My wife, Mary called Thursday morning and told me about two drivers she encountered on her way to work. One was coming onto the interstate, the other was trying to exit the interstate at the I35, I20 split. They both had on their blinkers signaling to the other their intent. The each wanted the other one to get out of their way.
But rather than slowing down and letting the other guy pass, they both tried to race ahead of each other. Of course, by the time they both realized, that they couldn't get ahead of the other one, it nearly caused a wreck. You can imagine the rantings of both of those people as they got to work. It probably set the tone for their whole day.
None of us like traffic jams. None of us like the idiot drivers. That whole scenario could have been avoided if either one of those had been living the life of a servant.
In our passage of scripture for today, we find that James and John are acted just like those drivers. They want to race ahead of the traffic jam and jump into prime positions in the kingdom of God. But Jesus saw through their little ploy and countered with instructions on living the servant life.
Mark 10:35-45 (NRSV)
[35] James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
[36] And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?"
[37] And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
[38] But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"
[39] They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
[40] but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
[41] When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.
[42] So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.
[43] But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,
[44] and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
[45] For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."
That sounds nothing at all like the attitudes of those two drivers. "If you would become great, you must be a servant." Boy, that sure is counterculture isn't it. That sure rubs against our be "the firstest with the mostest" mentality, doesn't it? But that's part of the upside down nature of the Kingdom of God and the teachings of Jesus. It's not at all what we expect. But it's all about what God expects.
The question for today is "How's Your Serve?" Let's look at servanthood and a couple of the things we need to be good servants. A SERVANT'S HEART, MIND, EYES AND TOUCH.
I. A Servant's Heart
The very first thing we need is A SERVANT'S HEART. So, how do you describe a servant's heart? Well, first everyone needs to know that you can only have a Servant's Heart, if you have given your heart to Christ. Jesus was and is the ultimate servant and our model for a life of servanthood. We're called to follow His example. And we can only do that when our heart belongs to Him.
Let me give you an example. James Moore tells about a man named George. George was a peacemaker with a big heart and wonderful sense of humor. George claimed he was, "so tenderhearted that he cried at supermarket openings!" Everyone at Church loved George. He was respected at the hospital where he worked. The reason so many people loved George was because he was always kind and always respectful to everyone he met.
His children vividly remember the days George spent in the hospital before he died. The president of the hospital paid him a visit. He and George talked like they were old friends. A couple of minutes later one of the janitors came to visit. And they spoke like they were old friends. When the janitor left, one of George's children said to him, "Dad, did you realize that you treated the president of the hospital and the janitor just alike?"
George smiled, chuckled and said, "Let me ask you something, if the president left for two weeks and the janitor left for two weeks, which one do you think would be missed the most?"
Then George called his children around his bed. "Let me show you something I carry in my pocket all the time, even when I mow the lawn." George pulled out a pocket-sized cross and a marble.
George said, "On the cross are written these words, 'God Loves You,' and on the marble are these words, 'Do unto Others as You Would Have Them Do unto You.' The cross reminds me of how deeply God loves me, and the marble reminds me of how deeply God wants me to love others." (1)
That's A SERVANT'S HEART. That's the Heart Jesus wants us all to have as we seek to serve Him and become more and more like Him each day by giving Him our heart.
II. A Servant's Mind
We also need A SERVANT'S MIND. We need to change how we think about ourselves, others and how we bring glory to God.
Robert Greenleaf, born in 1904, is considered, by many, to be the grandfather of the new paradigm thinking and the man who coined the phrase "servant leadership" in a small essay in 1970. He died in 1990, yet he continues to teach even in his death. On his tombstone are the words: "Potentially a good plumber ruined by a sophisticated education."
His whole concept was that if you're called to serve by plumbing, then plumb to the best of your abilities. You can serve anywhere God's calls you to be a servant.
Servants are people who understand what it means to be last. And if that means that someone else is empowered to be first, then they've received their reward. Servants are people who don't use people to get the work done, but who use work to help people grow.
Being a servant isn't easy, but is absolutely essential to our faith. Jesus says, "Look at me, I didn't come to be served, I came to serve. I serve God. I serve you by ransoming my life for your sake. I'm your best example, and my secret is service. Wrap your heart and your mind around that and follow me"
Develop A SERVANT'S MIND.
