says in Ephesians 4.15. We are going to grow up into Christ. And right there in Philippians 2, we read, put on this mind of Christ, we are going to be growing and serving, taking on by desire. Hey, I want to humble myself and serve others. A priority in the United Church of God, as was mentioned in this week's Council of Elders meetings, is to push forward the concept of Christlike service. That is the most important, one of the key concepts that the Council has identified. It's renamed. It's going to move out for everyone. And in the Council meetings, they said, let's get rid of the word leadership because somebody will think it's not for them. They might just think it's for leaders. Even though all of us are leaders in one way or another, let's get rid of that. So they took out that word. Let's put in service because Jesus said, I came not to be served, but to serve. Their intent is that we all, men, women, children, get with the program, as the vernacular would say, of Christlike service.

Let's take a look at just a few concepts here in a very short message on Christlike serving. He came to serve. The God family is love. It's all about serve, all about sacrifice for others, giving us everything they can. The question for you and me is, do you want to serve? Some people don't want to serve, and that's okay as a starting place. But it's not okay as a finishing place. All we have to do is go over to Matthew the 25th chapter. We'll notice how Jesus is going to select or deny people entry into the kingdom. He says, he separates the sheep from the goats in verse 33 and 34, He says, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom.

And verse 35, Because I was a hungry, and you served me by giving me food. I was thirsty, and you served me by giving me drink. I was a stranger, and you served me by giving me hospitality and taking me in. I was naked, and you served me with clothing. I was sick, and you visited me, serving me.

I was in prison, and you served me by coming to me. You enter into the joy of the Lord. Is it okay to realize that you don't like to serve? Yes, it is okay to realize you don't like to serve. We all have to learn about our sins someday, don't we?

But we are to repent of our self, lazy focus, and turn that focus to humility, righteous love, and the serving of others. And here we see very clearly that those who learn to serve will be in the kingdom of God.

In verse 45, he said to the others, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me. And these will go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous end to eternal life.

So don't get comfortable and say, well, I'm just not a serving kind of person. Well, okay, there's the lake of fire.

And don't get comfortable saying, oh, I'm kind of a giving person, and I'm kind of a serving person, because you can be serving without being loving.

You can jump into one of those positions to get sort of accolades and some sort of affirmation for self. And that won't work either. We have to repent of our selfish focus and really develop the heart of a servant who truly desires to serve and love others.

God called you for this purpose. And in the United Church of God, there are many opportunities, and will be many more opportunities of serving for people like you, to learn to serve in a Christlike manner and to grow in that. Not that many of you don't already do very well in that, but we can all grow in that. I am growing in that. I hope you've seen growth in me in the nine years I've been here as your pastor in that. And we'll see growth in the future. I'm one of you. I want you to be one of this organization that is focused on Christlike serving.

How can you serve? Where can you serve? Sometimes people say, I'd like to serve, but I don't know how or where. Well, there's two types, two general types of service. One is structured service and one is just independent service. We just saw there in Matthew 25 the unstructured independent type of service. You saw me, I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. Naked and you clothed me. That type of service is really prompted by God's Holy Spirit. And it's hard to do that sometimes.

It's inconvenient. You may be on your way to some other place. You may have other endeavors, and these things come up, and they're difficult. It's very difficult to see people in prison. You have to go through all types of hurdles to even become approved to visit somebody you're not related to in prison. It's very inconvenient. I go to the prisons to visit people, and probably 75% of the time I'm not able to see the person. It's just the way it is, and you have to keep throwing yourself at attempts to see a person.

A great expense, time, distance, travel, wasting of hours sometimes for precious little opportunities to visit people. Things can be like that. There's also structured service. For instance, we have in the Phoenix East congregation this duty roster, and this is structured. I try to create a duty roster with lots of duties and lots of opportunities for overseers, coordinators of the activity, and also assistants and mentees for those activities. On this particular list, we have 55 duties. There are 35 people fulfilling many of those duties. There are currently 51 unfulfilled spots, blanks on that particular one.

There are structured duties that are available. You can go online to our announcement page and check that duty roster. You can see a copy out in the lobby. You can talk to the overseers or coordinators. If you have an interest in helping out, we try to make it possible for people to serve in a structured way as well in the congregation, trying to involve as many as would like to be involved.

We have a 15-year-old boy who has made the coordinator of one of our functions. He is really, really excited and already come through with a great new concept that you can see outside today on our information table. He already put it in place. That is, those booklets out there, and the literature from the church that's on display, now have the feature booklet of the current Beyond Today program featured sitting right there in the front middle every week. That's a great idea from one of our youth that's very excited and invigorated about coordinating our literature display. It took it over from some people who have served for years in the church.

As far as other areas that aren't structured, let's go to Galatians 6 and 10. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are the household of faith. That is up to you and me to be aware, thoughtful of, and doing good to all, both outside the church and inside the church, especially to those who are following God.

