Matthew 20:25-28 But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’
These verses are on my mind a lot as someone who is called to lead in the church. But this isn't just about pastors: all of you are Christian leaders in various ways and forms as well.
So what the heck is it about? To state the obvious, I think it's saying that we as a Christian community ought to look different than the rest of the world. And yes, we ought to look different than the world of Jesus' time with the Roman empire and slavery and all that. But I think we ought to look different than today's dominant culture as well. The details could fill volumes, not just one email screen (which is our goal for these morning messages) but I think it means that ego ought to have no place for us in our relations with one another. A desire to prove that you're right, a desire to win the argument: these are the things we should strive against. Service, honoring the other: these are the things we should work for... not just in worship, but in a Sunday School classroom, in a committee meeting, in a conversation over coffee.
It's my goal, and I hope you share it, that on those occasions when life at All Saints starts to look a little bit too much like life everywhere else, we ought to ask questions. It's not necessarily wrong, but we ought to ask the question, and think about this passage and instruction from Jesus. As disciples (followers) of Jesus, we indeed have different priorities.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Worship with us at 8:30 and 11 on Sunday. Join us this Saturday night for an evening of fellowship and Bunko - 6:30 gathering and 7:30 game!
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