Sermon
The Doctrine of the Kingdom of God - Part 12
The Occupation of the Kingdom--Servanthood
May 23, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

I pray that all of you have a set of notes, and we're going to follow quite closely to the notes today. For the last number of months we have been studying together one of the great doctrines of the scriptures and that is the doctrine of the Kingdom of God. And we have found it to be an immense subject, and what launched our minds into this search was that we found that in just the gospels alone there were over 130 references to the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven. So realizing the intensity of the subject, we took about 15 weeks.

This week we're going to talk about the occupation of the Kingdom of God, and then the Lord willing, we'll close our series next week with going into the parables and seeing what the parables of Jesus have to say about the Kingdom. Our subject today is the occupation of the kingdom -- servanthood.

Paul writes in the Ephesian passage, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." And then we find this story in Mark chapter 10:
"Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him. "Teacher," they said, "we want You to do for us whatever we ask."
"What do you want Me to do for you?" He asked.
They replied, "Let one of us sit at Your right and the other at Your left in Your glory."
"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"
"We can," they answered.
Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at My right or left is not for Me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."
When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and 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. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all.
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.""

And for an illustration of servanthood we go to the gospel of John, it says, "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God;
He riseth from supper; and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself.
After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.
Then cometh He to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him, "Want I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter saith unto Him, "Thou shalt never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me."
Simon Peter saith unto Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head."
Jesus saith unto him, "He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all."
For He knew who should betray Him; therefore saith He, "Ye are not all clean."
So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, "Know ye what I have done to you?
Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am.
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Verily, verily I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him."

Now we have considered the concepts of the Kingdom of God and we are constantly reminded that spiritual laws in Christ's teachings are in direct opposition to human philosophy and natural man's thinking. Jesus said you must die to live. That is you must die to self and live for others. He said you must give to get. He said give and it shall be given unto you. Jesus taught that all must lose to find. He that loseth his life for My sake, said Jesus, shall find it. And He taught that you must possess nothing to have everything.

The teachings of Jesus Christ are absolutely radical. And then He could say: "I am the way, the truth, and the life...here is the way, walk ye in it. And John reminds us: "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk as He walked." And thus in Christ's kingdom, greatness is not being great. He that is greatest is the servant of all.

Now the basic trouble in the human situation is that men wish to do as little as possible and get as much as possible. It is only when they are filled with the desire to put into life more than they take out, that life for themselves and others will be happy and prosperous. Selfishness versus servanthood, that's the issue.

One of the contemporary writers by the name of Wilbur Reese writes with penetrating sarcasm. He says, "I would like to buy about three dollars worth of God, please! Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I want ecstasy, not a transformation, I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper bag. I would like to buy three dollars worth of God, please!
And I might add...
Just enough of God to keep me from the fires of hell and assure me a place in His eternal home. Not enough to make me sensitive to the needs of my brother and sister, not enough to make me uncomfortable with my wealth while millions die of starvation...not enough of God to make me a servant, but just enough, please, so that I can be at ease in Zion!

Man's greatest enemy is himself, and his most obvious disease is selfishness. It was a wise man who wrote: "If I could kick in the seat of the pants the guy who gives me more unhappiness than anyone else, I wouldn't be able to sit down for a week! For we either must master selfishness or it will master us. Far too frequently in this life we are interested in only three persons: Me, myself and I.

Someone wrote:
"I had a little tea party, this afternoon at three.
'Twas very small--three guests in all...Just I, myself and me.
Myself ate all the sandwiches, while I drank up the tea,
'Twas also I who ate the pie, and passed the cake to me."

Me -- between services a lovely, doting grandmother came to me to introduce her new grandson, a little over a year old. And she said, Pastor, he's learned his first word. What is it, I asked. Me.

Tertullian, he's a writer of about 2000 years ago, a church historian, he penned these words: "He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies."

Pause -- there's nothing more lonely folks then to go to a funeral service with nobody present. A couple of years ago I was called to conduct a funeral service and I waited, and finally two people arrived. It's a lonely service when there's nobody present who cares because you lived so selfishly for yourself you left no impression on anybody else. That's lonely, but it's the product of selfishness.

