These illustrations cover Mark 10:35-45
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Sermon Opener - The Three Poison Pills of Position, Prestige, and Power
During the American Revolution a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting instructions, but making no attempt to help them. Asked why by the rider, he retorted with great dignity, "Sir, I am a corporal!" The stranger apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers. The job done, he turned to the corporal and said, "Corporal, next time you have a job like this and not enough men to do it, go to your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you again." With that George Washington got back on horse and rode off.
Where did Washington learn such leadership skills? I have no doubt he learned them here. In these words of Jesus: Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. The young corporal had these words modeled to him from the man at the top. The disciples, likewise, receive from their leader a picture of servant hood.
And it is high time they start imitating their leader. It is now five days before Jesus' crucifixion. Four days before his betrayal and trial. One day before the clearing of the temple. A few hours before the Triumphal Entry. If the Disciples are going to start appropriating Jesus' teachings in their life it ought to be now. But it doesn't happen. Moments before the most crucial events in their life they are a bickering, petty, bad-tempered quarrelsome lot. We need to learn from this not-so-flattering moment in the life of the disciples.
How is it that critical moments can be so close at hand and we are wondering what's in this for me? It has to do with the three poison pills of position, prestige, and power....
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Jesus' No-Nonsense Guide to Success – Mark 10:35-45
What does success look like to you?
Winning the championship over all the other teams in your sports league?
Checking off every item on your to-do list?
Getting that new job or promotion you were hoping for?
Putting the kitchen in order after making a homemade meal from scratch?
To James and John, success looked like sitting next to Jesus, each on one side of their Lord, basking in his reflected glory. Perhaps they imagined him as a king seated on a great throne with themselves as his trusted advisors on thrones that were just a little less glorious. Whatever their mental image, their longing for success was so strong that it overcame any reluctance they might have had in approaching Jesus.
At least the way they opened the conversation suggests some hesitation on their part. "Teacher," they began, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." Instead of asking Jesus directly, James and John seemed to test him out first. Like children coming to Mom and Dad with something they know isn't quite right, they apparently hoped that he would say yes first and ask questions later. But Jesus wisely and quite rightly responded with a question of his own: "What is it you want me to do for you?"
Finally the two brothers made their request, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." No wonder they had tried to approach Jesus in such a roundabout way. They hoped to be singled out for places of honor about everyone else, even above their fellow disciples...
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Everybody Wants to Be Somebody
Everybody wants to be somebody. Since the dawn of history, human beings have been trying to move up the scale of importance. The clincher used by the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve was "when you eat of [the tree of good and evil], your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5). Henri Nouwen says that ever since then, we have been tempted to replace love with power. "The long painful history of the church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led." This is a theme running through the Bible, through human history and through our own psyche.
Kenneth L. Carder, The Call to Downward Mobility, The Christian Century, Oct. 8, 1997, p. 869
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One Positive Thing
"There are many negative things that can be said about James and John," writes William Barclay. "They were nakedly ambitious and proud: they wanted, and believed they deserved, places of honor in Jesus' kingdom. They were ignorant and insensitive: their request for places of honor came right after Jesus had told of His coming suffering and death. But there's one positive thing you can say about James and John: they believed in Jesus. Here was a poor, homeless, persecuted carpenter and yet James and John believed Jesus was a king. They believed that He would conquer the power structure of Rome." Even their crude ambition reflected their faith in Christ.
William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, pp. 254, 255.
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Looking for an EZ Pass
On many of our nation’s toll roads, rather than stopping at a toll-booth to toss some change in a hopper, you can now purchase a transponder, sometimes called an EZ-Pass, and zip through in the left lanes without even slowing down to the acceptable speed limit. Instead of cash, tickets and paper receipts, it’s a microchip tag placed on your windshield containing pertinent data which eases your way. Your data is quickly read by a tollbooth electronic antenna as your car zooms on through. It automatically deducts your appropriate toll tax. This computerized collection system then sends a monthly statement to your home with tallies of times and places for your records. EZ-Pass is like a debit card for your car, only quicker. No more stopping at the tollgate, the narrow gate.
