Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Following Jesus means knowing how to serve Luke 22:24-30 Following Jesus without Freaking out Sermon 07 The Pecking Order…we’re all familiar with the term. What you probably don’t know is that Norwegian zoologist, Thorlief Ebbe, was the first to discover and document it. If you take ten chickens, any ten, put them in a pen together, spread a little chicken feed, shortly you’ll witness an amazing phenomenon. In a matter of minutes the chickens, previously strangers, will form a hierarchy based on dominance or, in everyday language, they’ll establish the Pecking Order. Instinctively, they will determine, through a series of skirmishes, who the Number One chicken will be; then the Number Two; the Number Three; all the way down to the unlucky Number Ten chicken. And much is at stake in this dance of domination. Chicken Number One pecks at and intimidates Number Two, without experiencing any kind of retribution from Number Two. Number Two will take it from Chicken Number One but will turn around and peck away at Chicken Number Three, who will in turn, take out its frustration on Chicken Number Four. The Pecking Order continues all the way down to Chicken Number Ten, who, needless to say, has a pretty miserable life – pecked but no one to peck…perhaps even pecked to death.   As we all know, this phenomenon of the Pecking Order doesn’t belong exclusively to chickens. We see it everywhere. In the business world, at school, family reunions, class reunions, clubs, sporting events, conventions and even the Church. The truth is no one is immune to this phenomenon. We all have the tendency to look at others in terms of their profession, education, bank account, wardrobe, cars, homes…with the subconscious mind-set of fitting them into the Pecking Order.   So what’s the big deal? It’s only natural, right? Here’s the problem. Every time the disciples attempted to set up a Pecking Order, Jesus rebuked them and taught them that instead they needed to be servants. My Bible is open to Luke 22:24-30 (p. 746).   Humility and selflessness are to mark the believer in Jesus Christ. Since we all know this, it seems incredible the disciples would get into this silly debate over which of them was the greatest, especially when you consider the setting: the Last Supper…the night before Jesus would go to the cross.   Jesus had just announced that one of the Twelve would betray Him. The disciples had responded by discussing who would do such a thing, with each one asking, “Surely, not I?” (Mark 14:19). Perhaps this led someone to say, “I know that I’m not a likely candidate.” Someone else said, “Me, neither!” Another said, “Well, it couldn’t be me?” “Why not? Do you think you’re better than the rest of us?” From there things heated up quickly.   Sadly, this wasn’t the first time that the twelve had gotten into this sort of silly debate. They’d argued about the same matter while they walked at some distance from Jesus, thinking that He couldn’t hear what they were discussing (Mark 9:33-37). But He knew what they were discussing and used the occasion to teach them about grace and childlike humility. On another occasion, the mother of James and John had come to Jesus to ask that her sons could sit on His right and left in the kingdom. The other disciples were incensed (Mark 10:35-45). What right did these two brothers have to claim the top spots in the kingdom? Jesus taught them that the greatest should become the servant and the one who wished to be first should be the slave of all, adding, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” But they didn’t get it, do we? Following Jesus means knowing how to serve.   In spite of these repeated lessons, here they go again, right on the eve of the Lord’s death, arguing over which of them was the greatest! This shows us that although we can have this lesson in our heads, it takes a while to put it into practice. We just think that we’ve learned it once and for all when someone does something that bugs us and we think, “I’m a better servant of Christ than he is!” Although we may not get into a verbal debate, the thought within our heart is, “I’m better than he is or she is!” We have to repeat the same lesson. If you’re taking notes, let me suggest… 1. To be truly great in God’s sight, you must humbly serve. D. L. Moody said, “The measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many men he serves.” But most of us would rather be served than serve. Jesus’ lesson is one that all who are seeking to actively serve Christ must continually apply. It also applies to those believers who are sitting on the bench, not engaged in serving the Lord.   