The Second Mile
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
This week I wrestled with the title of my sermon. I wanted to call it. “chic-fil-a service.” Instead, I went with a different title, one taught at chic-fil-a, “The 2nd Mile, before we go much further, lets take a moment to pray.
I was raised vegetarian so I didn’t know of great service of chic-fil-a until later in life when I got my first chic-fil-a milk-shake. Seriously that place is 2nd to none in customer service. They go the extra mile with every person who comes to them for food. They have their day wrong as far as Sabbath is concerned, but I applaud there desire to keep what they believe is Sabbath special. People pay more and wait in longer lines just to experience the superior service. I’ll come back to this later, but service is built into their DNA, because they are taught the biblical principal of going the extra mile.
My wife and I once decided one sunday we wanted to do breakfast in the late afternoon. We call it Brinner. While at the breakfast restaurant we were seated at out table and we noticed a nearby table had not been bussed. About 20 minutes into our meal, we saw the person who was bussing tables make his way to the one that was getting close to drawing flies. We overheard the young man talking to another employee, he said, “Man this is the easiest job ever, I don’t have to work hard at all. And I won’t be working hard.” He went on to expound a lesson his father had told him. “Don’t work more, unless they pay more.” I do wonder if he had misheard his father’s advice. I wonder if he had actually said, “If you work more, they will pay more.” Either way only a few minutes later, my wife and I witnessed the manager interrupt her employee and asked of he would see her in her office. He walked out of there declaring to the whole restaurant, he had been fired.
I am thankful for my father offering me different advice, although I can’t say I appreciated it at the time.
When I was a kid my parents often had me do chores throughout the week. But friday especially, when I would get home, I knew I had the bigger jobs. It was the day I had to clean my room, vacuum, dust, and occasionally cleanout a bathroom. I did not look forward to these chores, especially dusting. See it wasn’t so much the chores themselves that I didn’t enjoy. (I mean I didn’t enjoy them, lets be honest.) But the real problem was knowing that my Dad would be inspecting my work. Now I felt I could typically cut corners in vaccuming, and I knew all the places my dad wouldnt bother to check in my bedroom, (all the clothes on the floor i could toss under the bed and then put shoeboxes in front of the mess to cover it.) But dusting, if my wife were here today, she’d tell you I still struggle with dusting. When I was a kid, I always missed spots I was supposed to get. My Dad would be there to catch me every time I attempted to do a half dusting job. Our home in Alabama had a front window that had a little perch at the bottom, big enough for a child to sit on. It would often get missed when it was time to dust. This one day Dad had asked me to dust the coffee table, the speakers and fans. I walked by the window perch and dragged my finger on it, seeing there was dust collecting. I looked at it and kept walking to the coffee table. My father watching, asked me, “are you going to dust that perch?” My response was, “You didn’t ask me to dust that.”
Mothers and Fathers here, do you see a teachable moment here?
Yes you bet my dad took the next couple moments to lecture me about going above and beyond what I’d been asked to do, and finding satisfaction in working hard rather than hardly work. He then asked me, in a non-guilting but effective way. When you serve God, are you doing to do the bare minimum or do more than you’ve been asked.
While I can’t say my laziness was cured in that moment. My Dad’s words stuck with me. Growing up, he and my mother both were the models for me at what it meant to work hard as well as serve others.
Tucked away in a chapter filled with profound one line quotations, Matthew 5:41 reads
And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
The context is Jesus was calling people to go above and beyond, even in service to our enemies.
I would suggest to you this work ethic is not only reserved for our enemies, but to all our fellowman. To serve, the very least of these, with the very most you have.
Today is service Sabbath as most of you are aware. As rain has prevented many of us from being able to move forward with our plans today I do hope we didn’t reserve this one day to be our only outreach for the year. The same as we, we shouldn’t leave thanksgiving as our only time to serve.
The service Jesus taught His followers was a way of life, not something done on occasion. Jesus lived and demonstrated this on multiple occasions, remarkably even more so on the Sabbath. The Sabbath was not meant to be a cripple to doing good works, or serving others. If anything the Sabbath was created and established to commune with Christ as well as show others Christ. It is a special time where we are resting from our normal day to day schedule. While we have busy schedules throughout the week, I would encourage you not to make Sabbath so busy, where it feels like another day. In fact, Sabbath is a great time to invite someone to your home and serve them to a meal. Sabbath was not designed to do nothing. It was designed to be spent with God.
Jesus made his feelings on the matter very clear. If you brought your bibles today, I would encourage you to turn to Luke chapter 13 verse 10. CHANGE SLIDE
Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
Jesus displayed all sorts of patience during his time as a human walking in the midst of His people, but if ever his patience waned it would be with the religious leaders misrepresenting the purpose of the Sabbath.
