Sermon Tone Analysis

DRIVEN TO SERVE

Mark 9:30-37

 

30  They left that place and passed through Galilee.

Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were,

31  because he was teaching his disciples.

He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.

They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."

32  But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

33  They came to Capernaum.

When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?"

34  But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

35  Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

36  He took a little child and had him stand among them.

Taking him in his arms, he said to them,

37  "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

I want to turn to the world of business for some of our inspiration today.

Someone has described their company like this:

           

            /It is a beautiful summer day in corporate America./

/ /

v  /The sales people aren’t back from lunch yet./

v  /The programmers are playing DOOM/

v  /The executives are on the golf links./

v  /The secretaries are scheduling their weekends./

v  /And the Human Resources people are in another all day meeting, asking each other, “What is our Mission/?”

Obviously such a description does not apply to most successful companies.

One of America’s most respected companies is Johnson & Johnson.

Many of us grew up on their baby lotion and their Band-Aids.

Johnson & Johnson’s credo, formulated decades ago by President Robert

Johnson lists its corporate priorities.

I thought we might profit by knowing how a major corporation sets its priorities:

 

ü  Service to its customers comes first.

ü  Service to its employees and management, second;

ü  Service to the community comes third;

ü  Service to its stockholders comes last.

(/Don’t you enjoy going into a department store where the salespeople are standing around talking to each other and you have to interrupt their conversation to get waited on?

(Sic)/

 

In the last few years, the economy of the United States has been shifting from one that is driven by industry, to one that is driven by service.

Of the millions of new jobs created in the last several years, we are told that most of them come from the service-related field.

It is amazing how the technology field has dramatically changed our lives and world.

Think of it—in a few years, most of our work will be in other countries and we will all be working for Lynn Christian at McDonald’s.

But my message is precisely about service!

I wonder how the list would look if a business consultant came in and looked at our church.

Would it be said that we put our customers first and our stockholders last or would that consultant determine that we put our stockholders first and our customers last?

Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

Let me rephrase what he said in the light of today’s discussion.

“If anyone would prosper in today’s economy, he or she must be driven to serve.”

It might interest you to know that our church has done just that—for the past several months, this Pastoral Staff has been going through a grueling, painful at times, look at our ministries, our church, our mission, our values, and many other aspects of the work of God in Auburn.

We, in fact, are trying to determine our priorities.

We are trying to get the cart behind the horse.

Understand this:

 

*JESUS INVENTED SERVICE*!

Johnson & Johnson didn’t invent service.

Wal Mart didn’t invent service.

/Jesus/ invented service.

His life was totally devoted to serving those he had been sent to seek and to save.

Corporations ought to be /studying us/ to learn about service.

We are the body of Christ.

Service is our whole reason for being.

If that is true, who are we to serve?

Who is /our/ customer?

Who is /our/ neighbor?

(As in the story of the Good Samaritan?)

Good question!

1)      *WE’RE HERE, FIRST OF ALL, TO SERVE CHILDREN*.

a)       Surprised?

Then read this text again.

Jesus took a little child and had him stand among them.

Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me . .

.”

i)        How are we doing serving our children?

Now children are a challenge, I will admit.

(1)   Paul then five years of age, wondered about his pastor’s theology.

One Sunday morning, he was seated near the front with his parents.

The pastor was “preaching away,” as they sometimes say, exhorting people to a deeper understanding of God and to a stronger commitment to Him and to His church.

In an attempt to sound profound, the pastor paused, leaned forward over the pulpit, and raised a rhetorical question: */“And God—who is God?”/*

In the hush of that moment the little boy looked up at his dad and asked loudly enough to be heard by half the congregation, */“GREAT DAY, DAD, DOESN’T HE KNOW?/*

(2)   Four-year-old, Meagan, had been asking a lot of questions about death.

During a recent trip, her Dad promised her they would stop at McDonalds.

Although they frequented the golden arches about once a week, it was always a thrill to her.

As they began their much anticipated lunch.

Meagan asked one of her profound questions.

“When you die does Jesus take you to McDonalds?”

Good question!

(3)   Children are a challenge!

ii)      How are we doing, our business consultant might ask, in serving children?

(1)   Do we have enough pleasant, dedicated teachers?

Are their classrooms bright and attractive?

Do we have a first-rate music program for them?

Are we providing them with adequate opportunities to learn what it means to be part of this church as well as to learn about the love of God?  Are we giving them memories of having fun in church so that they have pleasant associations with the thought of being part of the family of God?

(2)   Chuck Swindoll tells about going into a gift a shop at Christmas.

The place was elegant.

Lovely pieces of crystal, exquisite glass statuettes, and a wide assortment of imported china were beautifully displayed on freshly dusted glass shelves.

It was one of those impeccable shops where you feel like holding your breath as you glide from aisle to aisle.

Your greatest fear is to disturb the delicate balance or inadvertently bump the corner of a shelf holding several expensive patterns.

Several small signs throughout the shop trumpeted messages like “Fragile!” and “Please Ask for Assistance” and even “Do Not touch.”

And there were much larger signs that read “PLEASE TAKE CHILDREN BY THE HAND.”

The dear woman who ran the place was nervous as a witch in church, says Swindoll.

She seemed more concerned about PROTECTING HER STUFF than she was about SELLING it.

Every child who entered—even though firmly in the grip of the mother—got a glare from the lady that would have stopped a clock.

(3)   There are probably churches that make children feel just about that uncomfortable.

How sad!

A church that does not serve its children will not long be in business.