Good morning! Please open your Bibles to Matthew 20:20-28. Before we begin, let’s pray?
[pray]
In 1859, three businessmen began work on an express mail service that promised to get messages between Missouri and California in ten days or less—an unheard of speed at the time. They began to build a system of relay stations 10-15 miles apart across the 2000 mile stretch of prairie and wilderness.
Riders would gallop 75-100 miles a day, armed with a pistol and a knife, changing horses at each station.
• It would be expensive: between $25 and $125 in today’s dollars.
• It would be risky: Messengers faced death by weather, exhaustion, bandits, accidents, and Indians.
The route was set up and the 184 stations were built by early 1860, and in the spring a want ad appeared in a San Francisco. The ad said,
Wanted: young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week.
During its operation, the Pony Express delivered about 40,000 pieces of mail. It employed about 200 young men. It wasn’t around for long— Just 19 months after it started, it was rendered obsolete by the telegraph. But still, it captures the imagination.
There’s something about the idea of a man risking his life to do whatever it took to get a message to the people that needed to hear it that is just compelling.
God is still looking for men and women willing to do whatever it takes, even to the point of risking death, to get the message to the people who need to hear it.
Did you know that this is actually why you were saved in the first place? According to Hebrews 9:14, when we are born again by the blood of Christ, it is so we can serve the living God.
Hebrews 9:14 ESV
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
The Apostle Paul even took it a step further. We aren’t just born again to serve God; we are born in the first place to serve God! Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10
Ephesians 2:10 ESV
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
You were created to contribute, not just consume, to give and not to get, to serve and not to be served.
This understanding comes straight from our Lord Jesus. His most detailed teaching on servanthood came one day when the mother of two of his disciples, James and John approached Jesus with a pretty bold request. Let’s look at it together:
Matthew 20:20–28 ESV
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
I can imagine that James and John would have been the perfect candidates for the Pony Express! Young, wiry, skinny fellows who honestly believed they could drink the cup of suffering Jesus would drink. But Jesus pretty much burst their bubble.
The good news is you don’t have to be a young, wiry fellow in order to serve! In fact, this morning I want to show you that the ideal servant is FAT— F.A.T. FAT stands for faithful, available, and teachable, and this morning we are going to talk about how to be a FAT servant of God.
1. A Servant is FAITHFUL.
In 1 Corinthians 4:2, Paul wrote
1 Corinthians 4:2 ESV
2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
A steward is someone who has been entrusted with what belongs to someone else. And that means job one of a servant of Jesus is that we are faithful with what he has entrusted us with. What is that? And what have we been entrusted with?
Jesus told Peter that he had been given “the keys to the kingdom.” He said in Matthew 16:19
Matthew 16:19 ESV
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
I think Jesus is talking about the message of the gospel. If we let it loose on earth, then people will be set free in heaven. But if we keep it from people on earth, then those who are imprisoned to sin and suffering and oppression will still be imprisoned at the final judgment.
If you are going to serve Jesus, you have to be faithful with His message. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 13:11 that “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God had been given to them.” But He never told them to keep it to themselves! They weren’t just to be faithful to the message; they were also to be faithful to the mission of sharing it with others.
A true servant who carries out the the will of his or her master regardless of their own desires might be. is one who has learned to subdue the defiant autonomy of self by subjecting his will to the wishes of another.
And when the servant does what his master expects of him, he doesn’t seek the recognition of people. Luke 17:10
“So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Luke 17:10
[story about HCSB]
And in so doing, they are following the example of Jesus. Look again at verse 28: The son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Here’s the principle: If we want to become truly great then we must give up personal rights and serve others. Our central ambition should be to serve people, not to be admired by them.
Now, Don’t mistake anonymous with insignificant or unnecessary. Let me give you a little quiz. Do you know who is teaching your children right now? Do you know the names of the musicians who were up here a few minutes ago?
Can you list the names of the small group leaders in AWANA? Do you know who restocked the restroom before you got here? You should thank God for him!
You may be thinking that nobody notices what you do, but God does. I love Hebrews 6:10:
Hebrews 6:10–12 (ESV)
10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
The most important thing you’ll ever do with your life is serve God. It’s far more central than your career, it’s far more significant than your hobbies, it’s more important than anything else you can think of because nothing else is going to last. But this is. You were put here on earth to serve the Savior by serving others.
2. Serving like Jesus means being available.
Have you ever thought about how often Jesus was interrupted?
His first miracle took place when He was interrupted at a wedding. (John 2)
He was interrupted from teaching when four dudes lowered their paralyzed friend in front of Him. (Mark 2)
In Mark 5, Jesus was on His way to heal the daughter of a prominent synagogue leader when an anonymous woman touched the fringe of His garment.
In every case, Jesus stopped what He was doing and met the need of the person interrupting Him.
If you still have Matthew 20 open, skip down the very next section. Right after Jesus said that he didn’t come to be served, but to serve, God’s Word says that
Matthew 20:30–32 (ESV)
30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Notice that Jesus stopped.
