Why

Opening Comment

Three weeks ago we learned that it was appropriate that Pastor Lance be the first speaker, because as he said, “Lance Leeds”. Well, tonight, I’ve chosen to follow his “leed” and preach from the same passage as him. Now, I realize that’s not the “Norm” and I suppose if that distresses you, feel free to “Bill” me but I really wanted to “Shephard” us around this theme of service we chose this year and I wanted to do so without tooting my own “Horne”. Now, would you join with me as we revisit this passage of Scripture.

Scripture

Matthew 20:28 NIV

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Sermon

The title of this message simply says, “Why”. And since the theme of this Lenten season for us is to serve, I want to wrestle for a bit tonight with the question, “Why do we serve?” What is our motivation for serving? And I want to be clear that I’m placing this question in the context of the life of the Christian. It is not impossible to think of people who serve out in the world for a variety of reasons, but tonight I’m dealing with you and I who are here and who claim to be followers of Christ.

Now, generally, there are two major reasons why Christians serve. At these these are the two most popular reasons given. Reason number one is “I have to” and reason number two is “I want to.”

Let me give you some examples of each of these. Under “I have to”, people say things like, “There’s no one else to do it.” or “No one else has been trained.” or “I felt guilty because no one else was doing it.” or “It won’t get done unless I do it.” Now, one of the things I’ve noticed about people who serve for this reason is they don’t look very happy while serving. In fact, they tend to complain about having to serve because there isn’t anyone else.

And then there are those who serve because they want to. Or at least that’s what they say. But the truth is, they serve because they want the recognition for doing so. Maybe the recognition comes from having their name in the bulletin or some type of tangible reward like a plaque or a trophy. Others are not quite as obvious as this but you hear it in the way they talk. They say things like, “I just got another jewel in my crown.” Or “I just got another room added to my mansion.” Or, “I’m going to be closer to the head of the banquet table in heaven.” The truth is they don’t serve for the sake of serving but because they believe by doing so, they are somehow going to reap some type of benefit.

Now those who serve because they want to are sometimes only slightly happier than those who serve because they have to. That is until they forget to be recognized or their name isn’t listed in the bulletin. Or like the pastor who went to heaven at the same time as the taxi cab driver.

As you can tell, serving because we have to, or even because we want to receive some type of benefit are not the reasons we ought to serve. But it was as I was reflecting on this text the Spirit seemed to suggest the right reason to serve. It was in our text, Jesus “gave His life as a ransom for many”. In other words, the reason we ought to serve as a Christian is for the sake of others. C. S. Lewis said it like this, “The Body of Christ exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, and sermons are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.”