If I were to ask you to describe yourself in one word; if I were to ask what one adjective best sums up your identity, what would you say? If you met someone for the first time, and they asked, "What are you?" how would you answer? What single term would you give in response to that question? You might respond in terms of your vocation. Many of us derive our identify from our work. So you could say, "I’m an engineer;" "I’m a homemaker;" "I’m a lawyer;" "I’m a pastor." You could answer according to your family status. "I’m a father," or "I’m the mother of three children." There are literally dozens of possibilities: religious affiliation: "I’m Catholic," or "I’m Baptist." Nationality: "I’m an American." Political party: "I’m a Democrat," or "I’m a Republican." Family or clan, "I’m a Perkins." Ethnic background: "I’m Hungarian," "I’m African-American," "I’m Irish". Gender: "I’m a man." "I’m a woman."
The way you answer that question is significant because it reveals what personal attributes you consider as central to your identity. What’s at the core of your view of yourself. Would it interest you to know that when the authors of the New Testament began their letters, they all used the same adjective to identify themselves? What do you think that adjective was? Not "Christian." Not "disciple". Not "teacher." But "servant".
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle " – Romans 1:1
"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" – James 1:1
"Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ" – 2 Peter 1:1
"Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James" – Jude 1:1
What does this tell us? That they all considered their status as servants to be the most significant aspect of their identity as followers of Christ. That in the years following the death and resurrection of Christ, as the church was being formed and the followers of Christ were developing a sense of who they were, and what it meant to be a disciple, this idea of "servanthood" was at the center of their thinking. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means being a servant. A servant of God. A servant of Jesus Christ. A servant of the gospel – the message of forgiveness and eternal life through faith in Christ. And a servant of the church, of other believers.
Does that surprise you? How do you like that designation – "servant". Does it seem like a good thing? Is it an energizing idea, something that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning? "Time to get up and be a servant!" Our natural reaction to be called a servant – or worse, being treated like a servant – isn’t usually a positive one. I read a story a while ago about a training program for employees at one of New York’s finest hotels. At this hotel, they emphasized the outstanding service provided to the guests by every member of the staff – the front desk, the maids, the bellboys. But I’ll never forget the one line they used to begin every training session. They told them, "You are not servants. You are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen." In their minds, to be a "servant" meant having no dignity, no sense of self-worth. A servant was someone to be looked down on, someone not to be respected. And so, even though they were being trained to do the work of servants, they rejected that title.
You can see that attitude in the decline of customer service. When was the last time you were greeted warmly at a restaurant or retail store? How often do you find the waitress, or clerk to be friendly and helpful, compared to how often you find them to be rude and indifferent? Why? I think it’s because they consider serving other people to be demeaning. They’re not proud of what they do. And I’m sure it goes both ways. Their customers treat them badly, because our society doesn’t respect people in service occupations. So other people look down on them. And they respond by having little respect for the work they do, or for the people they are supposedly serving. It’s a vicious cycle.
A few weeks ago, when Caribou Coffee opened on Detroit Road, I went in to get a latte. [I know, I know, now I’ve identified myself as a latte-swilling yuppie. All I need is a Volvo and a Black Lab to complete the picture. What can I say! I like latte’s!] Anyway, when I ordered the latte, they were so cheerful and friendly that I was just stunned. It was exhilarating! It made me almost giddy with happiness! They were being nice to me! I was so excited that I upgraded to an extra-large (that’s a "venti" for those who haven’t been initiated into coffee lingo). I suppose I was surprised because I had been getting my coffee at a certain bookstore in the Promenade; which, because this is being taped, shall remain nameless. Now, I don’t want to unfairly malign the employees of this establishment who are friendly and helpful. Just because I’ve never encountered one doesn’t mean they don’t exist. But when I get coffee there, I’m more accustomed to being snarled at than smiled at. In short, virtually everyone agrees customer service is declining in this country. Why? Because we don’t respect the role of the servant, the person whose job it is to meet someone else’s needs. We look down on servants, and they respond by treating us with rudeness or indifference.
And it’s not just our society. It’s common to all people, everywhere and at all times. It’s human nature. We don’t want to be the ones serving; we want to be the ones being served. We want to be the ones giving the orders! We want to be the ones whose needs are being cared for! We want to be the ones whose whims are being catered to! According to the world’s value system, no one in their right mind would ever choose to be a servant if they could do something else. No one would voluntarily take upon themselves the role of a servant.
Except one man. Jesus Christ. A man who served, not out of necessity, but out of love. The Son of God, who could have demanded that the whole world serve him; but who chose instead to become the servant of all. A man who was willing to perform even the most menial, unpleasant tasks, washing the dirty, smelly, feet of his own students. And a man who was willing to serve even at the cost of his own life. Listen to what Paul tells us:
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!" – Philippians 2:5-8
And listen to what Jesus says about what is required of those who would follow him:
"Jesus called them together and said, ’You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’" – Matthew 20:25-28
"’But you are not to be called `Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth "father," for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called `teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.’" – Matthew 23:8-12
Last week when we looked at the topic of discipleship, we saw that to be a disciple means to be a follower, a student, an imitator of Christ. A disciple of Christ is one who is seeking to live as Christ lived. And so it is with servanthood. Jesus Christ is the servant of God "par excellence". He is our model, our example of how to live a life that is pleasing to God. And what that means for us is that our lives, like his, are to be characterized by radical service. Service that is willing to humble itself. Service that is self-denying. Service that is inconvenient. Service that is costly. Service that springs from love, rather than mere duty or obligation. Service that allows the glory of Jesus Christ to be revealed in us, as we are guided and empowered by his Spirit.
So my goal during the remainder of our time is to help you become more like Christ; to help you become a more faithful and God-pleasing servant. First of all, who are we to serve? As Paul writes in Galatians chapter 6,
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." – Galatians 6:9-10
So our first obligation is to one another, to other believers. As the opportunity presents itself, we will reach out to serve the community at large, but our priority is on serving those within the church. That may seem narrow and selfish, but it’s not. Think about your own family. What would people think if you spent all your time with the other children in the neighborhood, but you own children never saw you? What if you spent all your money providing for the needs of other people’s kids, while your own children got what was left over? People would think you were shirking your responsibility toward your family, and they’d be right. It is entirely appropriate and expected that we will care for our own family’s needs first. In fact, when we focus on serving other believers first, we are following Christ’s example:,
"[A]s soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs." Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone." – Mark 7:25-30
What does this demonstrate? That Jesus had priorities. His first priority was to the ethnic Jews, or as he calls them in Matthew, the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." Even though he was willing in the end to meet this woman’s need, His focus was on the people of God at that time, the Jews. In the same way, our focus in serving is to be on the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ; on those within the church. That’s not exclusionary or selfish; that’s just following the example of Christ. What does that mean? It means that if you’re spending the bulk of the time and resources you have available for serving others on the needs of those outside the body of Christ, then your efforts are misdirected. You need to redirect your priorities. I’m not saying you shouldn’t serve anyone but Christians. Paul explicitly says that we should do good to "all men." But your priority should be on serving those who are of the "household of faith," those in the body of Christ, those in the church.
Given that priority, how do we do it? How do we go about serving one another? What does Christlike service look like? Of course, it would be impossible to give an exhaustive list of ways to serve one another. So I won’t try. Instead, I’m going to give a couple of principles for serving.
First, Christlike service is inconvenient. Or, to put it another way, if we are serving as Christ did, we cannot insist that the needs conform to our schedule. If we want to serve as Christ did, we cannot set up a host of rules and conditions that must be met in order for us to consider serving. Some folks are more than happy to do whatever they can to help – as long as it doesn’t conflict with their plans. ["You need someone to watch your children so you can get some time for yourself? No problem! I’d love to! Let’s see . . . Sunday nights are no good, because I always watch "Touched By an Angel" . . . Mondays are out, because that’s when I have my Macramé class . . . Tuesdays I could do it between 6:30 and 7:45, if you can bring the kids to my house . . . Wednesdays . . . no, that’s when my husband plays in the church basketball league . . . Thursday, well that’s when I usually do my grocery shopping . . . and Friday my husband and I have our date night. And of course, we always have so much going on on Saturdays. So it looks like Tuesday night is the only time I have available. Will that work for you?"] And of course, if it doesn’t work for you, then they are convinced that you are demanding and ungrateful. "Well, I offered to help, but she wasn’t interested."
Or if it’s not a matter of time, it’s a matter of limiting the scope of what they are willing to do. They are more than happy to serve, as long as it doesn’t involve carpentry, painting, cleaning toilets, working with children, lawn work, heavy lifting, getting up early in the morning, working outside in the heat, getting dirty, or taking care of pets (they’re allergic, you know). And as long as they have at least two week’s warning. And as long as they’re not tired when you call. And as long as they don’t already have tickets to the ballgame that day. Etc., Etc., Etc.
Serving as Christ served means being willing to change your plans; willing to be inconvenienced. In fact, it means expecting to be inconvenienced. That’s the normal way that opportunities to serve usually come to us. They don’t fit into your plans. They don’t involve doing the kind of things you prefer to do. Why? Because if they were convenient, and fun, and enjoyable, someone else would have already done it! Think about this. If you aren’t being given asked to serve, maybe it’s because you have a reputation for not being very flexible. Maybe people don’t bother to ask, because they know you’ll only say "yes," if it’s convenient – and most of the time, it’s not. Or maybe you’ll say "yes," but you put up such a fuss about how inconvenient it is that people don’t want to "impose". Or maybe you’re just not seeing opportunities to serve, because you’re mentally filtering out anything inconvenient. In contrast, observe how Jesus reacts:
"On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, ’Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.’ The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. . . . When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick." – Matthew 14:6-14
John the Baptist had just been murdered by Herod. Not only was Jesus grieving over the death, but He also understood that this represented the beginning of his own public ministry. John had been the forerunner, the herald. He had prepared the way for Christ. And now that he was gone, it was time for Jesus’ work to begin. So Jesus needed some time to himself, and he went away to a place where he could be alone. But somehow the crowds learned where he was and they descended on him. [Describe the scene] Was it convenient for him to serve them? No. Of course not. He was full of grief. He was preparing himself, mentally and spiritually, for the most important three years of his life; the most important three years of human history. He needed time to reflect, to think, to rest, to pray. But here were all these needy people. So what did he do? Did he send them away? Did he rebuke them? Did he complain about how busy he was? No. He just served them. He put their needs ahead of his own. Our attitude toward serving needs to reflect the attitude of Christ.
Finally, Christlike service is done willingly, joyfully, happily. It isn’t grudging or resentful. It isn’t accompanied by a litany of all the things you are giving up in order to serve. It doesn’t involve a long recitation of how much it’s costing you to serve, just to make sure they appreciate what you’re doing for them. Christlike service is service that’s given gladly, without reservation; service that comes from a heart of love. It’s service that comes from a place of thankfulness for what Christ has done for us. If we have the mind of Christ, we will consider it, not an imposition, but rather a privilege to serve God’s people. 1 John 4:19 tells us that "we love, because He first loved us." And in the same way, we serve one another, because he first served us. It wasn’t convenient for him to give his life for us. It wasn’t easy. And yet, he did it because he loved us. May we serve one another in the same way. May we love one another in the same way. As Peter writes,
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms."
– 1 Peter 4:8-10
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