Jesus says, I am the narrow gate. There’s no quick way in. There’s no shortcut. If he wasn’t the Christ himself already, he’d be the perfect patron saint of tollgates.
Sometimes it seems that everybody wants the easy way to the front of the line, a quick way to glory and fast track to success. Including James and John, the brothers Zebedee, who want front-row seats numbering two and three. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment and see if you can identify with their self-centeredness. These guys gave up everything to follow Jesus. They followed Jesus when nobody knew him. They followed Jesus before his miracles. Now that he was popular, James and John were feeling the swell of fame. After all, they were Jesus’ best friends, his disciples! So we can understand why two of them came to Jesus with their request.
David Beckett, EZ-Pass
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“Others”
In just a few short weeks we will begin to see people in uniforms in shopping malls ringing bells collecting donations for the poor. They are doing the work of the Salvation Army.
In 1878, when the Salvation Army was really beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. A man who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop in another denomination crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist in the Salvation Army instead. His name was Samuel Brengle. Brengle left a fine pastorate to join William Booth's Army. At first General Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, "You've been your own boss too long." So in order to instill humility in Brengle, he made him work by cleaning the boots of other trainees.
Discouraged, Brengle said to himself, "Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?" Then, as in a vision, he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, uneducated fishermen. "Lord," he whispered, "you washed their feet; I will black their shoes."
Samuel Brengle went on to establish the Salvation Army in America. At the time of his death, the Salvation Army was thriving in both the United States and in Canada. Just before his death Brengle sent out a short memo to all of his top leaders. This memo had one single word written on it: "Others."
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Caring Service and Its Impact
A room-service waiter at a Marriott hotel learned that the sister of a guest had just died. The waiter, named Charles, bought a sympathy card, had hotel staff members sign it, and gave it to the distraught guest with a piece of hot apple pie.
"Mr. Marriott," the guest later wrote to the president of Marriott Hotels, "I'll never meet you. And I don't need to meet you. Because I met Charles. I know what you stand for. ... I want to assure you that as long as I live, I will stay at your hotels. And I will tell my friends to stay at your hotels."
Roger Dow and Susan Cook, Turned On, (New York: Harper Business, 1996).
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Power Verses Service
Alexander, Caesar, and Hannibal conquered the world but had no friends....Jesus founded his empire upon love, and at this hour millions would die for him.... He has won the hearts of men, a task a conqueror cannot do."
Napoleon
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A well-dressed European woman was on safari in Africa. The group stopped briefly at a hospital for lepers. The heat was intense, the flies buzzing. She noticed a nurse bending down in the dirt, tending to the pus-filled sores of a leper.
With disdain the woman remarked, "Why, I wouldn't do that for all the money in the world!"
The nurse quietly replied, "Neither would I."
Donald L. Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations p. 130
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What's In It For Me?
A number of years ago, a small book appeared for ministers. Titled The Penguin Principles, it attempted to help naive clergy get a handle on the people of their congregations. Most of the material in the book was written with tongue in cheek, so it has some truth in it. According to the book, the first principle of church life goes like this: "Despite the pious things we say, at any given time, less than five percent of any group in the church is operating with purely Christian motivation. The other 95 percent is asking, 'What's in it for me?'"
William G. Carter, No Box Seats In The Kingdom, CSS Publishing.
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Service
Have you heard the beautiful children's story about the three trees? The trees were talking in the forest one day about their dreams for the future. The first tree said it would like to be made into a cradle, so that it might go on living as a support for the fragile life of a tiny new baby. The second tree wanted to be made into a big ship, so that it might go on living, carrying important cargo and influential people to exotic new lands. The third tree longed to stay right where it was, existing only as a tree, but growing ever taller, and pointing ever higher, to remind everyone that there is a God in heaven who loves them. Those were their dreams: One wanted to be a cradle, one wanted to be a mighty ship, and one wanted to be a tall tree, pointing people toward God.
But then one day the woodcutters came and chopped down the three trees...and destroyed their dreams. The first tree was not made into a cradle, but into a simple feeding trough, a manger for animals. But the manger was sold to a family in Bethlehem, and on the night Jesus was born, that simple feed box became the cradle for the Christ Child.
