The Gospel Serves

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Can you hear me?

Hello?

Can you hear me on my mic?

Alright, there we go.

I'm hot now.

Well, you made it.

Praise the Lord.

I'm so glad you're here.

And uh I got up early enough to walk the dog this morning, and uh it was not raining.

And when I got in and I got studying and praying, the rain began to hit, and I don't usually ask God to lighten up on the rain, but today I did.

I said, Lord, they won't be here.

Anyhow, uh, thank you for coming out.

And I was blessed.

I pulled in, and when I got here, there was a uh a mass of cars already here, and I thought, wait, where two or three are gathered together.

We're gonna have church.

So thank you for being here, and I know for some it's been prom weekend, and uh so some people were doing that till late.

I wanted to mention that because I don't know if you know that here within our presence today, we are in the presence of royalty.

So just a few uh weeks ago or a few days ago, we had a prom King 2025 at CCW.

And that prom king from Oak Mountain was Thomas Neely.

Thomas, please.

Oh man, I know his mama cried and wept.

I didn't know that till this morning.

I thought, oh my soul, that is so exciting.

The pictures are precious.

But anyhow, uh, that's been going on.

I want to give you one little quick announcement for next uh weekend, which leads into Easter and Extravaganza that's coming.

Uh, next weekend, Miss Iris uh wanted to head up a time of prayer over the church for Easter and Extravaganza.

So 11 o'clock next Saturday, if you can come and do a little prayer walk with us.

We're gonna pray over uh the events coming, extravaganza.

It always, God always brings us lots and lots of visitors and guests, and we want to pray over that opportunity for the Saturday that follows, and then Easter Sunday.

Um, and you've got cards.

We've been talking about those, those are out in the lobby.

Get those to people, your people, your family member, your friends, your co-workers.

They're all probably going to go to church somewhere, and some of them don't often go.

So if that's the case, you be the one.

Be the one to invite them.

And God's given me a special message on Easter, the three crosses of Easter.

And so uh it's gonna be a good weekend.

But we'd love for you to come and pray with us on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Take your Bibles, turn to Mark chapter 10.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

We're continuing the gospel on the ground today.

The gospel serves.

And when you think about that, the opposite side of the realm of serving is selfish.

You don't have to go very far in a quick word search on the word self, and you're gonna find many words that follow self.

I need some self-care.

He's a self-made man.

I have a true sense of self-worth.

We struggle with self-doubt or self-esteem or self-image.

I need more self-confidence.

I feel so self-conscious.

Those people are self-satisfied, self-righteous, self-centered.

I had to self-indulge.

I got a book on self-help.

Lots of things with self.

My favorite time a self-word was ever used, we were at camp with a mess of teenagers, and Weston was a young, I think he was eight, maybe nine years old.

Anyhow, um, we were there at camp and they were having a dance-off competition.

We were the red team, there was a green team, yellow team, might have been another team, anyhow.

Um, and for our team, it was kind of like we were trying to push the cute little kid, get him up there.

No matter what he does, maybe we'll get the points for the dance off.

But what they didn't know, they allowed him to go, is Weston could dance.

During COVID, when we had nothing to do, Weston would traverse through the house, dropping down on his head and break dance, start learning how to spin.

So Weston got up on that stage in front of almost a thousand kids, dropped down, hit his headstand, flipped around, did the spin-a-rooney, and got up, and the crowd erupted when he did this, and when he was done, this man walked over, he won, got all the points for the red team, our team, and he said, I need to know how did you learn all?

Did you learn this from somebody without missing a beat?

Weston said, Self-taught.

He was self-taught, he wasn't lying.

But when he said that the place erupted in laughter, and I thought, man, it was awesome.

We're gonna look this morning at the first part of this request made to the disciples.

And point number one is this it's a selfish chair.

Mark chapter 10, verse 35 to 37.

Mark 10:35–37

Read this with me.

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.

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

They said to him, Grant us that we may sit, one on your right hand and the other on your left hand, in your glory.

Pray with me.

Father, we ask for your presence.

We're thankful, God, for a service to come to.

We're thankful for the worship that's been offered.

We're thankful for the people that have come to serve.

Now, God, we ask that the word of God would do its work to our hearts.

