West Greeley Baptist Church
June 3rd 2001
John 12: 26
“Saved to serve”
By Pastor Mark Hensley
26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 12:26
Introduction: Heather is a single 30-year-old hairstylist from British Columbia. When asked why don’t you attend Church? This was her reply:
“ I was raised to believe you had to go
to Church every Sunday
confessing your sins, reciting your
prayers, being faithful. It was
just too hard. I couldn’t see how a
loving God could be so
demanding. As soon as I got out on my
own I left all that behind.
And the longer I stay away the less
guilty I feel.”
Transition: For Heather doing comes before being! For Christians being comes before doing! You see Christians are to serve not out of guilt or a feeling of foreboding, but out of Joy!
“ I was raised to believe you had to
go to Church every Sunday
confessing your sins, reciting your
prayers, being faithful. It was
just too hard.” I couldn’t see how a
loving God could be so
demanding. As soon as I got out on my
own I left all that behind.
And the longer I stay away the less
guilty I feel.”
Less guilty? Going to Church just too hard? A loving God …so demanding.
Heather’s experience and perception of the Church represents millions of people today. I will spend the rest of my life trying (successfully I hope) to change peoples perception of the Church. Two many people come to Church three times primarily. There Baptized, they get married, and they have their funeral service at the Church.
The first time they throw water on you
The second time rice
The third time dirt!
Oh that people might know the thrill of a relationship with God! Sometimes Church can be a boring uninspiring routine…but don’t blame God! When we get more excited by a bunch of sweaty behemoths trying to move a inflated ball of leather across a goal line, than we do about worshiping almighty God then no wonder the Church seems so oppressive to so many!
John Bisagno former Pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church tells the story of his coming there to candidate for the position of pastor many years ago. He said that as he entered the auditorium it was dimly lit, with just a few people huddled together. They were singing some old slow funeral type song that was depressing.
Later that day he took a walk in downtown Houston and came upon a jewelry store. It was some sort of grand opening and there were bright lights and a greeter at the door to welcome you in with a smile. Inside there was a celebration going on. There were refreshments and people having a good time talking and laughing with each other. They welcomed him and offered him some punch. He said that after attending both the church and the jewelry store, if the jewelry store had offered an invitation, he would have joined the jewelry store!
Today in a message called “Saved to serve” we will learn that when being comes before doing, the church can be a fulfilling and affirming place to attend and to belong! John 12: 26.
26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 12:26
Servants follow the Lord
Servants are found where Jesus is working
Servants will be honored by God
I. Servants follow the Lord 26Whoever serves me must follow me;
Jesus clearly states that servants follow the Lord! My favorite seminary professor J. W. Mcgorman once said “It’s never the servant’s prerogative to tell the master what he will do”. To follow Christ is to be led by his spirit, to make choices with his wisdom to live for him to do what he would have you to do!
* If we’re really honest with ourselves what we want is for Jesus to follow us around and bless what it is that we have chosen to do with our time and our resources. But that is not Jesus’ command to us today. Today Jesus gives us the challenge, “26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”
Look at what God has placed into your life today and then ask yourself, "If Jesus were given this life of mine, what would he do with it? Where would he go with it?"
Would Jesus be trying to get popular with that group of people at school? Would Jesus be spending so much time at work? Would Jesus skip an opportunity to pray with his disciples because of a television show? Would Jesus have a hard time squeezing in the needs of the poor and homeless? *All Saints Lutheran Church, Pastor David M. Jahn 765 N. Hickory Ridge Road
Highland, Michigan 48357
Would Jesus allow these bags (outreach sacks that are prepared to be taken out to newcomers in our area) that contain the word of God and demonstrate his love to this community sit here week after week, why we are content to let others do what we are fully capable of doing?
26Whoever serves me must follow me and where I am, there will my servant be also."
James Packer, In his book Your Father Loves You, wrote:
"Servant" in our English New Testament usually represents the Greek doulos (bondslave). Sometimes it means diakonos (deacon or minister); this is strictly accurate, for doulos and diakonos are synonyms. Both words denote a man who is not at his own disposal, but is his master’s purchased property. Bought to serve his master’s needs, to be at his beck and call every moment, the slave’s sole business is to do as he is told. Christian service therefore means, first and foremost, living out a slave relationship to one’s Savior (1 Corinthians. 6:19-20).
