Title: Everyone Can Serve
Text: Matthew 20:29-34
Truth: Christians are to serve the church.
Aim: I want them to commit to some area of service this year.
Life ?: What do we need to do to have a servant’s heart?
INTRODUCTION
Show video clip of Hoosiers when the coach is talking to Jimmy about using his gift to play basketball.
Jimmy had a gift but he refused to use it and the team suffered. Later in the movie when Jimmy joins the team, the team goes from average to a championship contender and Jimmy is much happier.
This morning I want to have that same conversation with you. I’m inviting you to join the team this next year as we seek to take Jesus Christ to our neighbors and strengthen Christians in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Who knows what victories we might win this year, and I do know you will be much happier in your Christian life.
Matthew 20 is in the section in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem where he will be crucified. Before Jesus arrives he has a conversation with his disciples about servanthood. Two disciples ask Jesus to give them the prominent places on his left and right when He comes to power. The other disciples are angry and jealous with James and John’s blatant grab for power and prominence.
Jesus uses the occasions to teach his disciples they have the wrong understanding of leadership in his kingdom. The world measures leadership by how many people serve us. Jesus says he measures leadership by how many people we enable and empower to serve God. It’s interesting that our word “minister,” which simply means helper, has become a badge of honor and power in the religious and political world.
The story that follows, our text for the sermon, is in contrast to two disciples that demand privileges. Here are two beggars that plead only for mercy. Jesus turns down the two disciples but he grants the request of the two beggars.
The crowd tries to hush the beggars. Perhaps they feel that it is inappropriate to interrupt the Son of David as he is on the eve of his triumphant entry. But Jesus illustrates what he was teaching his disciples. He came to serve the needy not be served by the needy.
What do we need to do to have a servant’s heart?
I. SLOW YOUR PACE.
It appears to be a simple fact, “Jesus stopped.” But if you are going to serve in this church, I need to be honest with you; it will require a significant decision for you this year. You will need to slow your pace.
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and in a week he will be crucified. He has ministered in Jericho, and now He has a full and final week in front of Him. He was a busy man with many demands made on Him, but he stopped.
Some years ago two Princeton University psychologists, John Darley and Daniel Batson, decided to conduct a study inspired by the biblical story of the Good Samaritan. They met with a group of seminarians, individually, and asked each one to prepare a short, extemporaneous talk on a given biblical theme, and then walk over to a nearby building to present it. Along the way to the presentation, each student ran into a man slumped in an alley, head down, eyes closed, coughing and groaning. The question was, who would stop and help? Darley and Batson introduced three variables into the experiment, to make its results more meaningful. First, they asked each seminarian on a questionnaire why they chose to study theology. Did they do it to find a means of personal and spiritual fulfillment? Or were they looking for a practical tool for finding meaning in everyday life? Then they varied the subject of the theme the students were asked to talk about. Some were asked to speak on the relevance of the professional clergy to the religious vocation. Others were given the parable of the Good Samaritan. Finally, the instructions given by the experimenters to each student varied as well. In some of the cases, as he sent the students on their way, the experimenter would look at his watch and say, “Oh, you’re late. They were expecting you a few minutes ago. We’d better get moving.” In other cases, he would say, “It will be a few minutes before they’re ready for you, but you might as well head over now.”
If you asked people to predict which seminarians played the Good Samaritan, their answers were highly consistent. They almost all say that the students who entered the ministry to help people and those reminded of the importance of compassion by having just read the parable of the Good Samaritan will be the most likely to stop. The truth is it did not significantly increase helping behavior. The only thing that really mattered was whether the student was in a rush. Of the group that was in a rush, 10 percent stopped to help. Of the group that had time to spare, 63 percent stopped.
The great enemy of your spiritual life and your service to the church is hurry. Carl Jung, the famed psychologist said, “Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.” Hurry so distracts us that we will settle for a mediocre life when all the time God wants to give us an abundant life.
We will buy anything if it helps us save time. The best-selling shampoo in America rose to the top because it combined shampoo and conditioner in one step, eliminating all that time wasted in rinsing! Domino’s became the number one pizza in America because they promised to deliver your pizza in thirty minutes or less or you get it free. The CEO of Domino’s said, “We don’t sell pizza. We sell delivery.” We’ve gotten in such a hurry that fast food restaurants invented the Drive-Thru Lane. We use to park, get out of our car and go inside to get the fast food.
Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. Jesus was a busy man. He had a lot to do but he was not hurried. We don’t read about Jesus running to keep an appointment. Jesus always took the time to stay connected to His Father. That’s why He always had time to love people in the midst of a busy schedule.
