Serving With a Humble Heart

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

Thanks to God, we have our 4th child on Dec 29, 2009, and her Chinese name is to remember the “goodness” of God, just like what is said in Psalms 23:6, “Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days, and I will live in the Lord’s house for the rest of my life.”

The names of our first child and the 4th child are to reflect the “goodness” and “faithfulness” of the Lord. We pray that while we are very content with the 4 children, God will give us more spiritual children and that many others will come to Christ through our ministry.

We are very thankful for how much you love our family, shown to us through your prayers, your gifts, your effort in helping with childcare, the food that you prepared and we pray that God will reward you all richly.

Honestly, what you have given us is more than what we are deserved for. We don’t have much to return back but we pray that God will help us to serve Him and the church better.

As a father of 4 children, life is always busy. But I have been learning much spiritual lessons through my children.

Proverbs 20:11 says, “a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.” We can learn much about behaviors and personality through children because they don’t hide their thoughts and acts.

For example, when children play together, there is always one who wants to be leaders and want others to follow him or her. And sometimes, conflicts arise because everyone wants to be leaders.

Children want to be leaders because they want to be in control, but they don’t realize that being a leader means that they have to give up the good things to the others.

And thinking back to us, don’t we have the same problems at school, at work and at church? We serve at workplace and we serve at church, but do we really know what it really means to be a leader? Do we have the right attitude to serve God?

In Matthew 20:20-28, we read that the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus to ask that Jesus permit these two sons to sit in His Kingdom, one at His right hand and one at His left. After all, they want to earn leadership roles in God’s Kingdom.

This is how we are brought up, the principle is we have to have good education to earn good status, so that we have control of others, not the other way round.

This is what Jesus said, that you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

We know that the reality is either we are in control or we are being controlled by others. Therefore we fight hard to be the one in control. And we bring such principle into the church and into our religious system. Just like what happened with James and John in the bible passage.

James and John were called by Jesus to be His followers, while they gave up what they had on earth to follow Jesus, James and John looked for rewards in God’s Kingdom

But Jesus called a total of 12 disciples, now that James and John looked for promotion, the other 10 felt the same.

Matthew 20:24 says that the other 10 disciples were upset when they heard such request from James and John, because the other 10 also desired to be in control.

According to the bible, this is not the first and only power struggle among the disciples, and it shows that it is human nature to desire for power, and it is a true reflection of our sinful nature.

Ever since mankind disobeyed God and ate the fruit, sin came into the world, and it translates into pride, selfishness and self-centeredness. We commonly see those human natures in people around us and sometimes, they are hurtful.

On the other hand, we easily forget that we ourselves are also proud, selfish and self-centered, we can bring hurts to others, too.

Thanks to God, Jesus saves us from sin and from pride, selfishness and self-centeredness. Jesus set us the model of a servant, that he did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many

Jesus demonstrated a life of giving, and a life of ministry:

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8)

Thanks to God, because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we have hope, because Jesus redeemed our sins and saved us from pride, selfishness and self-centeredness.

So as believers of Jesus Christ, while we are living one earth, we are God’s children and we belong to His Kingdom. Therefore, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.

This is the principle of His Kingdom, the total opposite of the principle of the world, and they also clash with our sinful nature. However, Christians, followers of Jesus, should follow the Kingdom principles, and to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ. Not only that we become more like Christ in our words and deeds, but that we are renewed and our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus

What is the attitude of Jesus Christ? We can see that from Philippians 2:

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

We can also gain an insight from the Matthews 20:20-28: The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

There is yet another passage which depicts Jesus’ attitude very well.

In Matthew 11:28-30, the scriptures say, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus said “I am gentle and humble in heart”. Jesus’ heart is humble and gentle. So for us who are Jesus’ followers and who are willing to serve Him and model His attitude, shouldn’t we also have a humble heart?

It is not easy to witness Christ among our families, our classmates, co-workers and friends.

We carry that as a burden and we always feel powerless in carrying such burden. We may be serving as church and carrying lots of workload, and we also feel powerless.

But Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light, and He will give us rest. The key is about whether we have the heart like Jesus, a humble heart.

If our heart is just like how it was before we became Christians, that we bring with us the pride, selfishness and self-centeredness to serve Jesus and the church, we will for sure carry a heavy burden and have no rest.

Being humble means that we acknowledge God’s sovereignty and that God has absolute control on everything. The church belongs to God and Jesus is the leader of the church. The church does not belong to the pastoral staff, the church council, nor anyone else.

We all belong to Jesus Christ because we are redeemed by Him, by the blood of Jesus’ Christ.

Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, and we are His servants, and we should humble before Him and let He take full control in our lives and in our church.

If you insist to take control of our life, your burden will surely be heavy. And if you desire to take control of the church, and feel that the church cannot go without you, your ministry will surely be stressful, that you will not have peace and your church will not neither.

Being humble facilitates our interpersonal relationship as well. In Philipians 2:1-4, the scriptures say, If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Today is the installation service of the church leaders. I am thankful for these brothers and sisters who are willing to serve the church. It is my prayer that the church council and servant leaders will serve the Lord with a humble heart, that God will use our church to further His Kingdom

Being humble is also the key of an enthusiastic ministry. No matter what role do we have in church, being humble will help us manage the workload and enjoy the experience. If we are to carry the Lord’s yoke, we should model our Lord, be humble and we will experience the peace that He promised.

Let us pray.