What work does Christ set his servants to do? The way that they serve him, he tells them, is by becoming the slaves of their fellow-servants and being willing to do literally anything, however costly, irksome, or undignified, in order to help them. This is what love means, as he himself showed at the Last supper when he played the slave’s part and washed the disciples’ feet.
When the New Testament speaks of ministering to the saints, it means not primarily preaching to them but devoting time, trouble, and substance to giving them all the practical help possible. The essence of Christian service is loyalty to the king expressing itself in care for his servants (Matthew 25: 31-46).
Only the Holy Spirit can create in us the kind of love toward our Savior that will overflow in imaginative sympathy and practical helpfulness towards his people. Unless the spirit is training us in love, we are not fit persons to go to college or a training class to learn the know-how or particular branches of Christian work. Gifted leaders who are self-centered and loveless are a blight to the church rather than a blessing. James Packer, Your Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986
Servants follow the Lord, Notice:
II. Servants are found where Jesus is working
26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. Heather states:
“ I was raised to believe you had to go
to Church every Sunday
confessing your sins, reciting your
prayers, being faithful. It was
just too hard. I couldn’t see how a
loving God could be so
demanding. As soon as I got out on
my own I left all that behind.
And the longer I stay away the less guilty I
feel.”
Her perception about Church is so legalistic! For her and for many Church is a ritual it’s a prescribed redundant performance! For believers in Christ it is a relationship!
We follow we serve a God you can know. That view helps us to see that service and celebration, which is what Worship, should be leads to an encounter with Him. If I believed as heather does then I would want to stay away too. For her religion is a duty it’s an obligation it’s a futile attempt to somehow measure up.
For her it is about doing. For believers it’s celebrating what has been done!
And it’s an anticipation of what God is doing and where he is working!
26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.
Jesus said in John 5:
17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
God is at work in our world! We can and will be involved with what he is doing. Remember our verse: 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.
The operative question for us is this: What am I now doing that is in concert with my Lord and Savior? We are Saved to serve! Too many Christians
Sit Soak and Sour!
Ministry is not just for the clergy or those who attended Seminary. If we wait or depend just on that group we will achieve limited results.
I want to ask you a question that I pray God will burn in your conscience.
What are you doing in service to your Lord that will out live you? There are multiple ministry opportunities for you here at West Greeley, ministry’s that await your energy your passion your life!
Ephesians 2:10 states: 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”
Lives to be touched, people to be helped advance ministries that God has set aside for you to do, for me to do! Heather’s religion is about doing! Our relationship celebrates what has been done, and what awaits! You say Pastor I am saved by Grace not by works, and I would say Amen to that. Remember however that while we are saved by grace alone, the grace that saves is not alone!
What are you doing in service to your Lord that will out live you?
Servants follow the Lord
Servants are found where Jesus is working
III. Servants will be honored by God
26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 12:26
My Father will honor the one who serves me.
According to relationship experts Gary Smalley and John Trent:
“To honor is to make a decision to attach high value to someone. The most important thing we can do is to learn to honor God as the highest priority in our lives. The most important thing we can do toward building loving lasting relationships is to learn how to honor others”
When we serve the Lord with gladness with passion with enthusiasm we will be honored by God! There is no earthly honor that can compete with that! Would you like to be honored by God? You can it’s a choice. When we present him our lives, our talents for his use, when we say take my life lead me Lord, he will.
Heather sees Church as doing, we see it as celebration for what God has done, and what God wants to do through us!
Saved to serve! Serving the saved and those we pray will be, that make’s knowing God exciting and the thought of being honored by God thrilling!
The great violinist, Niccolo Paganini willed his marvelous violin to city of Genoa on condition that it must never be played. The wood of such an instrument, while used and handled, wears only slightly, but set aside, it begins to decay. Paganini’s lovely violin has today become worm-eaten and useless except as a relic. A Christian’s unwillingness to serve may soon destroy his capacity for usefulness. J.K. Laney, Marching Orders, p. 34.
Appeal:
Servants follow the Lord
Servants are found where Jesus is working
Servants will be honored by God
