Sunday
10/17/21 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Not To Be Served But To Serve”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c
New Testament Scripture: Hebrews 5:1-10
Gospel Lesson: Mark 10:35-45
Isn’t it amazing when someone you revere
or who has great power and status decides to serve others? When such a person
gets their hand dirty and works alongside of you, like they are not a person of
great power and status? For example, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.
Imagine, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord kneeling to wash your feet.
Sometimes when we choose “Not To Be Served But To Serve” it has a powerful
effect on people. Sometimes when we humble ourselves and do for others, it empowers
them, it makes them feel loved, and it draws them closer to Jesus Christ. This
is because people will see our faith and our love for Christ, and how we are
serving like him. This can result in people giving there lives to Christ, living
like Christ, and serving like Christ.
I know I have talked about in church a
few times, one my favorite movies. As many of you know, I have many favorite
movies! One that I really like however, is the 2016 movie “Hacksaw Ridge”. In
this movie, we have an excellent example of servant leadership. Once again, Jesus
ends our gospel of Mark reading for this morning , saying in 10:45:
45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45, NRSV).
When
I was re-reading over the gospel of Mark to prepare to write my sermon for this
morning, I thought once again of the movie “Hacksaw Ridge.” In this movie that
takes place in the era of World War II, the real-life character Desmond Doss,
played by actor Andrew Garfield, enlists in the US Army. Desmond Doss enlists in
the Us Army following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Desmond Doss is a conscientious
objector though, and as such, he refuses to carry a gun or fight. Doss was a
Seventh Day Adventist Christian, and he became a Combat Medic during his time
in the US Army in World War II.
As
you can imagine Combat Medic Desmond Doss had a rough go of it in not being
willing to fire a gun or fight. Some thought him a coward, but he enlisted to
serve others. He did not enlist to fight but only to serve and help others.
Combat
Medic Doss was deployed to the Pacific theater of the war to fight against the
Japanese Empire. In the movie, Doss, and his fellow soldiers in 77th
US Army Infantry Division are assigned to fight in the Battle of Okinawa. I am
sure that these soldiers fought in other places, as well. During the Battle of
Okinawa, Doss's unit is informed that it will relieve the US Army 96th Infantry Division, which was tasked with ascending and securing the
Maeda Escarpment ("Hacksaw Ridge") (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacksaw_Ridge).
This of course is the reason that this movie is called “Hacksaw Ridge.”
As
the story goes, the Japanese attacked and the 77th Infantry ended up
falling back from Hacksaw Ridge in retreat. Yet there were many that were still
injured up on “Hacksaw Ridge” in Okinawa. For hours and all night long, Combat
Medic Desmond Doss pulled dozens of wounded American soldiers off the field of
battle and lowered them down the cliff, down Hacksaw Ridge to safety with ropes.
In the movie, and in real life, Doss prayed as he rescued these wounded
soldiers and said, “Lord let me save just one more.” After saving another
wounded soldier and lowering them down the ridge with ropes, Doss again would pray,
“Lord let me save just one more.”
The next day, the 77th
Infantry was ordered to go back up Hacksaw Ridge and to take it back, but the
77th did not move. In anger, the officer giving this command to the
77th asks a captain in 77th why they have not moved. The
captain explained to his superior officer that they have not moved because Corporal
Doss had not yet finished praying for the 77th. When Doss said amen,
then the 77th went back up the cliff.
Not
only is the movie “Hacksaw Ridge” based on the real life events of Army Corporal
and Combat Medic Desmond Doss, Doss was also awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for rescuing 75 soldiers at Hacksaw Ridge. He
died on March 23, 2006, at the age of 87. Doss risked his life all night
long, under fire, to rescue wounded soldiers.
Desmond
Doss was not in the war to achieve glory, to move up in rank and power. Desmond
Doss enlisted in the US Army after the Pearl Harbor Attack “Not To Be Served
But To Serve.” With no gun, as a pacifist, and doing this all night long up on
Hacksaw Ridge, Desmond Doss rescued 75 soldiers who likely would have died.
Of the many heroes that I have, Desmond Doss is one of those
heroes. Jesus tells us in our gospel of Mark reading for this morning “Not To Be Served
But To Serve.” As Christians, as believers, we all have spiritual gifts
and graces given to us by God. These gifts and graces are not supposed to be
used to our glory, but to bring people to Christ and to serve others. All of us
here have gifts and graces, and we are called by Jesus Christ, “Not To Be
Served, But To Serve.”