You remember in Matthew 25 we just read, those who said, who Jesus said, Welcome to the kingdom, come on in because you did these things for me, they said, Who, who, what, when did I do that? Me? I don't know. See, they didn't just say, Oh yeah, I was doing that. We don't know what you're talking about.

That's just who we are. It's our mindset. We're just helping out. We're just doing what comes natural with the Holy Spirit. They just grew in humility and service and sacrifice, and it wasn't anything special. It was just what they had become, you see. And it's interesting when He said that to them, they said, Who us? Me? God is looking for men and women to become like He is and take on that nature of the family.

Many of you, men and women, have been helping. You have really stepped forward. You've helped repel the persecution that's come against the church and the leadership of the church. You've helped protect precious minds and innocent ones from all types of things that were bizarre and slanderous. Some worldwide have rallied to stand in the gap where there was nobody to step in, and there was no one to ask them to step in. They simply stepped in. My wife and I have been in contact with just members of the church in this country and other places who have just said, You know, there was a need and people needed to be helped and there was all kinds of disinformation and there was no structure.

We didn't even have a place to meet. We didn't even have any organization. And I'm calling you because I've heard your name before and I'm just letting you know that we've got some members here.

Online I've seen people in this congregation and elsewhere counter falsehood while being defamed themselves. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for taking it on the chin, for standing up for what is right, even though you were slandered yourself for it. We've seen members retain church equipment, bank accounts, activity venues, meeting locations. We've seen acts of love and service and humility. You know, over in East Africa, it just astounded my wife and I this year. We've been teaching love. We've been trying to set examples, imperfect examples, of love and humility and service. And this year, we got to the Feast of Tabernacles, and men and women declared themselves to be the cleaners of the filthy toilets in one of the most rural areas of East Africa. My wife and I will not go into those toilets. And they said, you know what? We've decided we want to give every attendee at the feast a clean toilet to use every day. We're going to go in there and clean them up. That just took my breath away. This year, we couldn't afford to hold camp, can you? Our budget got cut, various things happened, and I told them, sorry, but we're going to have to not have camp this year. Some of those who had been in camp and have now become young adults, and some of the leaders over there got together and said, why should we have gone to camp and had that wonderful experience and hold that within? The things that we were taught in Christian living, the activities and the learning of those life lessons through the activities, why should we not share those with others? They put on their own camp this year, somewhat limited camp, but they rose up and at their own time, their own expense, they held a camp. It's wonderful to see individuals stepping forward and serving with the heart of a servant.

One of the individuals at the conference caught our attention when he stood up and said, there is no concept in this Bible or description of teamwork, no advocation for us to be a team, but rather to be a family. You can think about teamwork, and you can think about the benefits of a team and the smart, the logic of teamwork, but God talks about a family. On a teamwork, if you lose someone on the team, you just replace them and keep going, don't you? In your family, if you lose someone, one died, you'll just, you know, I don't know, get somebody else.

Is that how you feel? No. You know, Paul talks about we are in one body, one family, and when one member suffers, all suffer. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. This is really about a family with a father, an older brother, brothers and sisters. We call each other brethren. Just what it means is family, brothers. We're brothers. And we care about every individual one, and we all have something within the family that we contribute that's unique. There's a place and there's a role for service that's unique. In Luke 8 and verse 21, Jesus said to the individuals there, My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.

God refers to you and me. Jesus Christ, our Lord, refers to you and me. My mother and my brothers are the ones doing the word of God. We need to view ourselves as part of a family, and in this congregation, I hope that you feel not just an attendee, not just a member, part of a team, or maybe not on the team, if you don't find your name officially on some list, but family.

One that all of us would do anything for and help out. And I hope that you will be a family, a brother and a sister, a mother or a father, a grandpa, a grandma, or a son, a young child to all of us. We want to consider you family. We want to be a family. We need to be serving and contributing together side by side. Ephesians 4 and verse 15 talks about us growing up into the head. Jesus Christ is the head.

We're growing into one. We're growing into what? The family. Because in verse 16, from whom the whole body joined and knit together supplies according to the effective working by which each part does its share. You are a part of that body, and you have a share. It is your share. It is your talent, your ability, your contribution. It is that which God can inspire, encourage. He can bless you with.

He can raise your ability in. You have a part. Maybe you're not developing your part as you could, but each part has its own share. And if you do that effective working, then it causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself, the building up of itself in love. I hope that you will really feel and become a part of the family stitched together by what you're doing. That's how it happens here in verse 16.

By what you are contributing and what you are doing. Our leader is the great servant. He is the great giver and doer. He is doing his part. He is living inside you. He is empowering you to serve through his Holy Spirit. And we are to be brothers and sisters with the same purpose and mindset that he has. It says in 1 John 3, verse 16, By this we know love because he laid down his life for us. Many a times we might close the Bible there and say, That's great.

