Who’s Serving Whom?

INTRODUCTION Good morning. My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here. About a year ago, I read a story from the days before the Civil War, where a wealthy Christian man from the north who often went down to the South to slave auctions. And he would buy slaves, in order to set them free. And one time, he was walking away from the auction with a girl, and he said, “you’re free. I came to set you free.” And she said, “Like, free, free?” “Yep.” “Free to do whatever I want and go wherever I want to go?” “Yes,” he said. Then she looked at him intently, and said, “Then I will go with you.” And I want you show you a similar version of this principle in the Bible today as we continue in our study of the Letter of Ephesians. Go ahead and grab a Bible Ephesians 3:1 13 Page 799 As Paul talks fairly high level today about the glory of God’s message, I want you to notice how he talks about himself in relation to God. Because I find it’s quite different than how we talk about ourselves and our relation to God. And so therefore I suspect that today’s a message may not be one that your heart wants to hear. But if you read and study the Bible, this teaching is not foreign to its pages or the lives its writers. Let’s begin (Ephesians 3:1 6) – NIV For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 3:1 13 Page 799 The main point of this section is pretty similar to our main point for last week’s passage at the end of chapter 2. Paul is sharing that the great mystery (the Good News) says that the Jews and Gentiles (that all races) can be together as one in Christ Jesus. And now Paul is going to go deeper into how he thinks of himself in relation to God. This is what we’re going to focus on today: (Ephesians 3:7 13) – NIV 7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. One of the key verses in this passage is verse 7 where Paul calls himself a servant of the gospel…a servant of God. And this label absolutely shapes Paul’s thinking and his ministry And we need to think more deeply about this. Here’s why: The average Christian does not truly see themselves as a servant of God, but instead sees God as their servant. Now, I’m not sure that we would say it out loud that way. But I do think that is indeed how many of us think. We act as if God’s main purpose is to serve us. To answer our prayers. Make us healthy when we’re sick Get us good jobs. To keep our relationships together And then when things don’t go well, and life gets hard, or even uncomfortable, we question God, we’re frustrated that He’s not coming through and doing his duty Well, dig underneath that frustration. We’re frustrated that he’s not doing what? Serving us? Do you see what I mean? But the Christian leaders we read about in the Bible, like Paul, take an inverted approach They don’t see God’s purpose as serving us, but our purpose as serving God. But why? THE BEAUTY OF GOD (“Who’s Serving Whom”) And I mean, for starters, “Because God is the creator of the universe, and we’re the creator of, like a really good grilled cheese?” There’s not much of a comparison. If we’re going to serve God, we have to start by rationally seeing who we are and who God is. This maybe makes sense on a more human level. I’m guessing no one in this room would walk up to Bill Gates or even Taylor Swift and ask one of them to become your servant… And so why would we ask God to do the same? Now, this is nuanced, because unlike a celebrity…. Jesus did tell us that He came to love, even to model service. And yes, God is our father, and HE cares us for us, and He DOES answer prayers ( yes, yes, and yes) But when it comes to our relationship with Him… our posture towards God must be one where WE see OURSELVES as the servant. The Greek word Paul uses for servant in verse 7 was like a table waiter who was always at the bidding of their customers. We’re here to serve God. Are you living like His servant? And of course, for Paul, his reasoning is richer than just the fact that God is big and powerful . Timothy Keller explains that once Paul saw who God really was, he could say: “I am now a servant. I don’t belong to myself anymore. When I saw this gospel, when I saw what Jesus Christ had done, when I saw the wisdom of it, when I saw the beauty of it, when I saw how it brings everything together, how it answers all the philosophical questions, how it meets every single human need, and how it’s going to draw all of history together, I became a servant.” – Timothy Keller A PRISONER OF SOMETHING ELSE But what’s fascinating here is Paul doesn’t just use the language of being a servant of God, He says (and this is crazy!) in verse 1, He is a “Prisoner of Christ.” Not just a prisoner for Christ (which is also true) But he says that he’s a prisoner OF Christ What does Paul mean by that? (“Who’s Serving Whom”) I think it’s helpful here to look at a parallel phrase Often in his letters, Paul refers to himself as a “slave of Christ” And the idea of slave and prisoner is the basically same here. Paul loves Jesus, and so deeply understands the majesty of Jesus, that Paul sees Jesus as His Lord. His Master. And this is a weakness with American Christianity right now