George J. Saylor
April 27, 2008
Last week I mentioned a favorite verse about bible study- 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Our study of the bible should be rigorous, it should be academic, it should be systematic, but above all it should be useful. Where as worship is in many ways gloriously impractical- it is about lavishly loving and adoring our God, transcending our lives, our space, our time; bible study, on the other hand, is wonderfully applicable to life. It will teach, rebuke, correct and train us. All for a purpose- to equip us for good works.
We are to life a live of good works, inspired and guided by our study of God's Word. This is the sign of service.
In the early 90’s an experiment was conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health, their motto, “If your not mentally healthy, your nuts!” (just kidding!) They created a cage that was designed to comfortably house about 200 hundred mice. Plenty of food and water was provided in a sanitary environment, with all mortality factors (except aging) removed. They started with 8 mice. In 2.5 years the colony grew to a maximum number of 2200. Dr. John Calhoun oversaw the experiment and began to observe a series of unusual behaviors and phenomena. When the population reached this level, life in the colony began to disintegrate.
- Adult mice formed groups of about a dozen and began to isolate themselves from the other mice.
- Within these groups males, who usually protected their territory, withdrew and became uncharacteristically passive.
- The females became uncharacteristically aggressive and began to force out their own young.
- The young found themselves left to form their own groups. In these groups the young ate, slept and groomed themselves, but showed no normal assertiveness.
- As these groups became more isolated and independent, the colony eventually fractured. The most complex activity for mice, courtship and mating, ceased. Within five years the entire colony became extinct, despite the abundance of food and water, and the absence of disease.
We’re seeing it all the time. More people are alive today than ever before, which has translated NOT into our becoming the most relational and connected people in the history of the world, but simply crowded, lonely, isolated and distant from each other. If I have one bit of investment advice for all of you it’s this- fences. Invest in fences, because we love them. And I have to admit, the first thing I did when I bought my house was to build a fence. Our neighbor has a great big dog, Andy. And our first day in the house I was wondering how am I going to introduce this with the neighbor- "Hi, I’m George, I moved to London to plant a new church because I love God and love people. Just wanted to let you know that’s I’m gonna build a fence tomorrow!" In an answer to prayer, before I said a thing, my neighbor came over and said, "I have a big dog, you have three little kids- we should build a fence." And then amazingly, building a fence became like building a bridge for the two of us as we worked together and became neighbors.
But there’s an even better part to the story- a few weeks later, as we became friends with our neighbors on the other side, our kids kept jumping the fence between us, or they had to run all the way around the front of the house- so we built a gate in our fence to connect our back yards!
Building a gate in the fences that separate us has become a metaphor for my life and our ministry. Something about our world, about our lives, pushes us to isolate, withdraw, disengage, and build the wall. But there is an antidote. It’s a loving God who offers us an alternative.
Jesus was with his closest friends, his group of 12. Two of them, James and John, came to him with a request. They actually said do for us whatever we ask. Jesus says why don't you ask it first. They asked, "Let on of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory." (Mark 10:37)
They picked up on this rising tide of Jesus’ ministry. They knew that whatever Jesus wanted, he could get. They had heard Jesus’ teaching, seen him perform miracles, seen him raise the dead. And they rightly concluded that Jesus could pretty much have accomplished anything he wanted in the world. He could keep his show on the road, stick with the messages that really drew in the crowds, and start filling stadiums. He could have backstage passes printed up, and for the right price you could get the miracle of your choice. He could have gone into Jerusalem and set up shop, and then let the crowds come to him. He could have hired a staff and started to expand the ministry from there.
And his friends assumed he’d do something like this to bring glory to himself. They assumed, even after all the years and all the teaching and all they had witnessed, that Jesus really wasn’t too different from anyone else in the world. They assumed that when you took away all the layers that Jesus was going to be like anyone else, and he would use his position, his power, his popularity and his prestige, to build himself up.
What Jesus then said and did probably rocked their world more than anything else he could have said or done. This is one of those places where the teaching of Jesus, then followed by the example of Jesus, started to turn their thinking on it’s heels, and started to turn our thinking 180 degrees, and start to turn the whole value structure of the world upside down.
Jesus said,
"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42-45)
Let me say that last verse again, it blows my mind. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45. I don't think we, collectively as a church, or as individuals, have even begun to grasp the significance of service in the ministry of Jesus. I don't think we've even scratched the surface of service. We have no idea how vitally important, how centrally important, service is to our Lord.
It’s fun to ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. The first job I remember wanting as a kid was to be a garbage collector. When the teacher asked why, I said, "They only work on Tuesday mornings, ride on the back of truck, and get to find all the cool stuff others throw out." When we’re kids we think that way. My daughter wants to be a dancing spy photographer. How cool would that be? My other daughter wants to be an artist. Like an adult I asked her the other day, “What kind of artist? What kind of medium would you like to specialize in- sculpture, painting, textiles, ceramics, fine arts, illustration?” She just looked at me like the idiot I am and said, “I just want to make art- all kinds.” Way to go dad, start getting your 6 year old to focus on her niche.
Here's the point- the disciples thought Jesus wanted to be a king when he grew up. What they didn’t realize was that he already was a king, the king of all creation. But he was showing them that he was going to be something else as he grew up- a servant. A servant who would give his life for us. His vision was child-like in it's simplicity- become a servant.