Sometimes in churches the church hires a pastor to be the “Professional
Christian,” and because of this, part of the rest of the congregation does not
pursue their own Christian leadership. We all do not need to be pastors, but we
are all called “Not To Be Served, But To Serve” like Jesus Christ. The strength
of a good church rests not just with the pastor, but even more so with the
laity or the lay people of the church. When all of us use our spiritual gifts
and graces and pursue the ministries that God has called us to, the church
becomes alive with disciple making activity. When we all pursue how we can
bring people to Christ, to serve others, and to transform the world, the strength,
the numbers, and power of the church grows exponentially. I want everyone at
this church to be thinking about and praying about what God is calling you to.
For some it might be sending cards and visiting people. For some it might be
starting a small group to build relationships and to bring people closer to
Christ. To some, you might be called to help with the building and the grounds.
To some it might be teaching Sunday School, starting a prayer group, etc.
Everyone in the church is a pastor in some way, shape, or form, whether the
occupy a pulpit or not. This morning Jesus tells us “Not To Be Served, But To
Serve”.
In our reading for this morning from Psalm 104 we hear of
the glory and the majesty of God, and when we seek “Not To Be Served, But To
Serve” we are sharing the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ in word, action,
and deed. We can preach Christ and we live and love like Christ. All of this
brings people closer to Christ.
The Apostle Paul reflects on Jesus’ servant leadership this
morning once again in Hebrews 5:5-6 that says:
5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 5:5-6, NRSV).
Desmond Doss
was and is a disciple of Jesus Christ, and the reason he was determined to “Not
To Be Served, But To Serve,” was because he learned it from Jesus. Jesus Christ
is the ultimate servant leader, our standard, and our Lord.
In looking once again at our gospel of Mark reading for
this morning, it begins once again starting in Mark 10:35 with the Apostles James
and John talking to Jesus. Starting in 10:35 it once again says:
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mk. 10:35-37, NRSV).
In
this request that James and John make to Jesus, they do not really seem
concerned about serving the least of these. Instead, it seems like that they
want to be front and center with Jesus. It would seem that maybe they want to
glorify themselves or have the glory of sitting by Jesus for eternity. Even if their
request was made out of desire to have the honor and the privilege of sitting
by Jesus for eternity, it is not a request that resembles humble servanthood.
To respond to this request from James and
John, Jesus replies starting in Mark 10:38:
38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know
what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized
with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They replied, “We are able.” Then
Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism
with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40 but to sit at my
right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it
has been prepared” (Mk. 10:38-40, NRSV).
Jesus
lets James and John know that his suffering can be something that they in part experience,
as church tradition holds that all but the Apostle John died a painful death. Jesus
is also saying that to be one of his followers, to be one of his disciples, is
to sacrifice, and to have a mentality of “Not To Be Served, But To Serve.”
As
Jesus is talking to James and John, the other ten disciples either overhear
this or soon hear about it. The gospel of Mark then picks up from Mark 10:41
saying once again:
41 When the ten heard this, they began to be
angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know
that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over
them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so
among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever
wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of
Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many”
(Mk. 10:41-45, NRSV).
Jesus
concludes this gospel reading in telling the disciples once again that if you
want to be great, if you want to sit at my left and at my right, then you do
not understand anything that I have been telling you. If you want to be great
in the Kingdom of God, then you have to become a servant and a slave to all. To
be great in the Kingdom of God you must seek “Not To Be Served, But To Serve.” If you want to be a great Christian and to be more like Jesus you
must seek to “Not To Be Served, But To Serve.”
To put
it another way, a mature follower of Jesus Christ does not think that they are
the best Christian. In fact, they shy away from praise, they do not think that they
are great as you say they are, and they never seek power, status, or control.
One of my heroes, Desmond Doss was very
much a servant leader. The reality my friends, is what makes us better than
each other? More education? More money? More possessions? The truth is that all
of us are sinners in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. To be great in
the Kingdom of God is to be so humble and so service oriented that if you were
to rise up in the church ranks or in a ministry, you did so not because you sought
after it, but because you were living, loving, and serving like Jesus Christ.
Friends let us always seek to “Not To Be Served, But To Serve.” Amen.
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