The second tree was built into a boat, but not the kind it had dreamed of--not a mighty ocean-going vessel--but a tiny inexpensive fishing boat. A man named Simon Peter bought the boat, and on one warm afternoon when the crowds pressed in, Jesus himself climbed aboard that small fishing boats that he might preach good news to the multitudes.
The third tree also was deprived of its dream. It wanted to remain standing tall and pointing toward God. Instead, it was cut down and shaped into a horrible instrument of torture, a cross. But it was on that very cross that Jesus was crucified, transforming a symbol of cruelty into a powerful reminder of God's eternal love for all the people.
The three trees were humbled, but in the plan of God, they were exalted.
That's the way it works: When we, in humility, give ourselves to God, our Lord can do great things through us and for us--greater than we can ever imagine.
James W. Moore, "Some Things Are Too Some Things Are Too Good Not to Be True," pg.22
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Sermon Opener - Be Careful What You Wish For
There is a wonderful story about the King and Queen of Sweden who were attending the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. Trying to get into an ice hockey game featuring the Swedish team, they were stopped by the ticket taker because their tickets were for another game on another day. The King said that the correct tickets were in his car and he asked that they be allowed in without the correct tickets: “Could you make an exception for us, please?” he said. “You see, I’m the King of Sweden.”
The ticket taker responded, “Sure you are, and I suppose this is the Queen.”
The King and Queen of Sweden went back to their car to get the correct tickets . . . only to see it being towed away.
I guess it is a little different being the King and Queen of Sweden and being, say, the Queen of England. The job obviously comes with fewer perks.
How about your job? Are you at the place you had hoped to be at this stage of your life? We spend our whole lives pursuing dreams and goals. The aim is to go higher, to become greater. To have more perks, as it were. That is the mark of success. It even affects our families. We want our children to become doctors and lawyers and engineers. Nobody tries to persuade their children to become servants. What?! A servant? But sometimes God’s way confuses man’s wisdom.
In Mark 10, Jesus tells his disciples for the third time about his impending death…
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Not So With You - Mark 10:35-45
How many of us here this morning were born BC? By “BC” I mean “Before Cell-phones?” The first cell phone was invented in 1973 by Martin Cooper. My kids were born AC, but I was born BC. In a world of 7 billion people, there are now 5 billion cell phone subscriptions. Pretty amazing for something under 40 years old.
In the last forty years the cyber-cellular age has changed the way we do business, the way we get our education, the way we socialize. The world has never been so closely connected, and there has never been this much immediately accessible information as there is with our new online universe. Each cell phone is almost the equivalent of having the Library of Congress in our hands.
Unfortunately all that easily accessed info has also led to an epidemic of a new kind of crime — identity theft. With just a few bits of our personal information, an online burglar can electronically hijack anyone’s identity and drain bank accounts, take out huge loans, run up mountains of credit card debt. Once your identity is stolen your name is no longer your own. No matter your name, your name is mud…
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Power
On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in the Cascade Range of Washington exploded with what is probably the most visible indication of the power of nature that the modern world has ever seen. At 8:32 A.M. the explosion ripped 1,300 feet off the mountain, with a force of ten million tons of TNT, or roughly equal to five hundred Hiroshimas. Sixty people were killed, most by a blast of 300-degree heat traveling at two hundred miles an hour. Some were killed as far as sixteen miles away.
The blast also leveled 150-foot Douglas firs, as far as seventeen miles away. A total of 3.2 billion board-feet of lumber were destroyed, enough to build 200,000 three-bedroom homes.
Michael P. Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, p. 269
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George Bernard Shaw was once asked in what generation he would have preferred to live. The witty Irishman replied: "The age of Napoleon, because then there was only one man who thought he was Napoleon."
G. Curtis Jones, "1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching" p. 291
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Service
"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found a way to serve."
