Weekly Sermon: 03-15-2026 - Serving with Spiritual Gifts

The Holy Gospel According to Mark,

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.

And he said to them, What is it that you want me to do for you?

And they said to him, Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.

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?

And 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.

But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to a point,

but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.

When the Ted heard this, they began to get angry with James and John.

So Jesus called them and said to them, He know that among the Gentiles,

those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them,

and their great ones are tyrants over them.

But it was not so among you. Instead, whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.

And whoever wishes to be...

Um.

I apologize first among you must be slave of all for the son of man came not

to be served, but to serve and to give his life for the ransom of many, the gospel of the Lord.

You may be seated.

All right.

So, it was my first year of college at Southern Nazarene University,

and during that same year, the Oklahoma City Thunder had just moved to Oklahoma City,

whereas before, they were in Seattle, and they were called the Supersonics.

And my friends and I were huge basketball

fans and at this time the Thunder hadn't quite figured out all their logistics

and so the visiting team would often practice at either Southern Nazarene Stadium

or some other small college in the area and they would close off what we called the Sawyer Center,

our big basketball stadium and do their practice and then after they were done

they would open it all up again for us Yes.

But one day we got news of something really exciting that was happening.

The Los Angeles Lakers, who were just in the NBA Finals, were going to be on

campus for their practice.

I'm talking Paul Gasol, Derek Fisher, Trevor Ariza, the Zen Master,

Phil Jackson, and the Black Mamba himself, Kobe Bryant.

Ah that was so excited and we

were going to be just a block away from all

these fantastic basketball players uh in.

Our dorms and we could just feel their presence on

campus and if we could just

maybe get close enough to touch them give

them a handshake or oh my

god catch a pass from them yeah we

were so excited for this to happen and so

my friends and i did the short walk over to the sawyer center

hoping to find a way into the stadium and

we tried going to every door to

get inside and every single one

of the doors to inside was locked and

the one that wasn't locked was guarded and

we tried to bribe him with 15 and it

didn't work and actually it made him angrier and

he kicked us out how dare he i was

really we were kind of upset and

we're almost defeated but after we

exhausted all the conventional means to get inside the

building we had to turn to more outlandish ideas and so we were really determined

to get to be in the presence of this basketball player sweat that we decided

that the best plan for us was to enter the building from the top.

Okay. And we had gone plenty of practice at this point with urban climbing.

I didn't tell you all this, but we used to climb scaffolding my first year in

college. I didn't do it. I didn't.

Okay. And our best climber was a guy named Brandt.

And so we sent him on a mission. He would climb up this storm drainage pipe, right?

And he would go up to the three, four-story building, and he would get on top,

find a door, which we knew was already there because we already find ourselves

on top of the Sawyer Center and through more conventional means.

So we knew there was a door up there. He would get on top. He would go through

that door from the roof, and then he would go downstairs and let us in through

one of the unguarded doors.

And he went up about two, three times. And I think the best he did was about 10 feet.

Right? 10 feet. And so he fell each time. And none of the falls were pretty.

And thank gosh, he only came away with like a tiny little bruise.

But imagine, just for a moment, he got all the way to like the top story and ended up falling down.

Our foolproof plan made by fools didn't even work okay and looking back on it

honestly we were silly we're kind of dumb and we put brand's life in danger

also that we can see basketball players,

and well these basketball players were great and they are and those who know

basketball know of these players, probably.

And they're blessed with great gifts because God knows that I can't make a basket.

Were they so much greater than us that it was worth risking my friend's life

or body just so we can be in their presence?

But that's just something we sometimes do in society, right?

We rank people in society based on gifts.

We take certain talents, whether that's athletic ability, like with basketball

players, musical skills, intelligence, leadership, and we place the people who

have these gifts up on a pedestal.

Then we build an entire system around that ranking. We make them incredibly

wealthy, and we give them positions of influence and power.

Celebrities, politicians, they all receive our attention, our loyalty.