Because outside of a few minor voices, we don’t see much written or preached anymore that sounds like Paul here…that Jesus is our master, and we are his prisoner...His servant. I told you this was going to sound foreign to your ears! I warned you! But this is why we teach THROUGH the Bible. Because otherwise these passages that intersect with our culture in a difficult way always get skipped! But when we talk about being a slave, or a prisoner for Christ…we’ve got to get our image of The Master right. Which, by the way, is the reason why your heart doesn’t like the “prisoner” or “slave” terminology. But listen, no one in here is saying, “I want to be a slave of a terrible master.” No! This passage is much more like the girl at the beginning who was freed at a slave auction. She’s been set free, and where does she want to go? With the one who set her free! Or, I remember, when I first became a follower of Jesus, sometimes I would go to New Hope Community Church in Cambridge, which is a great church. And Pastor Bill Berg there would sometimes do a big outreach called Motorcycle Sunday. And it was an outdoor service where hundreds of people would come on their motorcycles (this was Cambridge, not Blaine) And sometimes this motorcycle group, called the Bondslaves, would show up to that outreach. (show image) And I remember thinking, “What in the world is a bondslave?” But a bondslave, in history, was someone who was set free by their master, but they loved their master so much that they chose, willingly, to keep serving him anyway. And that’s how we as Christians are to see God. Jesus has come and set us free from the bondage of our sin. We used to be unable to get free of our hatred, our jealousy, our addictions, and on and on. And He set us free. And not only that, He’s with us every day. And He loves us. And He’s given us eternal life in heaven. So who do I want to be servant of? Who will I see myself even as a prisoner of? That I would say, “You just tell me what to do, I’ll do whatever you say because I trust you SO much!” Who would I say that to?? Jesus! And all of this feels so counterintuitive, right? Like go outside these walls and walk the mean streets of Blaine, and start asking for volunteers to become servants of God and prisoners of Christ! Think anyone will be interested? But let me give you 3 reasons why you actually want to see yourself as God’s servant, and not God as your servant: And I think these 3 reasons show the beauty and appeal of putting yourself under God. WHY YOU WANT TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD’S SERVANT, AND NOT GOD AS YOUR SERVANT #1: Because if you’re not a prisoner of Christ, you’re a prisoner of something worse The truth is, humans (and you’re a human, right?). Humans were literally created to serve God. It’s what you were made for. And if you try and find life & satisfaction another way, it won’t work. It’s like trying to use a coffeemaker, to make pizza rolls. It’s just not made for that. And you were made to serve God like a coffeemaker was created to make coffee. And the one of the great paradoxes of Christianity is that the way to life and freedom is to become a prisoner of Jesus Christ. To say, “Jesus, I’m your slave. I’m your servant. I’ll do anything you say.” This is the type of stuff that Jesus Himself taught on often. In Luke, Jesus says: (Luke 17:33) – NIV 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. And you “lose your life” to preserve it by letting go of trying to live only for yourself, and you live only for God. And it’s a paradox because your mind says, “No, that’s crazy! That doesn’t make sense at all! I’ll feel happiest when I get to be in charge! When I get to decide what I want to do and how I want to live!” But see, you weren’t created to be in charge. You weren’t meant to wear His crown…it will crush you. WHY YOU WANT TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD’S SERVANT, AND NOT GOD AS YOUR SERVANT #1: Because if you’re not a prisoner of Christ, you’re a prisoner of something worse And the great irony is that if you don’t trust God here, and you say, “No, I will do what I want…and I will find my life in pleasure, in money, in family, in something else” You won’t gain life, you’ll lose your life (your happiness) as Jesus says. And shockingly, you’ll find that you’ll actually be a prisoner to whatever else you’re living for besides Jesus. Because listen, you’ll never have the perfect family. And if that’s what your life is about (raising perfect kids)…when one of your kids goes astray, you’ll be ruined. Devastated. You’re never going to have the perfect career. But if that becomes the main point of your existence… you’ll end up being a prisoner of it. You won’t stop working and you’ll be in shackles to it! Listen, we have so much misery in this country because we have way too many coffee makers trying to make pizza rolls. You were made primarily for one thing: To be in relationship with and to become a servant of God. COMFORT DOESN’T CHANGE THE WORLD And let me give you another reason why this turn of thinking is so important. WHY YOU WANT TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD’S SERVANT, AND NOT