Choices That Will Change Your Life #8-Choosing to Serve

“CHOICES THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE #8-CHOOSING TO SERVE”

MATTHEW 20:20-28

INTRO: The great mission of the Church is to serve others. Many today are

not looking to serve but to be served. God’s desire is that we be the

best we can be in His Kingdom. But the Lord’s pathway to greatness

is drastically different than the world’s pathway to greatness. The

pathway that the Lord has set for us involves sacrifice. The world’s

philosophy is get but the Lord’s command is give. God has destined

each of us to be great in His Kingdom. But the price of being great

for God involves service. The question we must consider is this:

“What will my life ultimately be about?” We have a choice to serve or

a choice not to serve. If we choose not to serve we are living in

opposition to God’s purpose for our life. God is working out a plan in

your life that will make you great, but it runs counterintuitive to the

world’s strategy. (James MacDonald. 10 Choices. p. 219). Psalm 37:25 tells us—

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth

in his way.”

In Matthew 20:20-22 we see the ambitious request of the mother of

James and John. This mother desired greatness for her two sons.

But her view of greatness and the Lord’s view of greatness were totally

different. The invitation to sit at someone’s right or left hand is not a

big deal today. But in New Testament times, the person who sat the

closest to the head of the table had the most honor. She was asking,

first, Hey, I don’t want my sons standing in this kingdom of yours,

Jesus, I want them sitting down. Salome was assuming her sons were

not going to serve, they were going to be served. (James MacDonald. 10 Choices.

p. 223). But Jesus here teaches a great lesson on what it takes to

achieve greatness in His Kingdom. We have been considering

CHOICES THAT WILL YOUR CHANGE YOUR LIFE and I want us to

see this evening another one of these choices: CHOOSING TO SERVE.

Friends, I choose a life of serving God as the way to lasting greatness

in God’s eyes. What about you?

The Lord said in Matthew 20:26b-27—“…whosoever will be great

among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief

among you, let him be your servant.” As I pointed out earlier, God’s

desire is that we be great for HIM! Let us consider three things

about greatness tonight. First…

(1) THE PERILS OF GREATNESS

MATTHEW 20:21—“And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto

him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right

hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.”

A. THINKING GREATNESS COMES FROM A POSITION. In the eyes of the

world greatness is achieved by being in charge or control; or by being the

best at something. There are certain positions that are considered by many

to be synonymous with greatness. Salome was looking for greatness for her

two sons by them achieving a position. She was thinking…Pretty soon

you’re going to have your kingdom, Jesus, and I don’t want you to lose track

of them. You know how much my sons love You, and if you could just, like,

say it right now that they’re going to be on Your right and left hand, that’d be

great. You can be the CEO, Jesus, but they should be like the COO and CFO

right beside You. You’re welcome to take the oval office, Lord, but my sons

deserve to be right next door.” (James MacDonald. 10 Choices. p. 223).

Friends, greatness is not found in a position. Positions can be lost. If you

believe that greatness is found in a position when you lose that position you

will suffer disappointment. WE are not our jobs. WE are not our roles.

Your life will never find fulfillment if it is defined by your position.

B. THINKING GREATNESS COMES FROM POWER. Friends, when God

looks at us, He is not impressed with our power. He has ALL POWER. So

He does not look at us and think, Wow! You’re powerful! You have an

amazing impact! Many today believe that power equals greatness but Jesus

taught differently. Listen to what Jesus says in vv. 25-26—“…Ye know

that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that

are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but

whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.” I want you to

notice the word authority Jesus uses here. The word…implies tyranny. Is

that not true in our world today? A little authority is dangerous; a little

power is intoxicating. (James MacDonald. 10 Choices. p. 226). Those who take their

authority too far are oppressive to others. That’s how the world is, Jesus

said. But He goes on to say—“But it shall not be so among you: but

whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.” How do we

know when we are abusing our authority? :

· WHEN WE REMIND PEOPLE OF OUR TITLE OR POSITION. Be careful it you catch yourself saying, “Do know who I am?” Be careful if you always want people to call you by your title or you get offended when someone doesn’t address you by your title.

· WHEN WE EXPECT OR DEMAND PRIVILEGE. If you feel you have to have a special seat or parking place then you might have a problem. If you expect to be served first or treated special because of your position you may have a problem. When you demand special treatment—you definitely have a problem.

· WHEN WE BECOME COMFORTABLE WITH PERSONAL PRAISE. There is nothing wrong with a person thanking us or appreciating our work for the Lord but the problem is when someone does that and we think to ourselves, Wow, they finally see how amazing I am! Friends, that is not great in God’s eyes! We should not desire the praise but we should deflect the praise. You can thank the person but then you ought to thank the Lord because all we have comes from HIM! Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 4:7—“…what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” If we have talents and gifts, we ought to thank God for them. If God gives us opportunities, we ought to thank Him and use them for His glory! To do anything else is to abuse our authority!