Albert Schweitzer
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I Hate To Leave This Church
A Methodist pastor once wrote about power and politics in his denomination. Methodist preachers, he notes, are under the care of a bishop. Bishops, in turn, are Methodist preachers who are elected by fellow Methodist preachers after an extensive campaign for the office in which the candidate tries not to be caught campaigning. As he observes, It is a long-standing Methodist tradition that bishops must not appear to have sought their office and, once elected, the new bishop must make a public declaration that "I didn't seek this office and I didn't want it but, once the Lord calls" ... Methodist preachers take all of this with a grain of salt, the same way Baptist congregations have learned to be somewhat skeptical when one of their preachers moves on to a better church claiming, "I hate to leave this church and I would rather stay here, but the Lord calls." Baptists note that the Lord rarely calls someone out of one church into another church unless that church has a higher salary. Methodists have likewise noted that there have been few preachers who, once they are elected bishop, turn the job down.
"Teacher, we want you to put us on your right and on your left. But keep it quiet. Don't make it too obvious. Others may become offended that we asked first." By telling us this story, Mark knows what you and I know: we are prone to the same desire for privilege and protected status. We want a Jesus who will give us what we want, a Lord who can shower a little power on us, a Savior who can make us better than we are.
William G. Carter, No Box Seats in the Kingdom, CSS Publishing.
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Jimmy Carter's Effectiveness
Talk show host John Calloway interviewed the editor of The Christian Century. Calloway asked James Wall, "What do you think made Jimmy Carter so effective as an international negotiator?" Wall replied, "Carter has the prestige and experience of the presidency without the political baggage. Furthermore, he is able to draw on his personal, deeply held religious belief that in talking with another person, one must be sensitive to the other’s perspective."
Calloway responded, "You are really saying that it is the one without power who really has power."
That is closer to what Christ taught, that power is sometimes manifested in weakness, in giving oneself to others. Authentic greatness is redefined to mean serving instead of being served, using the power of love rather than seeking power and control. In the kingdom of God, we do not attain prominence by getting our bids in first, or by elbowing our way to the front. Prominence comes as we serve others with humility.
Katherine Fagerburg, Redefining Greatness
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Service Keeps Us Alive
Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, tells about the Roman aqueduct at Segovia, in his native Spain. It was built in 109 A.D. For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of men drank from its flow. Then came another generation, a recent one, who said, "This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children, as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labor."
They did; they laid modern iron pipes. They gave the ancient bricks and mortar a reverent rest. And what happened to the aqueduct? It began to begin to fall apart. The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble. The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall. What ages of service could not destroy idleness disintegrated.
Resource, Sept/Oct, 1992, p. 4.
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Christ’s Humility
"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus...."
Philippians 2:3-5
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A Prayer for a Unity of Love
Many people are confused by the plethora of conflicting religious views so often offered with unbending authoritarianism. It is proper to beware of religious spokespersons who are absolutely certain about everything and who leave no room for the essential element of mystery in the human quest to know God. It is often difficult to know who is right and who is wrong in the noisy den of competition for support in public religion. But there is a way to avoid having to struggle with these two slippery labels of who is right and who is wrong. Just make sure you are on your journey--the journey for which you came into the world. While it is true there are people who can help us with our spiritual journey, you are probably the best authority on what you need. No one can make that journey for you, no matter how much they love you.
We would do well to avoid bumper-sticker religion. This simplistic approach to the complicated problems of people and society may sound good, but it fails the test of reality. To try to make everyone alike is to attempt to avoid the pain and the "heavy-lifting" of careful thought and respectful consideration of the differences with which God made us and sent us into the world. We are on different journeys.
Celebrating and living our unique journey does not mean that we cannot blend important parts of our lives with others and walk with them in a higher unity. When Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one in John 17, it was a prayer for a unity of love, not ideas. We do not achieve unity by persuading everyone to be like us nor by finding the lowest common theological denominator. Our common loyalty is not to a set of human-made theological propositions (and all theological propositions are of human construct). Our common loyalty is to Christ.
Thomas Lane Butts, The Journey
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Worship Services That Seek to Accommodate Rather than Dictate
Timothy Wright, who is associate pastor at the Community Church of Joy (Lutheran) in Phoenix, Arizona, tells of "standing in the back of our sanctuary when a tall, lanky young man approached me. He was visibly shaking and appeared troubled. I anticipated an emergency counseling situation. Instead, he inquired about weddings. He asked if he could be married in our church, even though he was not a member. We talked details for a few moments, and then he said, 'Please forgive my shaking. I've never been in a church before, and I'm a little nervous.'"
