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Date: April 9, 2017 (Passion Sunday)
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Texts: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Ps. 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 27:11-54.
Subject: discipleship.
Topic: the cost and pay-off of serving God.
Aim: educate, inspire.
Proposition: “To serve God is to experience genuine abundance, which the world does not tolerate.”
TO SERVE AND TO SUFFER
Boy, I certainly don’t want to serve God, not if the Bible is any example of
what happens to God’s servants.
I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those
who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and
spitting.1
But [he] emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…he
humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.2
They spat on [Jesus], and took the reed and struck him on the
head…And when they had crucified him, they divided his
clothes among themselves by casting lots.3
Then, of course, Jeremiah is put in a dry well to die. St. Paul lists a whole lot of
near fatal abuses as a result of serving God. We can find other examples. Given
what the Bible says about those who serve God, why would anyone want to be
his servant?
Because serving God is abundant and eternal life, that’s why.
We know that God is the source of life, whatever processes he used to bring
it about. That means that the closer we are to him, the more genuinely we live
and the more authentically alive we become. “I came that they may have life and
have it abundantly,” said Jesus.4 The closer we are to God, the more accurately
we experience that abundance.
We can label that abundance with the fruit of the Spirit:
Isaiah 50:6.
Philippians 2:7a, 8a.
3 Matthew 27:30, 35.
4 John 10:10b.
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-We suffering servants-
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By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.5
The more genuinely and authentically we experience this fruit, the more
abundantly we live within whatever circumstances confront us. That’s what
happens when we draw closer to God.
Drawing closer to God necessitates that we serve him. You see, to serve
him is to live out his love in the context of all our relationships. To serve him is
to be the proclamation of his love, grace and forgiveness. To serve him is to be
Christ’s disciples. Those who draw closer to God serve God. To be drawn closer
to him is to be at the same time propelled out into the world. That’s the way being
loved by God works.
So, to serve God is never to be equated with suffering. To serve God is to
experience abundant life and love. To serve God is to become the fruit of the
Spirit. To serve God is to serve others as God’s ambassadors and Christ’s
disciples. That’s not suffering in any way, shape or form.
The suffering comes not as a direct result of serving God. God doesn’t call
us to suffering. Rather, suffering is the outcome of the conflict between the
servant and the world.
When the Bible uses the word “world”, it rarely refers to the physical planet.
Most of the time “world”, like its twin “the flesh”, refers to a set of principles
which inform our actions and lifestyles. These principles are contrary to the
nature and will of God. The principles include pride, arrogance, anger, envy, lust,
self-sufficiency and greed—all those things that work contrary to God’s mission
to save us.
These contrary principles create the conflict that results in the suffering of
God’s servants. God calls us to truth, justice, righteousness, love, grace and
forgiveness. The world combats this on every level and usually the conflict is
expressed in the servant’s suffering.
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Galatians 5:22-23a.
-We suffering servants-
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God doesn’t make us suffer, nor does he want us to suffer. He calls us to
abundant life in the power of the Spirit, which attracts the world’s enmity and
therefore the servant suffers.
But here’s the thing: God can redeem that suffering. The world may intend
it to conquer the servant and bring shame upon the faith and God’s people. God
can use even suffering to bring about his mission and the most glorious example
of that is Christ himself.
This is the true message of Passion Sunday. Today is all about the passion
and commitment of Jesus to serve God no matter what the cost. Jesus knew that
to love God was to serve him. Jesus knew that to serve God was to be God’s
reconciling love in the world. That divinely abundant life was going to attract the
enmity of the world, and Jesus knew that, too. But because of that love and that
life, Jesus was willing to serve his Father no matter how the world treated him.
I guess it is worth serving God. Even if all the world should be against it.
AMEN.
-We suffering servants-