· WHEN WE RESENT, REACT, OR FEEL THREATENED BY CHALLENGES TO OUR AUTHORITY. If you resent have to explain your decision, if you use your position to try to persuade, then you have a problem.

· WHEN WE ARE UNMOVED BY AN INDIVIDUAL. Friends, every person is important to God. We should not think ourselves superior to them simply because we are in a higher position than they are. Every person matters to God, and they should matter to us also. If they don’t matter to us we need to humble ourselves before the Lord.

GREATNESS is not found in POSITION or POWER—but it can be found in SERVICE. We have considered THE PERILS TO GREATNESS but let us also see…

(2) THE PRICE OF GREATNESS

MATTHEW 20:26b-28—“…but whosoever will be great among you, let

him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let

him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be

ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for

many.”

A. SERVICE. True greatness in God’s eyes is found in serving. Jesus said—

“…whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And

whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” Who is the

greatest person in your family? In our Church? In God’s eyes, it’s the

greatest servant. To the Lord, the greatest person is the greatest servant!

To become great in the kingdom of God you must be willing to serve. Many

today are looking for someone else to serve for them. Someone wrote:

There’s a clever young guy named Somebody Else,

There’s nothing this guy can’t do.

He is busy from morning till way late at night,

Just substituting for you.

You’re asked to do this or you’re asked to do that

And what is your ready reply?

Get Somebody Else to do that job,

He’ll do it much better than I.

So much to do in this weary old world—

So much and workers so few,

And Somebody Else, all weary and worn,

Is still substituting for you.

The next time you’re asked to do something worthwhile,

Just give this ready reply:

If Somebody Else can give time and support,

My goodness, so can I!

(Green, M.P. Illustrations of Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustration arranged by topic and indexed

Exhaustively (Revised edition of The Expositor’s Illustration file). Baker Book House: Grand Rapids. Copyright

1982, 1985, 1989 Michael P. Green. Logos Research Systems, Inc).

Friend, are you willing to serve? If you are willing to do so you can become

great in the kingdom of God. But to serve you must also being willing to…

B. SACRIFICE. I want you to notice Jesus’ words in vv. 27-28 closely—“And

whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son

of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a

ransom for many.” Matthew Henry said, “That man who labors most

diligently, and savors most patiently, seeking to do good to his brethren,

and to promote the salvation of souls, most resembles Christ, and will be

most honored by him to all eternity.” (MATTHEW HENRY’S COMMENTARY ON THE WHOLE

Software. Albany, OR). Jesus said, “Even as the Son of man came not to be

ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” The

Lord was just speaking about being great by serving and now He shows that

service involves sacrifice—“Even as the Son of man…ministered…to give his

life…”. To be great in the kingdom of God you must be willing to give—your

time, your talent, and your treasures.

Friend, are you willing to sacrifice? If you are willing to do so you can

become great in the kingdom of God.

We have considered THE PERILS TO GREATNESS and THE PRICE OF GREATNESS but finally let us see…

(3) THE PATTERN FOR GREATNESS

MATTHEW 20:28—“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered

unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

A. SERVE WHERE YOU ARE. Greatness in the kingdom of God demands

that we serve wherever God plants us. Our place of ministry is this world

and we are responsible to serve in the place God has put us. That’s what

Jesus did—“…the Son of man came…to minister…”. Friends, our world is

filled with problems. We cannot solve all the problems that our world has,

but we can faithfully serve God where we are. Friends, we must choose to

serve where we are. What is the alternative? :

· CRY. Grieve over the condition of our world and wring your hands in agony over the hopelessness of our world.

· COMPLAIN. Complain about world leaders, world conditions, and world problems.

· CRITICIZE. Instead of reaching out to people in distress often we criticize people in distress—If they would get a job they wouldn’t be in poverty. If they didn’t practice immorality they wouldn’t have AIDS. This might be true but it won’t fix the problem, now will it?

· CYNICAL. Nothing ever changes. Nothing will ever change. The world is doomed. I can’t stop it. I don’t care.

Because of the massive problems in our world today the only choice I can make that will impact my world is to SERVE where I am.

ILLUS: Many years ago a humble pastor served in a church in a little country

town. His ministry was quiet, and a few souls were brought to Christ

there. Year in and Year out, the work became more and more

discouraging. It was only years later that the faithful minister found

great joy in the knowledge that one of those he had won to Christ was

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a man who was later used by God to bring

multitudes to His Son. Humble service is rewarded now and certainly

will be rewarded even more when Christ comes. (Green, M.P. Illustrations of

Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustration arranged by topic and indexed Exhaustively (Revised

Michael P. Green. Logos Research Systems, Inc).

B. SACRIFICE WHAT YOU CAN. The life of our Saviour serves as proof of His

selfless service and His death shows us His willing sacrifice. If Jesus chose

to serve and sacrifice, how can I do anything less? Jesus said—“…the Son

of man came…to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Time

spent serving Christ is never misspent. Talent used in serving Christ is

never misused. Treasures given in serving the Lord are never

misappropriated. Friend, are you willing to sacrifice for the Lord?