St. Peter’s
Mark 9:30-37 17 Pentecost 15 B
Come Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful people and kindle
in us the fire of your love. And now, may the words of my mouth
and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O
Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In Psalm 90, we are encouraged to "number our days." If we
were to do that, literally number our days, and assuming we
would live to be, say, 85, we’d come up with 31,025 days. That
sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?
But, instead of counting our days, what if we focused on making
our days count? And the way we make our days count is to
determine our central purpose in life, and to give ourselves to that
purpose. That makes sense, doesn't it? Know your purpose and
you can make your life count.
University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman has
written, "Human beings want to have meaning. They do not want
to wake up in the morning with a gnawing realization that they are
fidgeting until they die." Our central purpose is whatever activity
that keeps us from fidgeting our lives away. Maybe our central
purpose is being self-centered…looking out for what benefits
us. Maybe our central purpose is status-seeking and power.
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Maybe our central purpose is raising a good family, or retiring
early, or doing good works in our community. Whatever that
central purpose is, whether we consciously choose it, or just drift
into it, it is the benchmark to which we look when we measure the
success or failure of each one of our 31,025 days.
Jesus only lived approximately 12,045 days on this earth, and yet
historians and theologians agree that he was the most influential
person who ever lived. From age twelve, he demonstrated that
he knew his life's purpose…to do the will of God. Even when
God's will for him was painful, even when Jesus' friends didn't
support him, he still lived to fulfill God's purposes for his life.
The reason Jesus understood his purpose so clearly is because
he was thinking with the mind of God.
Through prayer, he filled his heart with the will of God. He filled
his mouth with the words of God. And he pointed his feet in the
pathways God had laid out for him.
But it's painfully obvious in this passage that Jesus' friends didn’t
get it. What's worse, it looks like they didn't even want to go
there. They were afraid to know the truth.
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I wonder if sometimes we unconsciously don’t want to go there,
either, because we're afraid of what will happen if we let God take
over and become our goal. We don't ask God to reveal God's will
to us because we just don't want to know!
I have a theory that that’s why so many people stay away from
the church, or leave the church. They don’t want to lose
control…as if we really had it in the first place. They don’t want to
chance hearing what God is calling them to do. And if they were
to view their lives through God's eyes, they just might have to
change their life purpose from self-gratification to God
glorification.
Now, the fact that you are here this morning says something very
significant. It says that you are open to hearing. And those who
can’t make it in because of their health, but remain connected,
also are open to hearing. It’s those outside these walls, and
those who choose to drift away that we should be concerned
about. Those are the folks who need to hear the message
through you and me.
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That's the challenge Jesus faced. He had used up about 12,037
of his 12,045 days. If he's ever going to teach his disciples about
the purpose of their lives, now is the time. He was concerned if
their plans and purposes really were aligned with God's will.
That was Jesus’ concern for the disciples then…and I believe it is
his concern for us today. Verse 33 reads, "When he was in the
house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the
road?' But they kept quiet, because on the way they had argued
about who was the greatest."
Let's stop here and try to imagine what Jesus was thinking.
He knew what his disciples were arguing about. And he knew
how shallow and pointless their ambitions appeared, when
compared to the life-changing mission God had in store for
them. But because they weren't thinking with the mind of God,
they weren't seeking the purposes of God.
Washington Irving once wrote, "Great minds have purposes.
Little minds have wishes." At this point in time, all these men had
was a wish, a wish for greater status, a wish to stand in Jesus'
spotlight and soak up some applause.
Jesus wanted them to look beyond their own selfish wishes and
embrace the purposes of God.
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This was no casual conversation he was having with the
guys. This was a serious teaching moment. “He sat down, called
the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be
last of all, and the servant of all.’”
AND HERE IS THE CENTRAL PURPOSE OF THE
CHRISTIAN'S LIFE: TO SERVE.
It doesn't matter if you’re a janitor or the CEO of the company.
Your central purpose as a follower of Christ is to serve.
Successful people understand that.
One man who had an enormous impact on his company was the
founder and former CEO of Wendy's fast food restaurants, Dave
Thomas. Dave Thomas was a remarkable success story.
Adopted as a child, he never finished high school. In his book
titled, Well Done: the Common Guy's Guide to Everyday Success,
Thomas said he got his MBA long before his G.E.D. He said he
had a photograph of himself in his MBA graduation outfit…a
snazzy, knee-length work apron.
He claims to be the only founder among America's big companies
whose picture in the corporate annual report shows him wielding
a mop and a plastic bucket.