On the other hand, the other day I met someone and he's always known for his good deeds and always trying to find things to do to help people, and somebody said, What are you doing? And he said, I'm rounding up a crowd for my funeral. And I thought now that's good. What he simply was saying is, I want to bless and bring joy to as many lives as possible so when it comes time for remembrance at least they'll have a positive remembrance of me. Just rounding up a crowd for my funeral.

Another has said: "The greatest difficulty with the world is not its ability to produce, but its unwillingness to share."

Move across with me to page 4. A good many years ago, the Salvation Army, known for its generosity and concern for the hurting of mankind scheduled an international meeting in the mid-west. They were hoping that General Booth, the founder, could be at the gathering, but because of bad health, he was unable to attend. He did promise though that he would send his message to give them new courage and direction for the decade of service before them.

The auditorium was jammed to the rafters and the crowd waited patiently for the leader of the meeting to open the telegram and read the message from General Booth. When the moderator opened the envelope to read the telegram, he frowned as he noticed there was only one word on the page; OTHERS.

Others. And that really is the message of the passage we have come to in our text for today..."SUBMIT YOURSELVES ONE TO ANOTHER IN REVERENCE TO GOD." Others! This was the message of Christ from the passage in Mark. "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all."

And Paul writes in the Philippian passage: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Others; selfishness versus servanthood, that's the issue. Servanthood is the by-product of a submissive spirit. Submissiveness and servanthood result from a reverence for Jesus Christ, for who He was and the example He set is submission. "Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom of many."

"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." And in Matthew 11 we find that Jesus tells us something about Himself. Notice it says, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest--relief, ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet--for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good) not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant; and My burden is light and easy to be borne."

Now Jesus uses the word gentle, and in the original it refers to 'strength under control,' it's also used of an ointment which takes sting out of a wound, soothing and calming. So a calming ointment then would be called a gentle ointment. And then Jesus used the word lowly, which meant to be made low. It refers to small and insignificant services by which one can help another, and it's the word for servanthood. Jesus describes Himself as a servant.

Paul is telling us in the Ephesian passage, that was the first verse that we read today, that the Spirit-filled life results in a life of servanthood, serving just like Jesus Christ, loving, caring and soothing the wounded along life's pathway. Now servanthood and humility have not been the most popular subject to preach. The very idea of serving and making oneself a servant is against the human grain. Remember, there is no competition in servanthood.

Nobody fought over the towel and the basin of Christ as He prepared to wash the disciples feet. And nobody fought with Christ to take His place on the cross! The greatest act of servanthood in the history of the world is Calvary.

Paul writes, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

Ladies and gentlemen, history's most wonderful example of servanthood was when Jesus Christ went to that cross. And at Calvary the great truth of servanthood was spoken in derision by those who taunted Him. They said, "He saved others, Himself He cannot save." But it's true, ladies and gentlemen, to give yourself to others in service requires that you deny yourself....your time....your energy....your concern....your attention, and you give your life away for others.

If a man will save others, if in any act of salvation whatsoever, the law he must obey, the stern condition he must fulfill, and the lot he must accept is that you cannot save yourself.

A little child was brought into a London hospital years ago suffering from a most virulent form of diphtheria. It was seen that all hope for saving his life lay in one operation. That was the sucking up, by means of a tube, the obstruction in the little boy's throat. And although he knew that death was a great probability, the physician, Samuel Rabbeth, young with a brilliant future opening up before him, willingly stooped over the boy, put the tube in his lips, and sucked out the poisoned pus. He paid the penalty. In a day the fell disease appeared in him; and in a week he was dead, but the boy lived. To save others, you cannot save yourself.

Pause. I think servanthood is often so beautifully displayed within the home by mothers; mothers who love their children. In the wee hours of the night as a child is crying mother gives up her sleep, her rest, and mother gives all of her attention to the care of the little one. That's servanthood. To minister to that little child it costs mother her night of sleep. To save others, you cannot save yourself.

