3/29/09 - Lent 5 - John 12:20-33

FULL-TIME SERVICE
- We are to be where Christ is
- Christ comes to where we fall

It’s not a surprise to me that people are turned off by Christianity. Not only because the teachings of the Bible are completely contrary to a logical mind, but also because Christianity demands commitment. Even most unbelievers realize that being a Christian would mean that they would no longer be able to do all of the things they like to do because those things wouldn’t match up with what the Bible says. They understand (in an intellectual way) that being a Christian would mean that Christ would have to take over the number one priority in their lives instead of themselves. They are even vaguely aware that being a Christian would mean that they might have to start doing and saying things that they are uncomfortable doing and saying. This world knows that Christianity is commitment; and you know that is true by experience. You realize that being a Christian is being a committed servant. You are to listen to the Lord; you are to follow the Lord; you are to serve the Lord. And it’s not just a part-time job. It’s full-time service. Being a Christian is a 24/7 responsibility. And you’ve learned throughout your life that it’s not always easy either!
During Holy Week, just a few days before Christ’s betrayal and crucifixion, Jesus spoke about this full-time service. A few Greeks in Jerusalem wanted to see Jesus in person. And so Jesus’ disciples told him about the request of these men to meet him face to face. In reply, Jesus explained to Philip and Andrew what being a servant of Christ was really all about. “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.” It was a good thing that these Greeks wanted to see Jesus, but the Lord wanted to make sure that they knew exactly what they were getting into! “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”
Now I don’t know if Jesus’ words scared off those men from Greece, but they sure scare me. “Where I am, my servant also will be.” That scares me when I think of all the places Jesus went and all of the people that he talked to! Jesus once walked into the temple at Jerusalem as a young boy and debated with the teachers of the law there for three days. Jesus went out onto the boats of rugged and experienced fishermen whom he had never met before in order to call them to the faith. He went to the homes of Pharisees who knew the Old Testament law backward and forward just so that he could convict them of their sins. He went out of his way to speak to prostitutes and extortionists, to those who were homeless and to those who were plagued by disease. Jesus spent countless hours on his knees in the dark, both late at night and early in the morning, praying to his Father. He walked into his home town of Capernaum knowing that he would be rejected. He traveled out to the Mount of Olives intending to be betrayed that night. He allowed himself to be arrested by the mob and tried and condemned in Jerusalem so that he could hang on the cross outside the city walls. Jesus purposely put himself into awkward positions and uncomfortable situations so that he could talk to the people no one else wanted to talk to and do the things that no one else wanted to do. Throughout Jesus’ life we find him in places like the edge of a cliff because people wanted to throw him off. We find him in the middle of a desert being tempted by Satan himself. We find him lying in a tomb completely void of life. Those are the places where we find Jesus at. And Jesus says, “Where I am, my servant also will be.”
That scares me! Because I don’t want to be in all of those places and in all of those situations that Jesus was in. I don’t want to do those things that Jesus did or speak to those people that Jesus addressed or pray as often as Jesus prayed or preach as boldly as Jesus preached or love as passionately as Jesus loved - because that’s too much for me! Those situations are too stressful! Those people are too intimidating! That work is just too hard! I don’t want to put in the full-time service it takes to follow the Lord! I want to leave the effort of Christianity here at church when I go home. Because if I take it home with me that means I’d have to constantly be talking to my neighbors and co-workers and friends. That means I would always have to be looking for ways to love and care for and teach and be patient with my children and my wife. That means I would have to continually be in prayer - almost to the point of exhaustion. That means I would no longer be able to think about myself first, but everyone else instead. That means I could never avoid an opportunity in which I could share the Word of God with someone - even if that might result in hatred and rejection. I don’t want to be a full-time servant! I want to be a half-time servant, maybe even a most-of-the-time servant. But being a servant every minute of every day in every way? That’s too much commitment. That would leave no time for me. Being where Christ is at all times is more than I can handle. It’s more than I want to handle.
And don’t tell me you haven’t struggled with that as well. I may not know you as well as you know yourself, but I am very familiar with what lives inside you. I know that nasty little sinful nature, that old rotten self you were born with, is just like mine. I know you look at these words of Christ and you cringe a little because you realize what they imply. They imply a full-time service. They demand that you take no days off, no 15 minute breaks, no vacations from following the Lord. And we know ourselves well, don’t we? We know that’s not going to happen! We can’t do it! Because we’ve never been able to do it before! Even though our new self, our baptized and redeemed Christian nature wants to do it, even though we truly and genuinely want to be Christ’s full-time servants because we are his adopted children… that sinful nature, that old self, is always there with us. It is continually harassing our Christian heart. It will never leave as long as we live on this earth and it will always prevent us from being the servants we ought to be. And the servants that we ought to be are servants that are right where Christ is at all times. But we just can’t keep up. We would rather stay outside as Jesus goes in to talk to the Pharisees and teachers of the law. We would rather hang back while the Lord enters the presence of prostitutes. We’d rather avoid the persecution as Jesus boldly faces his enemies. We don’t follow him every step of the way. We stumble. We fall. And we, the sorry pathetic servants that we are, cannot catch up to the perfect Master.
