Listen to this Sermon: 03172013TheGloryOfAServantDonRuhl

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The Glory of the Servant 

Which has greater glory? To be served or to serve?

First Samuel 3.9, 10

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • March 17, In the year of our Lord, 2013

 

Persuasion: 

  1. Mark 10.35–45 
  2. John 13.1–17 
  3. First Samuel 3.1–10 
    1. A servant says not
      1. what he will and
      2. will not do.
    2. It is not for the servant to say that certain things are beneath him.
  4. Servants Serve, Sometimes They Are Served 
    1. A servant serves, but
    2. sometimes servants have to be served
      1. for another servant to do his job!
      2. Consider Peter and Jesus in John 13,
        1. when Peter did not want the Lord to wash his feet, but
        2. after the Lord’s explanation,
        3. Peter was willing to let the Lord serve.
          1. Jesus let other people serve Him.
          2. Yet, He did not come to be served, but to serve.
  5. God Designed Us to Be Givers, Not Takers (Takers are not receivers)
    1. Have you wondered why the majority of celebrities
      1. lead weird lifestyles, or
      2. why their marriages fall apart, or
      3. why they die young?
        1. God did not create us to receive endless praise and service, but
        2. to give praise and to serve.
          1. Yes, we can receive praise, compliments, and so on, but
          2. when it is endless, and
            1. we never give it,
            2. we do not fulfill our purpose as humans, and
              1. we fall apart.
        3. For example, you know that marriage is about giving.
          1. I have heard people say that marriage is a 50/50 proposition, and
            1. I knew a man in Klamath Falls who said
            2. that it was 75/25,
              1. 75% the woman and 25% the man.
          2. However, listen to Ephesians 5 and you will see that it is 100/100,

            24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her (Eph 5.24, 25).

        4. Celebrities are not used to living in that manner.
          1. They are used to being served.
          2. Thus, when it comes to experiences such as marriage,
            1. where they have to serve,
            2. they cannot do it, and
              1. their lives disintegrate.
    2. Jesus taught a truth that servants should never forget,

      35 “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20.35).

      1. However, in order for you to experience the superior blessing of giving,
      2. I have to let you give and I have to receive.
    3. Some people refuse to be served, and
      1. believe that they have to do all the serving.
      2. I once knew a man who believed that if you served him,
        1. he was obligated to you, and
        2. so he always insisted on serving and giving.
          1. He did not know the proper balance in life.
  6. Upward, Outward, Then Inward 
    1. God designed us to look
      1. upward,
      2. outward, then
      3. inward.
    2. That is just how we function best.
      1. We can fret about it, but
      2. we are tools in the hands of God to do as He pleases.
        1. We can wish that we were otherwise, but
        2. it will leads to frustration.
    3. The screwdriver can wish that it was a chisel.
      1. I have a screwdriver like that.
      2. I use it as a chisel and it is worthless as a screwdriver.
        1. So someone says, See, the screwdriver can do it; why can’t I?
        2. You missed something.
          1. I changed the screwdriver, or actually someone else did.
          2. I am the one who uses it.
            1. The screwdriver/chisel is still my servant.

Exhortation: 

  1. If Jesus came to your house today, 
    1. would you serve Him?
    2. I know that you would serve Him gladly.
      1. You would consider it an honor to serve Him.
      2. Yet, He is here,

        40 “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

        45 “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (Matt 25.40, 45).

  2. Serve Him who served you. 
    1. Joy comes from serving.
    2. The joy of serving cannot be explained, only experienced.
  3. Why did you become a Christian? 
    1. You confessed the Lordship of Jesus, not of yourself.
    2. Why were you baptized?
      1. You were dead, or were putting yourself to death.
      2. Therefore, we had to bury you.
        1. You died to self to live for Christ.
        2. Think about what we mean when say such things.
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