Serving Others In A Self-Centered World

Introduction

Well, happy Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is a secular holiday. But it certainly has roots in Scripture, does it not? We’re commanded to honor our father and our mother. And so we’re going to pause a little bit and do that this morning to honor those mothers. Whether your mother has passed on and you have sweet memories, or whether your mother is still with you. Today is a day which shouldn’t be like every other day. In which you think of the sacrifices and the love and the devotion that mothers have had for us. And to all our mothers in the audience, we want to encourage you to enjoy this day. Because tomorrow it gets back to normal. And you have to serve us. But seriously, happy Mother’s Day, and we’re so thankful for everyone who is here today, but especially the mothers in our audience and online.

We have a guest speaker for us this morning, Brother Jonathan Caldwell, comes to us from Moody, Alabama. That name may sound familiar. He is related to our Caldwells.

Jonathan’s been a close friend of mine uh for many years now. We both worked in the Northwest Alabama uh area together, uh we got to know one another uh and have become very close friends. Uh and he’s a good student of the Bible uh and a good speaker, and so we look forward to having him uh with us this morning. Jonathan. Good morning. If you’ll take your Bibles and open to Genesis chapter 3, we will be beginning there in just a moment. I really need to talk to Ken in front of a large crowd more often. He’s usually not that nice to me. Uh, but I do need to say that um he’s actually, or I’m actually the reason he’s here. I’m the one that put him in contact with Brother Harkrider uh through my cousin Tim.

Uh and uh I don’t know how that works because about the time Ken moved here, Tim said, I’m out. Bob said it even quicker than that. And uh so uh if you like Ken, you’re welcome. If you don’t, let’s blame Tim. He’s not here. Uh I am happy to be with you. I’ve I’ve visited with you a number of times. So many people I know here. So glad uh to be able to see you today. Glad to be with family, glad to be uh with Ken and Deedra as well. Well, for millennia, the prevailing thought was that everything revolved around earth. That the sun, the moon, and the stars all took their course around the sky, around the earth. The earth was the center of everything.

And it wasn’t until about the sixteenth century that a Catholic cleric got himself into trouble, Nicholas Copernicus, who raised serious questions about the geocentric model. About a hundred years later, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilee elaborated on the heliocentric model that we understand today, that everything actually in our solar system revolves around the sun. And in 2021, it’s actually a little surprising to us, maybe, that there was a time when people didn’t understand that the world revolves around the sun. And I am a believer of the fact that there are many people who are quite shocked to find out that the world does not revolve around them. We think we are the center of everything. We think everything runs through us. And maybe depending on your age, that might be true.

But it’s something that’s hard to learn. You know, as a small child, the world does revolve around you. You cry and mama comes running. You cry and mama changes your diaper. You cry and mama feeds you. It’s Mother’s Day, so all pretend like fathers never do that.

But as this child begins to grow up, they begin to hear a word that they don’t like very much, and that word is no.

And they cry for juice. And Mama says, no. They cry to stay up later, and Mama says, No. Well, then they become a little bit older, and I don’t guess we ever sit down with them and tell them specifically, hey, the world doesn’t revolve around you, but we begin to teach them this idea through various concepts. I have a 12-year-old son. And he doesn’t like it, that I will tell him to save the last sister Schubert role, the one in the tin pan that are so good. Yeah, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to publics when we’re done. I tell him, we save that one for mama. That’s who gets that one. And as she often does, she says, no, no, no, sweetie, that’s okay.

And then he thinks, oh, right. And I was like, no, no, no, no. Offer it to your sister. They’ve got to learn that others are more important. We are teaching him, and then our youngest son, who’s seven, hold the door for people. Let others go first. Let your sister go first. When the last royal wedding happened, I can’t even remember the names of who. I think it was Harry and Megan. I know it was Megan. I think it was Harry. This little girl came to some notoriety. Anybody see this video on YouTube? You can go and search for Lola of Belfast. Because Lola of Belfast thought she was going to go to the wedding. And her teacher at school had said, everyone’s going to be there.

And so Lola thought she was going. And so she’s talking to her mother. I won’t do the accent for you, but it’s the most adorable little accent. And she’s just confused as her mother is explaining to her that, no, sweetie, I’m sorry, you can’t go to this wedding. It’s for royalty. And this girl comes to realize wait a minute. I’m not a real princess. And her mother says something that she didn’t want to hear. She goes, Well, your mommy and daddy’s princess. Well, on that, nobody wants that. I want to be a real princess. I want to go to the wedding. And she was rather distraught to learn that she was not a real princess. We understand what we’re talking about here as we may think the world revolves around us.

When you’re real little and cute, like Lola, that might be fine. But as we grow up, we have to learn that we are not the center of life and the center of everything. And so this morning, we want to think about serving others in a self-centered world. I gave Ken a couple of options, a couple of lessons, and uh one of them was on the book of Ruth. And so that might have been good for Mother’s Day. And I gave him this one as well. And he said, you know what? That’s going to go really well with our Bible class right now. And so I enjoyed Bible class. We talked a lot about Barnabas, and we could put him in this lesson. I don’t already have him in this lesson, so that works out really well as we just begin thinking about serving others in a self centered world.