Scripture clearly teaches that every believer has been given at least one spiritual gift and is to employ it in serving the Lord (1 Pet. 4:10). Being a servant of Christ is more than just signing up to teach Sunday School or to do some other job at the church. Being a servant is a worldview, a mindset, where each day you make yourself available to Christ and ask Him to use you in His service in whatever ways He chooses. It may be to share a word about the Savior to someone who needs Him. It may be to offer cheerful help to someone in need. It may be to listen to a person who needs sympathy or understanding. Whatever the job, your daily attitude is, “Lord, here I am. Use me as Your servant.” If you’re not living in that way, then tragically you’re living for self, not for Jesus Christ. This passage in Luke 22 underlines vital lessons in Christian servanthood. 2. Jesus Christ is the supreme example of servanthood. Presumably, Luke did not know about and thus did not record the event but John 13:1-11 reports that at some point during the Supper, Jesus got up, girded Himself with a towel, took a basin of water, and washed the disciples’ feet.   We don’t know for sure where in the chronology that great object lesson took place. It probably happened right after the dispute among the disciples and just before Jesus’ verbal lesson recorded here (between vss. 24 and 25). Or, it could have followed verse 27, where Jesus states, “I am among you as one who serves.” At any rate, Jesus is the great example of servanthood. Please note four things.   a) Jesus faithfully served although He alone is worthy of eternal supremacy. Have you ever gone out at night and looked up at the sky and thought about the fact that your eye can’t even begin to see the billions of galaxies and stars that are in the universe? I love looking at the night sky in the Upper Peninsula and seeing it filled with stars. But what I can see is not even a fraction of the millions of other galaxies. Even the powerful Hubble telescope can’t get to the end of the universe. Yet Jesus spoke the entire works into existence by the word of His power!   Peter, James, and John got a brief glimpse of Jesus’ glory on the Mount of Transfiguration and were awestruck. Later, on the Isle of Patmos, John, who’d laid his head on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper, got a further revelation of Christ in His heavenly glory. His response was not to say, “Oh, Hi, Lord, good to see you again!” Rather, he fell on his face at Christ’s feet as a dead man (Rev. 1:12-17).   This Lord of glory left the splendor of heaven, taking on human flesh so that He could accomplish our salvation. He rightly could have come in all His splendor, demanding our instant allegiance on penalty of death. Instead He took on the form of a servant and humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:5-8).   Christ’s willingness to serve did not in any way rob Him of the ultimate authority that will be His. He states here, “I confer on you a kingdom, just as My Father conferred one on Me” (v. 29). Jesus is coming again and will conquer all of His enemies and reign over all the earth. In God’s sovereign plan though He deserves and one day will have ultimate supremacy. In His first advent He came to earth as a humble servant to show us how we should serve Him and one another. If Jesus, who deserved supremacy as the Almighty Creator, willingly served, then shouldn’t we, who deserve nothing except judgment, offer ourselves in faithful service to God?   b) Jesus faithfully served through many terrible trials and temptations. He tells His disciples, “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials” (v. 28). At first glance this verse doesn’t seem unusual. We all know that Jesus was tried when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness. We know He went through the awful trial of Gethsemane, followed by His trial and crucifixion. But we tend to think that between those two terrible events, everything was smooth sailing for Jesus. But the disciples were not standing with Jesus during these two events. He’d not yet chosen them when He was tempted by Satan and they all fled and deserted Him at His final hour of trial. So Jesus is referring to trials or temptations that took place in the time in between these two recorded times of trial.   After Jesus had successfully resisted the devil in the wilderness, we read that the devil “departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). Although Jesus did not have a sin nature tempting Him from within, as we do, He was perpetually bombarded from without by the great enemy of our souls. If Satan could bring Jesus down, God’s plan of salvation would be thwarted. Satan continually dangled before Jesus ways to escape the cross, tempting Him to exert His power and assert His authority apart from God’s plan. But in spite of all these temptations, Jesus faithfully humbled Himself and served the Father’s purpose, even to the point of death.   