Wright goes on to say: "Seekers often enter our churches feeling the same way. They do not know what to expect. They are apprehensive, if not actually frightened. I am unsure what they think will happen to them, but whatever it is, they think it could be awful. Visitor-oriented congregations take those feelings seriously and design services that put guests at ease. An informal setting encourages visitors to settle in and relax. An upbeat, celebratory climate, friendly people and enthusiastic music help guests forget their fears."
Timothy Wright, A Community of Joy (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), p. 62.
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Life Together
Richard Foster tells about receiving a phone call from a friend. The friend's wife had taken the car, and he wanted to know if Richard could take him on a number of errands. Richard was preparing to teach a college class, but since the man was his friend he reluctantly agreed. As he ran out the door, car keys in hand, he grabbed a book to read along the way. It was a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer called Life Together.
Foster picked up his friend, and the errands did not go well. There were plenty of stops and starts, traffic was bad, and precious time kept ticking away. Finally they pulled into a parking lot, the friend got out, and Richard stayed behind with his book. He opened it to the bookmark, and read these words: “The second service that one should perform for another in a Christian community is that of active helpfulness. This means, initially, simple assistance in trifling, external matters. There is a multitude of these things wherever people live together. Nobody is too good for the meanest service. One who worries about the loss of time that such petty, outward acts of helpfulness entail is usually taking the importance of his own career too solemnly.”
William G. Carter, No Box Seats In The Kingdom, CSS Publishing.
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A simple test of character is the question: "Why?" Why does the candidate seek the power a political position holds? Why does the actor seek fame in Hollywood or on Broadway? Why does the business person seek wealth or the climb up the corporate ladder? Why does the person of faith seek a position of ministry?
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with ambition in any of these fields. In fact, most people use ambition to better themselves and their surroundings. But the question must be asked: why do they seek? Do they want to wealth and fame and power for themselves alone? Or do they want to use these ambitions for the greater good? These were the questions Jesus asked his followers when the subject of ambition raised its head among the Apostles.
Larry Broding, The Glory of Christian Leadership
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Sacrifice
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
John F. Kennedy
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From the NBA to the Reservation
Nearly a decade after leaving professional basketball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar decided to return to the sport he loved by accepting a coaching position with the Alchesay Falcons - a high-school team of mostly White Mountain Apaches. As an African-American among Native Americans, Abdul-Jabbar had to learn a great deal about his athletes and the tribe.
He discovered surprising cultural traditions that made it difficult to coach the team, such as Indian discomfort at being singled out for criticism, and he grew in sensitivity to the special challenges faced by young Native Americans.
By working with the students and coaching them, Abdul-Jabbar moved from a historical appreciation for the Apaches as a people to a new understanding of them as individuals. Did he lord it over them as an NBA superstar? Not at all. He served them. He was first among them by acting as their coach, their teacher, their helper and their servant.
And in the end, he may have learned more than he actually taught during his season on the reservation. Abdul-Jabbar, a Hall-of-Famer considered great by the world, discovered that true greatness is found in an unexpected place - a place of service.
Les Schultz, To Serve
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A Servant in Saigon
To be servants requires courage, sacrifice and lots of love. Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen tell the story of Betty Tisdale. (Chicken Soup for the Soul) She was the wife of a Naval Doctor in Vietnam. She had compassion on the hundreds of orphans in Saigon. She made l4 trips to Saigon by using her life savings. With great determination she managed to airlift orphans from Vietnam during the time it was falling into the hands of the North Vietnamese. It was not a simple task. First, she needed birth certificates. She went to the hospital and created them herself. She managed to make 2l9 eligible certificates that satisfied the government. Next she had to find a place for the children to stay when they arrived at Ft. Benning, Georgia here in the states. Again she met resistance and the Secretary of the Army wouldn’t answer her calls. Determined to carry out her mission, Betty called his mother and pleaded her case. Virtually overnight, her son, the Secretary of the Army, responded.