Lord, that it would pull open what is needed.

Lord, I pray that everything that we carried in this morning would be behind us for the next few moments, and that your Holy Spirit would have his way with us.

Lord, help us to see what your word has to speak to us.

We love you, Lord, in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Letter A about that selfish chair is a chair for proximity.

James and John ask to be at the right and left hand of God in his glory.

In some regard, when you read this, you can say, hey, they took the shot.

Bible says you have not because you asked not, and they took their shot and they asked.

I've come to understand in this human living long enough that there's some things in tactfulness.

Some of y'all need to look that word up.

In tactfulness, there's some things it's understood that you don't ask.

There's some non-asks.

And I'm gonna help some people today.

There's some, I just, this isn't in the Bible, but I just think you probably need to know it.

There's some non-asks.

Here's a non-ass, something you shouldn't ask.

Are you tired?

That's a good non-ask.

There's no good response to you look tired.

Oh, thank you.

Here's one.

If you don't mind me asking, what's your salary?

You put them in a position to have to say, I do mind, in fact.

Are you trying to lose weight?

That's not a good ask.

Let me help you a little bit.

You look good.

You look strong.

Those are better.

Are you trying to lose weight or have you been losing weight?

It's not the best.

Only to be worsened by something of this nature.

Hey, can you tell me when are you due?

Maybe followed by the worst.

Can I touch?

If you're not invited to any of that, you don't ask.

Some of you are going, oh man.

This is brand new information, I understand.

Here's another one.

Two young, budding people in love.

What are you two getting married?

Not a great ask.

Well, I want you to look over at Matthew chapter 20 for some context here.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

James and John ask about the right and left hand of God.

Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

Look at verse 20 and 21.

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons kneeling down and asking something from him.

And he said to her, What do you wish?

She said to him, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left hand in the kingdom.

So this question's been proposed already.

This is by Saloon, who was Mary's sister, if you didn't know that.

That would make James and John first cousins of Jesus.

So every time you hear people say those disciples were a ragtag group of people, some of them, it may have been pointed that Jesus invited them to follow him.

And so this question's already been proposed.

When you set your kingdom, Jesus, you have a left and you have a right.

We would like a reservation.

That's all.

Jesus responds, this has already been settled, and it's God's to settle.

This chair of proximity.

Well, it was not just a chair of proximity, but it was a chair for power.

I want you to see a passage in Psalms.

Turn to Psalms chapter 49.

Psalms 49 · chapter mention

It was a selfish chair, a chair looking for power.

This psalm, the whole psalm is a great psalm.

We're not going to read all of it.

We're going to read some around verse 6, Psalms 49, but the title in my Bible, the heading says, The confidence of the foolish.

This is, if you will, the confidence that powerful people might have.

False confidence.

Verse 6 Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother.

Nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their souls is costly.

Go down to verse 12.

Nevertheless, man, though in honor, and that word honor in other versions may say pomp, or someone who's in a powerful position, though a man in honor does not remain, he's like the beasts that perish.

Look down to verse 16.

Don't be afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased, for when he dies he shall carry nothing.

His glory shall not descend after him, though while he lives he blesses himself, for men will praise you when you do well for yourself.

He shall go to the generation of his fathers.

They shall never see light.

A man who has honor, again, pomp, who is maybe royal to yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.

So it's pretty normal for society to look at power based on prestige or wealth or position.

And so that's where these young men are asking Jesus for a chair.

They're looking for an opportunity.

And the Bible opens, and immediately you see this struggle for power upon the opening of Scripture.

We find out really before the opening of creation, there was a fall of Satan, a fell from heaven.

And then we see the very first siblings have a struggle for power, a sibling rivalry by the word sibling.

Cain and Abel have this rivalry.

And Cain in Genesis 4.8, it says he slew Abel, the first murderer, or the first brothers.

And so we see immediately this rivalry, this pulling for power.

Then by the time of the end of the book of Genesis, we see the story of Joseph unfolding, and we see the envy of his brothers.

He's thrown in a pit and then he's sold into slavery.

And we see that back and forth.

And it continues throughout the pages of Scripture.

We see it with Saul and David when David came in and slew Goliath, and then they begin singing the praises of David, and Saul became envious and jealous.