We talk a lot about walking with Jesus. But a huge part of walking with Jesus is stopping with Jesus! If we want to be used by God, we must be willing to be interrupted.
And in order to be interrupted, you have to have enough margin in your life that Jesus can interrupt you.
Now what keeps us from being available?
• Self-centeredness: Let’s be honest, a lot of us just don’t want to be bothered. We’ve made “me time” an idol, and we believe that the universe revolves around us.
Have you ever thought about the fact that the universe literally revolves around Jesus? Hebrews 1:3 says
Hebrews 1:3 ESV
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
But Jesus never acted like the universe revolved around him. Instead, he came to serve others. Paul told the Philippians that their attitude should be the same as Christ’s.
• Busyness. And because we are self-centered people, we create self-centered schedules. In Luke 14, tells a story about a king who held a great banquet and invited lots of different people to attend. Verse 18 says, “they all alike began to make excuses.” One said, I just bought a field; I need to inspect it. Another said, “I just got married; I’m going on my honeymoon.” A third said, “hey, I just bought a team of oxen, I’ve got to examine them.”
• Fear (third servant who hid his talent in the ground because he was afraid) One of the most sobering of Jesus’ parables is the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. You’re probably familiar with it. We are afraid we’ll fail so we never even try.
Lame, lame, lame. But every excuse comes down to, I don’t have time to serve. I’ve got my agenda, my plans, my dreams, my goals, and my ambitions. I’ve got my reputation to think about, and I might not be good at this.
But real servants don’t mind being interrupted because they’ve settled the fact that their lives belong to their master; therefore their calendars belong to Christ.
2. Serving like Jesus means TEACHABLE.
There’s a wonderful story in Acts 18:24-26 that illustrates what it means for a servant to be teachable. God’s word says
Acts 18:24–26 ESV
24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
We know Apollos was a great speaker, and he was competent in the Scriptures. But he still had more to learn. Along came Priscilla and Aquila, fellow tent-makers with Paul, and the scriptures ay they took Apollos aside and explained the way of God more accurately.
Apollos could have said, “You know what kids, I’ve been teaching for a long time. I think I know what I am doing.” He could have told them, keep making tents. Stay in your lane. But Apollos was humble and teachable, and he listened to what they said. And as a result, he became even more effective in serving.
Natural ability plus humble teachability equals maximum usability
Let me give you some practical ways that you become a FAT servant— one that is faithful, available, and teachable, can put this message into practice.
1. Determine to serve.
Joshua came to a determination point in his life when he said in Joshua 24:15: “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Are you ready to surrender yourself in selfless service to the Savior?
2. Dive in to serving.
The best way to serve is to experiment with different areas of service. Don’t wait for the “perfect” ministry. When God reveals a need, and you sense the Spirit’s tug at your heart, jump in and say, “I’m ready to serve. What can I do to help?”
It could mean working in the nursery, handing out bulletins at the door, preparing the Lord’s supper, cutting the grass, setting up tables for Wednesday night, delivering meals to shut-ins or a homeless shelter, leading games at Awana, or showing up for prayer on Monday mornings.
Outside the church, it could look like babysitting, watering plants and bringing in amazon packages for a neighbor who is away, bringing a pan of brownies to a new neighbor, helping someone on the side of the road with a flat tire.
In the home— where it may be the hardest, service could look like sharing the load of doing the dishes or cooking instead of just expecting your wife is going to do it all.
3. Discover your SHAPE for serving
In the church we sometimes emphasize the importance of figuring out your spiritual gifts and abilities before diving in to ministry. But I think we have it backwards. It’s in the context of serving that we will discover our gift mix. Each of us has a bunch of hidden abilities and gifts that are never used because we’ve never tried them out.
Rick Warren talks about your unique SHAPE as a servant:
• Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4:11-13, 1 Peter 4:10-11)
• Heart Is there a particular age group you are drawn to? A specific ministry? People Group? What are you passionate about? What makes you angry? What unmet need has your attention?
• Ability What are some things you are good at (different from spiritual gifts)— are you good with numbers, writing, art, music, woodworking, cooking, administration, etc
• Personality— outgoing, creative, introverted, detail oriented, extroverted, OCD (you can help me organize my library)
Conclusion: The church as a pony express outpost
A rest stop for the riders. You can rest and refuel, but you don’t stay there. Because the message needs to get to the people that need to hear it. What if just one of those outposts said, you know what, let’s just stop sending these messages along. It’s pretty wild out there on the frontier. But here its safe, and warm, and there’s good food, and I can hang out with the other riders. Let’s just tell people that if they want to hear the message, they can come to us.
No. Church, the gospel only came to you on the way to someone else. All it takes is one outpost or one rider deciding to keep the message of the gospel to himself, and the mission fails.
Church, its time to cowboy up. Let’s ride.