III. A Servant's Eyes
We also need A SERVANT'S EYES. People with SERVANT'S EYES are those people who see a need and try to fill it.
In his book, Dr. George Burns' Prescription For Happiness: Buy Two Books and Call Me in the Morning, George Burns writes: "If you were to go around asking people what would make them happier, you'd get answers like a new car, a bigger house, a raise in pay, winning a lottery, a face-lift, more kids, less kids, a new restaurant to go to probably not one in a hundred would say a chance to help people. And yet that may bring the most happiness of all.
I don't know Dr. Jonas Salk, but after what he's done for us with his polio vaccine, if he isn't happy, he should have that brilliant head of his examined. Of course, not all of us can do what he did. I know I can't do what he did; he beat me to it. But the point is, it doesn't have to be anything that extraordinary. It can be working for a worthy cause, performing a needed service, or just doing something that helps another person." (2)
Dr. Salk and others like him, definitely had SERVANT'S EYES. He saw a need and tried to fill it. People with SERVANT EYES, are those people who give attention to another. They go around offering hope and help wherever, whenever there is a need. They are the ones who see someone's shoe untied and bend down to tie it.
One person has called these people "PARSLEY PEOPLE." They are always adorning that which is around them, making others look better by their actions and sometimes simply by their very presence. (3)
We all need to look at each other and the world through A SERVANT'S EYES.
IV. A Servant's Touch
And finally, we need A SERVANT'S TOUCH. When our HEART belongs to Christ, when our MIND is attuned with the servant spirit of Christ, and our EYES see the need, then we can reach out with A SERVANT'S TOUCH.
There's a wonderful story about a hospital nurse who saw a tired, anxious young man outside the room of an elderly man. So, she took his arm, ushered him to the man's bedside, and stooped down and whispered in the man's ear, "Your son is here."
She repeated this several times before the patient's eyes opened. He was heavily sedated and he dimly saw the figure of the young man standing beside the bed. He reached out his hand, and the young man tightly wrapped his fingers around it, squeezing a message of encouragement.
The nurse brought a chair to the bedside and, all through the night, the young man sat there, holding the old man's hand, and offering gentle words of hope.
The dying man said nothing. As dawn approached, the patient died. The young man gently placed on the bed the lifeless hand he had been holding. Then he went to notify the nurse.
The nurse began to offer words of sympathy to the young man, but he interrupted her. "Who was that man?" he asked. The puzzled nurse replied, "I thought he was your father."
"No," the young man replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
Horrified, the nurse asked, "Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
The young man replied, "I sensed that he really needed his son, and that his son wasn't here. Then I realized he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son. And I knew how much he needed me." (4)
That young man had A SERVANT'S TOUCH. He was a SERVANT. He became an instrument of the Incarnation. Christ entered that hospital room through Him.
God wants to use us the same way. But in order to be used like that, we can't try to race ahead of the traffic jam and jump into the prime positions of the kingdom of God. Because the prime positions aren't up front, they're at the rear. Or on your knees.
Conclusion
The Indian poet, Rabindanath Tagore, is the only figure in literary history that I know of who has the distinction of writing the lyrics for the national anthems of not one, but two countries (India and Bangladesh). He was, also, the first non-westerner to win the Nobel Prize in literature. He did so in 1913. He wrote this short poem:
I slept and dreamt that life was Joy;
Then I awoke and realized
that life was Service.
And then I went to work — and, lo
and behold I discovered that
Service is Joy. (5)
True happiness comes from surrendering yourself completely in humble service to God through Christ. And all you need is A SERVANT'S HEART, MIND, EYES AND TOUCH.
So, "How's Your Serve?"
1. James W. Moore, WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS..., (Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1993), p. 78.
2. George Burns, Dr. George Burns' Prescription For Happiness, (New York, NY, USA: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1984.) p. 141.
3. The Pastor's Story File (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), Jun, 1984
4. Author Unknown
5. Homiletics, October 19, 03A, Volume 10, Number 5. (Communications Resources, Inc., Canton, OH)