That wasn't a gag. He calls it leading by example.
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At Wendy's, he said, MBA doesn't mean Master of Business
Administration. It means Mop Bucket Attitude. It means a
commitment to service.
Dave Thomas had a commitment to service. That's what Jesus
wants from his disciples…a Mop Bucket Attitude. That's the
secret of happiness in any job--to see it as a calling, a vocation,
an opportunity to serve.
Marion Hill was born in a fairy tale royal palace in Hungary. We
say that some people are born with a silver spoon. Marion's first
spoon was, literally, solid gold. She was sent to school in Vienna,
where she became an actress, and there she fell in love with a
young medical student named Otto. Otto and Marion married and
went to live in Hollywood, California.
As they set up house, he began to dabble in movies. He became
so interested in movies that he gave up his medical practice and
went on to become the internationally famed movie director, Otto
Preminger.
Marion's beauty, wit, and irresistible charm brought her everything
she desired. In Europe, New York, and Hollywood she became a
famous international hostess.
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But she couldn't handle the fast life. She slipped into alcohol,
drugs, and numerous affairs. She divorced Preminger and
attempted suicide three times before finally moving back to
Vienna. There, she met another doctor…Albert Schweitzer. She
knew her life was a mess, and for almost six months, every week
she went to counseling with Schweitzer.
When the time came for him to return to his simple hospital in the
jungle of Africa, she went with him. She spent the rest of her life
as a hospital aid.
When she wrote her autobiography, she chose as a title: All I
Want is Everything. Seemed like an unlikely title, under the
circumstances…but in it, she wrote, "Albert Schweitzer says there
are two kinds of people. There are the helpers, and the nonhelpers. I thank God He allowed me to become a helper, and in
helping, I found everything." Do you see what she is saying?
See why the title of her autobiography?
"Whoever wants to be first must be the last of all and servant of
all."
A COMMITMENT TO SERVING PEOPLE IS THE KEY TO
SERVING GOD.
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Jesus took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking
him in his arms, Jesus said to them, "Whoever welcomes one
such child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me
welcomes not me, but the one who sent me."
I am so glad that there are people in this congregation who regard
serving our children as a part of their life purpose.
A group of European theologians once visited Mother Teresa in
Calcutta. She said to them, "If you would try to do what I am
doing, then you will be able to enjoy what I am doing."
She took them to one of her childcare centers and picked up a
child who was playing in the mud and gave the child a kiss. She
waited for her guests to do the same. None of them did.
All this is summed up in a beautiful fable that appeared on the
Internet: Once upon a time there was a knight. This knight
wanted to serve his king and be the most honorable and noble
knight who ever lived. At his knighting ceremony, he was so
overcome by dedication that he made a special oath. He vowed
to bow his knees and lift his arms in homage to his king, and him
alone.
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This knight was given the task of guarding a city on the frontier of
the kingdom. Every day, he stood at attention by the gate of the
city in full armor. Years passed.
One day, as he was standing at attention, guarding his post, a
peasant woman passed by with goods for the market. Her cart
turned over, spilling potatoes and carrots and onions everywhere.
The woman hurried to get them all back in her cart. But the knight
would not help the poor woman. He just stood at attention, lest
he break his vow by bending his knees to help pick up the
woman's goods.
More years passed, and one day a man with one leg was passing
by and his crutch broke. "Good sir, reach down and help me up."
But the knight would not stoop or lift a hand to help, lest he break
his vow.
Decades passed. The knight was getting old. One day his
grandson came by and said, "Grandpa, pick me up and take me
to the fair." But he would not stoop, lest he break his vow to the
king.
Finally, after years, the king came to visit and inspect the knight.
As the king approached, the knight just stood there at attention.
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The king inspected him as he stood there, but then he noticed
that the knight was crying. "You are one of the noblest knights I
have ever seen. Why do you cry?" asked the king.
"Your majesty, I took a vow that I would bow and lift my arms in
homage to you, but I am unable to keep my vow. These years
have done their work and the joints of my armor are rusted. I
cannot lift my arms or bend my knees."
With the loving voice of a parent, the King replied, "Perhaps if you
had knelt to help all those who passed by, and lifted your arms to
embrace all those who came to you, you would have been able to
keep your vow to pay me homage today."
There is it. This is how to make your life count. Find a place
where you can serve. We have LOTS of ways you can do that
right here.
To serve others is the best way to serve God.
Amen
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