June 16, 2013 Page 1 of 5 Follower: A Christ-Follower is a Servant Biblical Text: Philippians 2:1-11, Matthew 20:20-28, Dr. Michael F. Gardner, Senior Pastor Old Mission United Methodist Church, Fairway, KS. Fathers' Day is a great day! I could be a little biased, since I am a father and grandfather! Father s Day, for me, is about power tools, barbeque, time with Ann, calls from our kids and grandkids, and Dad s Root Beer so we have a can for the dads and granddads after the service today! Father s Day dates back to 1909, in Spokane, Washington, when Sonora Smart Dodd listened to the Mother s Day sermon at Central Methodist Episcopal Church. Her father had raised her and her five siblings alone. So she proposed her idea for a day to honor fathers and on June 19, 1910, the first Father s Day was held and the rest, as they say, is history. 1 I also know that Father s Day is not always a great day for everyone. Some of you lost your fathers in the recent past. Some of you have mixed memories of fathers who struggled, were absent or uninvolved in your life. One of the realities of our time is that too many fathers are so busy making a living that they fail to make a life with their children. The National Center for Fathering, here in KC, says father-absence is a national epidemic. 2 So I especially want to take time today to honor fathers and grandfathers who are here, active in Church, who are trying to be spiritual leaders in their homes, workplace, and daily lives. Give them some love today! Men and women - those who come after us are watching and learning from the choices we make, from what we say and do, from the example we set. Philippians 2:6-7 tell us to imitate Jesus: 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in (human) likeness... 3 1 Joey Butler, in his June 18, 2010 article from the United Methodist News Service, Nashville, Tenn. 2 The National Center for Fathering fathers.com (P.O. Box 413888, Kansas City, MO 64141). 3 Philippians 2:6-7. Revised Standard Version. Copyright 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
June 16, 2013 Page 2 of 5 Consider him. He lived his life for others, welcomed children, redeemed and welcomed the outcast and sinful, served the poor. And he was obedient to God even to the point of giving his life for us. He taught us how to serve. And because of that, according to Philippians 2:9-11: 9 God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 4 Of all the lessons we are teaching our children in Vacation Bible School this week about the parallels between the Jedi of Star Wars fame and being a Christ Follower, I hope that this one is one that stays with them. First and foremost, a follower of Jesus is one who serves. More than a hundred men and women are giving their time four nights this week to teach that truth. They didn t have to do that people are busy - how about celebrating that? I know of no more appropriate expression of why that is important than the poem inscribed on a painting on the wall of my personal study: One hundred years from now it won't matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank, nor what my clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child. 5 Those words are true. They are true for Fathers Day. They are true of our ministry with all the precious children of God, of every age. And they are true to our text this morning. Open your Bibles to Matthew 20. In this passage, Jesus is dealing with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. According to Matthew, it is their mother who places a request on their behalf at the feet of Jesus. They want places of honor at Jesus side. Some commentators and readers get hung up on their mother asking for something from Jesus on their behalf. But Mark 10:35 makes it clear that this was their request, their ambition, not hers. 4 Ibid. Philippians 2:9-11. Revised Standard Version. 5 An excerpt from "Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft.
