The Burden of Service
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Today, I want to talk to you about the “Burden of Service”.
Long, Long ago, in a Town Far, Far Away...
As a much younger man, I was asked to teach the adult Sunday School.
I had given a couple of sermons in a home church,
But I had never taught Sunday School.
And the burden weighed heavy on me.
I knew the verse...
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
As I prepared to meet my class and teach for the first time, an idea came to me.
I figured it was a good one, because it came from Scripture.
Jesus Washing Feet
Jesus Washing Feet
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
I’m sure most of us have heard the story I’ve started here,
But have you considered how it should impact our lives?
John puts these actions into context,
Jesus knew that he was about to suffer and die for this sins of the world.
His betrayer had already been corrupted.
He loved those who followed Him, to the end.
And with all of the weight and pathos of this moment, Jesus took off his clothes, wrapped a towel around his waist, and began to wash the disciple’s feet.
For me, as I was about to teach my first Sunday School class, the imagery was the key.
These men and women would be looking to me:
To teach and help guide them.
For instruction in the Word.
This was a position of great influence, but I was not an influential vessel.
After all, I still had a lot of learning to do.
But for me, this image of serving those in the class seemed right.
My job was not to lead them, or guide them, so much as to serve them.
But how was I to communicate that to this class,
Many of whom were older than I was.
I remember distinctly, this class was held in our church’s social room,
Where we had meals and held plays.
And the group met in a circle of chairs in the middle of the room.
I waited until everyone was there, and it was time for class to start.
I then walked in, pulled my chair out of the circle, and sat on the floor.
It was much easier for me to do that back then :-)
And I taught on the first half of John chapter 13.
That it was my job to, metaphorically, wash their feet.
While no one openly objected to my unorthodox method, I would not have been surprised if some did in their hearts,
Not unlike Peter in verse 6
Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”
I’ve taken many classes and attended many training events on the topic teaching and other forms of instruction since then.
And many people have talked of techniques to get the class to trust you as a teacher.
Ways of holding yourself out as an expert, and maintaining control of the classroom.
Not one of them mentioned sitting on the floor.
So it would not have surprised me that others were confused by my actions at first.
Like Peter, they may have asked themselves if I was going to teach from the floor every Sunday?
But just like Peter, there was something they did not understand at first.
Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
There are plenty of things we don’t understand at first,
Many of the things Jesus said and did don’t make sense.
But after some instruction, they begin to.
Similarly, I don’t doubt that many didn’t understand why I was sitting on the floor.
But they would, if they would accept the teaching I was offering.
Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
LORD! You shall never wash my feet.
I cannot stand for you to degrade yourself in front of me that way.
I cannot let you teach me this way.
Paul, how can you teach from the floor?
Looking up at us that way.
You should be up at a podium.
Where everyone can see you better.
Where you can command attention.
How can we take you seriously, sitting on the floor like that?
Jesus told Peter that if He didn’t wash his feet, then Peter could have no part with Him.
This apparent humiliation apparently, was necessary for Peter to follow Jesus.
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
OK Lord, but not just me feet.
That is too degrading.
Wash my hands and head as well,
Like the ritual washing the priests went through.
No one in my class that Sunday asked me to wash their feet,
Or their hands and head.
But can’t you see the confusion I’m sure some of them had?
Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”
Peter, you don’t need a bath, only to wash your feet.
As people walked through the world in sandals, their feet got dirty.
That was all the disciples needed to be cleansed.
So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
As I sat there on the floor, ready to begin my class, I asked them if they understood why I had done that?
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
As my Lord was my teacher, I was being asked to teach others.
And as He had served His disciples by washing their feet , I was going to serve my class by helping them understand His Word.
For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
The disciples would soon be teachers as well.
And Jesus had given them a powerful example.
Their job was not to be served by others, but to serve them.
Their teaching was to be an act of service to those they taught.
Just as my teaching was to be an act of service to those in my class.
And just as this sermon, and all of the other teaching I do, is meant to be an act of service to others.
Aaron and His Sons
Aaron and His Sons
Let’s look at an earlier example,
Maybe we can see where not only Israel got things wrong,
But where we get them wrong as well.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, the anointing oil, a bull as the sin offering, two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread; and gather all the congregation together at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.”
God told Moses to bring Aaron his sons, and the tools for consecration before the tabernacle.
Aaron and his sons were to be anointed as priests of God.
Just like today, people might think of priests as special people.
After all, in Jesus’ time the high priest was the head of the church.
Their decisions were considered beyond challenge.
Today, many people look up to those in a pulpit,
To render honors, and to differ to their opinion.
But just what was the role God had set up for the priests?
After making sacrifices to atone for their sins, and offerings for their consecration, Aaron and his sons had other work to do.
Then he brought the people’s offering, and took the goat, which was the sin offering for the people, and killed it and offered it for sin, like the first one. And he brought the burnt offering and offered it according to the prescribed manner. Then he brought the grain offering, took a handful of it, and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt sacrifice of the morning.
Originally in Israel, the role of the priest was to serve the congregation,
By making their offerings for them.
And by seeking God’s guidance for them.
Today, we do not need to offer animal sacrifices to atone for our sins.
But those of us whom God has called are not put here to lead, but to serve.
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
Those whom God has called are not given power to rule, but authority to serve.
Just as I explained to my first Sunday School class,
My role was not to oversee, but to serve.
And if I served well, they would have the opportunity to grow.
Similarly, as I stand in this pulpit, today and every day, it is not to lord over you, but to serve.
To offer to you what God has shown me through prayer and study.
Not to lead, but to point the way.
Every man who stands in a pulpit has assumed a great burden,
As James put it, assumed a stricter judgement.
Everyone who seeks a position, whether in the church, the world, or even your family, seeks a good thing.
Some do it for the “glory” or the accolades of men.
But the true disciples of Jesus do it to serve Him by serving His sheep.
By placing the needs of others before their own.
By seeking not their own glory, but their Lord’s
That is the burden of service.
That is the call Jesus has made on the lives of His disciples.