1. Examples of Self-Centered Thinking

And normally what we see, or what we often sadly see, are that people are concerned about self in a self-centered world. They want to make sure others serve them, that they get what they deserve. And our culture encourages this type of behavior. And so let’s begin, kind of on the negative side here, thinking about some examples of self-centered thinking. And I’ve asked you to turn to Genesis chapter 3, and we’re going to look at verse 6. Genesis 3 at verse 6. This is after God has put man and woman in the garden. He has told them what they can and cannot eat. And then we come to verse 6 in Genesis chapter 3. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

She saw something that was going to be pleasing or beneficial to her, and she took it. Maybe that is the very essence of sinful behavior. Seeing something and taking it without regard. She gives no thought to God’s command. She gives no thought to God’s promised punishment should they eat of this tree. She gives no thought to her husband as she takes and eat only that he participate in this sin with her. She’s not concerned about long-term plans. She’s not concerned about God. She’s not concerned about her husband. She is only concerned about herself in that moment. It was all about Eve. Have a second example in Genesis chapter 6. A very strange passage. Maybe I’ll say some weird things and leave that for Ken to fix for you.

But in Genesis chapter 6, we read a very strange phrase. There’s a lot of weird interpretations about it. We won’t want to get into all of this, but notice the language in Genesis 6 at verse 1. When man began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any that they chose. Again, we have this language of seeing and taking. And they give no thought to what God may have desired. They give no thought to anything but their own desires. It was all about them. They saw something pretty and they wanted it, so they took it. Over in Joshua chapter 7. Joshua chapter 7 at verse 20.

You know the story of Jericho. God was very clear. We’re going to go into Jericho. We’re going to destroy everything. Don’t take anything. Everything is going to be devoted to God in destruction. They go out to battle against Ai, and they lose. And they’re trying to figure out why. And they cast lots, and the lots fall on a man named Achan. And in Joshua 7 at verse 20, and Achan answered Joshua, Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel. And this is what I did. When I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath.

2. David Saw, and He Took

We have this same language. He saw and he took. There is no thought given to God’s command. There is no thought given to the impact this might have on his family. No impact it might have on his nation. He saw something of value and thought, I’d like to have that. And without thinking of anyone else, he took it. It was all about Achan. And then one more negative example. I don’t want to dwell on these too much because we could reproduce this list over and over again. But we want to look at 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11, starting at verse 2. It happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing.

And the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman, and one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? So David sent messengers and took her. And she came to him, and he lay with her. We have the same language. He saw, and he took. There’s no thought given to God’s command. There’s no thought given to Uriah. There’s no thought given to Bathsheba. There’s no thought given to his already existing wives. Flural. He saw something beautiful. And he took it. It was all about David, and that was all that mattered to him. The selfishness of this story is really emphasized when Nathan shows up on the scene in 2 Samuel 12. You’ll remember the story of the you lamb.

Nathan said to David, There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ew lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms. And it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guests who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

And we don’t even have to read the next verse, because we’re all annoyed. We’re all angry. We’re all mad at this behavior, at this activity. Yet David does get angry as well. His anger is greatly kindled. And he said, as the Lord lives, this man who has done this deserves to die. And he will pay back fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. David was a sucker for a good story. And in this scene, David falls prey to what Nathan is doing. And Nathan says, You are the man. And just to emphasize his selfishness a little bit more, the knife has been put in. He’s going to twist it a little bit. As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall die.

Nathan says, You are the man. And thus says the Lord God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel. I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if this were too little, I would have given you much more. That one hurts. But David, like so many before and so many after, saw something he wanted, gave no thought to anyone else, and just took it. This is what self-centered thinking looks like. And we see it on a regular basis. We see it not just in little kids who were trying to train it out of them. We see it in adults. We see it in politicians, the people that we put in places to represent us.

3. Examples of Servant-Hearted Thinking

We see that they’re thinking selfishly as well. And we understand that this is not the way. This is not what’s right. This is not what God calls for. This is not how we as Christians are going to change the world by continuing to be like everyone else, and that’s self-centered. So what we want to do is think about being a servant. We want to look at some examples of servant-hearted thinking. I’m of the opinion that every teenager should work fast food or some kind of hospitality industry. You need someone for no reason, through no fault of your own, to yell in your face and to assume that you are going to wait on them hand in foot. It’s good for you. I worked at a place called Pasquales.

It was wonderful most of the time. And one day I had a grown man throw fries in my face. And it’s kind of a reminder. Hey, look at this world. Even Pasquales doesn’t revolve around me. And we are expected to serve, to take care of others’ needs ahead of our own. There’s some really good examples of this. Let’s go back to Genesis, kind of start over in the biblical story again. This time we want to go to Genesis chapter 24. In Genesis chapter 24, this is the story where Abraham is wanting to find a wife for Isaac, but he knows he doesn’t need to take a wife around the people that are in Canaan at the time. So he sends his servant back to the homeland.

