Proper 20 (September 15, 2024–Williston)

“We need better leadership!” Have you ever said that? Perhaps you were frustrated with the direction being taken by some elected official or by management at your workplace or by the coach of your favorite team. You were frustrated because you know that no matter how many resources an organization has, it will flounder if leaders do not lead well: providing direction, training, motivation, coordination, encouragement, and even grace. Leadership is extremely important. And so, there are times we lament, “We need better leadership!”

Jesus Christ is the leader of the Church, this congregation, our home, our lives. And his leadership is perfect in every way. Therefore, when things are amiss in any of those arenas, what is needed is not better leadership, but better followership. And so, we ask Christ to empower us with his Spirit so that we might better follow his lead. May we better reflect the beauty of his life, better make his priorities our own, and better serve our God and neighbor.

Today all our readings address an important topic in being a follower of Christ. In a word it is Humility, which is the polar opposite of pride. Pride exalts self at the expense of God and others. Humility exalts God and others at the expense of self. Pride is the essential vice, for it increases one’s hunger for all other sins. Humility increases one’s hunger for the forgiveness and healing found in Christ. The one who is proud demands to be served. The one who is humble is not content unless he is serving others. St. Augustine described it this way: “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”

As we see all Christ did to serve us, our hearts melt. Within us grows a Christ-like obsession to serve others, without counting the cost, without any desire to be repaid. Those who are in positions of Christian leadership understand that their leadership can only be achieved through service. For followers of Christ are humble servants.

Followers of Christ are Humble Servants

Servanthood Is Not Earned

Our humility and service do not measure up to God’s perfect standard.

Like the disciples, we would rather be served than serve.

Even when we serve, our motive is often self-serving.

We make comparisons: “I have served more than you.” Pride creeps in to stain our service.

Illustration: It is this way in the local church as well. Very often when asked to serve on a committee or board our sinful flesh is apt to cause us to say, “I’ve done my part now it is someone else’s turn.”

The truth is, pride is the root of all other sin.

Then sometime we think we can merit favor with God by our humble service.

Jesus refused to seek people’s respect under a false pretense:

Mark 9:30 NASB95

30 From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it.

You see, Jesus just wanted to serve. He was not looking for fanfare.

The comedian from yesteryear, Rodney Dangerfield, would always lament in his stand-up comedy routine, “I get no respect.” You and I may get our nose bent out of joint if we feel someone isn’t paying us the respect we think we deserve. For we desire the “that aboys” and the “pats on the back.”

Luke 17:10 ESV

10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

The only way to merit any favor before God is opened by honest admission that in ourselves we are not worthy people.

We are all beggars in need of God’s forgiveness — which is why we confess our sins when we gather together at our Lord’s feet.

And we are beggars and as such, we need someone else to show us the way to life.

And that is precisely why Jesus became man to show us the way to go. And in so doing, He lavishes us with His grace and pours His gifts upon us. And that is what servanthood is: it is a gift.

Servanthood is a Gift

Christ Jesus earned it for us.

He humbled Himself all the way to death on a cross to atone for our pride. Mark 9:31

Mark 9:31 ESV

31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

His rising from the dead guaranteed our acceptance before God. Death no longer has a hold on Him, neither does it have a hold on us. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we, too, rise on the Last Day!

You see, when we believe that Christ died and rose for us, we can be sure that God accepts us as heaven-worthy people.

Christ Jesus has given us His humility in exchange for our pride, pride that was nailed to the cross with Him.

Christ has bestowed on us His greatness in exchange for our smallness; His righteousness for our unrighteousness.

Servanthood is Demonstrated By Us

When we serve people who do not deserve our respect:

We willingly place ourselves last (Mark 9:35

Mark 9:35 ESV

35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

We willingly serve without recognition or praise and thereby foregoing greatness as the world see it (Mark 9:34). Servanthood is also demonstrated by us…

When we serve people who are not in a position to reward us for our service.

Little children are not in a position to reciprocate our service to them (Mark 9:36) any more than we are able to pay God back for having served us in His Son.

Yet, when we serve even the least of God’s children, God notices and even respects our service for Jesus’ sake and graciously rewards us (Mark 9:37).

The television series Downton Abbey portrays a great household, clearly divided between nobility and servants. There is little doubt about who is greatest here: Lord Grantham, with his family arrayed underneath him. The servants are beneath the members of the family. They slave away to provide the family with a life of comfort, ease, and luxury. The lowest in the house, at least as the series begins, is the kitchen maid Daisy. Her duties include kneeling down to dirty her hands cleaning the fireplaces. She is last of all and servant of all. Here are the world’s standards of greatness and service. Jesus’ words turn this well-ordered world upside down. True greatness does not come from having servants arrayed underneath one, but from serving others. Jesus’ words would declare Daisy the greatest in the household, above any member of the family. When Jesus came to this world, he came as a servant, working like the servants in Downton Abbey to serve us. He dirtied his hands, stained with his own blood, to cleanse us from sin. Jesus’ Church rejoices in the Son of Man who comes to serve us, freeing us from sin.

When we are putting ourselves last and serving someone who needs serving and could never repay us, we are living Christlike lives, being genuine followers of Christ. We are serving God. In Christ we find that true greatness is found in true humility.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.