Many Christians will serve God as long as there’s no opposition and things are going relatively smoothly. But what about when criticism or opposition comes? What about when we’re treated unfairly? What about when we’re misunderstood or when people question our motives? Do we keep serving then or do we quit with the protest, “If that’s the kind of treatment I get for serving, I’m out of here! Let someone else serve!” Jesus is our great example of serving faithfully through many trials.   c) Jesus faithfully served though lonely and misunderstood. Although the disciples had stood with Jesus up to this point, even through some intense opposition, Jesus knew that in a short while they’d all forsake Him, fleeing for their lives. Even now, not even Peter, James, or John could enter into the anguish that Jesus would face in the garden. They just didn’t get it. Jesus had to face His final trial alone. But as He told them in that Upper Room, “a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave Me all alone” (Jn. 16:32).   British preacher, Alexander Maclaren, called this “Jesus’ profound loneliness.” The Psalmist wrote prophetically of our Lord, “Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none” (Ps. 69:20). In spite of loneliness and being misunderstood, Jesus faithfully served His Father’s purpose. His fellowship with the Father was the sustaining factor when no one else understood. In this, too, Jesus is our great example. We’re called to serve Him even when we feel lonely and misunderstood.   An elderly man in a hospital kept calling out for his son. He asked the nurse several times during the day, "Has my son arrived yet?" The older man told her that the son had called and he had said he was on his way. As the day wore on still there was no sign of the son. When the nurse saw a tired, anxious looking young man in the hall near the older man’s room she grabbed him and rushed him to the bedside. "Your son is here," she whispered to the patient. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes opened. He was heavily sedated because of the pain he was going through. He dimly saw the young man standing there. He reached out his hand and the young man tightly wrapped his fingers around it, squeezing a message of encouragement. The nurse brought a chair and set it next to the bedside. All through the night the young man sat holding the old mans hand and offering gentle words of hope. The dying man said nothing as he held tightly to his son. As dawn approached, the patient died. The young man placed the lifeless hand he had been holding all night on the bed. Then he went to notify the nurse. While the nurse did what was necessary, the young man waited. When she’d finished her task, the nurse began to say some words of sympathy to the young man. But he interrupted her. "Who was that man?" He asked. The startled nurse replied, "I thought he was your father." "No, he wasn’t my father," he answered. "I never saw him before in my life. When I came in yesterday after work, I’d been visiting a sick friend down the hall." "Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?" asked the nurse. He replied, "When you rushed me in there I knew that the gentleman needed his son and his son just wasn’t here. When I realized he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, I knew how much he needed me..." And Jesus, though lonely… misunderstood…still served others, knowing how much He was needed.    d) Jesus faithfully served because of His great love for us. Christ’s amazing love is the only explanation for why He’d leave the glory of heaven and submit Himself to all of the abuse and hardship He went through to secure our salvation. Just before Jesus girded Himself with that towel and began the lowly servant’s task of washing the disciples’ feet, John 13:1 states that Jesus loved His own who were in the world and that He loved them to the uttermost.   The apostle Paul was driven by this same love of Christ. He said that the life he now lived in the flesh, he lived by faith in the Son of God. Then, he adds, “who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Just as Christ served because of His great love for us and Paul served because he was captivated by Christ’s love, so we should serve because of Christ’s love for us and our love for Him. God’s love as seen in Christ and especially in His sacrificial death, is the great motive for anything and everything we do in service for Him. Jesus is our great example of servanthood, yet too often it seems as if there is a small minority who are willing to serve.   A cartoon showed a picture of a woman lying in her sick bed, obviously in misery. In the sink were stacked piles of dirty dishes. A huge basket of clothes to be ironed sat nearby. Two dirty children were fighting in one corner and in the other a cat sat licking spilled milk. A smiling woman stood in the doorway and the caption had her saying, “Well, Florence, if there is anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to let me know.” Too often that’s a picture of the local church! Pastors and church staff and a few committed members are overwhelmed with work. More needy people cry out for their attention than they have time for. Sunday school, Children’s Church and other youth programs lack workers. The nursery cries out for staff. Visitors need a personal call. New people need someone to befriend them. Facilities need maintenance and improvements. Even some who are involved seem to be committed only when it’s convenient. Yet people often say, “If there’s anything I can do  to help, let me know!”   