St. John’s Church on Morgan Hill

Blake Heffner January 21st, 2007

“Diakonia = Ministry = Service” 1/21/07

Texts: Ephesians 4:11-16 Matthew 20:24-28

Consistory has chosen a threefold theme for this year: “Ministry, Mission and Music.” This message is the first of three in which we will begin to explore the themes that will be our goals all year.

Our two scripture lessons underline the significance of ministry or service. It is in Jesus’ mind the most critical mark of a disciple. “If you want to be great [in the Kingdom of God], you must be the servant of [others]; and whoever wants to be first, must be the slave of all the rest - like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.” You may never preach like Billy Graham or care for the poor and dying like Mother Teresa of Calcutta; you may never be called upon to lead a reformation like Martin Luther or Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet, if you will be a servant to those around you – after the pattern of your Lord – you will be “outstanding” in the Kingdom of God. Amazing!

Then Paul zooms in on service as the goal of all the Church’s ministry. Think about all the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are poured out upon people for one distinct purpose: “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ.” Paul is serious: all the positions of leadership in the church – like apostleship and evangelism, preaching and teaching – all of these have one purpose: to equip “you” for the work of ministry and service, to build up the body of Christ!

There is a common thread running through both texts of scripture; that is the Greek word, diakonos - which is the root of our word deacon. It means “servant or minister.” The surest way for each of us to make a difference in the kingdom of God lies in simply and genuinely serve others, like Jesus did. Period.

Some churches have a neat way of stating this. In their weekly bulletins they list the staff: “So and so is the Senior Pastor; so and so is Pastor of Visitation; so and so is Youth Pastor. Right on down through the music ministry and administrative staff.” Then, on the bottom line it reads: “Ministers - every member of this congregation.” That’s it! The work of ministry or service is for all the saints – for each and every one of us. And we who are in the “professional” part of the church’s leadership are only here to “equip the saints for the real work of ministry and service.” Until we grasp this wholeheartedly, we will never live up to God’s design for St. John’s Church. Ministry is not mainly about things done in this building on Sunday mornings. It’s about what we do during the rest of the week!

So, let’s explore some basic aspects of diakonia, or biblical servanthood. Basically, if you think about what it takes to be a good waiter in a restaurant, you have an excellent understanding of the term diakonos. It literally means “one who executes the commands of another; especially an attendant, servant, minister.” We’ve all had good and bad service in restaurants.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his superb little book Life Together, says before we can begin to serve others, we have to master two things: The Ministry of Holding One’s Tongue and The Ministry of Meekness. Interesting pair, wouldn’t you agree?

What in the world does holding one’s tongue have to do with service. Well, I had only to think about this for a couple minutes to realize that when I come upon someone at our house in a fix, my first temptation is to criticize them for getting there. “What are you doing? What were you thinking? Didn’t I tell you to do it differently?” Bonhoeffer hit me right between the eyes. If we are to serve others, we must begin quietly – without pre-judging the situation, without putting the other person down or making them feel inadequate. A servant, as we shall soon see, begins by getting down on the level of the person in need and understanding that – but by the grace of God – it could just as well have been me. Paul describes the verbal approach of a servant: “Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.”

Secondly, according to Bonhoeffer, learning to serve requires us to cultivate a humble attitude toward others. Yesterday, Michele Lentz came to the Mens Breakfast and told us all about the trip to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic that she and Alison visited over Christmas vacation. “Orphanage Outreach” has ten principles for its volunteers. I was especially intrigued by the one that states: “Serve, don’t help!” We didn’t get to pursue the meaning of this at length, but I guess this relates to Bonhoeffer’s point. In helping someone, we sort of reach down, from a position of superiority; in serving, we come down and identify with the other person. In helping, we basically call the shots. We determine what we want to do and how. In serving, we submit ourselves to the other person, asking what they would like us to do. I believe this is the attitude of meekness that Bonhoeffer considers so vital. The apostle Paul lays this our plainly: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking.” And, “don’t do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves.”