It is ironic that when people get hurried and feel they need to eliminate something from their life, the place they often start is their place of service to God, and that is the last place they need to go to slow their pace of life. It may be the only motivation they have to keep them connected to God. It is the place where they get to serve God and his people and experience the power and presence and love of God. That just shows how darkened our minds have become by this world’s thinking. We are thinking how others can serve us instead of how can we serve others.
A minister moved to a new church field and the pace of life was much faster. He called a wise and trusted friend and told about the scatteredness of his family and the condition of his heart. What did he need to do to be spiritually healthy?
There was a long pause.
“You must,” said his friend, “eliminate hurry from your life.”
Another long pause.
“Okay, I’ve gotten that written down. Now what else is there?” He had many things to do that day and this was a long distant call.
Another long pause.
“There is nothing else,” he said. (J. Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted)
Christian friend, for most of you the great danger is not that you will renounce your faith. It is that you will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that you will skim through this life and never really live it.
Our church, the Kingdom’s work, your family and your sense of personal satisfaction needs you slow your pace. There are people you could minister to that are being passed over. This won’t be easy. You won’t accomplish it in a week’s effort. You must break your addiction to some time wasters and develop the disciplines that connect you to the Master of life. Be patient. Be persevering. Find a way to slow your pace. That’s something that will help us develop a servant’s heart.
II. OPEN YOUR EYES TO GOD’S PERSPECTIVE.
Blindness was common in ancient days as it is in many Third World countries. Many of the blind did not have family that could or would take care of them. They’d station themselves on the outskirts of a city where travels would be coming and going. They assumed travelers would have money.
When these two men learned who was passing by they knew of Jesus’ reputation for healing and that this might be their very last opportunity. They begin to scream at the top of their lungs to gain Jesus’ attention. There profession of Jesus as the Son of David is an acknowledgement that they believe He is the promised Messiah. The blind men throw themselves on the mercy of Jesus.
The crowd tries to hush them. They are like the James and John that came to Jesus in the previous story. The crowd is only thinking of themselves. Here are two very needed men who are within shouting distance of the Great Physician. Thankfully, Jesus didn’t have the crowd’s perspective on the blind men.
The British novelist and playwright David Lodge was watching one of his own plays on stage, the evening of November 22, 1963. The audience laughed as an actor in the play showed up for a job interview with a transistor radio clutched to his ear, demonstrating the character’s blasé indifference. The actor set the radio down and tuned to a station, letting its news, music, or commercials play in the background while the play went on. This night, however, a voice came on the radio with a live news bulletin: “Today, the American President John F. Kennedy was assassinated…”
The audience gasped and the actor immediately switched off the radio, but too late. In one sentence, the reality of the outside world had shattered the artificial world of the theater production. Suddenly, whatever action took place onstage seemed superficial and irrelevant. (Yancey, Rumors of Another World)
Most of us see life as an arc beginning with birth, which we can’t remember, and death, which we can’t imagine. Jesus taught us a different perspective about our life. He said this life is a transition to another life, a better life, and one that has no end. Because of that perspective on life we live differently. He said we are fools if our perspective on life is like the farmer he told about who became rich in the things of this world and lived only to accumulate material goods. But if we use this life to become rich with God we are wise. When we get that perspective, serving God and his church will become a priority in our life.
Abraham packed his bags and moved. Many people do that every year. Abraham did it because he saw the move from God’s perspective. David administered a kingdom, Jesus pounded nails, and Paul took up a collection for needy people. Those are ordinary activities, but God moved the kingdom forward on such common actions.
Open your eyes to see this life from God’s perspective, and you cannot help but get involved in some way in serving in your church.
What do we need to do to have a servant’s heart?
III. TOUCH YOUR HEART WITH COMPASSION.
Jesus is so filled with compassion He suspends the natural laws He made to heal these two blind beggars. The word “compassion” is an attitude toward a need that compels us to take action to meet that need. A compassionate heart finds it impossible to remain neutral when it sees a need. It is a reminder that the first message we have to deliver to this lost world is “God cares.” They learn that message through our acts of kindness and helpfulness.
I can’t tell you the joy and affirmation that will come into your life when you serve people out of a heart of love for Christ and love for people.
Lee Strobel, the popular Christian author, tells about an experience in the fifth grade. Each day before the morning and afternoon recesses, the boys would choose sides for kickball.
In that classroom’s unwritten social structure, there were two boys who were consistently ostracized. Ted was a computer geek back in the days of the slide rule. He wore thick glasses, talked with a high-pitched voice, and wasn’t very athletic. The other boy, Johnny, who was overweight and dull-witted, had failed the fifth grade twice, so he was older than the rest of us. Nobody hung out with either of them. In fact, they weren’t even friends with each other!
One day the teacher sent Ted and Johnny out of the class to run an errand. When they were gone, she turned to the class and said, “Twice a day you choose sides for kickball, and every time Ted and Johnny are selected last. I know you’re not intending to hurt them, but why not try something different for a change? Why not do for them what you’d want them to do for you?”
The next day, Lee was the captain for one of the kickball teams, which meant he had first pick. There are a lot of things he doesn’t remember about the fifth grade. He doesn’t remember the books he read or what the classroom looked like or most of the other students.
But to this day he says if he closes his eyes, he can see the look of absolute joyful surprise on Ted’s face when Lee chose him first for his kickball team. And he said he would never forget the expression on Johnny’s face when the other captain selected him as his first choice.
Was that a big thing? No. Did it change the world? Of course not. But it did do something to Lee. That was in 1963, and it’s still teaching him and shaping him over 40 years later. I wonder if you tracked down Ted and Johnny if they’d remember that day? I’m sure they would. (Strobel, God’s Outrageous Claims)
People’s whose hearts have been touched by the compassion of Jesus serve the people they encounter. They are kind and patient with waiters and cashiers, they notice children and common people, they are grateful they have a mate and children they can serve and show the love of God. This kind of compassion rescues us from a life that always thinks about ourselves to a life of joy that thinks of others.
David Steindl-Rast calls this the “spiral of joy.” You can picture this in your mind:
A mother bends down to her child in the crib and gives the baby a rattle. The baby recognizes the gift and returns the mother’s smile. The mother, overjoyed with the childish gesture of gratitude, lifts the child up and gives him a kiss. That’s the spiral of joy. Is not the kiss a greater gift than the toy? Is not the joy it expresses greater than the joy that began the exchange?
What a great thought. By a single decision to reach beyond our selfishness and tangibly express the love of God to another human being, we initiate a spiral of blessing that blesses others and pleases our God.
I thought about our AWANA workers. They spend an hour and half with children on Wednesday night. They don’t attend adult choir practice. They don’t come to my midweek Bible study. These adults sit and listen and assist children in learning Bible verses. If the statistics are true about the amount of time parents and children interact with one another in conversation, these adults are giving more direct attention to some of those children than their parents. I wonder if that is what God will use to open the blind eyes of those children to see their need for Jesus Christ?
CONCLUSION
Our church could be changed, not in little ways but in big ways, if more of our members in 2006 said they were going to find a way to serve God and his people. It might mean new ministries. I don’t have any doubts it will raise the level of joy and celebration in our church. What do we need to do to have a servant’s heart?
We need to slow our pace. We must find a way to eliminate hurry, which contributes to superficial living.
We need to open our eyes to God’s perspective. Life is not an arc. This is not all that there is to life. The big show is coming, but what we do now will influence that life.
We need to let God touch our heart with His compassion. The love of God serves. When we serve out of the love of God, we will experience this spiral of joy and celebration.
PRAYER
INVITATION
I came across this interesting question, “If you could witness to any one person, who would it be?” Honestly, my first thought was Elvis Presley. Can you imagine the impact if we had a recording of Elvis Presley giving a clear, compelling testimony of his need for Jesus Christ and urging others to do the same. Wow!
But on second thought, I would choose Bill Lawrence. Bill Lawrence was my grandfather. He died when I was in high school. I loved him despite his alcoholism. Later, when I became a Christian, I asked my grandmother and she was not certain of his spiritual condition.
My next thought was you. I’ve lost the opportunity for Elvis or my grandfather, but God has put you right in front of me. God loves you. He loves you sacrificially. Your sin has separated you from God and you deserve hell. Jesus substituted his perfect life on the cross for the forgiveness of your sin. He paid the price of death. But he rose from the dead. He is God and His resurrection proves forgiveness is provided through Him. Turn from your sin, yield authority over your life to Jesus Christ and he will restore you to the one true living God.
Pray this prayer---
Christian, God did not offer His Son as a sacrifice for us to be saved and indwell us with His Spirit to be spectators in the work of God in this world. God expects you to serve. I can be guide and an encourager, but I cannot be your substitute. There is a work He wants you to do. You must do it. You will not be wasting time if you spend all this year finding out where you are to be employed in His labor force. It begins with a willingness to have a servant’s heart. Will you make that commitment today?
