Christianity Is All About Service!

4th Sunday in Lent, 3/26/17
Matthew 20:17-28


Christianity Is All About Service!
I. It’s founded on Jesus’ service for all.
II. It’s identified by our service for others.


I’m sure that many of you will understand what I’m about to tell you about myself. Others of you might wonder.

The older I get, the more I wish I would have spent at least four years in military service. As a young person I never thought about it. In fact, it wasn’t until I had been here in the Dayton area for some time that this desire first appeared. Maybe it’s due to living around so many active members of the military and military veterans—both of whom I admire. In the past few years I’ve tried to thank veterans for their service and there’s a part of me that wonders what it’s like to be on the receiving end of those expressions of gratitude.

Bottom line—I wish I would have served our country in this way.

Whether you share that desire or not, I’m guessing that you do know what it’s like to serve others. An example? What mother of adult children doesn’t derive a great deal of satisfaction over gathering her children and their families together? Even though it might involve working herself to the bone and long days and short nights prior to their arrival, she doesn’t mind one bit. She’s doing it for her family and when they’ve all finally arrived and are enjoying their time together, she’s in her maternal glory.

Or perhaps it’s helping people who are less fortunate than you are. Maybe it’s just going out of your way to put a smile on a stranger’s face, to make someone’s day a little easier, to show that you care and they matter to you.

Serving others.

Those two words are at the heart and core of our Christian faith. Jesus makes that point for Christians of every age and station in life in these words of our text from Matthew 20. Christianity is all about service! Let’s impress that truth on our minds and hearts as we ponder these words of our Lord Jesus.

Part I.

This past Thursday was supposed to be a critical day in Washington. And then that critical day got pushed back to Friday. And then that critical day didn’t happen at all. There was supposed to be a vote taken in the House of Representatives on a bill that would replace ObamaCare with TrumpCare; at least, those are the popular names that Americans use for these two programs. Some political experts claimed it would be a critical moment for the Trump administration and other elected representatives. Only, it never occurred.

In today’s Gospel, did you catch the critical day in the life of our Lord Jesus, a day that actually occured? Jesus told his disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem.” Jesus and his disciples had been on this journey before. This wasn’t their first time in Jerusalem. But this time things were critical, eternally critical.

And Jesus knew exactly what he would face once they arrived within the walls of the holy city. And he didn’t try to protect his disciples from the ugly reality that awaited them. “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” Jesus doesn’t leave out a single important point. He would be betrayed. His betrayer was in that circle of the twelve that day. The Jewish leaders would condemn him for blasphemy deserving of death. But they had no authority to execute anyone. So they brought him before the Roman officials who brutalized him. Pilate declared him innocent but succumbed to the bloodthirsty wishes of the Jews. He was crucified. But that wasn’t the end of him. He would rise again.

What’s your reaction to those words? Well, since we know well how Jesus’ days in Jerusalem turned out for us, we’re not appalled at all. In fact, knowing and believing that he died for our sins and rose again from the dead fill us with eternal joy and confidence!

But imagine being one of the twelve disciples. This wasn’t the first time they had heard Jesus make this grim prediction. The disciples must have been filled with inner turmoil. Right up until the moment of his capture, they were opposed to Jesus allowing himself to be handed over to his enemies for execution. Their vision for Jesus’ future was far different. It was the polar opposite of bitter sufferings and cruel death.

But we know and believe by the grace of God that’s the way it had to be. Our path to eternal glory meant Jesus had to walk the path to Calvary’s cross. We know this wasn’t a tragic case of human injustice. We know this was the divine case of eternal justice. At Calvary’s cross God’s just demands for sin were met. There the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world. And wonder of wonders—the Lamb of God went there willingly! He went there even for those who had viciously blasphemed him, unjustly condemned him, and cruelly abused him. He went there for every single sinner in the world. Now that’s service of universal and eternal proportions!

Christianity is all about service. It’s founded on Jesus’ service for all.

Jesus’ death and resurrection served every sinner. That’s music to our ears. But think about if for a moment. That means he died for Pilate who was responsible for nailing him there. He died for Judas who betrayed him and Peter who denied him. He died for the soldiers who brutally beat him within an inch of his life. He died for the Jewish leaders who claimed he was the son of Satan and a diabolical phony. Humanly speaking, he died for people who didn’t deserve it. But that thinking tends to lead us to make a human distinction. The unspoken corollary to that thinking is that there are people for whom Jesus deserved to die, people like us, who love and trust in Jesus, who worship him and work to share his saving goods news; people who toe the Christian line and despise those who blatantly trash Christian norms and values. Surely our devotion to Jesus is worth something, isn’t it? Some act of divine kindness? Do you see what’s happened? We’re turned what Jesus did on its head. Instead of Jesus serving us and all sinners out of divinely pure love, we’ve made it into something we have coming to us. And when that’s our view of Jesus’ service, watch out! Hell is just around the corner, because that’s what we deserve. Go back to what we stated a moment ago. Jesus’ death and resurrection served every sinner. That includes me. It includes you. And that’s our comfort when the pangs of guilt crush us, when our sinful failures haunt us, when our sinful flesh gets the better of us. Jesus served every sinner. Christianity is all about service! Jesus’ service! His death! His resurrection!

Part II.

The fact that Jesus served us motivates us to serve him. His disciples picked up on that point, although they needed some divine guidance in doing it and Jesus provided it.

The topic of service in Jesus’ kingdom occurred due to an unusual request. Salome, the mother of James and John—two disciples who were close to Jesus—asked Jesus, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” Jesus was approached by Salome, but he knew that the request actually came from James and John themselves. That’s evident because he immediately turned his attention from Salome to them. And notice what Jesus doesn’t say. There’s no rebuke as if they had asked out of impure motives, such as selfishness or self-promotion. James and John knew that Jesus was going to Jerusalem in order to establish his kingdom. The positions on a king’s right and left provided the greatest opportunities for service. They wanted to serve Jesus.

But their thinking needed some correction. They’re under the impression that their serving would be all-glorious. That’s why Jesus asked, “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” Jesus was speaking about his sufferings. He wanted them to understand that their service in his kingdom would bring them suffering, too. James would be the first apostle to suffer martyrdom. John would die in exile on an island. That’s what serving in the kingdom would mean for them.

Jesus’ conversation with James and John didn’t sit well with the other ten disciples. We read, “They were indignant with the two brothers.” It’s best to understand these words in the sense that they were upset they hadn’t asked Jesus first. They wanted to serve in his kingdom, too.

Jesus took a moment to correct their faulty thinking. First he told them that the world’s way is for people to strive to be the one that calls the shots. That’s not the way it works in his kingdom. He stated, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must 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.” Life in God’s kingdom is service to others.

Christianity is all about service. It’s identified by our service for others.

Why are you here this morning? One good answer is to be fed spiritually with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He came to serve you with his life, his death and his resurrection. Another good answer to that question is so that you can be equipped to serve others out of love for Jesus. How accurately does that describe your Christian life? Is there a healthy balance between consuming the gospel and sharing the gospel as you serve others? No one served others perfectly, other than your Savior, Jesus. But that’s one of the reasons he forgives us for our failures to serve other as he did—so that we are renewed and motivated to serve. Christianity is all about service. Find your joy in serving Jesus as you serve others! Amen.