Influence!
Sermon
SERMONS ON THE GOSPEL READINGS
Series I, Cycle A
If you think a mosquito is small and has little influence, try sleeping in a hot room at night with but a single blood--sucking insect. Its high--pitched whine and sharp proboscis can leave you sleepy, itchy, and whelped.
On the other hand, consider the lowly honeybee. One single winged creature lurching flower to flower can make the heart leap for joy as it brightens your day, spreads pollen about, and makes honey in the hive.
We mortals, not unlike mosquitoes and honeybees, have our own influence. We can be the bane of a room or the blessing of a family. Here in the text, Jesus talks about it all with a group of religious leaders of his own day. Let's listen in and be careful to apply his words to our own lives.
Don't hide behind the false security of the fact Christ Jesus is talking to temple leaders, church staff as it were. You might say Christ is an equal opportunity troubler of professions. In Mark 5:26, he spoke of a sick woman who had suffered much ill health and spent a considerable fortune on hospitals, doctors, and medications, and was no better but growing worse. In Matthew 5:25--26, Jesus expresses wariness at the judicial system telling us to settle matters quickly and out of court lest you be sucked into the system and not get out until you pay your last penny.
Yes, Jesus knows what mosquitoes we humans can be in our dealings as lawyers, as physicians, and in the text, as pastors, elders, and church leaders. So lean close, one and all, and heed well! Verse 1 informs us Jesus spoke these words to "the crowds," to his "disciples," and to "the scribes and the Pharisees." And after he made these remarks, he broke down and wept! (v. 37ff).
Why was Jesus so fervent? Why so emotional? Because he wants his people to be different, to exert a positive leadership. Notice in his words the contrast between what we are as opposed to what we can be.
Preach/Practice
First Jesus points out the gulf between what we say and what we do. "Practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice" (Matthew 23:2--3).
In the movie The Godfather the mafia don attends the baptism service of his grandson. He stands piously to worship and recite the creeds of the faith as the movie flashes back and forth between the baptistry and the brutal hits he has ordered against his enemies.
Hey, I can live like that, can you? I can speak patience from the pulpit at 11 a.m., but cut you off in the church parking lot at 12:04. I can write of kindness in marriage in a sermon one day, but act with boorish insensitivity the next. I can espouse eternal values in my small group, but in reality a scratch on my car bothers me more than a child starving to death in Africa.
Jesus is saying his leaders must close the gap between preaching and practice. If we talk the talk we must walk the walk.
Pompousness/Humility
Next Jesus points out the dichotomy between showing off and humility. In verse 5, he speaks of the deeds we do to be seen by men. In verse 12, he talks of how we "exalt" ourselves.
Such spiritual peacocks we can become! Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in The Canterbury Tales, observed that preachers and roosters have a lot in common. They are both given to strutting and preening themselves in public and crowing about the same hour each day! Oh, how self--important we can become - like Shake--speare's character who shouts, "I am Sir Andrew Augercheek. And when I speak let no dog bark!"
Jesus reminds us only God is great. The rest of us are equals. In verse 8, he says, "You are all brothers." And in verses 11 and 12, twice he mentions humility.
I know a minister who took down the sign that privileged him to park near the church building. "I'm no better than anyone else," he whispered. And as a humble servant leader to the people he parks in the most distant parking space, even in the rain, and walks in like so many of the rest of his congregation.
"Me--focused/You--focused"
Next Jesus talks about our focus.
There are two ways to walk into a room. I can walk in saying, "Here I am!" Or I can walk in with the attitude, "There you are!"
Many people in today's world are "church shopping." They consider themselves spiritual consumers out bargain hunting for the things of Christ. They walk into a church saying, "Here I am! Court me! Entertain me! Meet my needs! Or I won't be back!"
Some of us are addicted to the process. We love being singled out, pursued. We thrive on the new and being in control - "Maybe I will. Maybe I won't."
Jesus discussed this type of "Here I am!" person in the text. "They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger." You bet church shoppers expect gracious childcare when they enter, but don't ask them to help (v. 4). They are here to "be seen" (v. 5), but not to commit and serve. They crave the "place of honor" but not the basin and towel of washing dirty feet.
The better way to enter a room is with the attitude "There you are!" Jim Leet is an elder. For years I watched him walk into Sunday night fellowship and turn on his "people radar" and scan the room. He'd lock onto a visitor, a lonely teen, a troubled mother, a nervous elderly gentleman, then he'd sit and eat with them and meddle in their lives. "Perhaps I can do them some good," he'd say.
Such is Jesus' servant leadership. "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve."
Titles/Service
In leadership Jesus warned us of the gulf between what we say and what we do, between pompousness and humility, between being me--focused and you--focused. Now he addresses titles and genuine service.
