Mark 10:42-45, "Jesus called them to himself and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them yet it shall not be so among you. Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant and whoever desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the son of man didn't come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many".
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word this morning. Spirit of God, we thank you that you've been in this place, already we thank you for the giving to the missionaries. Lord, we do lift them up right now, even in Russia where our missionaries are facing an even more difficult time. I pray Lord that many souls, even today, would come to Jesus. Father, in this place, let your word have its way and may we decrease and may you increase for your glory. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Being first, being number one, being the greatest, the idea of dominance and prominence is as old as men. Everybody wants to be number one. In America we are driven to be number one. Our teams should be number one, our kids should be number one academically. Number one is driven into our minds. There's a story that I got out of "God's word for today" about an old ambitious student at a very competitive college and just before entering his senior year he met an eastern mystic who said, "Can't you see you're polluting your soul with this success oriented way of living? Your idea of happiness is to work around the clock, to study so you can get a better grade than the next guy, that's not how you're supposed to live. Come join us in a special place where we all share together and love one another". Thinking it was a great idea he called his parents, told them he was dropping out of school to live in the commune. Six months later they received a letter from him that said, "Dear Mom and Dad, I know you were upset about my decision but I want to tell you how it has changed my life. For the first time I'm at peace. Here there's no competing, no trying to get ahead of anyone. This way of life is so in harmony with my inner self that in only 6 months I've become the number two disciple of the entire commune and I think I can be number one by June".
One of Jesus' most important decisions and discussions with his disciples was on a trip to Capernaum. He sat them down and said, "If anyone desires to be first he shall be last of all and servant of all". I believe that if Jesus were to come here today, not only would he preach the good news of salvation to everyone and let them know that he has come to set us free and to heal our lives but I believe that one of the primary messages that he would speak to Christians would be on servanthood. I think he would talk to us about loving one another, about caring for one another. In the Kingdom of God, true winners are those whose lives have been changed by God and who begin to live their lives to benefit others around them, they're called servants.
A couple of weeks ago, those who remember Jon Srock who came to intern here at the church, we began to pray that in December he'd actually get a call. Jon is legally blind, he is a wonderful young man who loves the Lord Jesus and grew up in my youth group. He came here and served us as an intern for 5 weeks. We prayed that as he graduates and gets his masters in December that he would begin to find God's place for him as a senior pastor or staff member in a church. So he began to send out his resume's in the last couple months before he's even graduated and he got a call from a church. He was so excited and came to me asking for my advice. He said all these other people have been talking to me saying that I need to be careful because some of these places want you to come and be an associate pastor but all they're looking for is a glorified janitor. He said, "What should I do about that?"
I said, "You pray and you seek the face of God. The truth is this, stop listening to all these other college students who haven't been spending any time in prayer. Stop listening to all those other people because God needs us to be servants. Before you're ever going to be any good to anybody, in order to pastor people and to love people to Jesus, you're going to have to be a servant of all. If they call you to clean toilets then you make sure they're the best toilets they've ever had. So he's still waiting to find out.
Today's mindset even among our Bible school students, they are being taught that there are things that are beneath them. But I want to tell you, there is nothing that is beneath the child of God because God says we are called to be the servant of all.
Phillipians 2:5-8 says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross".
Jesus is our example and the Bible tells us that no man is greater than his master. How many here today have made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, how many have made him the master of your life? That means that if he would come and serve you and me, If the God who created you and me would come to serve us, there is not one of us who would ever be better than he is. He's the greatest example we could ever set.
The Bible says that Jesus made himself of no reputation. The Son of God, all powerful, all knowing, could do anything with just the word of his mouth, he was there at the beginning of creation but he wasn't worried about his reputation. How many know that too many people are worried about their reputation? As a matter of fact, If we would be more concerned about serving people and less concerned about our reputations, our reputations would take care of itself. Jesus called us to be the servant of all.
Service in the Kingdom of God is called ministry. It's teaching the word, meeting people's needs, healing the sick, caring for the poor, helping people to find salvation, helping people to reach their full potential, helping those who not only are less fortunate financially but helping those who are going through hard times, standing with them, crying with them, encouraging them and blessing them and being there for each other through thick and thin.