June 16, 2013 Page 3 of 5 Matthew s choice to phrase the question from their mother reveals their weakness rather than her error. It s as if they are in the background, hiding behind her skirts, instead of taking responsibility for their own lives. In any case, whoever posed the question; Jesus answer is uniform and clear: 26 whoever wishes to be great among you must be servant of all. 6 His words are unambiguous. Our lives are evaluated not according to position, power, influence, or wealth. Our lives are judged according to our ability to serve, to make a difference with our time, energy, and resources. Both Matthew and Mark make it clear that this is not just an issue for disciples named James and John. Matthew 20:24 and Mark 10:41 say: When the rest of them, the other ten, heard it - they became angry and indignant with James and John. 7 But why? Because they were humble and never would have thought about such a thing? Hardly. Then and now there are no perfect disciples. The Gospel narratives make it clear that they were more prone to sleep than to pray. They were slow to understand the cost of discipleship. They jockeyed for position at the Last Supper, saying, Surely I wouldn t betray you! But, one by one they all fell away, betrayed or denied him. Like us. And at the last, Jesus was alone. Surely it was then that Jesus words made sense to them from Matthew 20:28: 28 the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. 8 But here s the thing. Eventually they came through. Jesus picked them up out of their imperfections, and entrusted his ministry to them. They learned to serve, to give their lives for others, to reach out to the poor, the lost, the child, the stranger, the failed and fallen. To the weak, they offered the strength of God. And to the strong, a way to make their lives matter. And they changed the world. 6 Matthew 20:26-7, condensed from the New Revised Standard Version. Copyright 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved. 7 Matthew 20:24 and Mark 10:41, paraphrased from the New Revised Standard Version. 8 Op. Cit. Matthew 20:28, New Revised Standard Version.
June 16, 2013 Page 4 of 5 It s amazing what Jesus can do with ordinary, imperfect human beings, if we learn to serve! But it is not easy. The truth seldom is. In the summer of 1979, I convinced Ann to take a couple of summer school courses at Baker University with me. One was Economics. I loved it. She didn t. The other was Tennis with Coach Jim Irick. She was pregnant with our youngest son at the time. I still don t know how I convinced her to sign up with me! It s the only C on her college transcript, and I don t know that she has yet forgiven me. It s not the only C on mine! I told you that so I told you this. Even though I got a C, and have never played tennis again, I learned a lesson from Coach Irick about tennis, and life, It s all about the serve. According to Jesus, it s all about the serve. I could do more to serve as a father and grandfather. I could do less for me, and more for others. I could give work less, and give Jesus more. I could be more of a follower of Christ, who taught us how to serve. How about you? In 2007, John Mayer won a Grammy for his song, Waiting on the World to Change. In many ways, it captured the hearts of people because it voiced the frustrations and feelings of powerlessness that exist in our time. His lyrics tell us that we keep waiting for the world to change. We keep waiting for the world to get better. We d like to get involved but there are too many problems, too much pain, too many obstacles. He tells us that when we choose to abdicate our power, walk away, and wait for the world to change, we give up too soon. I think he s right. We ve all been guilty of waiting for the world to change. We ve all been guilty of waiting for a more opportune time to get more involved. I m not pointing a finger at the Church or at you saying, you ve messed it up, now fix it! I m pointing a finger at me, and recognizing how often I have failed to act when I could have and should have done more to serve. It reminds me of a story about Will Willimon, who for many years was the Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. Here s what happened.
June 16, 2013 Page 5 of 5 One day he received a phone call from a very irate father. The father exploded on the other end of the line at Dr. Willimon, I hold you personally responsible for this! He was angry because his graduate-school-bound daughter (in his words) decided to throw it all away and go for a year to do mission work in Haiti with the Presbyterian Church. The father screamed, That s absurd! She has a B.S. Duke, she s been admitted to a Master s program, and now she s going to dig ditches in Haiti! I hold you responsible! Willimon said, Why me? The father said, You ingratiated yourself with her in the campus ministry program, and filled her head with all this religion stuff. Dr. Willimon, not easily intimidated, asked the father, Sir, weren t you the one who had her baptized? Well, well, well, yes. And didn t you take her to Sunday School when she was a little girl? Well, well, yes. And didn t you allow her to go on those youth mission trips when she was in high school? Yes. But what does that have to do with anything? Then, I suggest, sir, you are responsible. You introduced her to Jesus. Not me! But, said the father, We just wanted her to become a good Presbyterian. And Dr. Willimon, who has an instinct for the jugular, replied, Well, sorry, sir, you messed up. You ve gone and made a disciple. 9 May the same be said of you and me. Amen. 9 Dr. Leonard Sweet, in Preaching Plus, 2/15/2004.