In the seventh verse Jesus points out how we love to be properly saluted in the marketplace. "Rabbi!" "Teacher!" "Father!" "Master!" Today's translation? "Doctor!" "Reverend!" "The city's most dynamic pastor!" "Attended the Washington Prayer Breakfast!" and so on.
At a recent pastors' seminar a group of African--American ministers were complaining, "How can I get my church leaders to serve? They act like an advisory board, but seldom get down to the business of ministry. They've got the title but not the towel. They've got the authority but not the basin of water to wash dirty feet." In the text Jesus urges his leaders to "practice" (v. 3). "He who is greatest among you shall be your servant" (v. 11).
Read how the Apostle Paul introduced himself to the church at Rome in Romans 1:1. "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ...." Not Doctor Paul, or Reverend Paul, or published author of sixteen books, or pastor of the country's largest parish, or even the most sought--after speaker of our day. Simply, "Paul, servant of Jesus Christ."
I'm thinking of a church that had a huge Christmas cantata Friday and Saturday nights. When the last production ended Saturday night, the pastor walked to the lectern, said how wonderful it was, pointed out how the chancel had to be cleared for the morning worship services, called for volunteers, then took his coat off to do his portion of the work with others. That's servant leadership!
Appearance/Reality
A fifth leadership dichotomy Christ points out is in appearance versus reality. Jesus spends considerable time in these twelve verses discussing our penchant for wanting to keep up appearances. We sit on Moses' seat (v. 2). We make our phylacteries broad and their fringes long (v. 5). We sit in the place of honor at church affairs (v. 6). But is there any reality behind all this showmanship, this pageantry?
"And your name?" I'd asked of a distinguished gentleman, lithe, in his later sixties. I was speaking at a military conference in the Norfolk area. He was at my table.
"Charlie Duke," he responded. Though the name sounded vaguely familiar, I couldn't place it. That's when another man at the table leaned over and whispered, "He's a general in the Air Force, one of only twelve men to walk on the moon!"
I became like a kid in the candy store. Here was history! Here was a chance to talk to Columbus, Magellan, Vasco da Gama, Leif Eriksson, one of the great explorers of our time! He didn't just cross the Atlantic! He went to the moon!
It soon became obvious General Duke was a real gentleman, humble, friendly, an easy man with whom to converse, and we did talk; four times.
He grew up in Pageland, South Carolina, just south of Wingate University. He has a twin brother. Though he graduated from the Naval Academy, an eyesight problem busted him out of Navy pilots' school. The Air Force took him, and soon he was in the astronaut's corp.
He trained two years for the next to last Apollo mission. When launch day arrived in April of 1972, he was a 36--year--old who eagerly jumped into the three--man capsule for the ride of his life.
Two and a half minutes to blastoff, a crane removed the white room from the rocket. Countdown began in earnest. Over one million pounds of rocket fuel would be burned, boosting them into space. Pulses quickened.
Through a tiny porthole high up in the capsule, they could see the moon, making its daylight appearance. One of the pilots quipped, "Well, Charlie, they have us pointed in the right direction!"
Then they were off like a shot! Within minutes they encountered the blackness of space. Within hours he saw the earth floating like a jewel, reduced to three colors - brown land, blue water, and white clouds and snow.
Duke was second out of the lunar lander. They stayed on the moon three days.
"We felt perfectly at home," he said. "We weren't afraid of aliens with ray guns. Everything was just like we'd seen in pictures hundreds of times."
If you look up at the face of the moon, they landed right in the center of what you see.
I recall Charlie Duke's antics. Likely you do, too. On earth with a space suit he weighed over 360 pounds, but on the moon, in near weightlessness, he weighed only 61 pounds. So they had a contest to see who could jump the highest. That's what I remember: two astronauts bouncing up and down like schoolboys on a playground.
"The only time I was ever afraid," he confided, "was when I lost my balance, began to flip over backward, and realized I might land on my head and possibly crack my spacesuit. I managed to twist to the side and break my fall with my arms and legs. When I got up I thought I'd made it. That's when I saw the camera pointing toward me. Chris Craft at Houston control chewed me out for my antics."
"When it came time to leave, we didn't want to go. We begged to stay two more hours." But orders were orders. So Charlie Duke flew home to earth. He made colonel and he'd only been fifteen years in the Air Force.
While his professional life flourished, his personal life was failing. His wife began to talk divorce. "I was an engineer. I knew how to fix a machine. But how do you fix a marriage?"
In a small group Bible study, someone shared Christ with him. And General Charles Duke believed. As he matured, so did his marriage.
Today he lives in Texas, enjoys wife, children, grandchildren, and travels extensively as a goodwill ambassador of both Christ and the United States.
The last day of the conference we sat together and shared communion in worship. He is a man who has been to the moon and back. Now in Christ he has learned to live on earth. His is not just appearances but the reality of a life lived out in servanthood to Jesus and others.