And sometimes we start doing things that often look like worship of these people.

We hand them awards, and we follow their every move.

I mean, how many of us know where Taylor Swift is right now? Okay?

I mean, I might know where she is right now.

But, yeah, so we follow their move, and we argue about them online,

and we go to incredible lengths just for this chance of staying in the same room with them.

Now, don't get me wrong. These people are great. They're excellent at what they do.

All right, Taylor Swift has had number one hit after number one hit over and

over again, and these basketball players have had so many championships.

They've worked hard on their crafts and there's nothing wrong with respecting

their talent or appreciating the dedication it takes for them to be great at what they do.

But the question is, how far do we take it?

Is it worth risking our safety or our money to see them?

Or even more importantly, is it worth downplaying ourselves and who each and

every single one of us are as individuals?

Individually or to make ourselves less valuable in comparison to them.

And while this is a problem that

can be clearly seen within society with celebrities and political figures.

The problem comes when we start to do it in church. We as a church can fall

into the habit of ranking gifts.

We may say that certain gifts matter more than others. that the person who preaches

or teaches or leads a large ministry might seem more important than a person

who quietly visits somebody who is lonely today,

or prepares a meal for a family going through a hard time or even listens when

somebody needs somebody to talk to.

And when these things start to happen within the church community and some people

begin to believe that their gifts make them more important or begin to think

that the gifts don't matter at all,

it starts to create a bad culture within the church.

And it begins to make us as individuals feel like we are lesser than others.

But as we visit today's scriptures, and starting with Apostle Paul,

we realize that this is not how God intends for us to think about our spiritual gifts in the church.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it says, There are a variety of gifts,

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

but the same Spirit, and to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Notice that Paul doesn't say in the scripture that some gifts are better than others.

He doesn't say that one gift is somehow holier than another person's gift.

He doesn't say that a person's gift makes them more important than somebody else.

But Paul does say to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common

good. That's it. That's where it ends.

And this fits perfectly with our gospel reading as it takes this idea a step

further, because in Mark we see a moment between Jesus and two of his disciples, James and John.

And this story unfolds a little bit sneakily.

James and John, they approach Jesus privately, and they pull him aside and say

something like, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.

And this is a dangerous statement. They're making command of Jesus in this scripture.

And they follow this up by saying, Grant us to sit one at the right hand and

one at your left in your glory.

In other words, in this command, they are saying, Give us the best seats to your kingdom.

They are maneuvering for position before anybody else can ask.

They are ranking themselves above the rest of the disciples.

They're still thinking about greatness in the way the world thinks about greatness.

That greatness is about status. It's about being close to power and recognition.

But Jesus responds with a question that shifts everything for the disciples.

And he asks them, are you able to drink the cup that I drink?

Or will we be baptized with the baptism that I'm going to be baptized with?

And they say, we are able. Because of course, yes, we can do it.

We can fall into your path.

But when Jesus talks about the cup, he is talking about the suffering that lies ahead for him.

He's talking about the road that leads to the cross.

In order to follow Jesus and to get glory in Jesus' story, Jesus has them run

straight to the cross through sacrifice and service.

And while this conversation is happening, the 10 other disciples over here was

going on and they are angry.

And I don't know if their anger in the scripture is righteous or if it is like,

why didn't we think about asking for those best seats first?

But then Jesus brings them all together.

And he says something that completely flips everything. And he says,

you know that among the Gentiles, those whom they recognize as rulers,

lord it over them. But it is not so among you.

Whoever wishes to become great among you must also be your servant.

Because in order to walk in the path of Jesus, in order to bear the same cup,

in order to be baptized with the same baptism that Jesus is baptized with.

To claim that greatness and sit next to Jesus.

It doesn't look like climbing the ladder higher than everybody else.

Instead, according to these words that Jesus says, it's about moving lower in service to others.

He reminds them that this is exactly what he himself has come to do.

He has come to serve, not to be served.