You see it in the story of the prodigal son and his older brother.

There's a party for when his brother came home and he's trying to figure out what happened on him.

And on and on it goes throughout the pages of Scripture, and another great word for this fight, this struggle, is a word called envy.

And we'll see in this passage how the disciples later become greatly displeased because of what they think they hear between Jesus, James, and John.

But it's this idea of enviousness.

The word envy means resentful, dissatisfied, longing for another's possessions or position.

Envy is not just wanting power, but it's not happy about someone else having power.

Or that place of power.

I was reminded uh this week in studying this and thinking through examples of just humility.

And my youth pastor growing up, Jerry Factor, I came uh in contact with him about five years ago.

I was at my Aunt Donna's funeral.

She worked at the Christian school that I grew up in, and he was my youth pastor, he was my history teacher, he was a Bible teacher, he was a soccer coach, and I got to speaking with him and just talking to him.

He was telling me uh, you know, about him being grateful and thankful for me being in ministry and and just getting to share with him.

And I said, you know, you've been in this a long time.

And he's close to 40 years been faithful in Christian ministry.

And I said, Have you ever felt called to be a lead pastor?

And he looked at me and he said, Brother, he said, God has called me to be an Aaron, to be a her.

I am called to assist, assist, and lift up the arms of the person that's my leader.

And I thought, this is really genuine.

And I thought, this man has learned the secret of happiness and contentment.

He's content to be what he's supposed to be.

When the world around us is all saying, you've got to reach the top.

Mr.

Factor didn't see all that, didn't live in that.

You see, contentment is beautiful and envy is ugly.

Proverbs says it.

Proverbs 14, 30 says, A peaceful heart gives life to the flesh, but envy rots the bones.

I want you to look at Mark chapter 7.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

How do we get to this place?

Mark 7, 20 through 23.

The defilement that comes from something like this.

It says, And he said, What comes out of a man that defiles a man, for from within, out of his heart, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and defile a man.

From within that heart, that place of I deserve, I should have that discontented heart.

Many have an unsatisfied heart.

The remedy is in Psalms 37, 3 through 5, and it says that we should place our desires, our desires should be in the things that are of the Lord.

Delight thyself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalms 37.

And so, this is a selfishness place.

Well, let's see the second point, the societal conundrum.

What happens out of this request?

There in Mark 10, look at verse 41 and 42.

It says, And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.

But Jesus called them to himself and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

Letter A is this lording over the lesser.

It says, But Jesus called them to himself.

And I kind of see this as a little bit of an amusing interaction because Jesus calls them to himself, and a lot of times when Jesus is teaching, he's teaching so that ears can hear things.

He's teaching so that Pharisees and scribes might hear things, bystanders might hear things.

But in this particular interaction, Jesus says it says he calls them to himself.

Right?

Calls them quietly.

And he says, Do you know how the Gentiles lord things over you?

Right?

This is between us, between us.

We're not saying this loud enough so that everyone else can hear, but you you you know what I'm talking about, God.

How they lore, how we don't like, how you don't like, how they lord things over you.

It's not said as in this is something that they love.

He brings them in quietly.

And it's interesting because these insignificant fishers, probably 16 to 20 somethings, knew all about the laws of social society and special society, right?

They knew all about the Roman Empire and Caesar Tiberius, this superpower, and they knew all about the Roman government, governor, Pontius Pilate, and then the social order within the Jewish people.

So you want to talk about classifications, right?

It's a never-ending ladder.

You've got high priests, then you've got the Sanhedrin, then you've got the Sadducees and Pharisees, and you've got the scribes, and you've got the zealots, and you've got all of these people, then you've got men, women, and then probably underneath of that, teenage fishermen.

Right?

Tax collectors, the bottom of the lesser of the barrel, disputing about who's gonna be the greatest.

Jesus brings them in quietly, calmly, and he reminds them do you recall what it feels like to be lorded over in their life?

Do we recall a whole life?

That's all it's been is being lorded over.

Right?

Their position in life would make you believe that they were just lorded over.

Anyone here ever been micromanaged?

Got a boss?

I have.

And uh he's my friend.

He was my boss, he's my friend, and it like it wouldn't be me talking bad about him.

He understood his micromanagement, and uh that works for some people, it didn't work for me.