The truth is that every member of the body of Christ has a ministry. God has something for you and me to do. Let me ask you a question, what is your ministry? What is your call? What is the passion that God has laid on your heart? More than sitting down and eating potato chips, watching tv and being a couch potato. Now I can tell you tonight you can find me 8:00 to 11:30, the Steelers are playing, I'll be watching them, but listen, I've got more to do with my life than watching football. That will never change anyone's life. What's your ministry? Christian, what are you called to do? Who are you called to touch? Who are you called to bless? The truth is, a Christian who does not have a ministry is not in the will of God. I want you to know what your ministry is. Have you asked the Lord, what can I do for you this week? Who are you going to send in my path that I can be a blessing to?
I want you to know who the heroes of the faith are. The heroes in our churches are those who every week go out and touch the lives of others. There's heroes who are sitting in the nursery right now taking care of some of our kids, changing diapers. You want to talk about doing ministry, changing someone else's kid's diapers is servanthood. You may not be called to change diapers, I wasn't, I hated to change my own kid's diapers. But there are other things that I can do. The real heroes are the ones who are back there with the pre-schoolers right now. There was a lady who came to me this week and said she was reaching the homeless of Jupiter, and is there anyway that our church can be a help? I'm going to be meeting with her, we're going to figure that out, there's got to be something we can do, but she's the one that's out there. They haven't had a bath, they haven't had anything to eat, they haven't had their clothes washed. On Wednesday she's going to give them a change of clothes, bring them to the laudromat and wash their clothes, teach them a Bible study while their clothes are being washed and then give them a nice hot meal. How many know that's being a servant? The truth is they are the people that we see when we drive down the street and kind of get upset when they're hanging outside of Walmart, we wish they would just go somewhere where we can't see them. How many know God made sure they'd be sitting right outside of the store so we'd do something about it?
Christian, what's your ministry? The heroes are those who could be sitting in the church service right now but are back there taking care of the kids and those who are going out on the mission field. My wife, before we left today reached into the change and filled up a buddy barrel. The real heroes are those whom we're going to send that money to as they're digging wells and making sure people who have never heard the gospel get to know about Jesus. Heroes are those who know their ministry and they reach beyond themselves to take Jesus to the world.
The truth is that there is so much pressure on people today to win that it's almost unbearable. You've got to win, you've got to be number one, you've got to make straight A's at school, you've got to graduate at the top of the class. If your kids are playing football or baseball they've got to win. If you're on the job you should be the best salesman there, your company should be number one, you should be the one at the top. The truth is that no one can live up to all that pressure, to be number one, to win, to have the biggest house, nicest car, best vacation, most stylish clothes. Listen, I believe we need to have a winning attitude. How many know God isn't raising up losers, he's raising up winners?
I believe that when kids are playing sports that there should be winners and losers. All this talk about how the game is going to be lopsided and you're going to hurt poor Johnny's feelings, how many know you're going to teach character to kids one way or the other. You teach them if they win how to be a good winner and not to dog the other team if they lost. You teach them If they lose the game, even if it's a blowout, that you still played your heart out, you have tenacity, you get in there and don't quit, you keep going. Then you walk off the field having left your all there even if you lost the game and did the best you could, you're walking out a winner. How many know that's true? But in America we don't teach that, if the kids walk off losing, we take them out and yell at them.
There's so much pressure that no one can really live up to. When we were growing up there was a movie from my generation in the 80's called "The Breakfast Club". There was one kid who was a wrestler and his Dad was living his dreams through him. The dad would look at that wrestler after the kid had done something bad to another kid because the kid was weak. He wasn't the strongest kid, he had taped him up and when they took the tape off all the hair came off. He said, "Do you know why I did that to that kid? Because all I could hear in my ear was, ?Andrew, you've got to be the best. All your intensity is nothing if you don't win. You've got to win and those who are weak you should take them over and help make them stronger and if they won't be stronger you beat them down so they know that you're better'. He said, "that kid that I did that to didn't do anything to me. I felt so bad because all I had was that pressure in my head to win". In today's culture, even if you've been on top, people celebrate because they get to move ahead or just feel better about themselves but the truth is you will never ever always be on top. How many of you have found that there are times in life when you are doing really well and there's times in life when you're not doing so hot?
Those who are successful, those who are the winners are the servants of all. A servant uses their life to lift others up. Winning is good but it's not everything. Winning is not based on what we accumulate, it's not the size of your organization, it's not the size of your church, it's the size of your heart and what you're doing for the Lord. Greatness in God is found in humble service. Christians are winners but winning isn't found in your wealth. There are some churches that will tell you that if you're not wealthy then somehow you are under the curse of God. That couldn't be farther from the truth. I want to tell you that God will bless people and encourage people and help people and if you will do the things of the Lord you will be blessed. But some people think that if they're not living high off the hog or their house isn't the nicest one then they feel like they've failed Jesus. Listen, you tell that to Sister Teresa who didn't have a penny to her name but went over to India and gave her life. She not only won people to Jesus but made sure that they were fed and clothed and cared for. She may not have been wealthy but she was a winner. That's what God has called us to be, winners who serve him.
Romans 8:37 says, "And in all these things as Christians, we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us". The truth is that I may not be able to live up to the world's standards but I can measure up to God's. The world's standards are always changing, they're fickle. One day this makes you the top, the next day this makes you the top. How many have ever found yourself caught up in the craziness of trying to be the top according to the world? Somehow that has even crept into the church. God help us. May the church never have the same measuring stick as the world does. You want to see God's measuring stick? It's right here in his word. The truth is God knew that you and I could never do this whole thing on our own. How many of you have ever messed up trying to serve God? God knew that even when he gave you the standard to live up to that he was going to give us help so that when we messed up he was still there to pick us up, he was still there to give us the strength to live for him. The world won't give you a hand, they'll tell you how to do things and when you can't make it they'll kick you, spit on you and treat you like you're nothing. But those who are winners in Christ, when they see those people going through the hard times they give them a hand. They say "This is real life that we're living, we've got a real God that we're serving, and if you can't stand I'm going to help you stand. How about when I can't stand, you help me stand? We'll be serving one another and if we'll do that then we're all going to be alright".
I can live up to God's standards. God is powerful, if I can use my gifts and talents to help others, to help them find Jesus and to help them be healed, that's greatness and that's a winner. I want to tell you that God desires every church to move from good to great. Jim Collins wrote a book a few years back that many businesses are using entitled "From good to great", It helped transform businesses. The difference between a good church and a great church is its service. Some people will say the difference between a good church and a great church is how big a church is. I've seen big churches that do nothing for Jesus and I've seen little churches that are changing their city left and right. I believe that what God is doing here at Harvest Community Church is a great work but how we move to greatness is to be the servant of all as each member becomes a minister. The word "Minister"isn't the same as the word "Pastor", that's different. A minister simply means this, "Servant".
When I first started pastoring, my pastor looked at me and said, "Marvin, you're taking up a great service but every pastor that isn't a servant isn't worth his salt in the least". I'll never forget it. You know what the first thing was that he told me to do when I came on staff with him? "Marvin, go clean the bathroom". "But I'm a pastor now". He said, "Yes you are, here's a bottle of bleach, a toilet brush and a mop, get to it young man". I want to tell you that changed my life forever, I thank God for that. Many in today's world treat church as they treat God with a consumer mindset, "What's in it for me?"They go from church to church like spiritual connoisseurs. Listen, It's important to find a good church but once you get in it, get plugged in and begin to help other people come to Jesus. Begin to use your gifts and talents to help others.
Someone came to me the other day and was talking to me about our church. He said to their friend as they were telling him about what God was doing here, and he said "Oh, that little church in Jupiter". She said, "Yes, it's a little church but it's one of the most powerful churches that I?ve ever been in". When they came and told this to me I thought, that's true and I began to think about this. The reason it's become a powerful church is because it's full of servants, great servants who know how to find the need and fill it, great servants who know how to see a hurt and heal it.
It doesn't matter the size of the thing that you're doing, what matters is the size of what God is doing through you and someone else's life. I want to ask you, Christian, today are you plugged in somewhere? Not just here, are you plugged into the ministry that God has for you? When you're at work, maybe your call is to touch the people around you. Maybe God has asked you to bring someone that you know is hurting, going through a hard time in their marriage and you see that they are in a desperate place, maybe God has you there so you take that person out to lunch and just be a friend and allow God to let that conversation touch their life. Great servants find those needs and begin to meet it. Those who are winners also understand the urgency of servanthood.
While the rest of the world is panicking about what is going in America, I'm getting excited about it. How many know that we live in the greatest time of all the world? How many believe we live in the last days? How many believe time is short? How many believe Jesus is coming back? Real winners, real servants understand the urgency of time. While the economy is going through it's thing, everytime America has gone through a crisis there has been a spiritual awakening in our nation that has done a marvelous work as people come to Jesus. I look at the stock market and I don't care what your political preference is or what you thought they should or shouldn't do, they are going to do something and God is going to have his way anyway. Even if the wrong person according to you gets elected President, God is going to use that to usher in the end times anyway. How many understand, we're going to have to see a one world economy, we're going to have to see a one world ruler, we're going to have to see all that come to pass. Why? Because we already read the book, we see it being set up and it doesn't take any Christian by surprise.
