Service and Sacrifice Mark 10:35-45; Hebrews 5:1-10; Jeremiah 31:31-34

 

Grace. mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who served us by giving His life.

 

We’re going to talk about Serving and Sacrificing, from our Gospel, especially verse 45: 45 … the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 

It’s an amazing thing, that our God, in all His magnificent glory, would choose to serve those He created to serve Him.

 

And even more amazing is that, we are sinful and He is holy, yet He lowers Himself to serve and save us, so great is His love for us.

 

And He serves us in the most humble way possible, making the greatest sacrifice for us, giving His very life, first to save us, and then, to give us an example to follow. 

 

Paul explains this in Philippians 2:5-11. He writes: 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…

 

We are in Christ, all we are is tied up in Him, we exist and have our being in Him, and because of Him… every blessing we have comes through Christ, He earned those blessings from God for us through the perfect way He lived,  the way He died for us, and how He rose for us.

 

So we owe everything to Him; we are physically alive because of Him, and spiritually alive in Him, with a relationship of love and faith in Him, and with a life that has been reborn to resemble Him, with a heart and mind like His. 

 

Paul says, 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…  6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped…

 

Although Jesus is true God, as well as true man, and as the true and only Son of God, possesses all the glory and power of God… all glory and power was His from the moment of His birth, the moment of His conception by the Holy Spirit, yet it wasn’t glory that Jesus was after, grasping for, as Paul puts it… 

 

… that’s not why He came to u; He came for a higher purpose, to redeem us… but that higher purpose required a lower life, a more humble life. 

 

And so He, Paul says, emptied himself, (set His glory and power aside) by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

 

I think of all the limitations and deficiencies of my human body and mind, and then I think, how amazing that Jesus would take these limitations upon Himself for me, for us, and for all. 

 

He did it because He wasn’t thinking about Himself, only about us… He wasn’t thinking about what He might gain, only what He might give.

 

In your life, this life on earth, do you think more about what you might gain, than what you might give?

 

Sometimes I do… sometimes we all do.

 

Jesus never did… He always put your life and redemption, before His earthly needs or worldly goals or desires…

 

He did have a goal, but it was for you… what He might do for you, that you might live, and be blessed and loved by God for today and for eternity.

 

It’s a quite a goal to save and redeem the world, to provide the way for all to live, and to be saved and blessed, now and forever. There’s never been a higher goal, and a more selfless goal… and never a goal that seemed so impossible.

 

High goals typically require great commitment and sacrifice… 

 

… there’s never been a goal that has required more love and sacrifice, than the goal Jesus had to save you… 

 

… He had to give up every earthly thing, including Himself, His life.

 

Paul continues, 8 And being found in human form, Paul says, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

 

Such amazing love, so utterly selfless. 

 

Our Lord has served us in many ways, done so many things for us, suffered and endured and sacrificed many things… 

 

…but to serve us by dying for us, even death on a cross, such suffering, such love, such courage, such sacrifice… how can we do anything but love Him for it?

 

Crazy as it sounds, after all Christ has done for us, still the sin in us, our fallen sinful nature, would hate Him for it.

 

But the Holy Spirit in us, faith in us, loves Him for it… and thanks Him for it… and praises Him for it… and serves Him for it.

 

The One we glorify above all else, is the One who didn’t come to us looking for glory, but looking to serve us, to put us first, to put our needs before His.

 

As He says in our Gospel… the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

 

This is our salvation… and it’s our example.

 

How to live one’s life, is such an important thing, it guides all we do. There’s one life we’re given to live on earth… how shall we live it?

 

We can make the most of it, regard it as a sacred gift from God, or we can squander it.

 

As we said before, in Christ, we have life, created and redeemed… 

 

… we have this short life to live on earth… and then a life way longer to live in Heaven, a life never-ending. 

 

If we live this one life we have on earth without Christ, then we squander it.

 

And we squander all that Jesus has done for us, the enormous price He paid for us to live. 

 

If we live without faith and forgiveness in Him, without the Holy Spirit to give us the power to love and serve, than we waste this sacred gift we’re given.

 

This life is meant to be the bridge to life everlasting… and our purpose here will be our purpose in Heaven, to love and serve as Jesus has loved and served us…

 

… and that’s how we make the most of this short life on earth… this prelude to life everlasting… by loving and trusting Jesus… 

 

… and loving and serving our neighbor, being more like Jesus to the people around us.

 

Imagine how different this world would be if we could all agree to look to Jesus, first, as true and only source of life and salvation…

 

… and second, as the ultimate, universal example of how to live our human lives…  

 

… to see the life Jesus lived as the gold standard, the platinum standard, of a life that’s well lived.

 

There would be so much more love in this world, and far less hate.

 

Still the sin in us would have us look to anyone and anything except to Jesus for our life, and our example.

 

Holy Spirit, everyday, drown our old Adam, suppress that stubborn, selfish, sinful nature in us… and make us look more like Jesus today.

 

The life that looks like Jesus is a life not seeking after worldly gain, or fame, or power, or glory, but a life that seeks to serve…

 

… as Jesus served us with the deepest love and greatest sacrifice, giving His holy life to ransom ours.

 

May our life look more like His, a life of genuine love, faithful to God, courageous for the Gospel, seeking to serve, and willing to sacrifice in the name of Christ.

 

The life that looks like Jesus is the life that glorifies God, and the life that’s a blessing to others… in other words, the life that’s well lived.  

 

May the Holy Spirit help us to look more like Jesus in our lives, in our relationships, in our homes, in our work… and in all that we are, and say, and do.

 

And with a life like His, we have the peace He gives, which passes understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, who came not to be served, but to love and serve and give His life as a ransom for many. Amen.