God does not save us so we can sit but so we can serve. Just as there is no such thing as a non-functioning member of your human body, so there ought to be no such thing as a nonfunctioning member of the Body of Christ. If God has saved you from your sins, He has called you to serve Him in some way in accordance with your gifts and abilities.  3. Self is the arch enemy of spiritual maturity and servanthood. Donald MacDonald from the Scottish Isle of Skye went to study at an English  university and was living in the residence hall with the other students there. After he’d been there a month, his mother came to visit him. "And how do you find the English students, Donald?" she asked. "Mother," he replied, "they're such terrible, noisy people. The one on that side keeps banging his head on the wall and won't stop. The one on the other side screams and screams all night." "Oh Donald! How do you manage to put up with these awful noisy English neighbors?" "Mother, I do nothing. I just ignore them. I just stay here quietly, playing my bagpipes."   The disciples’ squabble came from one source: self! James 4:1 asks, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?” He answers, “Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?” Selfish desire leads us into conflict with one another. That’s why Jesus spells out the beginning requirement if we wish to follow Him: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). But denying self isn’t a once and for all decision that we make and then get on with life. Self keeps rearing its ugly head, even in those who have tried to kill the monster for years! Even the most mature saints constantly have to do battle with self.   a) Self reveals itself in pride. You’d think that right after the Lord’s Supper, this sort of dispute would not have happened but it did. Pride and selfishness (which are related) are the most common and troubling problems we face. Later that evening Peter’s pride comes through as he protests that he’s ready to die with Jesus. Peter believed in his own commitment more than he believed Jesus’ word! If the disciples who’d walked in close relationship with Christ could fall into the pride of proclaiming their own greatness right after the Lord’s Supper, then we’re certainly not immune! We must, as, Isaac Watts, wrote, “pour contempt on all our pride” if we want to be servants of our Lord.   b) Self reveals itself in competition. “I’m the greatest apostle!” “You are not! I am!” “You guys are both wrong. I’m the greatest!” The apostles were doing what men by nature are prone to do, competing for #1. American culture is especially competitive. It’s how you get scholarships, get into college and get good grades by doing better than other students. That’s how you get ahead in business, by competing with others for customers. It’s how sports teams win championships, by competing and conquering the opposing teams. We live in a climate of competition!   Joey was a boy who ran in the handicapped Olympics that were held in conjunction with the Seoul Olympics a few years ago.  As it turned out, there were only two in Joey’s event.  As their track event began, Joey took the lead, leaving his only competitor way behind him.  Then, Joey suddenly stopped in his tracks.  What happened next basically melted the event announcer’s heart.  When you hear about it, maybe you’ll feel like I do – you’ll want to be like Joey. That day at the handicapped Olympics, young Joey turned around, went back to his lagging opponent and put his arm around him.  Then, Joey proceeded to help the other runner complete the race with him.  They crossed the finish line together, arm in arm, with the other arm raised with one finger saying, “I’m #1”.  And the audience rose to their feet in a standing ovation, and the announcer said, “It looks like Joey wanted the other guy to be a winner, too.”  Then, in a surprisingly personal footnote, the announcer said, “I want to be more like Joey.”   In the church we need to work at cooperation and to be careful not to compete. Is another church doing better than ours? If they preach the gospel, praise God! It means that our team is doing well!   c) Self is modeled for us by a pagan world. Jesus describes worldly leadership, where the top man lords it over others but then demands the title of “Benefactor” (v. 25). But then He states, “But not so with you.”    