by Pastors: Edward F. Markquart, John O'Neal, Stephanie Coltvet

Scripture: Mark 9:30-37

John
Today we are doing a "Trialog" sermon. And what is that? We made up the word "trialog" to describe the three of us preaching a sermon together. Rather than a "dialog" it's a "trialog." The three of us pastors get together, study and discuss the Bible readings for the day and then we reproduce the best part of our discussion for you. We wanted to do that today because it will be most likely the last time the three of us will ever do that.

Stephanie
The Bible readings for today have to do with one of the most fundamental and important teachings of Jesus…on being a servant. And Jesus wants to transform our hearts from selfish hearts to servant hearts!

Ed
Let me give you a little Biblical background and context for you as we get into Jesus teaching for us today. The disciples were north near Mount Hermon, and Jesus divided them into two groups. Three disciples (Peter, James and John) went to the top of the mountain and experienced the Transfiguration where Jesus shown like the sun and the three disciples had a vision of Moses and Elijah. Meanwhile, the other nine disciples were down in the lowlands and saw a young boy who had epileptic seizures, threw himself into the fire, and the nine disciples could not heal him. On the walk home to Capernaum, Jesus' home town, the disciples got into an argument as to which of them were the greatest. The three who were on the top of Mount Hermon and saw the glorious Transfiguration? Or, the nine who could not cast out the demon from the little boy who had seizures? Jesus overheard their discussion about greatness. He waited to talk with them until they got home to Capernaum and inside a house, perhaps Jesus' own home in Capernaum. We are told that Jesus sat down on the floor, into the teaching position of a rabbi, and began to teach them, "The first and greatest in the kingdom of God is a person who is last like a servant." Who is the greatest? A person who has the heart of a servant. What a powerful teaching.

John
When we think of someone or something that is the greatest, we think in terms of the best. Who is at the top of their game, what is the best product, who is the best known. But Jesus takes this concept of who is the greatest and, as he often did, turns it on its head. He turns it upside down. Jesus puts new meaning on what it means to be the best and the greatest. Its not the one with the greatest skills or talents nor the one who is the most famous or who draws the most attention or the one who has the most people serving him or her, but the greatest is the one who serves the least and lowliest.

Stephanie
The greatest is the one who moves from having a selfish heart to having a servant's heart. I keep thinking of the story of the rich man who asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him that he must sell his possessions and give to the poor. And then Jesus invited the man to follow him. Upon hearing all of this, the man went away grieving, because he had many possessions. This man chose to let his possessions rule his life and his heart. The fact that the man was rich was not the problem; the problem was that his selfish heart was unwilling to let go of his possessions. This illustrates to me that there is a sense of sacrifice that is built into a servant's heart - a willingness to let go of one's selfish desires.

Ed
What are some Bible verses that teach us about being a servant? Where do we find this important lesson about servanthood in the Bible?

John
For me one of the most profound teachings of the New Testament comes from our first reading today in Philippians 2: 5-11. The well known commentator, William Barkley said, "This is the greatest and most moving passage Paul ever wrote about Jesus." This is one place where the Apostle passes on Jesus teaching in a profound way. That even though Jesus was equal with God, he gave up that equality with God and took the form of a servant and served God even to the point of giving his life… You see, it was because Jesus was the ultimate servant that God exalted him to the greatest position. Therefore, our goal as disciples of Jesus Christ, is to seek not our own glory but seek to serve others and thereby bring glory to God.

