A Church of Service; 事奉的教會

9/12/10 Sermon by Minister Michael Johnson

A Church of Service

Philippians 2:1-13

It hasn’t been THAT long since I was a young boy. I can remember very clearly the things my mother wanted for our family. One of those things was for my brothers and me to not fight but to be great friends. She wanted us to work together as siblings and show our love for one another. Unfortunately, that is not always easy when you have a household of three boys with very different personalities. We often wrestled, which started out fun, but sometimes someone would get hurt. We tended to get in a lot of fights with each other actually. Now that we’re older, we are good friends and do not fight with each other anymore. We call each other quite often and are excited when we are able to see each other. My brothers don’t just get along with me because I live so far away. In fact, they have a close friendship and even live in the same neighborhood with their wives and families. The difference between then and now is a good example for what Paul wishes to see and not to see in the Philippians church. He wanted a church that was humble. He wanted one that served each other and loved each other. He did not want a selfish church, always embattled in bickering, whose members cared more for themselves than for others.

Philippians 2:1-2 states this, “Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, complete my joy and be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose.” You see Paul wanted to see the church in Philippi to have one purpose, to be united in spirit and to have the same love for each other. He wanted to see a church that modeled Christ and walked in the Holy Spirit.

If we use the example of my brothers and me as kids you see that we were not always unified in love and one spirit. In fact it might seem quite the opposite. We were motivated by our own interests many times and did not consider the feelings and needs of the others. This demonstrates how the Lord does NOT want to see the church operate. He wants something like what my brothers and I have now where we are supportive of one another, love of one another, and seek to help each other. Even more so, we are willing to put aside our own self-interests for the sake of our relationship.

This leads me to the next two verses. Let me read verses three and four to you once again. “Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well.” I feel this is a perfect part of a mission statement for a church. Think about it. The church is not meant to be a selfish place. When we look at the gifts of the Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control all these have to do with others. They have a “self” component because one can be loving, patient, kind, and gentle with the self, but they don’t end there. Verse four states one should not only be concerned with self interest, but also with the interests of others. In fact we are supposed to treat others as more important than ourselves. How do we do this? How can one be interested with the self and with others?

Let me tell you a quick story. I had to do many presentations while I was at Lesley University studying for counseling. Many of these presentations were group presentations. The group determined a topic and each member researched a portion of the topic they wanted to present. Ultimately the grade of the presentation depended on each member fulfilling the responsibility of researching and presenting his or her individual subtopic. Even if only one person did a poor job in the presentation the whole group would suffer. For this reason, each member needed to keep the whole group’s interest in mind. This is like the church. Each member must grow and develop his or her individual spiritual gift. Each individual gift then can be used for the mission and growth of the whole church. A church could have a wonderful music director, a fantastic preacher, a person gifted in prayer, and a person who is wonderful with sound equipment. If these people do not work together the church misses out on a great opportunity to see how unique each contribution could be, thus limiting the church’s overall potential to grow and be vibrant in the community.

Christ cared about all people. He had self-interest, and that was to share the message of salvation through repentance of sin and faith in Him. He wants people to believe in Him. However, if Christ walked around preaching the Gospel message without investing in those who believed this message it would not have lasted. Christ preached a message of humility and service. He preached a message of love. He preached a message that called for people to walk outside of their selfish sin and live a life of faith. Jesus did not stop with proclaiming His message. He lived it out. He actually practiced what He preached.

Think about how people might respond to Jesus if He walked around only commanding people to follow Him to find salvation. What if he yelled and screamed at people? What if he was arrogant and seemed too exclusive? Do you think people would have followed Him? I don’t think they would. Thankfully, Christ was not like this while He walked the earth. He served others in order that they might believe His message. He practiced humility and service. As the passage states He became a servant. Think about that. Christ, who sat on a Throne high above all the world, did not present Himself as Master over everyone, though He had right to. Instead, he left all of that to save us and while here, to demonstrate what true servanthood looks like.

This is how we are to be in the world. We are to serve with the interest of seeing others turn to Christ. An individual’s passion might be to lead or join in worship through music. It might be through serving or supporting missions. Your self interest may be preaching and teaching. It could be children’s ministry, or through any other opportunity that glorifies the Lord. I believe these types of “self-interests” are born out of the Holy Spirit and are therefore ultimately interests of the Lord. You can be interested in many things, but how will you share with others?

We have been talking for several weeks in the church about the children’s ministry. Specifically, incorporating a family and congregational approach. This is a prime example of the message of this sermon. Parents may have a self-interest in the chidren’s ministry because it directly affects their children. What about those of us who don’t have children or whose children are adults and don’t live at home anymore? The church must have the “self-interest” of seeing the children raised as healthy Christians, whether they’re our children or not. In doing so, we are serving others within the church and recognizing that a healthy church invests in the teaching and building of every one and of every age. We are also serving others outside the church when the Gospel message is shared by any one of us including the children.

Today is a church cleaning day and is another great example. We have the chance to teach the kids about service. The church cleaning is about putting aside self-interest like getting home and watching sports, getting back to a book, or any other thing that might seem more fun than cleaning. But we have the opportunity to serve the interest of the church as a whole. We not only ensure a cleaner place of worship, but also get to be in community with each other too. Who knows, you might teach a new skill to someone or share a story that is encouraging. You don’t know until you look beyond yourself in humility and offer service to the Lord.

Again, the passage states that Christ came as a servant and some translations even say He came as a slave. He chose to put aside much of His power and came to die on a cross. He lived among the sinners. He faced rejection. He was mocked and beaten. Yet He still served others. In fact He prayed and loved even those who treated Him so poorly. In the end He was rewarded. The passage states that God exalted Him. Philippians 2:9-10 tell us that Christ was given a name above all other names so that at His name every knee in Heaven and earth would bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father. Again, Christ was not exalted that He might boast in it, but that the Father would be glorified.

The final two verses summarize this message perfectly. They state, “So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God.” Paul is reminding the church in Philippi that it is not he who is creating in them the desire or effort to work as a unified church. Paul knows only God can instill in us and awaken within us the desire and effort to serve others and glorify Him. Paul makes this clear when he says it is for the sake of God’s good pleasure the people would obey the Lord. Paul says this because He does not want any glory to be taken from God. We must also flee from the thought of doing good work for either ourselves or for the glory of another person. All we do must be in humility and to the glory of God alone.

Of course good service in the church benefits the individual members and the church as a community. This cannot be denied. I believe the Lord wishes us to see the benefits of our service. However, if our desire for service stays only here in this room and is not done for the ultimate glory of God then we have failed. We must desire to see God’s name lifted up. Christ became a servant to serve His Father. This was in order that God would be glorified. I hope we have the same passion. I hope we desire to humble ourselves before the Lord, to grow in the gifting He has given us, to serve others before ourselves. I hope we use our gifting to bless His name. Thank the Lord for each opportunity to serve those around you. In doing so praise the Lord and bless His name.