Sermon Reources available here...

                      

Sermon Reources available here...

                      

THE GREAT EXCHANGE: Servanthood

The Great Exchange:  Servanthood

Luke 1:5-28, Philippians 2:1-11

How many of you are pet owners?  When I was a little girl, I remember wanting a pet so badly.  My brother and sister and I would beg for a pet.  We wanted a dog and knew we would be great pet owners.  We promised to take care of our dog—to feed it, bathe it, clean up after it, to take it for walks—we had the best of intentions!  

Somehow, my parents went for it!  This is our dog (Show picture).  We loved her!  I remember bringing Molly home and fighting over who would feed her, take her out.  We fought over being the first to sleep with her in our room, and the first to bathe her.  However, that only lasted for about a week.  We quickly learned that although we loved our dog, we didn’t really want to do the work of taking care of her.  We began fighting over who HAD to be the one to feed her or to take her out.  We quickly went from “Me first” to “No, YOU go first!”  

Remembering our life with our dog reminded me of the truth that love is a lot more like work than it is like play. When I set about the task of loving, whether it be a pet or another human being, I usually end up giving more than I receive. You see, love inevitably costs something.

Love is not nearly as glamorous as we've been told it is. Infatuation gives you goose bumps and butterflies in your belly, but it seldom costs you anything. On the contrary, the more mature the love the more selfless it is, and the more selfless it is the less it demands a return. Love at its foundation is about sacrificial giving!

For example, love is changing a dirty diaper. Love is rocking a colicky baby. Love is getting up at 3 o’clock in the morning with a family member. Love is bringing a bowl of chicken soup to a sick friend. Love is staying up late waiting for your teenager to come home. In a word, I guess you could say that love is work. 

Love, in its highest form, is self-giving and pouring yourself out for the good of the other person. Another way to say that is, love is servanthood.  Servanthood is being willing to exchange your place of “me first” with “you first.”  Becoming a servant is exchanging your place of power and importance with one of humility and service.
This morning, I want to look at 3 examples of servants found in scripture.  As we are in the Advent season, I thought it would be appropriate to look at a few servants mentioned in the Christmas story.  These examples of servants are found in the first chapter in the Book of Luke.

Servanthood Example #1:  Luke 1:5-23--Story of Zechariah

So the story in Luke begins with a Jewish priest.  The priest’s name was Zechariah.  He was one of about 20,000 priests.  These priests would serve at the Temple, take care of the Temple, teach the people Scripture, and lead worship.  Because there were so many priests throughout Israel, they all could not serve at the Temple at one time.  So the priests were divided into groups and each group would serve two times a year for one week.

Zechariah belonged to the order of Abijah and it was his week to serve.  Not only was it his week, but out of the 1000 or so priests serving that week, only 2 priests were chosen each day to go and burn incense inside the Temple sanctuary.  This was a very important and sacred duty.  You were only allowed to do this once in your lifetime, and most priests were never given this opportunity.  It was not by chance, that Zechariah was chosen.

You are Zechariah and you have been chosen to enter this very sacred place to burn incense and to pray for the people of Israel.  What would you say?  What would you tell God?  Would you pray for a Messiah?  Would you ask God to help with something you are struggling with?  You see, Zechariah and his wife have been unable to have children.  

The people have gathered to worship.  Zechariah enters this very sacred place, and it was at this time that Gabriel appears.  Gabriel appears and brings a message.
The message must have amazed Zechariah.  The message “Your prayer has been heard. Your wife will have a son.  He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord – the Messiah.”  

Zechariah was a priest, a servant of God.  But Zechariah’s response surprises me.  Although Zechariah devoted his life to serving God, he doubts God’s messenger.  He would have known prophecies.  But he wanted proof.  He asks, “How can I be sure this will happen?”  Zechariah was being asked to exchange what he knew with something different.  Although Zechariah was serving God with his profession, when he was asked to do some hard work—to raise a child that would be different and that would have a hard yet important job—Zechariah doubted.  But, God was gracious.  The angel made Zechariah be quiet—literally—and God continued to use Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth as servants of God.  

Servanthood Example #2:  Luke 1:26-38—Story of Mary

 Six months later, the angel appears again.  This time he appears to an ordinary teenage girl named Mary. 

Mary was not a prophet.  She was not a priest.  She was not at God’s temple serving.  She was a simple young girl living at home and planning for her wedding.  She was engaged.  Even though she was not married, the only way her relationship could be broken was by death or divorce. There was a year waiting period before she could be married, and it was during this time that Gabriel appears and brings a message that would have a great impact on her life. 

