Sermon October 18 2009

Cuba Christian Church
Pastor Amy Wharton
Job 38:1-7, (34-41)
Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45

“Self-serving/Self-giving”
Honestly, I am not sure how to decide what makes a person great—even in the context of the Christian faith. It’s hard stand in last place—to be humble and maintain humility even in the midst of service. It’s often hard to serve without misusing power—even to serve without trying to control. Servanthood within Christianity is a delicate balance that most Christians struggle with. Sometimes humility—or its near cousin, flagrant martyrdom, can be a temptation. Sometimes the buzz we get from service can make us think we are irreplaceable, though each one of us is a unique part of the kingdom. It’s another one of those paradoxes of the realm of God.

The disciples, James and John, along with all the others, struggled with this matter, too. They were passionate about learning the way that Jesus taught them, yet they were faithful people in the Jewish faith who needed to understand how the way of Jesus fit within their understanding of how their world worked and how their faith worked.

As with them, we also need to understand how it is that the gospel calls us to live faithfully within a world where the gospel’s message is out of congruence with how we have experienced the world working. How do we practice humility with the power we have been given through the relationships, gifts and talents with which we have been blessed? How do we balance using our power—our gifts and talents and relationships—with misusing power? How do we serve others with what we are given while allowing others to maintain the power they have?

Jesus didn’t condemn James and John for asking the question about honor and status in the kingdom of God, he simply explained how power works in the realm of God.
“. . . whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
He taught them that, as in his life, the way to be close to God and to have a relationship to God was to serve others and to allow one to be served by others. If everyone is a slave—then no one takes precedence over others. If everyone is a slave, then everyone is served and being served. All are humbled by serving, by being served and by living in service to all others—in service to all and being served by all.

We can take these truths to heart as we interact within the life of the church. Let us serve one another with humility and with mutual respect as we go about the work that Jesus calls us to do. When we disagree about methods we use—and we will disagree—let us treat one another with respect in those disagreements. As when I am counseling people who are getting married, I urge us to not use unfair tactics to win fights, sarcasm, past disagreements or playing on weaknesses. But I also urge us to stand firm when issues matter to us, not so that we win, but so that all voices can be heard.

Humility in service means using any power we have to do good rather than to use power to get things done the way that we want them to be done. Sometimes humility in service means accepting and answer of no from those we may want to serve. It’s hard to discern, but sometimes our opinions as well thought out as they are may not be what God wants for us—and our opinions are often different than God’s will for someone else. Most of us tend to like and want to keep a level of consistency in life, but much of life is learning to live with changes in the lives of others and ourselves so that we can remain faithful to the way that God is calling us to live.

James and John saw the way the world works and wanted to make sure that they received their due in the coming world to come, too. Jesus saw into their questions and realized that they were still learning of the world to come and didn’t condemn them, though their fellow apostles were upset at them. How often do we get angry at others because they are unable to see the world as we do? Or, we get angry because they beat us to the advantage that we were late in seeing? Maybe that’s the other disciples’ problem, they missed their chance?

Jesus’ way of describing the kingdom of God was a puzzle for his disciples and all who heard his words—he used the words of faith, but used them differently than they were used to hearing. I believe that’s part of the message that Jesus’ brought, too. He wasn’t trying to leave them confused, but he was revealing that God’s presence, work and action was always mysterious in part. Just when people think they have all the rules down in black and white, God reveals that there is more. Just because people believe that they have the right formula down doesn’t mean God has to follow that formula. God doesn’t change the rules; God continues as a living being, not tied to the understanding and limitations of humanity. Our job is to continue in relationship and continue in learning, being open to what God has to offer.

The mystery of God’s creation is expressed in God’s word to Job in this Sunday’s First Testament Reading.
“5Who determined [the earth’s] measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
7when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?”
The power of humanity—which is great within the realm of creation itself—is simply a creation of God’s own creativity in the scheme of the whole universe of creation: spiritual, physical and whatever there is we do not know.

In the last century, we learned a great deal about how the physical world works: we learned some of the mysteries of the atom and created bombs of unparalleled destructive capabilities. We have learned about the mysteries of the nucleus of living organisms, decoding the genes that make us who we are, but have yet to understand everything those codes have to do with the heredity of disease, aging, and benefits. We have the rudimentary knowledge, but the mystery of life itself is still a mystery. I believe in continuous search for knowledge, but the power we gain from that knowledge is to be used with humility and caution.

The global society we are building through the search for knowledge and relationships all over the world calls upon the ethical structures of various faiths, including Christianity to guide the use of that knowledge and of those relationships. The conversations between science and faith must continue—with humility on the part of all those within the conversation.

We cannot pretend to understand all things—we cannot pretend to always choose the use of our power and knowledge exactly how God would have us choose, to do so would reveal a lack of humility. We are called to step into the mystery of choice with nothing but humility, knowing that whatever choices we make, God will use those choices to further the kingdom—the household of God.

We are called to serve God and to serve God by serving others because that is God’s nature revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. As Christians, people called to continue the life and work of Jesus, we have been given the privilege of Jesus’ humility as our own. The disciples of Jesus, who walked with him daily, had the opportunity and privilege of watching him live—we have the advantage of their vision written through the lens of the death and resurrection and how they saw the mystery of God’s work in his life authenticated by those experiences and by our own experiences of God in our lives.

Humility is a matter of balance within the life of a Christian—humility to serve others and God through that service and the awareness of our gifts and power to help. Humility means serving without recognition, yet willing to accept the thanks that others give when they give it. Humility means allowing our service to pass onto the hands of others when they have been called to service, as well.

Let us serve, recognizing the holiness of that service and recognizing that God calls all of us to serve and be served.

To the Glory of our God—blessed by service, serving through blessing. Amen.