December 24, Fourth Sunday of Advent

Lesson: Mark 10:35-45

Sermon Title: Servant, He Who Serves

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Christmas Humor:

Stamps (1)

An man goes to the post office to buy stamps for his Christmas cards. He says to the clerk, "May I have 50 Christmas stamps?"

The clerk says, "What denomination?"

The man says, "God help us! Has it come to this? Give me 6 Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran and 22 Baptists."

XXX

Santa's Nationality (2)

A first grade teacher was teaching her class about nationalities and one of the kids asked what nationality Santa Claus was. The teacher didn't know quite how to respond.

Finally, one little girl raised her hand and said she knew.

She said that he was North Polish.

XXX

Christmas Riches (3)

Rick, my husband, and I had a hectic holiday schedule encompassing careers, teenagers, shopping, and all the required doings of the season.

Running out of time, I got the stationer to print our signature on our Christmas cards, instead of signing each one.

Soon we started getting cards from friends signed "The Modest Morrisons," "The Clever Clarks," and "The Successful Smiths."

Then it hit me.

I had mailed out a hundred cards neatly imprinted with "Happy Holidays from the Rich Armstrongs."

XXX

Cheap Rhymes With Jeep (4)

A guy bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for Christmas.

A friend of his said, "I thought she wanted one of those pretty 4-Wheel drive vehicles."

"She did," he replied, "But where in the world was I going to find a fake jeep!!"

XXX

INTRODUCTION

  1. Phillip Brooks, around 1879 wrote a brief paragraph that goes like this:

Here is a man who was born in an obscure country, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in a remote village. He worked in a carpenter's shop until he was thirty, and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never went to college. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. While still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them betrayed him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through a mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth - his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Twenty wide centuries have come and gone. Today he is the centrepiece of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life - the life of Jesus Christ. ~Phillips Brooks (5)

  1. This is a brief biological sketch.

    1. Does this catch the flavor of the man?

    2. It helps us to understand who Jesus was and is!

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MAIN BODY:

  1. We really need to understand who Jesus was and is!

    1. He was not born in a palace.

      1. Sometimes people in palaces need to be reminded of their humility.

Philip II of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great, was a great king in his own right. He employed two men whose sole responsibility was to address him twice each day. Their morning duty? To say: "Philip, remember that you are but a man." And in the evening they were to ask: "Philip, have you remembered that you are but a man?"

    1. He did not wear the robes of the rich and famous.

      1. He refused to be called rabbi.

      2. Sometimes rabbi's, minister's need to be reminded of their humility.

A little girl at a wedding was introduced to the minister. She asked him, "Are you a pastor or a preacher?"

Taken aback by the question, the minister asked, "Do you know the difference?"

She thought for a moment, then answered, "A preacher thinks more of himself, but a pastor thinks of his people."

Maybe she didn't have it quite right, but it's something to think about.

      1. He wore the clothes of the common man.

    1. He did not live in the grandest of homes.

      1. He was born in a stable in Bethlehem.

      2. He had no home town.

      3. He lived in Nazareth

      4. He made his headquarters in Capernaum.

        1. One day someone said that he would follow Jesus wherever he went.

        2. Jesus response was cryptic, and very descriptive.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head," (Luke 9:57 through Luke 9:58, NRSVA).

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  1. Jesus came to serve.

    1. He served his God.

      1. He yielded his own will to the will of his heavenly father.

      2. In John 5:30 (NRSVA), Jesus said:

"I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

    1. He served his people.

      1. He was an example.

      2. He was a teacher.

      3. He was the one who healed.

        1. He healed the body.

        2. He healed the mind.

        3. He healed the spirit.

    2. He served you and me!

      1. We are removed in time and place from the earthly activities of Jesus.

      2. We are also his people.

  1. He taught us what it meant to serve.

    1. This is the intent of the lesson that he sought to teach James and John.

    2. It is a good lesson for this Christmas Eve Day.

35James 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." 36And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" 37And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." 38But 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?" 39They 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; 40but 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."

      1. They do not really know what they are talking about..

      2. They are simply attempting to gain position of power over the rest of the disciples.

      3. The rest, the other ten, become angry.

      4. Wouldn't you be.

      5. Jesus teaches all about servant-hood.

41When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42So 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. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many," (Mark 10:35 through Mark 10:45, NRSVA).

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  1. We are also servants to one another.

    1. Jesus gives a perfect example in the upper room of servant hood.

    2. It has to do with washing and foot-washing.

1Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

      1. Peter does not want Jesus to wash his feet.

      2. This is demeaning for the Savior.

      3. This is the work of a servant.

      4. No one else is going to do it, so Jesus does.

    1. In response to Peter's question, Jesus says:

7Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." 9Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" 10Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." 11For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."

    1. After Jesus had washed the disciples feet he provided them with this lesson:

12After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them, (John 13:1 through John 13:17, NRSVA).

    1. I have set you an example.

    2. Foot washing, is practiced by some congregations to remind them that they are to serve one another.

  1. The whole life of Jesus is a life illustrating servant-hood.

    1. This is why one of the names by which we know Jesus is Servant, the One Who Serves.

      1. Jesus is the Servant who serves.

      2. We are to be servants to one another.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. Here is Litany that may be used to help us learn the to accept the servant-hood of Jesus and the nature of being a servant in our own lives.

    1. Kirk Moore, a pastor in Wheaton, Illinois, suggests that we use these words as a standard response to the many challenges we face.

    2. The litany could go like this:

    3. The unison response to the difficult situations that certainly lie ahead is "Here am I, the servant of the Lord."

(Your response is: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord." Say it again.)

Leader: The next few days are going to be ones of celebration. They are also going to be filled with stress. What a great time to say, every morning,

PEOPLE: "HERE AM I, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD."

Leader: How about when you are traveling to visit relatives, and the kids are in the back seat bickering with each other about who has the most room? What a great time to say,

PEOPLE: "HERE AM I, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD."

Leader: Very late Christmas Eve, when the presents aren't yet wrapped, and the "some assembly required" gifts come in a bag filled with 200 pieces. What a great time to say,

PEOPLE: "HERE AM I, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD."

Leader: Back at work, when your boss or your employees are cutting corners, and you are feeling pressure to behave unethically, what a great time to say,

PEOPLE: "HERE AM I, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD."

Leader: Back at school, when others make fun of you because you aren't dressed in the perfect style, or someone pushes you to do something you don't believe in, what a great time to say,

PEOPLE: "HERE AM I, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD."

Leader: Out in the community, when people show disregard for the homeless, or disdain for immigrants, or distrust toward people of different beliefs, what a great time to say,

PEOPLE: "HERE AM I, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD."

Leader: You can say it out of habit. You can say it for comfort. You can say it as a way to enter into a connection with God. You can say it as a prayer to help you do the things that you know God wants you to do. Any time can be a great time to say,

PEOPLE: "HERE AM I, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD".

  1. When we say these words, we are making a commitment to being open, receptive and faithful to the promises and the priorities of God.

    1. We demonstrate our acceptance of the Servant-Savior

    2. We are showing a willingness to allow the Christ child to be born in us today.

1. martysjotd [martysjotd@hotmail.com]

2. martysjotd [martysjotd@hotmail.com]

3. You Make Me Laugh [You_Make_Me_Laugh@crosswalkmail.com]

4. You Make Me Laugh [You_Make_Me_Laugh@crosswalkmail.com]

5. Retrieved from: http://home.pacific.net.hk/~jeremiah/inspiration.html

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