Now she was challenged as to how to get the children safely out of Vietnam. She was unable to charter a plane. She went to Ambassador Graham Martin and pleaded for some form of transportation. He agreed to help as long as the Vietnamese government cleared their release. Two Air Force transport planes flew the children to the Philippines. Because her husband was dedicated to helping his wife he used $2l,000 of his own money to charter a United Airlines plane to take the children to the states. Within a month all 2l9 children were adopted and placed in homes in the US.
When Jesus advocates a life of self-denial, he is not talking about being a martyr, nor is he wanting us all to be Mother Teresa or a Betty Tisdale. He is talking about denying ourselves the demand for power, honor and status and being servants.
Faith is a paradox. Life in the kingdom is not acquired with honors, prizes, achievements, awards and success. It is realized with sacrificial love, unwavering faith and belief that God has a seat reserved just for us. It’s better than the 50 yard line. It is not just good for a single game or a single season. It is good for eternity.
Dr. Keith Wagner, The Paradox of Faith
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No Box Seats in the Kingdom
A few years ago, Joel Gregory became the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, an impressive congregation with almost thirty thousand members. It was the crowning achievement of his career. First Baptist Church occupies five city blocks in downtown Dallas. It houses two schools, a college, and a radio station. The church gave him a nice home, memberships in exclusive country clubs, and luxury box seats for Dallas Cowboys football games. They weren't box seats for the kingdom, but in Dallas a box seat for one is as good as a box seat for another.
But something went wrong in Gregory's pastorate. Church leaders wanted more members; thirty thousand weren't enough. People wanted the physical plant to grow; five city blocks wasn't big enough. Most of all, everyone expected Gregory to tag along behind his predecessor, W. A. Criswell, who had served that congregation for 46 years and who, despite his announcements to the contrary, showed no signs of retiring. "There wasn't room for both of us," Joel Gregory said. "The whole zoo of human ambition and power and ego is the fabric of some superchurches." A power struggle began, dividing the church into opposing sides. One day in September 1992, Gregory stunned many Southern Baptists by resigning from that prominent pulpit.
Today he travels through Fort Worth neighborhoods as a door-to-door salesman. A lot of people say he's a failure. Joel Gregory says otherwise. "For the first time in my life, at 46, I'm learning what it means to be a servant," he says. "It gives me a different view of Christ, and a different view of the real needs of human beings."
Jesus said, "Are you able to drink my cup? Are you able to share my baptism? Are you able to walk with me, giving yourself to others in a life of service?" If we dare say yes, we must remember the road of discipleship is uphill all the way, and it leads to the foot of the cross. Whoever would follow Jesus must follow him there. He never promised anything else.
William G. Carter, No Box Seats in the Kingdom, CSS Publishing.
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Maintenance or Mission
In contrast to many congregations, Jesus was certain about the mission God had sent him to do -- the purpose of his life and death -- and nothing would keep him from fulfilling it. He also presents himself as an example in our text.
Related to this aspect of our text, I recently received our Rocky Mountain Synod newsletter. There was a short article in it adapted from Herold Percy, "Good News People," which makes a contrast between "maintenance" and "mission".
1. In measuring the effectiveness, the maintenance congregation asks, "How many pastoral visits are being made? The mission congregation asks, "How many disciples are being made?"
2. When contemplating some form of change, the maintenance congregation says, "If this proves upsetting to any of our members, we won't do it." The mission congregation says, "If this will help us reach someone on the outside, we will take the risk and do it."
3. When thinking about change, the majority of members in a maintenance congregation ask, "How will this affect me?" The majority of members in the mission congregation ask, "Will this increase our ability to reach those outside?"
4. When thinking of its vision for ministry, the maintenance congregation says, "We have to be faithful to our past." The mission congregation says, "We have to be faithful to our future."
5. The pastor in the maintenance congregation says to the newcomer, "I'd like to introduce you to some of our members." In the mission congregation the members say, "We'd like to introduce you to our pastor."
6. When confronted with a legitimate pastoral concern, the pastor in the maintenance congregation asks, "How can I meet this need?" The pastor in the mission congregation asks, "How can this need be met?"