Now that is vision worth our aspirations. We should all want to grow up in Jesus to be servants. That is something we should all want to be, and until we are, we are still growing up. We are growing up to be servants, or we are not growing up at all, we are not growing in our faith, we are not growing as followers of Jesus, we are not growing as the body of Christ, his church, unless we are growing up to be servants. Because if we are not growing up to be servants we are missing the whole point people. We are glorious failing and what is so singularly, abundantly clear in the bible- we gotta serve God, and we gotta serve people.
But being a servant is hard folks. Being a servant is messy. Being a servant is inconvenient, and it’s inefficient, and it’s uncomfortable, and it’s unprecedented in most of our lives. I’ve gotta tell you, I can talk a good talk when it comes to being a servant, but I’m still learning how to walk the walk. I still struggle with being the servant I know I should be, that Jesus calls me to be. That Jesus modeled for me to be.
I love social workers. Some of my best friends are social workers, and I love hanging out with them because they remind me that there is one group of people in society who are crazier than pastors. People who say, "I want to be paid even less than pastors, get less thanks than pastors, and probably work harder than most pastors." You now I’m joking, but that’s what it’s really like- these people in our society, some of them social workers, others that don’t even have the title, and they just serve people like crazy, as if their life depended on it. They just serve until it hurts. They just give until they go without. They love until they are exhausted and have nothing left.
On one occasion Jesus was talking with a group of people and an expert in the law asked Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10 25) It’s a great question- one that isn’t afraid to face our mortality and our afterlife, while address our life here and now.
Jesus answered, because this guy was an expert in the law, "What is written in the Law (the books of Moses)?" He answered as Jesus had once before, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart…soul…strength…mind, and, Love you neighbor as yourself." Jesus said, great answer, bang on! Do this, and you will live. But then the bible says the guy wanted to justify himself. (Someday I’ll preach a whole sermon on that line, "justify yourself.") He needs a bit more clarity on this question. He needs some fence around the issue. Loving your neighbor, he recognizes, could be a fairly large job to take on. I have some neighbors who are pretty hard to love- and if any of my neighbors are here this morning, I assure you I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about my other neighbors. This guy wants to find a loop hole to this loving your neighbor thing, so he asks, "Who’s my neighbor?”
So Jesus tells a story…
In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii [e] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."(Luke 10:30-37)
“Go and DO likewise.” I’ve heard a lot of sermons on this passage, good ones even, but I’m going to assume today that you’re not completely dull and you get the story. We know what being loving looks like. We know what being neighborly is. We see someone in need, and we step in, we step up, and we serve them. WE love them. No more excuses. No more self-justification. We just do it. We do it even if they are different than us. We do it even if they hate us. We do even as it messes up our plans. We do it even if it costs us. But we do it anyways.
Before I even started on this message I had one nagging thought- ultimately service is about doing something, not just talking about it. So how could I talk about this in a way that actually does something? As the pastor of Connections I get the blessing and privilege of seeing God do some amazing things- providing just the right person at the right time. Just the right resource when it’s most needed. I’ve seen some things for which only God can get the glory! God did it again this week. I want to read you part of a letter that Robin and I were given this past week. This person wants to remain anonymous, so I'll read just a portion...
My dream is to make stuffed animals and to give them to poor children around the world who have so little...I though of our church and how small it is so I thought that would be a perfect small commitment project to try out...Now you can look in side the box. They are far from perfect, but I;m still learning. Someday I'll be so good at them."
When I read that last line I though, "Great, these really aren't going to be good and then somehow I'm going to have to break this persons heart and tell them nice try, but work harder." I opened this box and couldn’t believe my eyes. When I pulled one of these out- I was just brought to tears. They are beautiful. They are wonderful. Each little lion and lamb hand made, and even tagged, with a card with our churches name, a bible verse, and even a song, each individually packaged up and ready to be given out.
It is killing me to not share with you who this person is, but out of respect and gratitude, I will honor this person’s request to remain anonymous. But if I was to tell you, I don’t think you’d believe me. You have no idea who this person is. You’d never guess this person had the vision, the ability, and the capability to make this dream a reality. But this person did. They did this, and they are making this happen. And they started it here. And they have another shipment of stuffed hand-crafted stuffed animals going overseas to a groups of sponsored children.
So parents, after worship, over at our family ministry table, we have 30 "Snuggly Creatures" to share with your kids. Little lions for the boys, and lambs for the girls. I think we’ll have enough for all our kids, but let’s start with kids say 6 and under and see how it goes. And when your kids ask who do we thank for this, you get to explain to them that somebody loved them enough to make each one of these by hand. But we don’t know who that person is, and so we are just going to have to thank God for this person, and thank God for this gift.
Friends, that’s what Serving God’s People looks like. That’s not just talking about, that doing it. That’s loving the littlest, the most precious, the most vulnerable, the most impressionable members of our church. This is serving God’s people.
What are you going to do? We aren't getting it until we do it. This week is the week we decide, I'm not going to walk by my wife and take her fro granted, but I;m going to serve her. This week I'mnot goign to walk by my kids, but love them. This week I'm not going to walk by my coworker, the one nobody really likes, and I'm going to be a friend. This week I'm not goign to walk by my neighbors house, but I'm going to stop by, say hi, and see what happens. This week, let's all take a step in growing up, and let's start to become the servants Jesus call sus to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment