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As the Servant
Presenter: Larry Kirkpatrick
Location: Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church, California, USA
Delivery: 2007-01-06
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2007-01-07 04:57Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kir-astheservant.php
And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as He that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me; That ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:24-30).
The Christian says that Jesus is his pattern. And the Bible says He should be. But all too often, our pattern is not Jesus. Claiming to be His disciples—(claiming you are a Christian automatically means you are claiming you are His disciple)—somehow, copying His life drops out of our thinking. We revert to an unmindfulness, a being our less-than-fully-converted selves, and slip into unconverted modes of thought and behavior. The kingdom of God suffers.
The disciples began to wrangle over who (after Jesus) would be greatest in the new kingdom. When all should have been willing to serve in whatever capacity Jesus offered, some of them, at least, were planning their new portfolios as government officials. They were thinking ahead about how they would exercise their new authority.
How often do Christians bring with them old principles, old issues about control, right into the church! In the sanctum of unselfishness, the matrix of purity of motive, a theater from the past is played-out. Angels cringe, demons smile, fellow-travelers who know that we claim to be Christians, say, “What is this?” It’s a rerun.
Some disagree but do not intend to cause problems and quietly disappear. Converted people can disagree.
But there are those who bring political methods to church. There are those who are ready to fight, who seem to specialize in being petty. We forget that joining a church means living with your brethren and sisters, accepting that they may make choices with which one does not agree. It is, after all, pride that says that my opinion is so important, my opinion must take precedence, my opinion must be first, even at the cost of unity in the family of God.
Whereas liberals have trouble seeing that there are boundaries, the bane of conservatives can be an inability to determine which issues in the church are issues of conscience and which are matters of personal preference. The unity of the church should never be sacrificed for matters of personal preference.
Jesus would say to us, do stand for principle, but be willing to lay aside your personal preferences. The high and holy purpose of God’s kingdom is much more important than the low and selfish purpose of exalting one’s private opinion. Jesus would say, “Repent ye, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” He wants a converted church because only a converted church can testify of the Converter.
We gather here today for communion, and remind ourselves of the teaching of Jesus. Whereas in other places, other venues, the methods of the world and of the unconverted man may see use, among you it shall not be so. Jesus said, “Ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” Jesus set the example. He was the greatest among them. He is God! But He set the example of service. Not self-service. He said that He was among them as He who serves. How shall we be among this church family?
If we are echoing Jesus we will come as the servant. We will not lightly throw away the unity of the church, not lightly behave so that the cause of Christ is undermined.
Sometimes something happens in a church, and the members are left wondering what is going on, what is the big issue? Sometimes there is no big issue. Someone is manifesting stubbornness and making the church pay their price.
What shame! What ego!
Jesus said, “I am among you as He that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations.” Your task and mine is to keep mindful that Jesus is among us as the Servant. If we keep that before us, if we say to Heaven, “Father, work in my heart so that self is subdued,” then we will be those who continue with Jesus in His temptations. Humility goes before glory, unselfishness before blessing, and service before honor.
Our business is not just to be individuals but to be members of the body of Christ. Our business is to copy Christ and to pray that we will not dishonor Him or His kingdom by trying to exercise lordship over our brethren in exalting our private opinions.
How shall we subdue self? We are born with a dangerous nature. Then we begin to shape our character by the choices we make. Self is what happens when a defective humanity makes choices for self-indulgence. A character is formed that has learned to put self-interest before the needs of others. Like Satan who wanted to be first, longed to receive worship, we are our own little satans, developing into fully fledged ones. But God wants to change that. He demonstrates power through Christ and His gospel, to remake our characters, exactly one decision at a time. Self can be subdued. God can change us. His power to change us can be seen in the world. Christianity cannot be a paper tiger any more. The world is watching and watching us closely. They may not know all the details of theology, but they tend to know a Christian when they see one. When they hear you talk, when they see your behavior, what do they think? What message are you sending? Are you a window into Heaven’s world, or a video for selfishness?
Jesus came from Heaven; God came down and entered human flesh. Satan said we could not obey God’s law, that the divine expactations were unfair. But
Christ overcame the temptations of Satan as a man. Every man may overcome as Christ overcame. He humbled Himself for us. He was tempted in all points like as we are. He redeemed Adam’s disgraceful failure and fall, and was conqueror, thus testifying to all the unfallen worlds and to fallen humanity that man could keep the commandments of God through the divine power granted to him of heaven. Jesus the Son of God humbled Himself for us, endured temptation for us, overcame in our behalf to show us how we may overcome (Selected Messages, vol. 3, p. pp. 136, 137).
Jesus lived a life of goodness, kindness, righteousness, and holiness. He showed us that it could be done in our kind of humanity. Although He had a right to use His own divine power, He refused to use it, and overcame every temptation in His long walk to Calvary by praying and receiving divine strength from the Father. Jesus not only died on the cross in our place, He made Himself our pattern. He longed for us to see how to live before the world in the way that rightly represents Him.
When you think of the cross, what do you think of? Unselfishness. Jesus could have left us to die in our own soup. Instead, He came to pay the penalty for our sins, and to heal us. Isaiah understood, for he rejoiced that Jesus “was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
May the Lord who suffered for His bride, His church, be honored by her. May she stand firmly in Christ with self subdued. Let us be actively seeking to copy our Lord, to function as did He, as servants in the midst of His church. If we want Jesus to come, then “We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Romans 12:5). And if we don’t want Him to come, then we are not Christians, and not Seventh-day Adventists. May God help His church. GCO
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