7. The maintenance congregation seeks to avoid conflict at any cost (but rarely succeeds). The mission congregation understands that conflict is the price of progress, and is willing to pay the price. It understands that it cannot take everyone with it. This causes some grief, but it does not keep it from doing what needs to be done.
8. The leadership style in the maintenance congregation is primarily managerial, where leaders try to keep everything in order and running smoothly. The leadership style in a mission congregation is primarily transformational, casting a vision of what can be, and marching off the map in order to bring the vision into reality.
9. The maintenance congregation is concerned with their congregation, its organizations and structure, its constitutions and committees. The mission congregation is concerned with the culture, with understanding how secular people think and what makes them tick. It tries to determine their needs and their points of accessibility to the Gospel.
10. When thinking about growth, the maintenance congregations asks, "How many Lutherans live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?" The mission congregation asks, "How many unchurched people live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?"
11. The maintenance congregation looks at the community and asks, "How can we get these people to support our congregation?" The mission congregation asks, "How can the Church support these people?"
12. The maintenance congregation thinks about how to save their congregation. The mission congregation thinks about how to reach the world.
Brian Stoffregen
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This spirit of servant leadership is captured in the words of an old folksong recorded in the 1970s by a group called "The Fisherfolk."
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The Servant Song
Brother/Sister let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I may have the grace to let you
be my servant, too.
We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are traveling on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk a mile and bear the load
.
I will hold the Christ Light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I'll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Til we've seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we've known together
Of Christ's love and agony.
Won't you let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I may have the grace to let
you be my servant, too.
(This song comes from the Community of Celebration, which recorded under the name "The Fisherfolk" in the late 1970's and early 1980's. They were an intentional community growing out of the charismatic ministry of Graham Pulkingham, an English Epsicopalian whose rebirth began in Houston.)
Dr. Mickey Anders, Servant Leadership
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Having a Life Purpose
In his book, "Man's Search for Meaning," Austrian psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl documents the profound power that a life purpose exerts over an individual under even the worst of circumstances. Frankl, who survived the Nazi concentration camps, described how prisoners who felt they had nothing to live for succumbed, while those who perceived themselves as having a mission to complete, struggled to survive. Deprived of all external supports that might give life meaning, these survivors came to realize that, in Frankl's words, "It did not really matter what we expected of life, but rather what life expected from us." Their sense of an inner purpose pulled them through the most horrible physical and emotional experiences so that they might make their unique contribution to the world.
Everyone has a purpose in life beyond one's immediate interests and gratifications, though that purpose frequently goes undiscovered. Many people devote their entire lives to the pursuit of greater ease and pleasure. Those who had not found the "why" that gives meaning to existence may achieve material success, yet the real goodness of life will elude them. The true meaning of life lies in sharing our particular qualities of greatness with others.
Unknown
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Are We Able to Drink the Cup?
Are we able to drink the cup? Are we able to be baptized with Jesus' baptism? Are we able let go of ourselves and our preoccupation with trying to stay in control? Ever since Genesis 3 every human being that has ever walked the earth has resisted drinking the cup or being baptized with the baptism. We can't trust God. We can't let go. We have to run our lives the way we want. We can't help but ask, "What's in it for me?"
Every human being that has ever walked the face of the earth has resisted making such self-sacrifice. Except for one. Except for the one who said, "I came not to be served but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many." Watch him. He lives his life as a servant. He gives his life away in the service of others. "What's in it for me?" seems to be the furthest thing from his mind. Instead he lives his life filled with a strange sense of confidence. He knows who he is. He knows God is his Father. He trusts his future. There is no reason to hold on to his life, as if somehow he must save himself. Instead he gives himself away, even all the way to death on a cross.
And he was no fool who believed in an empty dream. He dared to trust the love of his Father. And he dared to invite others to trust the same. And when he was raised from the dead three days later, the creator of heaven and earth, the one whom Jesus dared to call his Father, announced to the world that Jesus was not mistaken. His faith was not in vain. Jesus was right.
