March 25, 2020
Sermon Series 2020: Discipleship
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
Acts 11:27-30; Matthew 9:35-38
Discipleship: A Servant’s Heart
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our theme during Lent this year is Discipleship. One of the main characteristics of discipleship is compassion. When we look at Jesus, his chief trait was his compassion. Compassion is what impelled him in all of his actions.
The literal meaning of the word compassion means “to suffer with,” com-passion. When we feel compassion towards someone, we sense the pain and hardship they’re experiencing. It’s like we’re putting ourselves in their shoes. Their trial becomes our trial. Their suffering becomes our suffering.
The verses we heard from Matthew describe Jesus going about his ministries. He’s travelling from town to town. Everywhere he goes, he teaches in the synagogues. And healing is a big part of his ministry, too. Matthew says that Jesus healed every disease and infirmity.
As Jesus gazed out at the people gathered about him, Matthew says he was filled with compassion. Their pain, their loneliness, their grief, it all became his. He saw just how harassed and helpless they were. His response to their plight was loving compassion.
Compassion forms the backbone of Jesus’ mission. It was compassion that compelled him to take on our human flesh in the first place. And compassion prompted him to pour himself out to death on a cross.
As disciples of Christ, the church is compelled to be of the same mind as Christ. From his mind to our hearts. And throughout every generation, compassion has been the calling of Christ’s church.
My favorite theologian, Jürgen Moltmann said, “The church exists for Christ’s sake.” The church exists for Christ’s sake. As the church, Christ’s compassion becomes our chief endeavor. Just as he was moved by compassion and acted from that compassion, we do, too.
We see this happening in the passage we heard from the book of Acts. The young church in Antioch perceives that a severe famine is about to strike. When they hear about the looming famine, their hearts are filled with compassion for their fellow Christians in Judea. Why Judea in particular, we don’t know. Something must have rendered the community there more vulnerable to the impending famine.
The community in Antioch responds with a servant’s heart. They determine to take up a collection to send relief. Each gives according to their ability.
In each generation, the church has continued to respond to times of need with a servant’s heart. We currently find ourselves right in the middle of such a time with the COVID-19 outbreak. Compassion calls to us. It calls us to respond with a servant’s heart.
And we see examples of servant hearts all around us. And each person responds according to their ability:
- Medical workers who tirelessly treat patients
- Researchers working towards treatments and vaccines
- Governors of each state working to do whatever is in their powers to keep the public safe
- Truckers who ship vital goods from place to place
- Factory workers willing to work extra shifts in order to meet the demand for goods
- Neighbors keeping track of one another
- Volunteers reaching out to feed the hungry and help the vulnerable
- And everyone following practices to curtail the spread of the virus
A servant sees the needs of the neighbor. In doing so, the welfare our neighbor becomes our chief concern. Just like Jesus said, we lose ourselves. We lose ourselves, but we gain our neighbor. And oddly, this loss brings us back to ourselves. In losing ourselves, we find our self. But not the same self we were before. No, this time we discover our self, transformed by the mind of Christ.
The first-generation church found they had a need for people to see to the daily needs of their community. They needed people to oversee the hunger program to feed the widows among them. And so they appointed Deacons. The church has been served by deacons ever since then.
The traditional mark of a deacon is a towel. Think of a waiter. When they come to your table, they frequently have a towel. Maybe it’s over their arm, or maybe it’s tucked through the tie on their apron. That towel is the mark of their service.
And so I ask you: what is your towel? How has God called you to serve? As disciples of Christ, may we each be blessed with a servant’s heart.