You may get all panicked because you don't have as much money as you thought you would for retirement. You're a servant, you don't have time to retire anyway. When I see this happening, I know that people are going to come to Jesus. I love that, people that may have never wanted me to pray for them are going to need some prayer, they are going to welcome it and God is going to come through for them, God will do the miracle. Those who are servants understand the urgency.
I was loving last week as I was watching the Steelers, everyone was hurt and wounded, it seemed like every key player was leaving the field. We're Pittsburgh people, we're just tough, you can beat us up and we still get up. Somehow they found a way to win. Listen to me, some of you are under such attack by the enemy, you think Pittsburgh people are tough, how many know Jupiter people are tough? How many know Christians are tough? They find a way through Jesus Christ to get back up even when they're wounded, even when they're going through their hard times. They understand how urgent it is that they win and that God wins and that people are won to Jesus.
Amy Carmichael, the great missionary, a few years back was winning soul after soul for Jesus. When she looked at people, her ministry wasn't a job, it was life. I believe that's true of every Christian who loves God. Someone may say, "Pastor, I didn't want to bother you, I know it was your day off". Listen, the truth is there are no days off. If I get a couple chances to relax, that's cool. Tonight If I get a chance to sit down and watch the football game I'm going to love it but if someone needs me, it's just football, I can read the paper tomorrow.
The Bible says the greatest among us will be the servant of all. I want you to hear me church, there is no greater winner than a soul winner. The truth is that when you bless people you will be blessed, life will have purpose and meaning and the servants of God realize how much is at stake.
True servants understand the importance of dressing for success. In John 13:3-8 it says, "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hand and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. He came to Simon Peter who said to him, "Lord, are you washing my feet?" Jesus said to Him, "What I am doing you don't understand now but you will know after this". Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet". Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me".
Verse 12 says, "When he had washed their feet, taking his garment he sat down again and said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you say well for so I am. If I then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done. Most assuredly I say to you that a servant is not greater than his master nor is he who is sent greater than those who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them".
The Bible said that Jesus took off his garments and girded himself in a towel and said if you want to be like me you've got to be the servant of all. Jesus said he who would be great in God's Kingdom must be the servant of all. Peter said, "Jesus, you're never going to wash my feet, I don't want any part of that, you're God". Jesus said to Him, "Peter, If you're ever going to be any use to me I must wash your feet". Everybody wants the pretty jobs. If you want to be great in God's Kingdom you must be the servant of all. It doesn't matter who you are, how much money you make, what kind of job you have, what kind of car you drive, young or old, rich or poor.
When I came to this church God said, "Marvin, I'm going to show you how you're going to reach Jupiter. Take your handkerchief, I want you to see the net, the way you touch people. He said, "I came for everybody, he showed me the 4 corners, the young, the old, the rich and poor. What you have kind of works like a net, but if you'll reach out and touch them, the city can be changed. If my people who are called by my name will follow my example and serve others and reach the lost, there are so many people. We're blessed, we're in a full church this morning, but there's so many people without Jesus. So what if I might not be able to eat steak or my portfolio goes down, God knows I could go a couple weeks on just water.
Our High School, Dwyer High School this week, as kids sat in class, some kid dropped his book bag and a gun went off. My daughter graduated from Dwyer last year and my boys go there next year. A football star who doesn't have a whole lot, comes from Belle Glade. Most of us from Jupiter don't go to Belle Glade because we're afraid. This football kid comes out of a dance at 2 in the morning and someone shoots him for a gold necklace. How many of you have been saved out of a whole lot of stuff? I'm talking about a Jesus who cleaned us, a God who has healed us. The things that I've been through, he's taken and they've become tools. I've seen my family go through divorce, the abuse that I've seen my sisters go through, the rapes that I've seen, people who have died. Listen, you've got your own testimony but God touched me in the midst of that. The truth is this, sometimes I'm so concerned about being a winner that I forget what a winner really is, just helping someone else get clean, just helping someone else. I don't know how to help everybody but Jesus does and all he's called us to do is to be a servant. I want to tell you as your Pastor, I'm excited about what I see happening here. What makes us a winner is service. "He who will be great in the Kingdom of God is servant of all".
