Serving Others

Ray Exum
Crystal Lake Church of Christ
August 23, 1998

For these three Sunday mornings in mid-August, we are looking at what are three of the hardest commandments that our Lord ever gave us. It is not that they are hard to understand, it is that they are hard to carry out. Two weeks ago, we looked at what I personally think is the hardest passage in the New Testament to obey, and that was Matthew 6:34, where our Lord told us not to worry about tomorrow, but to deal with the problems that we face today. Last Sunday we looked at Luke 9: 23-24, where our Lord told us that we have to deny self, take up our own cross daily, and follow Him.

This morning, could we consider one final passage in this series. Again, remember that these are passages that are not hard to understand, but they are very hard to carry out. Would you please turn with me to Matthew 20:20. This passage concerns what the world might call the spirit of competition, but really it is competition that is taken to an extreme, where all people want to do is win over somebody else. That is the basis for many athletic events. It is the basis for many business deals today. For some people, this is their reason for living, just to win out over somebody else. It seems like just about once a week now, the newspapers carry articles about what is one of the most foolish contests that I have seen, and that is grown men racing their riding lawnmowers against each other. It is just amazing that grown men would get on their riding lawnmowers and go around a little track so that they could beat out somebody else riding his lawnmower. And you wonder, what is the purpose here? What is the purpose in spending time doing something like that if it is not just to beat out somebody else?

The Apostles had that same kind of competitive spirit in the days when they were studying with our Savior. We find that on one occasion, two of the Apostles, James and John, went to Jesus and ask if they could sit on His right and left hand when He came into His Kingdom. In Mark's account, their mother ask Jesus this same question. Some people say, "Well, that is a contradiction in the Bible." I don't think so. I think the mother and her two sons, all three, asked Jesus the same basic question. And that is, they wanted to get an edge over the other Apostles. And so they were trying to get Jesus to give that edge to James and John and allow them to sit at His right and His left when He came into His Kingdom.

In addition to those two accounts, of the mother and also James and John asking for those two positions, there are several other occasions described in the Scriptures where the Apostles kept asking who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom. So there was obviously a problem among the Apostles with having this competitive spirit, where each one was trying to get an advantage over the other Apostles. And what we find on these occasions, in the four Gospel accounts of Jesus, is that He consistently told them that there was something better in life than just winning out over other people. And that was the practice of serving other people. Let us look at Matthew's account in Chapter 20. I want to read verses 20-28, and please notice verses 26, 27 and 28. I would like to start back in verse 20 of Matthew chapter 20:

"Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. Then He said to her, 'What do you wish?' She said to Him, 'Command that in Your Kingdom that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left.' But Jesus answered, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?' They said to Him, 'We are able.' He said to them, 'My cup you shall drink, but to sit on my right and on my left, this is not mine to give. But it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.' And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to himself and said, 'But you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercised authority over them. But it is not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall 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.'"

What a statement we have there in verses 26, 27 and 28. This morning, could we first consider how the world defines success. And then let us consider how the Lord defines success here in verses 26, 27, and 28. Then let us think about our own lives today.

But first, how does the world define success today? Isn't it basically the way these Apostles defined success? And that is, winning out over others; or having power over others; having the ability to dominate others around us? The lust for power is hard to explain, and yet it is something that is widespread in humans: the power to order others around, the power to make decisions that will impact other people.

I know, as you probably know, there are parents who raise their children to be totally dependent on the parents rather than to think logically and to deal with life. It is a very unhealthy situation to cause our children to be totally and completely dependent on their parents, even into the early adult years. Somebody might say, "They are trying to serve their children." No, they are trying to exercise power over their children and to dominate the minds of those children. In some cases that I am aware of, it is a lust for power. And so here we have the subject of power -- political power, military power, power in a company, power in a school, power on a committee. Sometimes there is even lust for power in the congregation.

We have a book in the Bible on this subject, the book of III John. As the Apostle John wrote to a man at that congregation, John described another man at that congregation who had seized control of that congregation. Listen, please, to the book of III John, verses 9-10. The Apostle John said,

"I wrote something to the Church. But Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words. And not satisfied with this, he, himself, does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and he puts them out of the Church."

Here was one man who had taken power of a congregation. And he was accusing the Apostle John of various things. He was kicking people out and keeping them from coming to Church. John said when I get there I am going to deal with this man. Diotrephes was one of those who lusted after power. He wanted to call the shots.