The message: “You will give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be very great and will be called The Son of the Most High.”  

Can you imagine?  This young, ordinary Jewish girl, who would also have known the Scriptures predicting the coming of the Messiah, is now told that she will give birth to the Son of the Most High – The Messiah.   

Gabriel even instructs her to name the baby Jesus which means “The Lord saves.”
She too would have known the prophecies.  She asks, “How can this happen?” but she responds, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May everything you have said about me come true.”   The message didn’t completely make sense.  She didn’t completely understand, but still, she trusted.  Mary was willing to exchange all that she knew and all of her own plans to be used by God.  Mary was a servant.

How will you respond?

When it comes to living out love and becoming a servant, we choose how we will respond.  We can doubt that God could or would use us like Zechariah, or we can trust like Mary and be willing to become a servant, no matter the cost.  We have the choice of whether or not we will exchange our place of importance or our desire to please ourselves with a place of servanthood—to put others before ourselves.    
(Nouwen’s story— Nouwen is a renowned speaker and writer.  Nouwen helped Adam, a 25 year old man who is severely mentally and physically handicapped.  He spent almost 2 hours daily helping to wake him, give him his medication, carry him into his bath, wash him, shave him, clean his teeth, dress him, walk him to the kitchen, give him his breakfast, put him in his wheelchair and bring him to the place where he spends most of the day with therapeutic exercises."  Someone who was interviewing him saw Nouwen perform this morning ritual and questioned why he would waste so much of his time doing this—it wasn’t benefiting Adam, because he didn’t even know if was happening.  Nouwen informed him that he had completely misinterpreted what was going on. "I am not giving up anything," he insisted. "It is I, not Adam, who gets the main benefit from our friendship."  Adam taught him that “What makes us human is not our mind but our heart, not our ability to think but our ability to love.”)

 There are people all around us who are in need of our love—who need us to serve:  

o In our own community in Newark, there are individuals who are homeless or  trying to figure out how they will make it financially or how they will have Christmas.  

o In your own school or at work, there are people who are saying “Help me. I need a friend.”  “Help me.  My home is not a good situation.”  Help me.  I wish people would stop making fun of me.”  “Help me.  I need someone  to care.”

o There are students and kids younger than you saying, “Help me.  I need a mentor or a big brother or sister.” 

o Single moms who are saying “Help me.  I need others to build into my kids.”
  
o In our community, there are elderly saying “Help me.  I am lonely.”

o Handicapped or disabled

o People we avoid.  

o We need to be more aware of the needs around us. Start noticing.

If everyone would start doing something, imagine the difference you could make in your schools.  

o Imagine the difference it could make at your home.

o Imagine the difference we could make in our community.

Servanthood Example #3:  Phil 2:1-11—Story of Jesus

 As followers of Christ, we are called to live like Jesus lived—So, let’s close this morning by looking at his example.  In the Incarnation, Jesus demonstrated that love to the fullest. Paul says: "For the very fact he was in the form of God he took on the form of a servant." He subtracted nothing, but added everything. He maintained the fullness of God, while taking on what he was not before. Christ entered the stream of human life without advantage, claiming no rights or privileges of his own for the express purpose of placing himself completely at the service of all humankind.  In fact, this is why the people who were waiting for him didn’t even recognize him.  They were expecting a king, and got a baby instead.  They expected a warrior and got a peacemaker instead.  They expected power, but Jesus came as a servant.  

When Jesus came to earth he came for the purpose of expressing God's infinite love and he expressed it through serving. The Incarnation was God's primary way of establishing his presence in the world, and the church now serves as an extension of that presence. We are the "now" Incarnation of God. Jesus is God's compassion in the flesh, and we are called to be the same. By serving each other, we live out God’s love!

Let me ask you: What does power mean to you? Jesus came in weakness. How important is social standing and dignity to you? Jesus went to the cross.  How important is your happiness and your rights compared to those around you?  Jesus gave his life for us.

Love is costly. Love is work. Love is commitment. Love is a decision to serve in Jesus' name.

As we respond to the message this morning, we have the privilege of celebrating communion together.  The elements are going to be passed around as we sing In Christ Alone together.  As you hold the bread and juice in your hands, listen to the words of the song, and remember the love that Christ showed as he gave his life as a servant for all.  Please hold the elements until we take it together.  

Benediction:  As you go, may you be filled with the courage and strength to exchange your place of supremacy with that of servanthood as we follow Christ’s example to love God and serve others.  Amen.  

**parts of this message were taken from Preacher’s Magazine, Advent week 2 and from Tevis Austin



2009/12/06