GOD AS YOUR SERVANT #1: Because if you’re not a prisoner of Christ, you’re a prisoner of something worse #2: Because comfort never changed the world The comfort we seek in being served (instead of serving) never changed the world. Look at verse 13 again V. 13: “I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.” (or for your good) Paul is saying, “Don’t be discouraged by the fact that I’m in prison in Rome right now because of my faith” Because my sufferings are for you. He’s saying, “It’s because I was willing to suffer, to get out of my comfort zone, that you know Jesus in the first place…that you have eternal life!” Paul’s life purpose is to live out the calling of the Christian…to go therefore and makes disciples. To , verse 8, share the boundless riches of Christ To, verse 9, make plain the good news. I think it’s key that you think really hard this week about what the main purpose of your life is. What are you actually, TRULY, living for? And listen, Paul’s life goal is not to rack up as many fun experiences as possible. It’s not to hit everything on his bucket list It’s not to make sure he’s always safe, and centered, and calm, and happy, and comfortable. Because comfort never changed the world. And we need to hear this word in America where we’ve built big golden statue of comfort and we all bow down to the idol of it. Even as Christians, we say we want to serve God. But really, we mean, only if it’s convenient. Which means, we’re not really, truly serving God. Serving, almost by definition, means “not convenient.” If we serve at church, but only if it’s comfortable and not too often, are we even really serving? If we say we we’re followers of Jesus, but we won’t even try to stop certain sins…because that would be inconvenient to our daily life…are we actually servants? My friend, Jesus wants to use you to change the world around you. But he won’t do it through you if you are worshipping the idol of comfort…waiting for God to serve you instead of you serving Him. Look at verse 13 again. Paul says that his SUFFERING was for their glory. What does that even mean? It means that by suffering for Christ, by living what the world would call an inconvenient life for Christ… One where you talk about Jesus even though you know people will ridicule you. One where you live a life of integrity even though you know you’ll be mocked for it… Through that type of suffering, and often only through that type of suffering, will people actually see that Jesus Christ is SO important, and SO valuable to you…that you would choose Him over the American god of comfort. But do you see the problem here? Too often, we never suffer for Jesus. Let me ask you a question: When was the last time your friends & family saw you suffer for Jesus? And see, because we won’t suffer for Him, the world around us doesn’t see Jesus as worthwhile because they don’t think that we even see Him as worthwhile! That’s what verse 13 is saying. You can’t change the world around you without suffering. Listen, we’re baptizing a number of people this morning, who have had their lives tremendously changed, precisely because someone took a risk of suffering and shared about Jesus! But if we will never even risk a small conversational discomfort, do you think our friends would say we value Jesus…or that we’re perhaps ashamed of Him? I don’t want to be ashamed of Christ, I want to be sold out for Christ! This is how we’re going to change the world, church! If we can once again realize the great lengths our God went to for us, and go to great lengths for other people. Our city, our county, is perishing without Christ. People are prisoners to the things of this world. But God can use us. But first, we need to see ourselves as His servant, not Him as ours. BAPTISM (SWITCH TO BAPTISM SUNDAY SLIDE) All right, at this point, I want to call our Baptismal Team on stage right now As we are going to celebrate a baptism at this service Baptisms are a visual reminder that God’s Son, Jesus Christ has paid for our sins. And by our faith in Him, we were forgiven, washed clean. And not only that, that God has raised us up from the dead and given us new life. Baptism is a symbol of what happens when a person believes in Jesus (that their sins were washed clean) Baptism doesn’t save you. But it is such an important symbol of his love. Every person you see baptized at Renovation Church is baptized by a sponsor (people who’s had a spiritual impact on them) But before we do the baptism, we get to hear their testimonies So I want to invite up: 9:00 Bre 10:15 Kpatcha 11:30 Matt GOSPEL (Baptism Sunday side) Thank you for your story. I think these stories that we get to hear so often are so important. And they remind me of our final reason we need to see ourselves as God’s servants. WHY YOU WANT TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD’S SERVANT, AND NOT GOD AS YOUR SERVANT #1: Because if you’re not a prisoner of Christ, you’re a prisoner of something worse #2: Because comfort never changed the world #3: Because of God’s grace for you This is what Paul is talking about right after he says in verse 7 that he became a servant of God. He says he became a servant of God