I learned quickly that I did not want to be micromanaged, and so I found out what his expectations were, and I did them no matter what, and then tried my best to go far and above those expectations because I couldn't stand for him to knock on my door and ask me, Hey Rick, did this get done?

I want him to know all the time it was always gotten done.

Because I want to be able to have my time to creatively do what I wanted and needed to do.

Okay?

So you understand.

How many of you have older siblings?

You know what it's like to have been lorded over.

Any here, just the older sibling?

You know what it's like to lord over.

Right?

This is what he's talking to them about.

You've probably in here been lorded over before.

Disciples, though, were dreaming big dreams of greatness, and Jesus kind of hits them with this knockout punch.

You've been afforded your position, but your position doesn't give you the right to lord over.

I hope that in this this church there's an understanding that the ground is level.

It's not a place for lording over, it's a place for acceptance and love and care.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Believers, we're right next to one another, and we call each other here often family.

So he says, You understand this lording over.

Well, let's look at letter B.

I want you to turn back just a page to Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

Letter B is the last or not least.

Jesus, this conversation evidently was an ongoing conversation.

And we talked about the children last week, but hidden within that is this important text, verse 35 and 36 of Mark 9.

It says, and he sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

Then he took a little children and set them in the midst of them, and when he had taken them in his arm, he said to them, Whoever receives one of these in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me.

So what he's saying in the picture he continues to paint is this if you want to be great, serve.

Not lording, but leaning into, not lording, but loving.

Not lording, but learning this lesson that there really is not a lesser than.

Now this is very counterculture to the world we live in.

Let me give you some famous quotes.

See if you've ever heard them before.

Plato said, How can a man be happy when he has to serve someone?

The great Simon Cowell said, good is not good enough.

You must be great.

Even greater LeBron James, this is a mouthful here.

Everywhere I have been, I have been the best.

I love being the leader and the best.

It's not about me being cocky or selfish.

It's just how I am.

And quote.

Okay.

Coach John Wooden said this: first, be the best, and then you'll be first.

Culture that we live in says, be great and do whatever it takes to rise to the top, stepping on whoever you gotta step on along the way.

You just have to get to the top.

You just have to be the most.

You just have to be the best.

But the Bible says things like this, Acts 20, 35.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The word blessed is happy.

You want to be happy?

He says, if, and if I asked if we pulled anybody what they want in life, they want to be happy.

They want to be contented.

And the Bible says, then you've got to be a giver.

You've got to be a servant.

Then you'll be happy.

Back to Mark or there, verse 35 through 37.

Jesus has said, if you will receive the least of me, then you'll receive me.

Then you will receive the least of these, then you receive me.

Not just me, but the one who sent me.

And in fact, what he was saying is if you will look at those in the world that have struggles, and you will serve, if you will serve children, if you will serve the impaired, if you will serve the addicted, if you will serve the feeble, if you will serve the disabled, if you'll serve the poor, you'll receive an audience with me.

That's very counter-cultural.

Because Jesus says the way up is down.

To receive, you have to give.

To be first, you have to be last.

The greatest is a servant.

In God's economy, the least are not last.

It reminded me of the stories of Muhammad Ali, because Muhammad Ali is famous for saying what?

I am the greatest.

He said, I am the greatest.

Muhammad Ali was one time talking to an airline attendant.

She was walking by, she said, Mr.

Ali, please buckle up for safety.

And Muhammad Ali quickly said, Superman doesn't need a safety belt.

And the flight attendant looked back at him and said, Superman don't need no airplane either.

So buckle up.

This is the mentality of the great in this world.

And I was thinking about our Savior.

One of the last acts Jesus displayed before he's arrested and goes to the cross, he brings the disciples to the upper room, and he gets down on his knees, and he gets out of the washtow, and it begins, disciple after disciple, washing the dirt off their feet.

That's the mentality of our Savior.

So what do we do?

How do we make this practical?

Well, we're talking about gospel on the ground and the bridge of service opening an opportunity.

The gospel on the ground is an opportunity through service, the way that you serve people around you that may be lost, opens a doorway.

And so we always, as a church, we're looking for opportunities to serve and meet needs, but you are on the ground all week long and there are needs all around you.

So what are some things?