Steven E. Albertin, Against the Grain, CSS Publishing
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Humor: Your Husband Is Going To Die Unless...
A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor's office. After his checkup, the doctor called the wife into his office alone. He said "Your husband is suffering from a very severe disease, combined with some horrible stress. If you don't do the following your husband will surely die.
"Each morning, fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant, and make sure he is in a good mood. For lunch, make him a nutritious meal. For dinner, prepare an especially nice meal for him. DON'T burden him with chores, as he probably had a hard day. DON'T discuss your problems with him. It will only make his stress worse. And MOST importantly, make love with your husband several times a week and satisfy HIS every whim. If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely."
On the way home, the husband asked his wife: "What did the doctor say?" "You're going to die," she replied.
It's not easy learning to serve others...
Traditional
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Most Christian prefer what Bishop Michael Marshall has called "decaffeinated Christianity," the kind of religion that won't keep you awake a night. This kind of religion costs little, won't require you to get involved in controversy or other people's troubles, and will surround you with comfort. But by the way, this kind of religion is counterfeit.
Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Our friend Maxie Dunnam likes to tell about an American businessman who traveled to Europe to see the famous Oberammergau Passion Play? Following the performance the businessman had the opportunity to meet and talk with Anton Lang who portrayed Christ in the play. Seeing the cross that was used in the play, the businessman wanted his wife to take his picture holding it. He attempted to lift the cross to his shoulder. To his surprise he could hardly budge it from the floor.
He said to Mr. Lang, "I don't understand. I figured the cross would be hollow. Why do you carry such a heavy cross?" Mr. Lang's reply explains why this play draws people from allover the world to that little Bavarian village. He said, "If I did not feel the weight of His cross, I could not play the part."
And neither can we.
Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com
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From “The Drum Major Instinct”
I know a man—and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you will discover who I'm talking about as I go down the way (Yeah) because he was a great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure village, (Yes, sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years old. (Amen) Then for three years, he just got on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things. He didn't have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. (Yes) He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. They called him a rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They said he was an agitator. (Glory to God) He practiced civil disobedience; he broke injunctions. And so he was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. And the irony of it all is that his friends turned him over to them. (Amen) One of his closest friends denied him. Another of his friends turned him over to his enemies. And while he was dying, the people who killed him gambled for his clothing, the only possession that he had in the world. (Lord help him) When he was dead he was buried in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together (Yes) have not affected the life of man on this earth (Amen) as much as that one solitary life. His name may be a familiar one. (Jesus) But today I can hear them talking about him. Every now and then somebody says, "He's King of Kings." (Yes) And again I can hear somebody saying, "He's Lord of Lords." Somewhere else I can hear somebody saying, "In Christ there is no East nor West." (Yes) And then they go on and talk about, "In Him there's no North and South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world." He didn't have anything. (Amen) He just went around serving and doing good.
This morning, you can be on his right hand and his left hand if you serve. (Amen) It's the only way in.
Martin Luther King, Jr., The Drum Major Instinct
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Parable of Two Ships
The first ship was a mighty man of war carrying its cargo of manpower and ammunition. It was a thrilling sight to see and a devastating power. On occasion the ship moved with mighty purpose and more often flexed its guns in peacetime pageantry. The second ship was a fishing boat manned by a few hands and eternally engaged in the procuring of food for hungry men.
"Wouldn't you like to be a great battleship," spoke the trawling boat to its mother fishing craft. "Then all the other boats would make way for your coming."
"No," said the fishing craft. "The battleship depends more on me than I depend on it. That great ship is especially powerful in protecting life or destroying it in time of war and it depends on which side you are on as to how you value its activity. On the other hand my work is to feed life and make happy all whom I serve every day. My work is always valuable and always good. Importance in life depends on your standard of values."
Mankind may find true happiness in the humblest tasks when the proper set of Christian values is used. We all need to be important and are important in the sight of God. Each one should be bringing happiness to others and finding joy within through the outreach of helpfulness. Service is its own declaration of faith in man and in God.
And James and John came unto him, saying, "Master, grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory." But Jesus said unto them, "To sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. But whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister; and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all."
Illustration, www.Sermons.com