The matter of sacrifice is at the heart of servanthood. A deed of self-sacrifice may be costly, it may be heroic, but it will not be one of entrancing beauty, satisfying both mind and heart, unless it is rooted and grounded in love. The sacrifices which ask no questions, count no cost, seek no personal gain, but give all and lose all--this is the heart of servanthood.

Move across with me to page 7. Being a servant did not mean occupying a servile position; rather, it meant having an attitude of freely attending to others' needs without expecting or demanding anything in return. Trying to exalt oneself by seeking honor, respect, and the attention of others runs contrary to Jesus' requirement for His servants. Only those who humble themselves in an attitude of service will find true greatness in God's Kingdom. And to Jesus, greatness comes from serving; it's giving yourself to help God and others. Service keeps us aware of others' needs, and it stops us from focusing only on ourselves.

Pause. I talked with someone just in recent days, not a happy person -- always focused on themselves. And I said I have a recommendation, you take the focus off your self and you start focusing on others, helping others, and you're going to find that life is going to take on a totally different perspective. If we focus on ourselves and all of our problems, it gets to be very, very difficult life, boring and hurtful. And I'm suggesting that when we become a servant we set our ideas and our needs aside and we give ourselves unreservedly in love for the needs of others, you're going to change your own attitude about life.

Now the next passage is one, ladies and gentlemen, of all the Scriptures that really haunt me. And I say this because it really gets right to the core, the heart of servanthood. Look at what it says: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

Then He will also say to those on the left hand, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me." Then they also will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?" Then He will answer them, saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me." And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Now true greatness among the Lord's followers is only achieved by the humility which takes the lowest place, and the unselfishness which makes work for others the guiding principle of conduct. The greater a man is, the more menial is the service which he is ready to undertake. Referring back to the passage we just read in Matthew, I suggest again it always drives me to my knees.

For what is the standard by which God is going to judge us on that eternal day? What's the standard? Not how many verses in Sunday school did we learn, not how many times we went to church, not how much we gave; what's the standard? And what strikes me at once is the simplicity of the standard. It is helpfulness and kindness to one another, it's feeding the hungry, it's clothing the naked, it's visiting the sick; that's servanthood. And the only question God's going to ask is: To what extent have you been a helper, a burden-bearer, a center of active sympathy and service and love in the midst of our hurting world?

Do you see the problem? Selfishness. The question that concerns Jesus is, What are we doing to help others? Paul writes in one of the translations: For me to live is for the life of Christ to be relived in my living. We are to take the place of Christ in our hurting world. We're to wipe the tears, we're to feed the hungry, we're to clothe the naked; that's why we're here as Christians, and if we're not doing that, we don't have much Christianity. Because the issue at the judgment will be, Did you minister to others? You see the Bible says, "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

Paul reminds the folks at Colossi, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion..." That's the opposite of selfishness. "...clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Selfishness versus servanthood, that's the issue. Service and serving others is the rent we pay for the space that we occupy in this world, and if we don't help others we very miserably live in selfishness.

Now the way to be master is to be servant;
The way to get up is get down;
The way to receive is to give;
The way to be rich is to be poor;
And the way to be wise is to be a fool for Christ;
And the way to be exalted is to abase yourself;
And the way to live is to die.

Dying to self and our selfish needs and our selfish ambitions, and our selfish goals in life and saying, that's secondary, others are first. So here's our prayer:
O Master, let me walk with Thee in lowly paths of service free;
Tell me the secret and help me bear the strain of toil and the fret of care.

You know family that if all of us served as servants there would be no need in the family of God that would not be met. If there are people hurting, we would be reaching out to bring them joy. If people we knew had a need, we'd be doing something about that need, and if we were truly living out our Christianity, there would be no unmet needs in the body of Christ, and I believe, in the world around us.

Let's make it our prayer, God, You help us to take the focus off of ourselves and heal us of this dreaded disease of selfishness. Help us as Christians, this week, to turn our attention on those around us who need our love, who need our help, who need our assistance to make it through life. Help us to serve them as You would serve them dear Jesus I pray. Amen? God bless you. God bless you.