Conclusion
What sort of spiritual leader are you? Are you the mosquito or the honeybee? In the mirror of this text, what do you see?
Stephen M. Crotts
On the other hand, consider the lowly honeybee. One single winged creature lurching flower to flower can make the heart leap for joy as it brightens your day, spreads pollen about, and makes honey in the hive.
We mortals, not unlike mosquitoes and honeybees, have our own influence. We can be the bane of a room or the blessing of a family. Here in the text, Jesus talks about it all with a group of religious leaders of his own day. Let's listen in and be careful to apply his words to our own lives.
Don't hide behind the false security of the fact Christ Jesus is talking to temple leaders, church staff as it were. You might say Christ is an equal opportunity troubler of professions. In Mark 5:26, he spoke of a sick woman who had suffered much ill health and spent a considerable fortune on hospitals, doctors, and medications, and was no better but growing worse. In Matthew 5:25--26, Jesus expresses wariness at the judicial system telling us to settle matters quickly and out of court lest you be sucked into the system and not get out until you pay your last penny.
Yes, Jesus knows what mosquitoes we humans can be in our dealings as lawyers, as physicians, and in the text, as pastors, elders, and church leaders. So lean close, one and all, and heed well! Verse 1 informs us Jesus spoke these words to "the crowds," to his "disciples," and to "the scribes and the Pharisees." And after he made these remarks, he broke down and wept! (v. 37ff).
Why was Jesus so fervent? Why so emotional? Because he wants his people to be different, to exert a positive leadership. Notice in his words the contrast between what we are as opposed to what we can be.
Preach/Practice
First Jesus points out the gulf between what we say and what we do. "Practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice" (Matthew 23:2--3).
In the movie The Godfather the mafia don attends the baptism service of his grandson. He stands piously to worship and recite the creeds of the faith as the movie flashes back and forth between the baptistry and the brutal hits he has ordered against his enemies.
Hey, I can live like that, can you? I can speak patience from the pulpit at 11 a.m., but cut you off in the church parking lot at 12:04. I can write of kindness in marriage in a sermon one day, but act with boorish insensitivity the next. I can espouse eternal values in my small group, but in reality a scratch on my car bothers me more than a child starving to death in Africa.
Jesus is saying his leaders must close the gap between preaching and practice. If we talk the talk we must walk the walk.
Pompousness/Humility
Next Jesus points out the dichotomy between showing off and humility. In verse 5, he speaks of the deeds we do to be seen by men. In verse 12, he talks of how we "exalt" ourselves.
Such spiritual peacocks we can become! Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in The Canterbury Tales, observed that preachers and roosters have a lot in common. They are both given to strutting and preening themselves in public and crowing about the same hour each day! Oh, how self--important we can become - like Shake--speare's character who shouts, "I am Sir Andrew Augercheek. And when I speak let no dog bark!"
Jesus reminds us only God is great. The rest of us are equals. In verse 8, he says, "You are all brothers." And in verses 11 and 12, twice he mentions humility.
I know a minister who took down the sign that privileged him to park near the church building. "I'm no better than anyone else," he whispered. And as a humble servant leader to the people he parks in the most distant parking space, even in the rain, and walks in like so many of the rest of his congregation.
"Me--focused/You--focused"
Next Jesus talks about our focus.
There are two ways to walk into a room. I can walk in saying, "Here I am!" Or I can walk in with the attitude, "There you are!"
Many people in today's world are "church shopping." They consider themselves spiritual consumers out bargain hunting for the things of Christ. They walk into a church saying, "Here I am! Court me! Entertain me! Meet my needs! Or I won't be back!"
Some of us are addicted to the process. We love being singled out, pursued. We thrive on the new and being in control - "Maybe I will. Maybe I won't."
Jesus discussed this type of "Here I am!" person in the text. "They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger." You bet church shoppers expect gracious childcare when they enter, but don't ask them to help (v. 4). They are here to "be seen" (v. 5), but not to commit and serve. They crave the "place of honor" but not the basin and towel of washing dirty feet.
The better way to enter a room is with the attitude "There you are!" Jim Leet is an elder. For years I watched him walk into Sunday night fellowship and turn on his "people radar" and scan the room. He'd lock onto a visitor, a lonely teen, a troubled mother, a nervous elderly gentleman, then he'd sit and eat with them and meddle in their lives. "Perhaps I can do them some good," he'd say.
Such is Jesus' servant leadership. "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve."
Titles/Service
In leadership Jesus warned us of the gulf between what we say and what we do, between pompousness and humility, between being me--focused and you--focused. Now he addresses titles and genuine service.
In the seventh verse Jesus points out how we love to be properly saluted in the marketplace. "Rabbi!" "Teacher!" "Father!" "Master!" Today's translation? "Doctor!" "Reverend!" "The city's most dynamic pastor!" "Attended the Washington Prayer Breakfast!" and so on.