Worldly leadership is not a model for biblical leadership. Biblical leadership does not lord it over people, even though at times it must exercise authority (1 Pet. 5:3; Titus 2:15). Biblical leadership doesn’t demand recognition and status. It doesn’t pay attention to titles. It doesn’t use its position for personal advantage at others’ expense. In all these areas, worldly leadership models selfish men seeking selfish advantage. Biblical leadership models servanthood, even at personal sacrifice or inconvenience. Thus, our great example of servanthood is Jesus Himself but our great enemy of servanthood is self. 4. God's infinite grace is our encouragement in servanthood. Even though Jesus was grieved over this repeated petty quarreling among the apostles, and even though He knew that they all would soon forsake Him and flee, He gives them this gracious word of commendation…that they have stood with Him in His trials. And He goes on to encourage them by promising great rewards for them in His coming kingdom. Truly, as John 1:16 puts it, we have all received “grace upon grace”!   Friend, if you’ve failed the Lord in your attempts to serve Him, He wants you to hear His word of grace. He wants you to turn from your sin and failure and to serve Him again with a glad heart. He’s like a father who is trying to teach his young child to do some new task. The child may fail or not do it perfectly, but the dad sees one little thing the child does right and says, “That’s the way! Keep it up! You’re getting the idea!”   As I think of my own ministry and innumerable blunders, I’m overwhelmed that God called me to the ministry. I’m appalled at some of the silly things I taught and at some of the stupid mistakes I made. Even now, I often wonder how God can use me. But His wonderful grace encourages me to go on.   5. God's eternal rewards enable us to persevere in serving in this dying world. Jesus says, “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as My Father conferred one on Me, so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (vss. 28-30). Here He’s promising His disciples (the Greek word implies a covenant) that they will eat and drink at His table in His kingdom and will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In light of their recent dispute and in light of their impending failures, that is sheer grace! The fact is, the Lord will reward every one of His servants far beyond what we deserve! No one will get to heaven and think, “You mean I sacrificed and worked so hard for this measly reward?” Rather, we all will think, “God has been far more gracious and generous with me than I could ever deserve!”   We’re not sure what the Lord means in terms of the apostles’ future rewards. Paul says that the saints will judge both the world and the angels (1 Cor. 6:2-3). Apparently the apostles will have a leading role in that task. Eating and drinking at Jesus’ table is a picture of the joyous fellowship that awaits all of us in His presence. If we could see now what He has prepared for us then, we’d all “stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). Any inconvenience or hardship you endure now in serving Christ will reap blessing upon blessing in that great day when His kingdom comes. Conclusion: I read of a church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, that has a hand-lettered sign over the only door into the sanctuary: SERVANTS’ ENTRANCE. There isn’t any way in or out of that church except through the service door. That’s how every church should be! It’s a place for servants only. Who’s the greatest in God’s kingdom? Those who humbly serve as Jesus did.   Maybe you’re here and you’re wondering, “What can I do to serve the Lord?” I encourage you to go to Farese.com. It’s the web page of John Farese. John Farese is 44 years old and one of the oldest persons to reach that age after being diagnosed from birth with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He’s bedridden and uses speech recognition software to operate his computer system, which enables him to do everything from reading the Bible to creating Web pages for his customers on the Internet.   John writes, “He has turned for me my mourning into laughter, and my desolation into joy; He has led my captivity captive, and made my heart rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He drew me when I struggled to escape from His grace; and when at last I came all trembling like a condemned culprit to His mercy seat He said, ‘Thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee: be of good cheer.’” John is a charter member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Boca Raton, Florida. If someone with such severe health limitations like John Farese can find a way to serve the Lord who saved him, so can you.   Following Jesus means knowing how to serve. Are you faithfully serving the Lord in a way that demonstrates your love and gratitude to Him for Calvary? Are you faithfully using the gifts that He has entrusted to you for His glory?