Stephanie
Another place in Scripture where we hear Jesus' teachings on servanthood is just a chapter after what we heard today from the Gospel of Mark. It is a parallel passage really, because in it, we find two disciples, James and John, asking Jesus to grant them their wish to sit at his right and his left in his glory. They wanted to elevate their status by being as close to Jesus as possible. In other words, they wanted to be the greatest. After the other disciples heard this and got angry with James and John, Jesus called them together and taught them that "whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Ed
I feel that the foot washing in the Gospel of John is a great teaching on servanthood and Jesus also demonstrates what he is teaching . You remember the story. It was Holy Thursday. The disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest. They had been walking all day and their feet were dusty and dirty. The servant girl would normally wash their feet before the meal. Instead, it was Jesus who took a bowl of water and the dish towel from the servant girl. Jesus knelt down and washed each of the disciples' feet. The disciples were speechless. Silence. All you could hear was the slashing of water and Jesus wiping those feet with a towel. Jesus finally got to Simon Peter who said, "Not me Jesus. It is not right for you my master to wash my feet. I am your servant." Jesus said, "If I don't wash your feet, you cannot be my disciple." Peter said, "Wash all of me. My head, my hands, my feet. Wash all of me that I may be truly be your disciple." Jesus did. When he finished, Jesus got up and addressed all of his disciples from all time, "How happy you will be if you put this into practice. How happy you will be if you live a life of a servant."

John
I like the foot washing because there Jesus does demonstrate what he is talking about. But where else in the Bible do we find demonstrations of the servant heart, of people who lived out this call to be a servant?

ST – We all know the story of the Good Samaritan…two holy men, a priest and a Levite, avoid a man who is lying on the road who has been robbed and beaten. But a Samaritan - a person who was a stranger to the land and considered an outcast - stopped, and went out of his way to bandage the man's wounds, pour oil and wine on them, put the man on his own animal, bring him to an inn, and pay for his expenses! This demonstrates the heart of a servant.

Ed
Zacchaeus. Zaccheus was a crook, the chief tax collector in town who stole from everybody by charging exorbitant taxes. Jesus came to down, found Zaccaheus and said, 'I'm coming to your house today." What Jesus said to Zaccheus was not recorded in the Bible. All we know is that when Jesus and Zaccheus came out from that house, Zaccheus' heart had been changed from a selfish heart to a selfless heart. He said, "I will pay back four fold to all I have stolen from."

John
I think the story of Stephen the first deacon is important. The description of the character a deacon is found in 1st Timothy 3, but in Acts 6 we learn that the job of the deacon was to take care of the poor, the widows and the orphans. In the early church there were specific people in charge of serving those who had the greatest needs. Stephen was the first on the list of the 7 first deacons, whose were assigned the job of serving and taking care of the poorest of the poor.

Stephanie
What are some personal examples of great servanthood that we have observed in the past?

Ed
Irving and Jenny Burk… When I came to Grace Lutheran Church more than thirty years ago, I called on the shut ins and gave them Holy Communion. I called on Irving and Jennie Birk. Jennie was blind but still said to me every springtime, "Pastor, aren't the rhodedendrons beautiful outside our kitchen window?" Time and time again, I saw Irving walking his blind wife, Jennie, on the streets of Des Moines. I thought to myself on many occasion, "When I grow up, I want to be just like Irving Birk." What an inspiration. Time passed. Both Irving and Jennie died. Now, it is Bill Manderville and his care of his wife Barbie who has Parkinsons. I see how persistent and caring Bill is for Barb and I say to myself, "When I grow up, I want to be just like Bill and his care of Barbie." The Apostle Paul says in the Book of Philippians that we are to grow into the maturity and likeness of Jesus Christ. That is the goal: for our love to be mature like Christ, like Irving Birk, like Bill Manderville. Yes, that is who I want to be.

John
For me it would be when I met Maria at the orphanage in Mexico. How she opened up her house to children who were on the street after an especially bad winter when the rains washed away many homes around her. That year, there were may homeless children with no place to go. That's how the orphanage began and Maria took care of children from then on….

Stephanie
My grandma had Alzheimer's. She lived with my family when I was a teenager. I didn't know how to handle the fact that my grandmother did not remember who I was…and so sometimes I avoided spending time with her because it was frustrating and uncomfortable for me. But there was this man named Ray. And Ray would come every Tuesday to pick up my grandma and take her to lunch with some other senior citizens in the community. Ray was not related to my family and he didn't know my grandma before Alzheimer's. He just had the heart of a servant. His servant heart made an impact on my selfish heart.