If we have those two prerequisites down. We are ready to begin serving. Among the best pictures of servanthood is the one that Jesus gave us in that remarkable story of the Good Samaritan. We can distill at least three main elements: A,B & C.

A. Be Attentive

This story begins with the priest and the Levite arriving on the scene. They clearly notice the man lying by the road, but avoid any contact with him. We can entertain all kinds of reasons why they might’ve kept on going. If the man were actually dead, touching him would have made them unclean and unfit to perform their rituals in the Temple.

Let’s give them credit for at least noticing the poor victim. Today, we are so pre-occupied with our busy agendas that we can completely miss the fact that someone who works in the next cubicle is hurting, or someone studying across the table in the library is anxious or afraid, or someone who lives in our neighborhood is having financial trouble.

It’s so easy. Even waiters are sometimes too busy to notice that we need more water, or we are ready for dessert. Remember the old saying about crossing the street: “stop, look and listen.” That’s the way to be attentive to those around us. In order to serve someone effectively, we regualrly need to stop what we’re doing, see the people around us as our brothers or sisters, and then take the time to listen to their story.

B. Bear One Another’s Burdens

The priest and the Levite no doubt regarded their own concerns as more pressing than those of the wounded man on the side of the road. How easy it is for us to rationalize in the same way. We justify ignoring the plight of others by bearing down harder on whatever we happen to be doing. Am I right?

The Samaritan probably had important business to attend to as well. But, he not only noticed the victim, he stopped in his tracks and was ready to reach out to than man. The scandalous part of this story is that he was a Samaritan, someone despised by the Jews. Ordinarily, a Jewish man would not even speak to such a person, much less touch him. An analogy for us might be an illegal alien who doesn’t speak English. If the tables were turned, we might not feel comfortable interacting with him. Yet, this Samaritan is not shackled by social conventions. He kneels down to take this man’s burden into his own hands. Friends, don’t let social distinctions blind you to the desperate needs of people right you. Paul says, that if we bear one another’s burdens, we will fulfill the law of Christ!

C. Be Compassionate

Jesus says, “when [the Samaritan] saw him, his heart was filled with pity – or compassion.” The Greek word means he was moved viscerally – from his bowels – to help that man. The English word “compassion” means literally “suffering with.” He went over to victim and poured oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them, possibly with material from his own clothing. He put that man on his own animal and took him to an inn.

In today’s world, the Samaritan could simply take out his cell phone and dial 911. Just reporting the crime might seem to be enough. But no, the original servant was willing to get his hands dirty, use his own valuable oil and wine and means of transportation.

Friends, Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat this. If we serve others, it will cost us something, maybe even dearly. Can you imagine this gesture? In a time before health insurance, the Samaritan offers money to the innkeeper and then promises to come back and pay whatever else the innkeeper spends on his care. That’s carte blanche!

But, my friends, isn’t that precisely the way Jesus loves us. He paid the whole price for our deliverance and healing. There is nothing left for us to pay. If we want to follow Jesus as servants, we will have to spend something significant of our time, our talents and our treasures. Elsewhere Jesus talks about heavenly rewards for good deeds, but not here. Jesus gives us the impression that the real value of serving is found in the serving itself. It allows us to participate in God’s awesome love in a tangible way. There is no way to reckon the joy and peace that accompanies such service.

Now, when we talk about “Ministry” here at St. John’s, it would be so easy to mention a dozen ways for you to serve the church as an organization. I purposely avoided this today, because I am convinced that our most important ministry is not supposed to happen within these walls. It happens when we reach out to our neighbors, our co-workers, to members of our community and especially strangers. It happens when we stop, look and listen, when we are ready to bear another’s burdens with compassion and love. Jesus said, “If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all [our basic needs] shall be ours as well.” When we become the servants that God intends us to be, all the jobs around here will be taken care of. Let’s dedicate ourselves in 2007 to excelling in “ the work of ministry”!

Prayer…

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