And as we so as

we hold these two scriptures together paul's words

about spiritual gifts and jesus is teaching about

greatness we can see something incredible happening

that god's gifts to us are not about competition it's not about being better

than anybody else and it's definitely not about putting yourself lower than

somebody else and this is what is vital this season of lent,

because during the season of the church counter, many of us turn inward, right?

And we begin to examine our spiritual lives a little bit closer.

And if we are not careful, this kind of reflection can turn into a kind of comparison,

whether that comparison is a pride that I am greater, I pray longer than everybody else.

I serve more people. I do this, I do that.

Or it's that we shame and beat ourselves up.

That I'm not praying as much as so-and-so. I'm not doing this.

I'm not serving as well as others.

Or their gift is better than my gift.

Lent doesn't exist to convince ourselves that we are useless.

Lent is here to remind us that we are human and that God is still at work in us anyways.

It is a season where we are reminded that we don't have to earn our place in

God's kingdom through perfect faith or impressive gifts.

We are welcome into God's work through grace and that grace frees us.

And it frees us to stop trying to be some impressive disciple, to get the best seats.

It frees us from comparing our gifts to somebody else's gifts,

and from believing that our small acts of service don't matter to the kingdom of God, because it does.

Lent simply reminds us to return to God and to remember to serve God and to serve others.

And when we turn to God, we begin to discover that the gifts that we have been

given, whatever they may be, however great they are, or however seemingly little they may appear,

that they're all great and they all contribute to God's kingdom.

And our gifts don't have to be perfect. It just needs to be faithful.

And through our faithfulness, whether it's messy or not, we can learn that God

still works, God still heals, and God still comforts and brings the world hope.

And so, as we leave from these scriptures, I think they're reminding us,

inviting us to do something important.

We don't have to ask whether or not we have the most impressive gifts,

or whether or not we are as talented as somebody else.

We are invited to ask, where is God inviting me to serve right now?

What is it that God has blessed me with in order to contribute to the kingdom?

It may be that your gift is showing up in a quiet moment after worship when

somebody's having a hard day and simply sits and listens to them.

Maybe you have the strange ability to notice things that other people miss.

To be able to look in somebody's eyes, to see their tiredness,

to see their loneliness.

And maybe it's to see that there's a family that can use a meal this week.

Maybe you're gave to showing up in a classroom where you help somebody understand

a piece of scripture that they've struggled with for years or maybe it's showing

up in a kitchen some afternoon or morning and preparing food for somebody going

through a difficult time.

These gifts, all of them, keep the church alive.

And whether or not somebody noticed, whether or not we're puddling a pedestal,

it doesn't matter because all of them contribute to our church, to God's kingdom.

And they all matter because the church isn't built by the most talented person.

It's built by those who are the most faithful to what God is calling them to do.

And this means whatever your gift, whatever it is, however small,

it is part of the way that God continues to love the world.

So looking back at that day at the Sawyer Center, I laugh now.

And, you know, it's so silly to think that I was willing to get into the same

space as those basketball players and I was going to do anything to get there.

And at that time, we were so convinced that the most important people in the

world were those on the other side of the locked doors.

But the truth is, we had our gifts just like they have theirs.

And today we can use that to remember that the work of God's kingdom doesn't

happen because of a few extraordinary people.

It happens because all God's people offer what they have.

And we no longer have to worry about whether or not our gifts are good enough,

but whether or not we can trust that the Spirit can work through our faithfulness

regardless of how messy it may look.

Because God takes our small, ordinary acts of service and turns them into something holy.

And through those gifts, your gifts, my gifts, and all our gifts together,

God continues to heal the world. And I think that's due an amen.

Go forth into the world to serve God with gladness. Be of good courage.

Hold fast to what is good.

Render to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the faint-hearted.

Support the weak. Help the afflicted. Honor all people.

Share the love of Jesus and rejoice in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Changing lives as disciples who love, serve, and welcome all.

Thanks be to God, and we will. If you're inspired by this week's.