Midlands Christian Church

March

Message for January 17, 2010

Posted on 20-01-10

MCC: 01.17.17
Text: Mark 10.35-45 (716)
Series: GPS—Connecting to God, People, and Service

GPS—Connecting to Service

Intro) A) It’s that time of year again. There are: hundreds of competitors on the big stage, all seeking the same prize; a national audience tuned to their televisions; fans rooting for their favorite competitor; the potential for surprising victories and upset losses. Of course, we’re talking about…American Idol. Any one think that I was talking was about the Super Bowl?
B) Both American Idol and the Super Bowl represent efforts to identify winners and losers. It’s an effort to identify who is #1. Everyone wants to be # 1. I’m always bemused by the fact that at the end of a big game, the winning fans always hold up the index finger declaring “we’re # 1” even if the team has lost 4 or 5 games during the season. No one says, “We’re number five” or “we’re number six.” We all want to be # 1; we all want to be the next American Idol. As Marshall Shelley points out, “This obsession with identifying #1 isn't limited to sports. Peace prizes, beauty pageants, and Oscars do the same thing. Television generates countless competitions to identify the best (take your pick) singer, dancer, comic, bachelor, trivia contestant, even loser of body weight” (Marshall Shelley, Leadership Weekly, January 12, 2010).
C) As we begin 2010 here at Midlands Christian Church, we’re talking about our version of a “GPS” in order to help us get to where we want to go. Our GPS is “connecting to God, People, and Service.”
1) We’ve talked so far about connecting to God by loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That, Jesus said in Mark 12, “is the greatest commandment.”
2) Then, we talked last week about connecting to people. Jesus went on to say that there is a second commandment that is equally important. Jesus said, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Even though connecting to people is difficult, it is part of God’s design for us, and it produces the benefits of support and synergy.
D) This morning, we want to talk about the “s” in our GPS, connecting to service. We include it in our purpose statement which says: Midlands Christian Church exists to honor God by connecting people to God, others, and service through a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. We want to connect to God, to other people, and to service.
E) This morning, we turn our attention to a story in the 10th chapter of the second book of the New Testament, the gospel of Mark., page 716 in the pew Bibles. Let’s begin with verses 35 through 37: 35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask." 36"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."
1) James and John come up to Jesus and say to him, “Jesus, we want a favor.” I got a phone call last week and someone said to me, “Tim, do you think that you could a favor for me.” Do you know how I answered? “Maaay-be.” It depends on what the favor is.
2) Then, James and John say to Jesus in verse 37, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." The biblical scholar, Craig Evans, notes that “the nature of the question is remarkable, for it seems unrestricted in potential” (Mark 8:27-16:20: Word Biblical Commentary 34b (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 116).
3) But you know exactly what James and John are asking, don’t you? “Jesus, we want to be number one.” We want to be the Vice-President and Secretary of State in your government. We want to have a corner office. We want all of the other disciples to respect our authority and give us what we want. We want the 10 PM time slot, not the 11:30 PM time slot.” Do you know anyone like that?
F) Mark gives us Jesus’ response in verses 38-40: 38"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" 39"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."
1) Jesus warns James and John that a strong wind is arising—trouble and opposition are on their way.
2) But James and John are confident that they can bear up under opposition even though they probably have no idea what Jesus is talking about. Craig Evans notes that “James and John’s expectations were accurate so far as they went…but they had omitted…the struggle and suffering that lay ahead” (ibid., 117).
3) And Jesus responds with a remarkable statement: to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared." He says to them, “This is not my call guys.”
G) Even if you didn’t know the rest of the story, you can imagine the other disciples’ reaction when they hear of James and John’s request. Have you ever been on a middle school playground during lunch? You’ve heard this conversation: “Jesus likes me better than he likes you.” “No, he doesn’t.” “Yes, he does.” So the story continues in verses 41-45: 41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
1) Jesus says to the disciples, “Listen, guys, Life is not about being number one. I know that is the way that we think that life works. I know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them."
2) In other words, “I know that your bosses tell you to do what they want you to do and don’t give you any respect. But that’s not the way it works around here. That is not the way that it works in God’s kingdom. God wants you to serve each other. God wants you to use your time and resources not just to work your way up the social ladder but to help others."
