1. Mark Twain once said that the only one who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper. That may be true, but change is inevitable.
2. Examples of change
Service Stations have become Gas stations or Convenient stores – once full-service; now, self-service
Grocery stores – bag and carry to car – now Do It Yourself, even with self-checkout lanes; long ago I am told that some groceries would even allow you to call in your order and have it waiting for you when you arrived.
Business are catching on to the idea of second mile service and are profiting from it – Chick -fil-A's purpose statement reveals the heart of their company: "That we might glorify God by being a faithful steward in all that is entrusted to our care, and that we might have a positive influence on all the people that we might come in contact with."
Church – Is it Service or Serve Us?
In business for the sake of others
Needs – Matthew 25
Reconciling people to God – 2 Corinthians 5.17-19
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
3. Luke 22.24-30
4. God has set the pace for service – it involves:
I. Service Involves: Proper Motives (22.24)
A. Disputing Reveals the Problem of Self
[Boxing great, Muhammad Ali boldly declared, “I am the greatest!” On one occasion Ali was flying to a fight and refused to buckle his seatbelt; the flight attendant insisted but Ali said, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.” The attendant replied, “Superman don’t need no plane.” So he buckled.
Dispute about greatness may have involved the mother of James and John (and Yeshua’s aunt) in Matthew 20.20-21
James and John are out of focus – thinking of selves instead of Yeshua (Jesus) and their place in his mission
B. This is a Continuous Battle – James 4.1-3
1What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
1. We battle this even within the church
2. We try pulling rank; push our agendas over God’s simple commission
II. Service Involves: People Mattering
Too often I am consumed with ME like James and John – Yeshua (Jesus) shows something different
A. The Priority of Others (Philippians 2.3-4)
3Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
1. Danger of Burnout – Galatians 6.10
2. Danger of Abuse – Doormats; Losing Personalities
B. The Place of Servant Leadership
1. The Kingdom of God is the opposite of the World’s Pattern
2. Shepherding vs. Managing
3. Serving as Youngest/Least – Shepherd – low in prestige
C. One Category in Kingdom of God – Servants All
1. There are special servants – Elders/Deacons
2. Our calling – to be servants of Yeshua (Jesus)
a. To belong to Yeshua (Jesus) -- 6including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, Romans 1.6
b. To serve righteousness -- 17But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6.17-18
Servant Identification
A businessman once asked his Bible study group, “How can you tell if you have a servant attitude?” “By the way you react when you are treated like one,” was the reply.
D. Question – Which is Greater – Study or Serving?
1. Study is “greatest form of worship”
2. Study is given so we can DO the words we learn
III. Service Involves: Portraying the Master
A. There are Many Great Servants
1. Biblical
Abraham – Genesis 18
Joseph – second to Pharaoh
Daniel – Great in King’s Court/no negative criticisms
Elisha – served Elijah
So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant. 1 Kings 19.21
2. Modern
I read of a wonderful example from the life of the great evangelist D.L. Moody. It seems that “ large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.
Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his guests. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.
When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never knew by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. [Gary Inrig. A Call to Excellence. (Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1985), p. 98]
B. THE Servant is Yeshua (Jesus) – Luke 22.27
1. Served all the way to the cross
2. Served by his life – John 13.3-5; 12-17
3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
12When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
We are called to serve –
People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. - Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. - Do good anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. - Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.- Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds.- Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. - Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.- Build anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.- Give the world the best you have anyway. [John R. W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait: Some New Testament Word Studies, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1961), pp. 100ff]
I heard about a Union Meeting where the Union Representative was explaining the new Work Contract.
He said, "I have great news, Comrades. Management has agreed to lighten our work schedule!”
The crowd shouted, "Hooray!"
"And we will have a 150% pay rise."
"Hooray!"
"We will finish work at 4 PM, not 5 PM."
And again the crowd yelled, "Hooray!”
"We will start work at 10 AM, not 9 AM."
"Hooray!"
"From now on, we will work only on Wednesdays."
There was dead silence --- then a voice from the back asked…
"Which ones?" (Illustration from Sermon Central)
Aren’t you glad Yeshua did not do the minimum but was willing to pay the maximum price?