Ed
How about today? Those are great stories of the past but what about today? Who are some of the great servants of today that we can think of?

Stephanie
I've had the privilege to know Bill Grant these past couple years. I am impressed with the way he carries himself despite the many challenges he's had to face in dealing with cancer and heart disease. What has astounded me most, however, has been his desire and willingness to go to Mississippi to help with hurricane relief - even in the midst of his fight with cancer. Last January, he joined the team of twenty from Grace to help in Ocean Springs, MS. With his experience as a chef, he was able to run the kitchen and feed hundreds of people. It was an exhausting and draining week for him, and yet he had no complaints whatsoever. And then…he went back again…this time with his son! Add to that, he and his wife Mary invited twenty four foster kids into their home throughout their lifetime! Two weeks ago I visited Bill at Good Samaritan hospital and I asked him what wisdom he could share with a person just starting out in life. He said, "Follow your dreams and help other people." Bill has a servant's heart.

John
There are so many great servants here at Grace but I think of some who have given countless hours of service behind the scenes year after year for sometimes many years. Theresa Peterson who handles the finances of Grace, Aden O'Dell, David Franz, and Gary Hornbuckle who work at maintaining our building every week sometimes several days a week. Sandy Bollinger who does so many things around here. And there are literally hundreds of others who give of themselves and are faithful servants of Jesus Christ here at Grace and in the community. This is part of the heart of our congregation.

Ed
Let me tell you a story. I was calling on Marilyn Lamb, a shut in, in our parish the other day. She is now living at a new nursing home. I went to sign in and saw that she had eighteen different visitors to see her in the past few weeks. My mind quickly flashed to Jimmie Brandt's "sign in" chart from years ago. Jimmie Brandt, the high school music teacher from Mount Rainier. Jimmie Brandt, the choir director for years here at Grace Lutheran. Jimmie Brandt, who was fallen by a severe stroke when he was in his young thirties. I was over to see Jimmie and sign in and give him Holy Communion. There was one name, only one, on that sheet of visitors. Over and over and over again. Every Wednesday. Every Sunday. Every year. Dennis Stuessy. Picking Jimmie up for choir. My heart was always touched by seeing Denny's signature week after week, month after month, year after year, until Jimmie died. Yes, people have hearts of a servant and Denny Steussy does.

John
These are all great examples of what it means to be a servant but how do we become more like a servant ourselves? How do we learn to do this? Certainly it has to do with God's Spirit living inside of us. I don't believe that anyone can be a true servant unless the Holy Spirit lives in your heart and transforms your heart into the heart of a servant. But how can we grow in this area of service?

Stephanie
Certainly praying about it is important…Ask God to give you a servant heart. Not just once, but daily. Ask God to open your eyes to see the opportunities to serve that exist around you. And not only that, ask God to open your hands so that you can do something to help those in need around you!

Ed
Imitating those we admire who are servants. I learn best by imitation and not reading books nor reading sets of directions. Rather, I imitate people like Irving Birk, Bill Manderville, Dennis Stuessy and a host of others who have servant's hearts. My primary learning style is not by reading nor even by having things explained to me but by imitating. I watch somebody live a certain way and I try to imitate the way they live. Imitation is my primary learning style, not reading, nor receiving explanations.

John
Sometimes we need to "just do it," like Nike says. Whenever we actually get out there and serve, we find that we are the ones who are truly blessed. God created us to serve and when we are doing what God created us to do, we are most blessed and that just motivates us to want to serve more. When members of Grace come back from mission trips, they always talk about that – how blessed they were in serving others.

Stephanie
I hope you will pray for and look for opportunities to "just do it" - to serve. Next Sunday is our ministry fair where you can find many opportunities to do just that. To practice serving…