Jesus laid down his life for me. That's good. Oh no, that's only half of it. That's what he's done for you in the body. Now what are you supposed to do for him and for the rest of the family?

That's in the rest of the verse. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. It doesn't mean literally to go die. It means to die daily, like Paul said, to sacrifice yourself, your will, to give and serve like a parent does. Parents aren't real smart before they have kids. They're all about themselves and their life, and they say, Let's just add one little more thing to our life.

And then suddenly they find themselves the slaves of little ones, and they give up so much of their time, of their sleep, of their rest, their energy, their money, their focus. All those things they wanted to accomplish in life suddenly have to be sacrificed in order to serve this little one. And somehow they say, Let's have another one. You know? That's how we get old, people. We have kids. But in the same sense, you see, we are to sacrifice our life for that of the brethren, for our brothers and sisters, the other children of God.

Set aside the things that we would want, or the things that we could become, and help mentor others in the right way of living. I hope you will join with the body and use the spirit, use the gifts, use God's help of those spiritual gifts that you can develop even further. God has placed us all in different places. Let's look in Romans 12, verses 4-9. Romans 12, verse 4. For as we have many members in one body, your body is filled with all types of different things, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. You know, this church, even this congregation, isn't just members and a pastor.

You're one or the other. No. This congregation is filled with 150 different people with different talents, different combinations of things that they can do and ways that you can contribute. I merely want you to go to God and ask Him to identify what your talents are and then to embellish you with greater talent in those areas and then to use that talent for spiritual service, in other words, serving others instead of just using it on yourself.

Come and serve and live your life to embellish the lives of others here and everywhere you are. Then we don't just have two groups. We have 151 different entities all contributing and doing things that no one else can individually. And so He says here in verse 5, So we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

We still are not a bunch of little prima donnas. We are members of one another. We are family. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If to prophesy or to teach, do so in proportion of your faith or ministry which is serving, do so in our serving, teaching and teaching, exhorts and exhortation, not always from a lectern, just in personal exhorting, gives.

He who gives with liberality, He who leads with diligence, He who shows mercy with cheerfulness, and let love be without hypocrisy. A real true form of love, not this fake stuff of I'll do something for you and I'll hope to get something back from me, either out from you or some visibility or some kickback. But pray that God will grow a talent and gift in you or increase them in all of us. Pray for one another as we try to imitate Jesus Christ in serving.

The United Church of God is experiencing what I would call a renewed mindset. It's a new beginning, as it were, with a new renewed mindset. And it's really, truly considering all of its members as family and family serving together. We didn't have a ministers conference that was about ministers and what we're going to do.

We kept talking about all of us in the church, all of those who are called out, learning to be Christ-like and serve to the best of our ability. And you were right there in our minds as we went through discussions on how we can finish this work that God has given to us. Go into the world, cast the net, draw in individuals the Father is calling, to disciple them, to baptize them, and to feed them, and to encourage and exhort and love one another. We are all involved in those processes. We need to be motivated in it so that Christ-like serving can involve everyone.

In 1 Peter 1 and verse 22 is a very important scripture along this line. 1 Peter 1 and verse 22 Since you have purified your lives in obeying the truth, now we often stop right there, don't we? Purify my life, got the truth, got the Holy Days, the Sabbath, clean on clean meats, we're here, keeping it, got it, wait for the kingdom. Is that what Jesus Christ said? I'm going to come back and see who believes the truth.

No, He said I'm going to come back and see who's serving, didn't He? Since you've purified your lives in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. As it were, we grow in various levels and in various stages. And let's just say the next stage is fervent love and service for one another in a pure form.

Now, one thing that's the spoiler for all of this is if any one of us, myself included, let's the zeal turn around for an opportunity for the flesh. If we start getting self-focused again and, oh, I can do things and God's helping me and me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, it turns into another me thing. We go right back to the beginning, don't we? Just like those disciples who started destroying themselves. Let's not look at these opportunities of service as opportunities for self-promotion.

As it says in James chapter 3 verse 13, who is wise and understanding. Let's go forward from here with godly wisdom and understanding. Let him show by good conduct that his works of love and service are done in the meekness of wisdom.

But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This is not what God's church is about. This wisdom does not descend from above, but it's earthly, it's sensual, it's demonic. Verse 16, for where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion in every evil thing is there. And we're always just a decision away from being there. And slipping back into that thing which divides and messes up and spoils.

Verse 17, but the wisdom that's from above is first pure and then peaceable. It is joining, it is bringing together, it is gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. That is what we can do if we resist the devil. In conclusion, with great anticipation and high hopes and a lot of enthusiasm, let us all say welcome to the renewed, united Church of God.

As we follow our Lord and Master, that great servant, and as we go from here to eternity together, serving together as children of the great God.