If you can help someone with a chore that might be hard to them because of what you know, that's an opportunity for service to a neighbor or a coworker, cleaning up trash, paying someone's fee.

You've seen this, the paying forward and leaving a track or some means of getting the gospel to them, walking with someone through their hardship.

Serving.

I Googled this week.

And I couldn't even bring it.

There are literally hundreds of ideas of service projects.

But here's how you boil it down.

God asks you and me to give in three ways.

He wants us to give our time, our talent, and our treasure.

And do it as a service unto God.

I would ask myself to do that with the principle of tithing.

Am I giving of myself to serve through finances?

Am I doing it with my time?

I'm quick to give more finances than I am to give time sometimes.

That's a struggle for me.

Time, talent, treasure, the things that you're able to do.

Are you giving in a way that serves?

How, church, do you serve the Lord?

I'm talking about your job.

How do you serve the Lord with your job?

God gave you that job and there's a purpose.

God gave you the money that comes with that job and there's a purpose.

God gave you the circle of influence in your life and there's a purpose.

How are you serving in that circle?

Your talents are not a mistake.

The experience that led to your talents are not a mistake.

It's all driven by a God that has a beautiful chessboard that He's playing on and He wants you to be at peace.

What about it, teenagers?

How are you serving?

Say, well, that's good for my parents.

How are you serving right now?

The Bible says you'll be happier.

You'll be happier if you give of yourself.

Well, that takes us to the third point.

This is a spiritual cup.

This thing that they asked for.

Let's look at Mark chapter 10, verse 38 and 39.

Mark 10:38

They asked him this question, Will you do whatever we ask of you?

And they said, Can we sit on your left and right side?

And Jesus said to them, You don't know what you ask.

Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with?

And they said to him, We are able.

So Jesus said to them, You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with, you will be baptized.

Letter A, this cup is a cup of suffering.

He says, Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?

And impulsively, it seems, they blurt out, Yes, we are.

And Jesus, on the flip side, conversely, they speak quickly, and it seems he speaks with contemplation, says, You're right, you will indeed drink of my cup, having an understanding of more than they understood.

And I need you to know today, when the word cup is used in scripture, it's often used to signify wrath or suffering.

We know from Acts 12 that James was the first apostle to be martyred.

So when Jesus says, You indeed will drink of my cup, he's making a statement, and maybe James and John, when they heard him respond this way, you will drink of my cup, maybe they perked right up, puffed their chest out.

Like they had won something.

Like we are right in tune with him.

See?

See?

This is what we were thinking.

We knew that Jesus would agree.

And the disciples overhear this.

And it says, they were greatly displeased.

Now, if somebody told me and Pastor Dave, we were going to go out this weekend, we were going to suffer greatly for the work of God, I wouldn't expect that ten other people nearby would be greatly displeased that we had that honor.

Now it is an honor, and it's hard to think of it that way, but I imagine that if we said that, ten people say, I can't believe they get to suffer.

So I don't think the disciples quite understood what was going on here, this suffering, but the Bible says, Blessed are they who are persecuted for my name's sake.

This is interesting.

As you follow this ongoing conversation of greatness in Mark chapter 9 and 10, what strikes me here, we're going to follow back into some of the verses that lead up to this question.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

Jesus had blessed the children, right?

He pulled them in, he prayed with them, and then as you follow through John chapter 9, he rebukes the disciples for looking down on the lesser.

John 9 · chapter mention

Immediately after he rebukes them for that, amen.

So all this wealth and power keeps coming into the conversation about greatness.

A rich, important young ruler comes to Jesus, and Jesus, in short, says, Sell everything that you have and give to the poor.

He walks away just despondent about that request.

He says, and then you can follow me.

And then he explains to the disciples after that how hard it owes hard it is for those with riches to rely on Jesus.

He says, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for somebody to rely on you.

And that's not talking about a needle that you thread with.

It's actually a place that a camel had to go through, a pathway.

But he's saying it's hard, harder than that.

And then Mark 10, 31, he says, the last shall be first.

All this talk about power and money.

And Jesus is trying to get them through all that and realize these things are not great.

But then he goes from all these conversations, power, money, greatness, and he shifts.

Look at Mark 10, 33 and 34.

Right before James and John ask this question.