And so Jesus turns around. Our Master doesn’t continue on and leave us behind. In an incredible turn of events, the Master becomes the Servant of his servants! In an inexplicable exchange, Jesus comes down to where we have fallen! And he comes as a real human being. He comes as a man who is able to be tempted, a man who cries in sorrow over a lost friend, a man who is troubled by a sinful world and distressed by unbelief. He comes to us in the dirt and mud not only to help us up, but really to step in our place. He comes to receive the penalty of our failures. He steps before the judge for us. He steps in front of the executioner for us. He comes to the cross. “The hour has come,” Jesus said, “for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.” Jesus was talking about himself. He was the seed. He was going to die. He had to. And he was going to die for his servants who had fallen behind him.
And don’t think of this as Jesus simply lending a hand to those in need. It was much more than a simple act of kindness! This decision meant full-time service for the Lord! This act of grace was all-encompassing for Christ! He had to give himself up for his servants; he had to give up everything! And it wasn’t an effortless and painless think for Jesus to carry out either. He really truly made a complete sacrifice for us. Listen to his words of inner struggle and intense agony, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.” As Jesus looked ahead to the horrors of his death and humiliation, he knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant. In fact, he knew how much it would hurt. He knew how much he would have to suffer. But that is what he had come to do. He was not going to back down from the pain. He was not going to run away from the finale. He was not going to tell his Father that he had changed his mind. Because Christ was completely dedicated to us. He had made a promise to us and he was not going to break it. “For this very reason” he came into this world - to suffer and die for his servants. And nothing was going to stop him from accomplishing what he had set out to do.
Jesus never took a day off from serving his servants. From the day he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger until the day he was wrapped in strips of linen and placed in a tomb, he served us full-time. There was never a day he took for himself. There was never an opportunity to spread the Word he didn’t take advantage of. There was never a moment to bow his head in prayer that he let slip by. There was never a second he wasn’t thinking about you. He was a full-time Servant in every sense of the word. The cross proves it. The blood proves it. The tomb proves it. The resurrection proves it. Jesus, the Master, served you, the servant. And he still does.
Jesus still serves you. Even though Jesus has risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, and has made full use of his divine powers once again as he did before he came to this earth, he is still dedicated to serving you. He guides the events of this world for your benefit. He listens to your every prayer. He intercedes for you whenever you sin. He guards you against all temptations and provides you with everything you need in this life and the life after. Jesus, that glorious King, is still acting as your servant! He is still putting in full-time service for you! He still never takes a break! Isn’t that shocking? Isn’t that almost beyond belief? The same God who created you is the same God who is keeping constant vigil so that you will one day be with him in heaven. And so although as servants we have fallen down from following our Lord and we have failed to always be where Christ is, Christ will always be where we are. And Christ himself will make sure that we will always be where he is once we reach that place of perfection is he preparing for us. There we will always be by his side. There we will never have to worry about coming up short. There we will have been permanently drawn to Christ just as he promised, and he will never let us go.
And that motivates us to be the best servants we can be, doesn’t it? That overflowing love and dedication that the Lord shows to us moves us to be as dedicated to him as we possibly can. And he will help us do that. He will strengthen our resolve through his Word and sacraments to follow him to the places where there might be persecution and to talk to the people who might not want to hear it. He will urge us on with his gospel to bend our knees in prayer and to love and care for every person we see with the same kind of grace that he shows to us. He will exhort us to be his servants based on the fact that he was our Servant first. And so although we will never be perfect servants, we can be faithful ones. We can strive to give our full-time service to the Lord out of thanks for his full-time service to us. It is an incomplete appreciation. It is nowhere near the gratitude that he deserves. But he will be pleased with our efforts. Not because they are good enough, but because they flow freely from our faith in him. That is the thankful attitude of a Christian servant: one of thankfulness and praise. And as servants of the Lord, why would we not want to faithfully serve the Master who still is faithfully serving us?
Amen.

“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - Heb. 13:20-21