because of God’s grace. Grace means undeserved favor. Paul says, verse 8, that he is less than the least of all the Lord’s people. In 1 Timothy, Paul even calls himself the Chief of Sinners This was a man that opposed Jesus in every way. Even authorizing the murder of Christians. And yet, even on this vile & cruel man, God had mercy. And for the rest of his life, Paul never stops marveling at the fact that God could forgive someone like Him And see, it’s because of this grace, that Paul feels compelled to serve God. I’m reading…. (Show Gladys Aylward Book Image) the autobiography of Gladys Aylward right now…the great female missionary to China. And while sharing the Gospel, she rescued many children and women from slavery. And one woman she rescued was a slave herself, but…she also mistreated the slave children very badly while they were all slaves. And after being bought by Gladys, and freed, the woman kept saying to Gladys, “Why would you save me? I’m so evil, I’m so evil!” And Gladys told her, “Because God can have mercy on anyone…no matter what” And this newly freed woman was so in awe of this, that she becomes an incredible servant of God. WHY YOU WANT TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD’S SERVANT, AND NOT GOD AS YOUR SERVANT #1: Because if you’re not a prisoner of Christ, you’re a prisoner of something worse #2: Because comfort never changed the world #3: Because of God’s grace for you Or I think of the prostitutes that were forgiven by Jesus, and some of them came and even wept at his feet. But when they came, the Pharisees can’t stop thinking about what huge sinners these women were And Jesus tells them, whoever has been forgiven much, loves much. But see the great gem of that passage is that we have ALL been forgiven much. And the more you can marvel at the fact that God forgave YOU, the easier you’ll find it is to serve Him. But if you don’t think God had to forgive you that all that much, you’ll just be stuck in a lukewarm faith… Pointing out everyone else’s flaws and waiting around for God to serve you. But I hope you can see this morning that we all have sinned. No one here is perfect. Most of us are quite messy. The Bible says: (Romans 3:23) NIV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, And because we have sinned, and because God is just, we deserve judgement for sinning against our Creator. But God loves you so much that the Bible says this: (John 3:16) – NIV 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That means that even though we have sinned, and deserve to be separated from God in hell, that God loves you so much…that He sent Jesus to die on the cross…for your sins. And if you would believe in Him like all of these people testifying today have.. That God will not only come into your life so you could know Him, that He would change you, and He would forgive you…granting you eternal life in heaven. That’s incredible! But it’s a decision we all have to make. Do you need to invite Jesus in to be your Savior? Your Leader? I want to give you an opportunity to do that. In fact, let’s do this. Let’s just have everyone, just for a minute, close your eyes and bow your head. I want to give you an opportunity to receive Jesus in as your Savior If you need to make this decision for the first time today…to tell Jesus that you need His forgiveness for your sins…to make Him the leader of your life…to accept His gift of Eternal life… In just a minute, I’m going to ask you to stand up No one’s going to be looking at you, that’s why we had everyone close their eyes. But sometimes in life, we just need that moment…that line in the sand moment. To say, “God I believe. I receive you in!” And if you need to do that today, and I bet you already know it on your heart and you can feel it inside right now… If you need to tell God for the first time today that you do believe, and you want to follow Him and be forgiven. Then I invite you to stand where you are right now (and keep standing). The Bible tells us that in this moment we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. Repeat after me Dear God I confess to you, that I have sinned against you. But God I believe, that you sent your Son Jesus, to take my place And God I thank you, for forgiving my sins. And now I commit, to following you, with my life. (NEXT STEPS) As everyone still has their eyes closed, for those of you standing up, you just made the most important decision of your life, and I believe that requires some more information… So here’s what we’re going to do to get you that… in just a second, I’m going to close the service in prayer, and then right after the service, I want the TWO/THREE of you to meet me up here in front. And I, and our follow up team, for just a couple of minutes, are going to get you some extremely important resources & next steps to get you started If you’re part of this church, and your friend or family member raised their hand, PLEASE come out there with them. Let me just close by thanking God. Copyright: David Sorn Renovation Church in Blaine, MN You may use this material all you like! We only ask that you do not charge a fee and that you quote the source and not say it is your own.