Serving the Lord in Humility

Read Mt 20:20-28. Let us pray.

Thank you Lord, He gave us our fourth child on December 29, 2009, her name is “God’s mercy” in Chinese.

Her name is taken from Psalm 23:6, Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Our first daughter was named Lydia, (her Chinese name means loved by God), now we call our 4th child God’s mercy, we now have both love and mercy.

We pray that God will stop giving us physiological children but pray that God will give us more spiritual children. May more people become children of God because of our ministry.

Here, I would like to thank all of you for your love of our family. You offered prayer for us in front of God; the gifts you gave us, the care you provided our children; the food you made for us, were all partaken with thanks in Christ. May God Himself reward you.

Frankly speaking, what you have given us is more than we deserve. We cannot fully repay. I pray that I would be even more faithful to God, even more humble to serve our Lord Jesus Christ.

As a father with four kids, I am very busy. Often I feel that I lack time and energy. But praise the Lord, our children often help me learn many spiritual lessons.

Proverbs 20:11 Even a young man is known by his actions— by whether his behavior is pure and upright.

The words and actions of children are not pretense. They often lead me to a new and deeper understanding.

For example, when they play together, one of them would often want to be the leader, this child wants the others to listen to his/her commands. Sometimes, when all of them want to be leaders, there will be argument.

One child wants to be the head, wants others to listen to him/her, do whatever he/she wants, and does not realize that being the head requires letting others’ needs first be fulfilled. It requires giving away delicious food or sharing toys.

When we look at adults at school, work, church, do we have a similar problem?

At work we hold important positions, we also serve at church, but do we understand how to be a leader?

Do we know the most important attitude to have when serving God?

From the Scripture passage we read today, Matthew 20:20-28, we saw Zebedee’s son’s mother and her two children, i.e. James and John, they begged Jesus about one thing. They hope that in Jesus’ future kingdom, they will be seated on the right and left of Jesus.

The bottom line is they wish to be seated at the head in God’s kingdom, to be outstanding.

We live in this world, where we are taught since being a child to work hard in school, so you become successful when you grow up. This is the world’s principle, either you step on other’s head or else others will step on your head.

This is what Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and the men of high position exercise power over them.”

We all know the principles of this world, we have become accustomed to them. So when we become Christians, we would unconsciously bring the world’s principles into our belief, our church, just like James and John in those days.

They were called by Jesus, they left everything on earth to follow Jesus. They wish that they can be compensated in God’s kingdom in the future as their reward.

When Jesus was alive, He called twelve disciples to follow Him, making them apostles. James and John are two of them, their aspiration for high positions does not imply that the other ten are content with being lowly.

Matthew 20:24 says, when the 10 [disciples] heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers.

This explains that the ten disciples have the same mentality as James and John. They want to be seated in high positions. If James and John took the high positions, they would not have any left. That is why they became angry at James and John.

According to the Bible, this is not the first time nor the only time the disciples argue about who is the greatest in the Kingdom. This explains a fact, that is wanting to be great is human. It is a broad and deep reaction of human being’s sinful nature.

When human beings disobeyed God’s instructions and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, sin entered the world. Human beings became proud, selfish, self-centered and overly confident.

In this world, we can see people that are proud, selfish, self-centered and overly confident everywhere. The pride, selfishness, self-centeredness and over-confidence of these people sometimes hurt us.

But often we forget that we are also proud, selfish, self-centered and overly confident. Our pride, selfishness, self-centeredness and over-confidence also hurt others.

Thanks to God, Jesus Christ came, so we can be freed from sin, freed from being proud, selfish, self-centered and overly confident.

Jesus Christ first became our example, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many. Jesus’ life is a life of self-denial. It is a life of service.

Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)

Thanks to God, for Jesus Christ died on the cross, we sinners can have hope, for Jesus death is our atonement. He died for our sins, so we can be freed from being proud, selfish, self-centered and overly confident.

We who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, even though we live in the world, we are God’s children. We belong to the Kingdom of God.

So we should not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that we will walk worthy of the calling we received.

Matthew 20:26-27 It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave.

This is the heaven’s principle, totally opposite to the world’s. It is also contrary to our human nature.

Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, should follow the heaven’s principle, conform to our Lord Jesus Christ, not only in our word and deed but become more like our Lord Jesus Christ. More importantly our mind and thoughts should be transformed and renewed so that we can make our own attitude that of Jesus Christ.

How is Jesus’ attitude?

From the verses before and after Philippians 2:5, we can see that the most important attribute of Jesus’ attitude is emptying Himself, assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.

From the passage we read today, Matthew 20:20-28, we can see a similar point, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Jesus Christ said, I am gentle and humble in heart. Jesus Christ’s attitude is gentle and humble.

We who are followers of Jesus Christ, are we willing to make our own attitude that of Jesus Christ? Should we not have a humble heart?

You have to witness for Christ in your home, school and work, so that your relatives, your classmates, your colleagues and friends come to know Christ. This is not an easy task, you have to labour. Maybe you feel that this is a burden, you may often feel helpless. You serve at church, no matter whether you are pastors, council members, small group leaders, servant leaders. You labour a lot; you may feel that this is a burden,; you may feel exhausted.

But Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light, you will find rest. The key is whether our attitude is that of Christ’s; gentle and humble.

If our attitude is still the same as before we believe in Christ, that is being proud, selfish, self-centered, overly confident, when we follow Jesus, serve Him or minister at church, we will definitely feel a heavy burden and cannot find rest.

When we are humble, we recognize God’s sovereignty. Everything belongs to God, God is ruler of all.

The church is God’s home, Jesus Christ is the head of the church.

The church does not belong to the pastors, nor the council members, nor anyone of us.

All of us belong to Jesus Christ for we have been bought by a huge price, redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus.

Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, we are His servants. We ought to humble ourselves before Him, so Jesus Christ can reign in us and the church.

If you want to be your own Lord, your weariness and burden will increase. If you want to be the Lord of the church, thinking that the church cannot function without you or you have to be on top of everyone; then your service at church will be burdensome, you will have no rest, the church will not experience rest either.

Humility helps us to live peacefully with others.

Philippians 2: 1-4 1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, (if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. 3 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not [only] for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Today is our church’s installation of the 2010 leaders. Thanks to God, these brothers and sisters are willing to serve in the church. I hope that the church council, the servant leaders of each department will have a humble heart to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. May our church enlarge God’s kingdom in 2010.

Humility is the secret to serving with strength. No matter what role we are responsible for, if we can do it without feeling weary and burdened, if we can enjoy the sweetness of serving Jesus Christ, we must be humble. If we are to bear the yoke of Christ, we must have the attitude of Christ, be like Jesus Christ, be gentle and humble in heart. Then we will experience the rest that Jesus Christ promised.

Let’s pray.