Look at the pretext.

This is kind of crazy when you consider it.

So after all of that conversation on greatness, Jesus says to them, What's coming for him who they look at as great?

And he says, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they're going to condemn him to death.

And deliver him to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and scourge him and spit on him and kill him.

And the third day he will rise again.

He transitions after all that.

And here's the words, the key, right?

The verbs, the action words.

Condemn, mock, scourge, spit, and kill.

James and John immediately after that.

That's cool, Jesus.

Can we get a throne?

Y'all see the response?

Y'all pick that up?

Mock, scourge, spit, kill, condemn.

Jesus, can we get the right and left hand?

He tells them, this is the one who's done all the miracles.

He is greatness personified.

And he tells them what's coming for him.

And they go, Yeah, I hear that, Jesus, but can we get a throne?

It's like you work on, you know, you're the mayor of the city and you tell your kids you're about to go through chemo.

And they say, Can we get a seat on city council, Dad?

All they could see was the crown.

They wanted the crown without the cross.

They wanted glory without the pain.

They wanted the reward.

But this cup that Jesus understood was a cup of suffering.

I want you to see letter B.

A cup of service.

So they give the request to the disciples hear it and get displeased.

Jesus, look at verse 43 through 45.

Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

And whoever you desire to be first shall be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

This cup of service.

We're a serving church.

And I gotta tell you, when I talk about my church, one of the things that I get pumped about telling people about CCW is the amount of people involved in serving.

We serve.

A lot of people here are involved in serving, and there's many people who have said to me countless times, Pastor, if this opportunity opens up, or if there's a way that I can serve, man, this church is serving.

And it's pointedly serving.

We have a next steps class, and I don't mean to give a commercial, but if you're waiting for next steps and you haven't joined, April 23rd and 30th is our next next steps class.

And uh you can sign up for that and register for that.

Um but in the whole second class, the entirety of the class is about serving.

The heart of who we are is found in serving.

So after all that, Jesus, it seems like pours out his heart about what's coming.

Not a rebuke, not a reprimand.

Jesus ever the discipler.

Now, picture the whole scene.

Jesus is 33, and he's got a small group of college and teenage boys, right?

So ever the discipler, Jesus pulls, guys, right?

It would not shock me if I told a teenage boy, I'm getting ready to suffer, and he said, Yeah, well, can I have 10 bucks?

Okay, so Jesus, ever the discipler, pulls them in, not a rebuke, just a calm and encouraging word.

And he says, Guys, even the son of man, from the beginning of the Mark Bible study, Jesus' favorite term for himself in Mark, 14 times the Son of Man.

This even title, this nickname, this was a reminder, 14 times, of his divinity and his humanity.

It was now a title that they would understand.

We understand it as Daniel 7's prophecy, there comes one like the Son of Man to live in the flesh.

John 1, it's John 1.1 and John 1.14 married.

John 1.1 says, In the beginning, the word was with God, and the word was God.

So that he was equal with God.

Jesus, equal with God in creation.

And John 1.14 says, and then that word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Son of Man, the Son of God.

And so we see this marriage through this word.

Even the God man, he says, guys, geez, I did not come to be served.

If anybody could be served, it was Jesus, but I came to serve.

I'm not here to be great.

My Father is great.

I'm here to serve and give my life.

How are you giving your life, church?

Are you here to be great and build this temporary kingdom?

Are you Matthew 6, 33?

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

I want to tell you what Paul had to say.

Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter 9 about serving.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

The heading in my Bible in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 says, right above verse 19, serving all men.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

Paul said, For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.

And to the Jews I become as a Jew, that I might win Jews.

To those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law.

To those who are without law, as without law, not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ, that I might win those who are without law.

To the weak, I'm become as weak, that I might win the weak.

I become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

Now, verse 23, it's important.

Now this I do.

Why does he serve?

For the gospel's sake.

He says, I do all this serving for anyone, any opportunity, for any type of people.

I'll be anything for anyone that some would be saved.

I do this for the gospel.

So we don't serve for me.

I don't serve for my comfort, as Dave talked about.

I serve so that the gospel can go forth.

I'll serve that someone can be saved.

Jesus said to the disciples, often I want to make you fishers of men.

That meant servants of men.

