Have it
your way!
Do
yourself a favor.
You owe
it to yourself.
You
deserve a break today.
I, me,
mine, myself. That is the message of our
culture.
Even the
phrase “Look out for number 1.” Think
about that. We all know who number one
is, don’t we? Who’s number one- no, It
can’t be you. If I am number one, it
can’t be you. There only room for one
number one in this world. Each and every
one of us thinks that that WE
are that number one.
We all
know that coming in second is not as good as coming in first.
Loosing
is not as good as winning.
Being
last in line is not as good as being first in line.
Being
smallest is not as good as being biggest.
Having
second best is not as good as having the best.
Being Ms.
Congeniality is not as good as winning the crown.
Telling
the boss I almost got it
done, or I was almost on
time, or I almost got it
fixed is not as good as finishing the job.
In fact, you may be ALMOST
unemployed.
We live
in an I, ME, MINE, MYSELF, look out for number one- society. No one wants to be second best, no one wants
to be second place, no one wants to be second fiddle.
Listen
to this- “He did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made
himself nothing and took on the form of a servant.” He did not think being number one was
important, so he made himself nothing.
“Nothing?” We can’t take “nothing” to the bank, to the
lake, or on vacation. We can’t take “nothing”
to the self-esteem seminar. We can’t
live in “nothing.” We can’t retire on “nothing.”
There is nothing good about “nothing.” Yet Jesus made himself “nothing.”
But
wait, there’s more here. He made himself nothing. He was not forced into “nothing.” He was not tricked into “nothing.” He didn’t accidently become “nothing.” He chose it.
Think of that descent from heaven to earth-- from God to nothing. You can try to measure it . . . but there is no ruler, no speedometer, and no
number of light years that begins to measure Jesus’ descent from heaven to
earth. Jesus went from being God,
hearing the angels sing “Holy, Holy, Holy;” to having to use doors, eating
sheep, riding mules, getting tired and
going to the bathroom. The omniscient,
omnipresent, omnipotent second person of the trinity yielded to the binding
restrictions of the flesh. [i]
It gets
worse… Jesus gave up “Holy, Holy, Holy;”
for “Hey Jew boy,” “Hey King of the Jews.”
He traded worship for curses, praise for spit in his face, and a throne
for a rough, splintery, deadly cross. He
gave up perfection and took on your sin.
He was flooded with every hate that was ever felt, every impure notion
ever thought, every cruel word ever said, every loving deed left undone.
That is
what it means to say - “He did not count equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing (… made himself NOTHING!) and took on the form of a servant.”
The
problem for us is that we are called to do the same. As hard as it is for us to swallow… as hard
as it is for us to grasp… as hard as it is for us to understand… we are called
to give up looking out for number one in order to become nothing.
Becoming
a servant means giving up our concern for our own comfort and becoming nothing.
Becoming
a servant means giving up our concern for respectability and becoming nothing.
Becoming
a servant means giving up our need to control and becoming nothing.
Let’s
look at each one of those.
How
important is your own comfort? You might
protest, oh not very important. But what
comforts would you be willing to give up for someone else?
·
Would
you give up some food? Many of us
should.
·
Would
you give up some of your money? Most of
us do.
·
Are
you willing to give up your lazy boy for an hour to attend the education commission
meeting to make sure that we have camperships for children to go to camp.
·
Are
you willing to give up your favorite table at the restaurant on Sunday noon in
order to help set up for an event later that week?
·
Are
you willing to give up 15 minutes of your week to prepare to be liturgist, or
share kings kids. Would you give up an hour in order to teach, or help with
light suppers?
·
Would
you trade in your comfortable, reliable car for 2 older cars so you could give
one to a single mother who doesn’t have transportation? (Now I’ve gone from preaching to meddling haven’t
I?)
·
Would
you give up some of your comfortable space (say your extra room, your den, or that
living room you never use except when the preacher visits?) so that a man who
just lost his job might have a warm place for his children to sleep?
·
Would you give your boots to the homeless person
that walks the ditches collecting cans?
Fortunately,
your chances of being asked to do some of those things might be kid of slim,
but would you? Don’t answer too
fast. Let it sink in and really think
about it.
Which is
more important to you: Your own comfort
or loving someone else? Which is more
important to you: Your own comfort or someone
else’s safety? Which is more important
to you: Your own comfort or following
Jesus’ example to serve? “He did not think
his own comfort was something to be grasped, so he made himself nothing. “
How
important is your respectability. By
that, I mean what other people think of you.
How important is it to you that other people think well of you?
·
Do
you really care that people think you are wasting your time going to
church? Probably not or you wouldn’t be
here?
·
How
much do you care what people think about that pile of scrap metal you are
storing behind your garage for the youth scrap drive?
·
How
much do you care about what people think about you befriending and helping that
family down the street that always has a messy yard and the children’s clothes
are always stained?
·
Do
you really care if someone thinks you are naive for giving gas money to the guy
at Casey’s or helping that family that seems to always be in crisis?
We each
probably have a hundred opportunities a week to serve someone. How many opportunities do you turn down
because you are afraid of what others will think? Which is more important to: Your own respectability and reputation or
following Jesus’ example to serve. “He
did not think his own respectability something to be grasped, so he made
himself nothing. “
Control.
We all like to have power. We
like to control our schedules, our money, our behavior, our future. We would even like to control the people around us. But being a servant means giving up some of
that control.
·
A
phone call comes, asking for a ride to the doctor. You had planned to do three or four other
things that afternoon. Are you willing
to let go of that control?
·
You
are given the opportunity to fill in teaching at LIGHT for just one night. You don’t usually come because it interferes
with one of your favorite TV shows. The
question is, control or service.
·
Most
of us would drop what we are doing for a friend. Some for the church. But where do you draw the line? What about a neighbor? The person down the street? An acquaintance from across town? A traveler passing through town? The homeless person who sleeps under the 4th
street bridge? The alcoholic who got
himself in trouble again? The youth who
got in trouble again? Who are you
willing to allow to interrupt the order of your life?
Which is
more important to you: Having the power
to control your life or following Jesus’ example to serve? “He did not think his own power something to
be grasped, so he made himself nothing. “
I finally come to the scripture for the
day. Mom asks Jesus for a favor for her
sons; that one sit on the left and the other on the right hand when he comes
into his kingdom.[ii] We hear that story and scoff. How could she be so greedy? How could she be so blind?
Think of
it this way. She wasn’t trying to be
greedy. She didn’t ask for the center
throne. She only asked for the two
subordinate thrones. And this was James
and John, two of the three favorite disciples.
The
other disciples became “indignant.” Not
because they thought this was an inappropriate request, but because they
weren’t about to let the Zebedee boys take their
rightful place in the kingdom. If
anyone deserves to be number one disciple in the kingdom it’s me, said Peter
the rock. But then Bartholomew, James
the lesser, Thomas, and each of the other disciples chimed in too. No way- that’s my spot. I’m his favorite. I’m number one.
Does
that sound familiar? It sure does.
·
Have
it your way!
·
Do
yourself a favor.
·
You
owe it to yourself.
·
You
deserve a break today.
I, me,
mine, myself. That is the message of our
culture. And this story is
"us" all over again.
Jesus replies
to the mother of James and John and to the disciples saying, categories, and
rank, and status, and comfort, and respect and power all mean something in this
world. Being number one is important to
people in this world. But not in my
kingdom.
In my kingdom
loving others, putting others first and serving others makes you number
one. Remember number one is right next
to the number 0. Those who try to be
number one, will end up as zeros. Those
who put others first, and make themselves nothing will be number one.
Leonard
Bernstein was asked by an interviewer, “Which role in the symphony is hardest
to fill?” Bernstein replied, “The
second fiddle. I can get plenty of first
violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with
enthusiasm.”
Jesus is
looking for a whole bunch of people who will play second fiddle with enthusiasm
in the Kingdom of God.
Every
bone in your body says “NOT ME.” Remember,
Jesus gave up his heavenly throne for you. ... . are you really going to tell him “NOT ME? “
SERVE:
yes you!
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