Doesn't the world see it that way today? For most people outside the body of Christ, the world is sort of in the form of a pyramid. And down at the bottom are all of these people that are in subjection to those who are on the next level up. And the ones on the bottom level serve those on the next level up. And those on the second level serve those on the next level up in the pyramid. Until you get to top of the pyramid, and here is the guy sitting at the top and it is his feeling that all of those below him ought to be serving him. They are in subjection to him. And people lust for that top position. This was the exact problem of the Apostles; this is what they were caught up in. "Just let us sit beside you, Lord, right at the top of the pyramid."

But let us notice how the Lord defined success. Let's go back to verse 26. This is what our Savior said, "It is not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life, a ransom for many." The Lord defined success, not in terms of power, but in terms of service to other people. He himself was this way. Remember, please, back in John 13, at the last supper, how the Lord brought out a bowl of water and a towel, and He began washing the feet of the Apostles. Remember that Peter was not going to let Him do this. He said, "Lord, you are not going to wash my feet." And Jesus said, "If I don't wash your feet, then you are not one of my disciples." Can you imagine the Son of God washing the dirty feet of these Apostles?

Suppose that we, by some weird circumstance, are able to invite the Governor of Illinois to come and eat with us at our house. Governor Edgar sits down at our table. We have a nice meal together. After it is over, we begin to clean up the dishes. And we see that Governor Edgar is picking up the dirty dishes. And just imagine this if you can, he takes those dirty dishes over to the sink and he begins washing the dishes! What would be our impression of that governor? We would be stunned, I think. We would be amazed that something like this would actually be taking place. That he would be a servant of the people is not generally our concept of a statesman. And yet, this is what the Lord did in His life. He became a servant of the people. As he said here in verse 28, His sacrifice, His personal sacrifice of His life on the cross, was an act of service.

All of the heroes we have in the Bible were servants. There is John the Baptist. He lived a short life, yet he devoted his life to serving Christ and preparing the way for the Messiah. There is the Apostle Paul. You read through the book of Acts, in town after town, he was beaten up. He was put in prison at Lystra. He was injured so badly that he appeared dead, so they dragged his body outside the city and left him there for dead. In II Corinthians 11 we have a long list of all the suffering Paul went through. At the end of the list, Paul said, in addition to this there is the daily concern for all the Churches he was serving. He was serving the Churches in the first Century on his four missionary journeys.

Let's go back to James and John. These are the ones who really started this discussion. Whatever happened to James and John? Archeologists have uncovered a coin that was used in the Roman Empire of the first Century. This coin has the impression of an ox on it. And also, it has two other things. It has the impression of an altar, and also of a plow. The inscription on the coin reads, "Ready for either." In other words, the ox was willing to suffer as a sacrifice on some kind of altar, or the ox was willing to live the rest of its life pulling a plow for a farmer through the fields. Ready for either, the altar or the plow.

What about James and John? James went to the altar. Remember in Acts 12:2, that Herod had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. James, therefore, became the first Apostle to be a martyr for the sake of the body of Christ. He went to the altar. On the other hand, what happened to the Apostle John? The Apostle John lived almost up to the end of the first Century. He was the one who did so much good in Asia Minor with the seven congregations there. Of course, he served time in prison. He was in prison when he wrote the book of Revelation. There is some circumstantial evidence outside the Bible that he might have been released before his death and was able to go back to help the seven Churches of Asia. And yet for John, it was the plow. It was working those many years. He was maybe close to a hundred years old when he died. It was the altar for James. It was the plow for John. But regardless, they were both servants of the Kingdom of God.

As we think about our lives today, let us think about those heroes of the Bible. Who in the Bible was a hero who was not a servant? There was Dorcas who was serving the widows in her town. There was the Apostle Peter, who gave his life for the sake of the Gospel. There was Luke who served as a doctor on Paul's missionary journeys. There was Lydia, who took the missionaries into her home. What about Priscilla and Aquila? Over and over, we read that they served the Church by allowing the Church to meet in their homes. There is the chosen lady in the little book of II John that the Apostle John complimented. The Bible teaches us, therefore, to be servants of others.

I would ask the question, "What about us today?" Would you please go with me one more time back to this passage, verses 26, 27 and 28. "It is not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life, a ransom for many." That is so hard to carry out, because it is so unnatural. The natural thing for us is to fight and claw our way to the top.

When I was growing up on the South side of Nashville, there was a little hill in our neighborhood. We played a game that I guess all kids play. I suppose they still play it. It was called King of the Hill. We boys would get out there and there were no rules in this game. I mean it didn't matter: you could scratch, claw, push, punch, fight, trip, whatever you wanted to do. There were no rules. The winner was whoever was left standing at the top of the hill.

Most people order their lives like that today because it is so natural. It is so natural to push others out of the way to get to the top. It is natural to get power over others so that they will do the dirty work that we don't want to do. It is natural to want to be served, rather than to want to serve. Oh, we can proclaim our love for Christ. We might even proclaim our love for mankind, but have you heard the old saying, "love is as love does?" Instead of proclaiming our love, our Lord is saying here that we are to actually be servants of mankind.

In fact, a few chapters later, in Matthew 25, we have an interesting description of the Day of Judgment. Please turn over there with me. Matthew 25:31, a very famous passage, a very familiar passage. This is only one view of the Day of Judgment, but certainly this is part of the way in which we will be judged on that occasion. Please notice this familiar passage, Matthew 25, beginning at verse 31.

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.'

Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink, and when did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.'

Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

Then they, themselves, will also answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?' Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

This congregation is involved in so many programs involving service. There is the Bible correspondence courses that just seems to be growing week after week. There are the preparations for get-togethers that we have here. There are the fellowships that our young people are involved in. There are the mission works that we support. There is something as simple as the weekly cleaning of the building. There is something such as the folding of bulletins once a month. There are so many here who can be involved and are involved. There are dozens of areas where help is needed.

Certainly, service is needed outside the body of Christ. When a person's house burns down in our neighborhood, we as Christians ought to be there first with help. When somebody in the workplace is suffering, it should be us that they turn to. When someone is suffering from some disease, it ought to be that they would come to us for help. What the Lord is saying in Matthew 26-28 is that it is not how much power we have in this life, it is how much we are serving others.

We get a bulletin each week from the Wyngate Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a fine congregation where my parents have worshipped for many years. Recently they had a prayer in their bulletin. I would like to read the words of this prayer, because it is beautiful. I think if really expresses the attitude we should have from studying this passage. Here is the prayer which they published.

A Servant's Prayer

Make me a servant, Lord.

Give me a servant's eyes,
Able to see the slightest needs of those around me.

Let me have a servant's ears,
Tuned to detect the softest cry of help from the lowliest person.

Give me a servant's voice,
One which speaks words of comfort and cheer to those in despair.

Give me a servant's hands,
Let them be tough enough for hard work and tender enough to touch a crying child.

Make my back a servant's back, Lord,
Strong enough to bear both my own and the burdens of others.

Let me have a servant's knees,
Let them be flexible enough to bend to the lowliest task and to pray.

Give me a servant's feet,
Let them be quick to take me where I can do the greatest good for the weary pilgrim,
My lowly brother and my broken hearted sister.

And Lord, most of all, give me a servant's heart,
Because with that, Lord, the rest will come in due time.

That should be our prayer. I happened to come across a poem that was written by Laona Rochelle, about the way mothers serve their children. Maybe this would also help express the meaning of this passage. The poem is simply entitled, "Fulfillment."

Fulfillment

I longed to write a poem of the rail fence heaped with snow;
Instead, I baked a cherry pie, because David liked them so.

I longed to paint a picture of the pear tree, white with bloom;
Instead, I made a braided rug to brighten Martha's room.

I longed to sing a lilting song before youth and dreams had flown,
Instead, I bathed Joan's bleeding knee and smoothed a bandage on.

I'll never do those dream doll things, I've waited far too long,
Now David writes, Martha paints, and Joan sings a happy song.

Jesus, therefore, is urging us to have the attitude of service that Mothers have toward their children. We have examples here in this congregation of great service. When I look at my two fellow elders, I see service. I see, for example, my Brother Bob, making the wooden letters that we have been using to repair the vandalism that has occurred to our sign down at the street, and I say, "There is a servant of the Church." When I see my good Brother Jim setting up chairs and tables for an event such as we had at the wedding last night, I say, "There is a servant of the Church." May God bless us with more servants such as those.

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