Jesus was on the road of opportunity, meeting everyone's need along the way and sharing the gospel.

I'm concerned so often that the American church has become more apt to see being keepers of the aquarium and not fishers of men.

The fishing for men through service is falling.

I have two stories that I'll finish with, neither one of them my own, so I want to give credit.

Tim Dowdy shared this first story in the second part as more of a breaking down of scripture that Pastor Eli will love.

The great Robert Smith, who's a wonderful preacher, shared this, and I want to share it.

Tim Dowdy says that he and his wife went to an antique store, and antique shopping is not up there on his favorite things to do.

As some of you men, I met with a man in the lobby today, he said he went antique shopping yesterday and just gave me a smile.

I understood what that smile meant, sir.

And Tim says, as you walk into this place, the outline of the store looks like a simple store, but as you get in, you realize that it's ten blocks deep.

And he says, and you get in the store and on and on it goes with things, and he says, I really don't have any care for most of the things.

He says, so I look for the man section in the antique store.

He says, it's usually one or two small booths somewhere close to the back.

He says, so I found myself to one of these booths way deep in the back.

And he said, I got down looking, and he said, Look at that.

There's some antique rip fishing rods and reels.

And he began to pull them and look at them, and there were some in a case, and one of the employees walked by and said, Sir, would you like to pull them out of the case and look on them?

And he said, I think I'm gonna be here for a while, so that would be great.

And so he got down in the floor and he began several fishing rods and reels and just looking through these antiques and was excited that he had something to do that day.

And as he was looking through them, that employee came back and she said, You won't believe this, but the lady who owns all of these is just outside.

Would you like to meet her?

He said, Well, I'm probably gonna be here for yet a while longer.

That would be great.

So he went outside, and here's this lady, and he began to find out her story, and she said, My late husband had tons and tons and tons of these.

He was just ate up with these rods and reels.

She said, You should see my garage at my house.

She said, I'm not joking you.

Floor to ceiling.

It is covered in these.

And she said, Would you like to see it?

She said, I just live a few blocks down the road.

So he hurried in, talked to his wife, explained the situation, went back, got to this lady's home, and sure enough, garage door went up, floor to ceiling.

He said, It was like nothing he had ever seen before in his life.

Antiques, every manner of fish and things.

And he said he was just amazed as he looked around.

He said, I made a statement.

I said, ma'am, your husband sure must have loved fishing.

And he said, she said something that surprised me like nothing I'll ever heard.

She said, sir, he never fished.

I don't even think he liked fishing.

He just loved the stuff.

And Tim said this.

My concern for us as a church is that we don't like fishing for men.

We just love the stuff of church.

The way it makes us feel.

And it took me to Philippians 2.

What is our great example of service?

Turn your Bibles.

Jesus said this, or Paul said this.

Let nothing, Philippians 2 verse 3, let nothing be done through strife or selfish ambition, but in lowlyness of mind.

Philippians 2:3

Let each of us esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own, but also for the interests of others.

And then he brings Jesus.

And he says, Let this mind, what I'm talking to you, is a mentality thing.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man.

And he came.

And you think about Jesus, emptying himself to become a slave.

Jesus took off his royal diadem and hung it in the hat rack of heaven.

Jesus took off his royal robes and hung it in the closet of eternity.

Jesus jumped on a nine-month train of nature and he was brought to the station of Bethlehem.

And Jesus never had anything.

Bible says the foxes have a den and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.

Jesus borrowed a manger to be born in.

He borrowed a boat to preach in.

Jesus continued to borrow through his life.

Jesus borrowed a cross one day to be crucified on.

Jesus borrowed a tomb for his body to be put in.

But Jesus is honest in his borrowing what he borrowed on Friday, he gave back on Sunday.

He borrowed.

And I am so glad today that my King showed me the means to be a servant.

I am glad today before you to be last.

Because there's only one that is preeminent.

There is only one who is first.

Y'all remember the old hymn all hail the power of Jesus' name.

Let angels prostrate fall.

He is the one who is worthy.

And he is a savior worthy of serving today.

How are you serving him?

He said, let the first be last and be the greatest servant.

That Savior gave everything for me and for you.

And I want to give everything back to him.

Do you, church?

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes this morning?

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