Saved to Serve
November 1, 2009 Morning Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: Jesus came to serve; we cannot expect to be greater than He.
Focus Passage: John 13:1-17 Supplemental Passage: Galatians 2:20 NASB "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Mark 10:45 NASB "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Introduction: The Roman aqueduct at Segovia, Spain, was built in 109 A.D. For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of men drank from its flow. Then came another generation, a recent one, who said, "This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children, as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labor."
They did; they laid modern iron pipes. They gave the ancient bricks and mortar a reverent rest. And the aqueduct began to fall apart. The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble. The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall. What ages of service could not destroy idleness disintegrated.
I. Selfish Expectations
a. Disciples expected a state dinner
b. Each looking for a place of prominence
II. Selfish Inaction
a. No one willing to take up duty as servant
III. Selfless Example
a. Jesus got up and gave an “object lesson”
b. Mark 9:35 NASB Sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."
Invitation:
