Improving Your Serve

Transcription

1 Improving Your Serve Matthew 18:1-6 August 21, 016 In one of the my favorite episodes of the old Seinfeld show, George comes to the realization that he's a loser and life hasn't turned out the way he expected and his instincts are all wrong. He muses that if everything he does is wrong, then the opposite must be right. He begins his desperate experiment by ordering chicken on rye instead of his standard "tuna on toast." Then he introduces himself to a very attractive woman at the deli counter with the pathetic admission: "My name is George. I'm unemployed and I live with my parents." Suddenly life begins to go his way. He gets a beautiful girlfriend, a great job with the Yankees and moves out of his parents' house. That hilarious plot line has always resonated with me because, well, it's not really that absurd. In fact, it reminds me of the way Jesus' upside down kingdom operates. The way up is down, you die to live, you give away to gain, and you lose in order to find. In our passage from Matthew 18 this morning we discover that this world's definition of, and recipe for importance and distinction runs totally opposite to "greatness" in the topsy-turvy Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. The disciples were standing right beside true greatness. They were not great - hadn't been born great, hadn't achieved greatness, and hadn't had greatness thrust upon them yet. But they wanted to be great. Who doesn't want to be great? Didn't we all at one time have dreams and aspirations of distinction? A few days earlier, Jesus had clearly told his disciples that he would be betrayed and killed (Matt. 17:23). Naturally, they took the news hard, but their collective grief and memory was surprisingly short. Since they were sure that Jesus was the promised Messiah, they began to jockey for position in that kingdom. In Acts 1, after his resurrection, they asked: "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" (v.6). That question revealed some basic assumptions. Using the verb restore means they were looking for a political, regional empire. The noun Israel lets us know they were looking for a national kingdom. And the adverbial clause at this time shows they expected it to be established right away (John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts, p. 41). So they were looking for a 1) political kingdom for 2) Israel 3) immediately.

2 They were wrong on all three assumptions. It wasn't going to be a geo/political kingdom but a spiritual kingdom made up of people who were saved from sin through faith in Jesus. The kingdom wasn't just for Israel, but for people from every corner of the globe who would believe. And it would develop over time as the gospel was preached and the Holy Spirit moved people to believe. Entrance to the Kingdom The disciples assumed they'd be in the kingdom. Their concern was with greatness - not inclusion. But Jesus didn't let them get away with it. His answer showed they needed an attitude adjustment. They shouldn't worry about rank and recognition; instead, they should concern themselves with getting in the kingdom! They were asking about the All-Star team. Jesus said, "Let's talk about making the team." (Dan Doriani, Matthew, p. 139) "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven " (v. 3) Jesus uses a child as a model, not of innocence or purity or faith, but of humility. He knew that people are not like that by nature. They must change to be humble like a child. The Bible says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6) But he also assures us Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. (James 4:10). Humans are not humble by nature. We re proud, self absorbed, self-indulgent, and self-seeking. We must be radically changed. We re responsible to turn or repent, but He accomplishes it. When he began to preach, the first words out of Jesus mouth in Mark s gospel were The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15) This is the wonder, the mystery, and the liberating power of the gospel! It insists that we can do nothing to merit his favor, or deserve his salvation. There s nothing we can do to make God love us more. He is fully aware of our spiritual madness, our obstinacy, our blindness, our weakness, our sin - yet He loves us more than a parent loves their child. His relentless love doesn t hang on our obedience or our foolishness. Instead, it rests in His perfect character and His own good pleasure. Have we been converted? Where's the evidence? Bishop John Charles Ryle said it well: The surest mark of any true conversion is humility. Do you want to enter the kingdom? Humble yourself as a child. Do you want to be great in the kingdom? Humble yourself as a child. Greatness in the Kingdom Then Jesus goes on to emphasize another crucial dimension of the kingdom. "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (vs. 5-6)

3 Jesus goes on to say that whoever receives or welcomes a little one welcomes Him, but whoever causes a little one to sin, that person will face God's wrath. Parents are on the front lines here. You must read the Scriptures and pray with and for your children. Teach them the gospel early. Teach them to worship, to give, and to serve others. Cultivate in your children, by instruction and example, as best you can, a tender heart towards God and others. More is caught by your children than taught. But parents aren t alone. When they present their children for baptism, they make vows before God and the church to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. As members of the church we also vow to assist the parents by encouraging, instructing, modeling for them the gospel and receiving these children as if we re receiving Jesus himself for we are! Imagine if you had the opportunity to sit down with Jesus of Nazareth when he was a toddler and show him the ways of God - to teach him the amazing stories of God love and power! When we sit down with our little ones, we should see Jesus. If you want to be great in God s kingdom, humble yourself like a child and then welcome the little ones. Horizon Church values the children God has allowed to come our way. And there's plenty of opportunity for parents, grandparents, and others to begin cultivating a servant s heart, to start tasting of greatness in God s kingdom, by committing to serve the children of Horizon. You can do that in one of several ways as a teacher, or a helper, or to serve at the check-in desk. You can commit for a school year, a semester, or simply agree to serve on a rotational basis. Some years ago a school teacher asked her class of first graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She did not think these little children from poor neighborhoods actually had much to be thankful for. But she thought that most of them would draw pictures of turkeys on tables of food. The teacher was taken back with the picture one little boy named Douglas handed in a simple childishly drawn hand. But whose hand? The class was captivated by the abstract image. One child said, I think it must be the hand of God who brings us food. Another said, A farmer because he grows the turkeys. Finally when the others were back at work the teacher bent over the Douglas s desk and asked whose hand it was. The boy answered, It s your hand, teacher. She recalled that frequently at recess she had taken Douglas, a scrubby, deserted child, by the hand. She often did that with the children. But it meant so much to Douglas. Out of all the things he could have been thankful for, he was most thankful for his teacher s hand. Perhaps from this story we can learn a valuable lesson. We learn that one of the most important things that we can give someone is a hand that reaches out to them with the love of Christ. We learn the value and power of serving others. We learn our real mission in life. I can t think of a better way for parents of young children to serve and grow together than to team teach a class of children. When our children were young, and I was on the staff of a church in Chicago, Debra and I taught Sunday School to a group of 4-year-olds. It was

4 rewarding as a couple to work together for Christ and it spiritually strengthened our bond as husband/wife and as parents. We were the ones blessed by service. SERVING ONE ANOTHER But the serving doesn't begin and end with children. We must serve one another! The Bible says: " For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Gal. 5:13) We Americans think of freedom primarily as political or economic freedom. But the Bible's connotation of freedom is primarily relational. You are truly free only as you're in relationship with the living God. Apart from him, there's only bondage moral and spiritual bondage, or slavery to sin regardless of whether you live in the United States, Iran, or Russia. On the other hand, the more vibrant and intimate your relationship with the living God, the more freedom you will enjoy. No one was more free than our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, no one was a greater servant of mankind than Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2:6-7). It's with this mind the mind of Christ that each one of us is to love and serve. Freedom results in service. Our freedom in Christ is vibrantly expressed when we're serving others, and we learn what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Our serving one another demonstrates to those outside the church that we don't belong to the world and are not enslaved by its selfish passions. So the church becomes a theater of redemption, service, and love as it lives out the gospel before a world still enslaved by sin, selfishness, and unbelief. That's why Martin Luther said: Each of us should become a Christ to the other. And as we are Christs to one another, the result is that Christ fills us all and we become a truly Christian community. (The Freedom of a Christian, Fortress, 2008, p. 84.) In the late 1800 s, a large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody s Bible conferences in Massachusetts. As was their custom, the European guests put their shoes outside the dorm rooms at night to be cleaned by the hall servants. Of course, this was America. No hall servants, no clean shoes. Determined not to embarrass his brothers, Moody first tried to enlist help from some ministerial students, but he was met with silence or pious excuses. Eventually, Moody gathered the shoes and cleaned and polished them in his room by himself. Moody was a man with a servant s heart. Of all the "one anothers" in the New Testament, perhaps "serve one another " best characterizes the essence of Christian ministry. In our self-centered world, this message is often obscured by the warning to look out for number one. But the Bible says we have been set free so that we can serve and love others. If we are not careful, we may sit happily and smugly in our born-again condition and never grasp our Lord s intention that we have been set free so that can serve one another in love.

5 There is an opportunity here. There is a need here. Right now, too few people are volunteering for weekend ministry. Many hands make the work lighter, but fewer hands cause people to grow weary and burn out. Too small a percentage of people at Horizon are carrying the load. The 80/20 rule should not apply in Christ's Church - where 20% of the people do 80% of the serving. That percentage needs to increase dramatically if we are who we say we are. In your bulletin there's a list of ways you can minister to this congregation. The insert in the bulletin describes the various ways you can serve. I want you to fill out the service card in the bulletin put a check by the activities indicating that you want to serve our children or this congregation in some fashion. Simply tear off the perforated section and place it in the plate as the offering is passed in just a few minutes. Indicate how and where you d like to serve and we will contact you. In the NCAA basketball Final Four in Dallas several years ago, a coach was asked, "Why has your team done so well? What is it about this team that has made it come as far as it has, because everybody wants to know about success?" He said, "We have a motto on our team, and the motto is this: 'Good people do for themselves; great people do for others.' " -Phil Lineberger, sermon: Great people Do For Others, Have you entered the kingdom of our Lord Christ? It is by renouncing self-righteousness and trusting the work of Jesus Christ in your behalf. Do you want to be great in His kingdom? It is opposite to the way of the world. It is by serving the least. If we had a church full of people who wanted to sincerely be great by serving, why, we d have a great church and God would be glorified. Let s do it!