Are You Able?
Mark 10: 35 – 45
The secretary picked up the phone and heard a very countryfied voice on the other end saying; “I want to talk to the head hog at the trough! ” Secretary: “Excuse me sir?” Man: I want to talk to the head hog at the trough! She then realized the man wanted to talk to the pastor. Somewhat indignant she said, “Sir, if you want to talk to our pastor, you will have to address him properly. You should call him Pastor, or Reverend, or Brother, but you certainly cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough!” Man: “Oh I just wanted to donate $10,000 to the church. ”The secretary replied, “Can you hold please, I think the big pig just walked through the door!”
I VS. 35 - “Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
A We want you do to whatever we ask of you . . . What do you want Jesus to do for you?
B People in our world want churches and God on their terms. People want to be consumers of “religion” not servers.
C People want programs, classes and groups already there and don’t want to volunteer to make things happen or to serve.
II VSS. 43b – 45 “. . . whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever want to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be3 served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
A What is our mission? It our mission to survive or to serve?
B Serving means more than warming a pew on Sunday morning. Serving means escaping from the prison of self.
C God, life and the church does not spin around you. You are not the center of the universe.
Concl: Each person has an inner desire to go beyond success to significance. We want our lives to mean something. We want to make a difference. If that is your desire, you must become a candle. A candle sheds light for other and in the process consumes itself. When our lives become candles, we leave a legacy. What does you candle look like? How much light, if any, does it give in service to others?