Trans) That’s the story. What can we learn about connecting to service from it? I want to suggest three truths that we can learn from this story about connecting to service. First, connecting to service:
I) Reminds Us Who is Number One.
A) Let me give you a hint. It’s not us.
1) Let’s go back to the remarkable statement that Jesus makes in verse 40: 40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."
2) Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus assures his disciples that they will reign with him, but here he admits that specific appointments are not up to him. By the way, this one glimpse into the reliability of the gospel accounts because this is not the kind of statement that the church would make up.
3) What is Jesus saying? I think that Jesus is saying that even he submits to God’s authority. Four times in the gospel of John, Jesus refers to the “will of him who sent me.” In John 5.30, Jesus says, I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
B) We desperately desire to be number one, to be in charge, at the very least, we want the people around us to do what we want them to do. But in God’s kingdom, we are not number one and our goal is to not be number one. God is number one, God is in charge. Years ago, I heard that “there are two great religious truths: Truth number one: There is a God. Truth number two: You’re not God.”
C) In my seventeen years as a minister of the gospel, I’ve counseled people who faced a variety of moral issues or addictions. I’ve counseled alcoholics. I’ve counseled those who were addicted in one form or another to sex. I’ve counseled those with anger issues and those who had been unfaithful in marriage and the list goes on. But I am convinced that by far the most pervasive problem in church, the most dangerous addiction there is, is the addiction to self. It is the thought that somehow the world should revolve around ME. And the biggest problem with this addiction is that almost every one of us exhibits its symptoms. We each face the temptation to think that we should always get our way. People should always do what we want them to do. The preacher should always preach on topics that we want to hear or in a style that we like. The song service should always include the songs that we want to sing. But connecting to service reminds us that we are not in charge of the universe, the world does not revolve around us, and no matter how much that we wish that we were, we are not number one.
D) The reality is that when we realize that we’re not number, we’ll go beyond connecting to service. We’ll become servants in the way that we live and the way that we treat others. Richard Foster says: “There is a difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant. When I choose to serve, I retain control about whom I serve and when I serve. But when I choose to be a servant, I have given up all rights and all control” (quoted by Dave Stone, If Jesus Lived in My Neighborhood, preachingtoday.com). We are not number one. When we live in God’s kingdom, we relinquish our rights and our control and we place God on the thrones of our lives.
Trans) Connecting to service reminds us who is number one, and connecting to service
II) Unites Us to a Common Purpose.
A) Do you remember what happened when the other ten disciples heard about James and John’s request? Mark tells us in verse 41, When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. There is nothing that will create more division than in a body than this desire to be number one. The competition that we love here in America can create division when it’s not channeled appropriately.
B) Marshall Shelley tells of “a Raj from India who, while visiting America, declined an invitation to attend a derby, explaining, ‘The fact that one horse can run faster than others is both obvious and trivial’” (Shelley, ibid.). Our desire to be number one can divide us and cause to focus on trivial matters.
C) On the other hand, when we connect to service, and we focus on serving God and serving others, then we realize that God’s kingdom work is far greater than our trivial wants and desires, and we become united in that common purpose.
D) In the passage that we looked at last week, 1 Corinthians 12.12-14, the apostle Paul writes: 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
1) God’s design for the church is that we be united, we are to be ONE body.
2) Yet, in that one body, there are many parts. We all have different gifts, different abilities, that we are to use to serve God and serve others.
E) Dave Stone writes, “When we serve, we realize how much we need each other. Peter said in 1 Peter 4:10, ‘Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.’ There are so many Christians who use all sorts of excuses: Well, I can't do anything… Can you bake? Can you landscape? Can you water flowers while your neighbors are away on vacation? While you're taking your two-mile walk every morning, can you stop and give them a smile and take an interest in their life” (Stone, ibid.). We all have different ways in which we can serve, in the church building, in our neighborhoods, and when we serve God and others, we’ll be united to a common purpose.