At a recent pastors' seminar a group of African--American ministers were complaining, "How can I get my church leaders to serve? They act like an advisory board, but seldom get down to the business of ministry. They've got the title but not the towel. They've got the authority but not the basin of water to wash dirty feet." In the text Jesus urges his leaders to "practice" (v. 3). "He who is greatest among you shall be your servant" (v. 11).
Read how the Apostle Paul introduced himself to the church at Rome in Romans 1:1. "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ...." Not Doctor Paul, or Reverend Paul, or published author of sixteen books, or pastor of the country's largest parish, or even the most sought--after speaker of our day. Simply, "Paul, servant of Jesus Christ."
I'm thinking of a church that had a huge Christmas cantata Friday and Saturday nights. When the last production ended Saturday night, the pastor walked to the lectern, said how wonderful it was, pointed out how the chancel had to be cleared for the morning worship services, called for volunteers, then took his coat off to do his portion of the work with others. That's servant leadership!
Appearance/Reality
A fifth leadership dichotomy Christ points out is in appearance versus reality. Jesus spends considerable time in these twelve verses discussing our penchant for wanting to keep up appearances. We sit on Moses' seat (v. 2). We make our phylacteries broad and their fringes long (v. 5). We sit in the place of honor at church affairs (v. 6). But is there any reality behind all this showmanship, this pageantry?
"And your name?" I'd asked of a distinguished gentleman, lithe, in his later sixties. I was speaking at a military conference in the Norfolk area. He was at my table.
"Charlie Duke," he responded. Though the name sounded vaguely familiar, I couldn't place it. That's when another man at the table leaned over and whispered, "He's a general in the Air Force, one of only twelve men to walk on the moon!"
I became like a kid in the candy store. Here was history! Here was a chance to talk to Columbus, Magellan, Vasco da Gama, Leif Eriksson, one of the great explorers of our time! He didn't just cross the Atlantic! He went to the moon!
It soon became obvious General Duke was a real gentleman, humble, friendly, an easy man with whom to converse, and we did talk; four times.
He grew up in Pageland, South Carolina, just south of Wingate University. He has a twin brother. Though he graduated from the Naval Academy, an eyesight problem busted him out of Navy pilots' school. The Air Force took him, and soon he was in the astronaut's corp.
He trained two years for the next to last Apollo mission. When launch day arrived in April of 1972, he was a 36--year--old who eagerly jumped into the three--man capsule for the ride of his life.
Two and a half minutes to blastoff, a crane removed the white room from the rocket. Countdown began in earnest. Over one million pounds of rocket fuel would be burned, boosting them into space. Pulses quickened.
Through a tiny porthole high up in the capsule, they could see the moon, making its daylight appearance. One of the pilots quipped, "Well, Charlie, they have us pointed in the right direction!"
Then they were off like a shot! Within minutes they encountered the blackness of space. Within hours he saw the earth floating like a jewel, reduced to three colors - brown land, blue water, and white clouds and snow.
Duke was second out of the lunar lander. They stayed on the moon three days.
"We felt perfectly at home," he said. "We weren't afraid of aliens with ray guns. Everything was just like we'd seen in pictures hundreds of times."
If you look up at the face of the moon, they landed right in the center of what you see.
I recall Charlie Duke's antics. Likely you do, too. On earth with a space suit he weighed over 360 pounds, but on the moon, in near weightlessness, he weighed only 61 pounds. So they had a contest to see who could jump the highest. That's what I remember: two astronauts bouncing up and down like schoolboys on a playground.
"The only time I was ever afraid," he confided, "was when I lost my balance, began to flip over backward, and realized I might land on my head and possibly crack my spacesuit. I managed to twist to the side and break my fall with my arms and legs. When I got up I thought I'd made it. That's when I saw the camera pointing toward me. Chris Craft at Houston control chewed me out for my antics."
"When it came time to leave, we didn't want to go. We begged to stay two more hours." But orders were orders. So Charlie Duke flew home to earth. He made colonel and he'd only been fifteen years in the Air Force.
While his professional life flourished, his personal life was failing. His wife began to talk divorce. "I was an engineer. I knew how to fix a machine. But how do you fix a marriage?"
In a small group Bible study, someone shared Christ with him. And General Charles Duke believed. As he matured, so did his marriage.
Today he lives in Texas, enjoys wife, children, grandchildren, and travels extensively as a goodwill ambassador of both Christ and the United States.
The last day of the conference we sat together and shared communion in worship. He is a man who has been to the moon and back. Now in Christ he has learned to live on earth. His is not just appearances but the reality of a life lived out in servanthood to Jesus and others.
Conclusion
What sort of spiritual leader are you? Are you the mosquito or the honeybee? In the mirror of this text, what do you see?
Stephen M. Crotts