Take a look at this quotation from a powerful commentary of the life of Christ, Desire of Ages, in the chapter entitled, “the Sabbath.” CHANGE SLIDE
Desire of Ages Chapter 29—The Sabbath
The disciples, in doing the work of Christ, were engaged in God’s service, and that which was necessary for the accomplishment of this work it was right to do on the Sabbath day.
Christ would teach His disciples and His enemies that the service of God is first of all. The object of God’s work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work is in accord with the Sabbath law.
So if anyone is unclear when a good day to do acts of service is, you can say, everyday, including and especially the Sabbath. We serve God with the giving of our time.
Someone here might ask, How can I serve??
Oh boy, I must say that is dangerous question. I can think of a handful of areas where you can serve right here in this church, such as helping teaching our young people in sabbath school, pathfinders, adventurers, serendipity, lower room etc. volunteering at God’s closet, Bible studies. Helping Melissa with the seemingly hundreds of projects. Some people serve in the generous living . They go a 2nd mile by not returning the minimum back to God but going an extra mile in their generosity. If you ask God, how I can serve…I guarantee you he will provide you an opportunity to serve.
When I was a freshman in highschool, our k-10 school sent our 9-10th graders on a mission trip to New York city. Lots of places to serve in New York. Lots of areas of ministry to get involved in. Do you want to know what they had us do the first day we were there.
We dressed up like clowns, makeup and outfits and all and spent a few hours with children in a cerebral Paulsey center. That trip, I preached my first sermon ever…in a spanish speaking drug rehabilitation center, we served food at soup kitchens, we picked up trash on the street, and we helped clean out a foster care center. But I must say serving small children who had cerebral paulsey made the most impact. It the most impact on me, because I didn’t want to do it. I had no desire do it whatsoever, but bringing joy to those kids that day helped spurn a desire in me to show Christ to all kids. Serving as a clown, helped lead me to one day serve as a minister.
Parents if you want your kids to learn the value of service, please sign them up to go on Mission trips. It doesn’t have to be in foreign country, but it can be. It can also here right here in the U.S. If your college age student has an opportunity to be a student missionary for a year. Don’t discourage them, but encourage to examine if it is God leading them. My wife spent a year on the island of Palau for one year teaching the 4th grade. It led to her passion in serving and teaching children as her full time profession.
If you want them to learn service, demonstrate for them service as well.
When I was in academy, my junior year, we went on a mission trip to Dahveed, Panama. During the day we were building a church building from the ground up, and in the evenings we volunteered running a childrens program for an evangelistic series one of our former conference presidents was preaching. Having now preached several such series since then, I know how hard and time consuming preaching a series such as this was, but at the time, I didn’t quite have that understanding. One hot day we were hard at work bending rebar, and pouring cement, and our Carolina conference pres. showed up with his hat and sunscreen, looking like he was about to join in the work. I still remember him picking up the shovel, taking a picture....and then the call went out “time for lunch!!!” That was the last we saw him out with us. Again…he was hard at work, sermon prepping as well as visiting. But to us we saw the servant leadership being displayed by our pastor leaders, Phil Rosburg and Michael Brackett, working a long side us. They were demonstrating to us every step servant leadership. Parents and ministry leaders, who are present. Your kids are paying attention to how you serve and how you lead. Show them what it means to serve.
I hope we have answered, when to serve, and listed ways, in how you can serve.
But why serve. Why does God want us to serve, and better yet who does he want us to serve?
Let’s look in God’s word for the answer. change slide
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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.”
Are we seeing a trend here? When we serve we honor God, and she show Christ to whom we serve.
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Listen I am not here to tell you point blank where, how, and when you are to serve, but I can offer suggestions. I also know God is calling each of you to serve in one way or in many ways. We have to be willing.
Earlier I talked to about the great service you can recieve at chic-fil-a. One of the reasons for this, is each employee before they can work there has to watch a “going the extra mile” video. The video is low budget and can be found on youtube but it depicts a Christ following Jewish family traveling for passover, when they run into some Roman soldiers. The soldiers require the father and son carry their heavy packs for one mile. But instead of only carrying it one mile, the father tells them, their God would want them to carry it two miles, which ends up affecting one of the soldiers deeply.
What is the 2nd Mile of service God has called you to? I know many of you are dedicated servants. Ask yourself, what is the next mile God is calling you to?
Before we close, is there anyone here who would like to share about either today’s service efforts? Or maybe something you have participated or heard about such as God’s closet or another act of service?