F) Steve May tells this story: “When I was a teenager I worked at a bookstore. Since I was only part-time, I wasn't involved in most of the office politics, but I noticed there was a group of employees there who were always disgruntled about something. They would take their break-time together and gripe about the boss. They would go to lunch with one another and criticize the owners. They would socialize together outside the store, and all of their conversations seemed to revolve around their unhappiness at work. Finally, they approached the manager and demanded that changes be made or else. The manager said, basically, ‘Else.’ She fired the whole group. I wasn't in that gang, but a friend of mine was. He said to me, ‘I never should (have) listened to those people. I was happy with my job until I until I started taking their poison’” (Steve May, How to Love God More, preachingtoday.com).
G) When we remember that we’re not number one, and we choose to serve God and others, that kind of poison won’t creep into the body. We’ll stay united to our common purpose.
Trans) Connecting to service reminds us who is number one, unites us to a common purpose, and, connecting to service:
III) Conforms Us to the Image of Jesus
A) Jesus drives home his teaching in verses 43-45: Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
B) Jesus gives us the ultimate example of what it means to serve. I’ve used this example before but imagine that someone calls you and says, “The President is going to come to your house today.” You’d spend all day cleaning the house, and you might fix a big dinner. And then the President shows up and he has a bucket and some Clorox. And you say to him, “Mr. President, we have a dinner ready for you. The Secret Service has already tasted it.” He says, “Oh, no. I didn’t come for you to serve me. I came to serve you. I came to clean your bathrooms.” Jesus is God’s son. One would think that when God’s son comes to earth, he would come to receive honor and glory. No. No. In his own words, why did Jesus come? He came to serve. He came to serve us. He came to give his life for us.
C) Mark’s original readers may have caught the irony of the request of James and John. James and John request to be at Jesus’ right and his left in his glory. Yet, who winds up at Jesus’ left and right near the end of the gospel? Two rebels who are being crucified along side of him. Jesus’ service took him to the cross.
D) In the Greek world of Jesus’ day, philosophers considered “service to be the opposite of happiness” (Evans, WBC, 119). Yet Jesus willingly became a servant for us and he died on the cross for us. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
E) The reality is that when we serve others, we become more like Jesus. The apostle Paul writes of Christians in Romans 8.29, For those whom(God) foreknew (to become Christians) he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. We are to become conformed to the image of Jesus and there is no better way to do it than to become a servant.
F) When we spend an hour serving others at the LICS Thrift Store, we become more like Jesus. When we give up an hour of worship to help in the nursery, we become more like Jesus. When we go to the nursing home to visit a stranger, when we help with a kids soccer team, when we prepare communion, on and on it goes, we become more like Jesus.
G) Helen Roseveare, a medical missionary in Africa, was the only doctor in a large hospital. There were constant interruptions and shortages, and she was becoming increasingly impatient and irritable with everyone around her. Finally, one of the African pastors insisted, "Helen, please come with me." He drove Helen to his humble house and told her that she was going to have a retreat—two days of silence and solitude. She was to pray until her attitude adjusted. All night and the next day she struggled; she prayed, but her prayers seemed to bounce off the ceiling. Late on Sunday night, she sat beside the pastor around a little campfire. Humbly, almost desperately, she confessed that she was stuck. With his bare toe, the pastor drew a long straight line on the dusty ground. "That is the problem, Helen: there is too much 'I' in your service." He gave her a suggestion: "I have noticed that quite often, you take a coffee break and hold the hot coffee in your hands waiting for it to cool." Then he drew another line across the first one. "Helen, from now on, as the coffee cools, ask God, 'Lord, cross out the "I" and make me more like you'" (Matthew Woodley, Living as a Servant, preachingtoday.com). That should be the prayer of each of us. “Lord, cross out the ‘I’ and make me more like you.”
Conc) A) An interviewer from People magazine once asked Claire Booth Luce, the diplomat, what it is that makes a great man or woman, and she answered this way: "As I told Jack Kennedy in the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a great man is one sentence. History doesn't have time for more than one sentence. You don't even have to mention the person's name. I'll give you an example: 'He died on a cross to save us.' Or, 'He set out on a passage to the Old World and found the New'" (Ward Williams, A Model For Greatness, preachingtoday.com).
B) What sentence would sum up your life? Maybe you’ve spent your life hoping that the one sentence that would define your life would be: “He had the corner office.” Or, “she got everything she wanted.”
C) Listen, again, to the sentence that Jesus uses in Mark 10 to summarize his life: For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
D) What about you? What about this sentence to define your life: “he or she served others like Jesus.”