And he says, Go back to the homeland and find a wife and bring her back here for Isaac. And the servant does this. And the servant, I could really use the servant as an example here because he’s so devoted to Abraham. And he prays that his mission goes well. All he wants to do is do the best job he can for Abraham. And so on the way, he is praying about this, and then he gets there, and he’s at this well and he sees this woman, and he’s got a good idea. Maybe that’s her. And in Genesis 24, let’s begin at verse 15. Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebecca, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milkah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.

The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her and said, Please give me a little water to drink from your jar. She said, Drink, my Lord. And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking. So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels. The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not.

Rebecca here offers to serve a man that she doesn’t know with not a small task. If you do a little research, you come up with some interesting numbers here. Verse 10 tells us that the servant had ten camels with him. And depending on which online resource you read, I think I got my numbers from Wikipedia. You know how trustworthy it is. Camels can drink anywhere from twenty five to thirty-five gallons at one sitting in about thirteen minutes. So if you do the math, that’s 10 times twenty five or thirty-five. So Rebecca volunteers to draw anywhere from two hundred and fifty gallons to three hundred and fifty gallons of water. Now in our day and age, this is no problem, right? I got the hose hooked up.

Let me go turn on the water. Let the camels do what they want to do. No, this woman is going to have to take a jar and hook it up to the well, the rigging and however they would have done it. Drop that jar into the well, pull it back up, dump it into the trough, and she’s going to do this 300 times. And she willingly offers to do this for him. All the while showing great respect, calling him sir. All the time doing it quickly. She quickly pulled the jar down from her shoulder. She quickly runs back to the well to get more.

And she willingly and readily serves.

One of my favorite portions of scripture here, the scene that is painted for us in Isaiah 6, 1 through 7 is just absolutely beautiful. This picture of God, Isaiah coming to terms with who God is and how holy God is.

Then I said, Here am I, send me. How do you respond when people ask for volunteers?

Someone’s up front, and they’re, hey, we need some volunteers to come and cut, trim the bushes. Who wants to volunteer to do that? And we’re just trying not to make eye contact. All of a sudden we have a hangnail. Oh, my shoes untied. Let me get that there. We don’t want to make contact. We don’t want to volunteer. One of our elders back home. If you don’t volunteer, you will get voluntold, we joke. And yet Isaiah’s thought seems to be, I’m already here. Let me do it. It’s convenient. I’m ready. Let’s go. Let’s get to work. What a great attitude to have. Whereas we’re usually like looking around for something somebody else raised their hand. Oh good, they raised their hand. Whew! I didn’t want to have to do that at all.

4. Dorcas Was Full of Good Works

What great leadership we see from just this little verse about Isaiah’s readiness and willingness to work and to serve. Turn over to Acts chapter 9. Acts 9 at verse 36. Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which translated means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity, and those days she became ill and died. And when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come to us without delay. So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.

We know the story. Peter goes on to raise her from the dead. How many fine Christians do we know that spent their lives in service to others.

I’m going to tell a story on myself. I’ve always said when I talk about this story, we know her because her name was Dorcas. And that’s not a common name, and we might usually, me personally, make the joke.

A little bit more normal name. Last year, when we came down for lectures, we stopped at a Burger King one day, and the lady taking my order was named Dorcas. So guess who said they weren’t going to make that joke anymore? Just in case they knew somebody named Dorcas.

And they’re not standing around talking about what a great sense of humor she had. They’re not standing around talking about how beautiful she was, how nice her house was, how cool a car she had. They were standing around talking about what a great servant she was. Because that is what makes a lasting legacy. It seems like you have a lot of your young folks stowed over on this side. So let me make a comment to the young folks for a second. All old men, ladies, look the same. Men, all old women have the same haircut. Don’t worry about their looks. Worry about whether or not they are like God. And whether they’re serving. And whether they are people like Tabitha or a silly name like Dorcas, as we might think of it.

5. Paul Will Most Gladly Spend and Be Spent

Now I’m going to tell one this time on my wife. She doesn’t like that point when I make that point without her in the audience. She’s like, you’re going to make people think I’m ugly. She’s very cute. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what we look like or how hard we can make people laugh. God wants to know if we’ve been serving or not. One more example. You want to turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. And this example is of Paul. We know what Paul did for the gospel. We know how hard he worked, how hard he labored. Actually makes us feel a little guilty for not doing more ourselves. And we know people like that. A few years back, Sewell Hall gave a talk.

He was asked to present this information. I don’t think he would have done it of his own volition. He was asked to talk about his years in preaching. And he did this. And I think every preacher in that room felt about this big by the time he was done. Because the man labored and labored and labored. And the man is 92 and he is still laboring and laboring and laboring. And so we have these wonderful examples in Scripture. Those before us. I hear how you people talk about Brother Harkwriter and the way that he and Sister Harkriiter served.

He certainly didn’t do it for the money.

And because he cared.

Someone asked, why did you do that for them? And she said, Because I love them.

And I will not obligated to save up for I seek not what is yours, but parents for their children. Are you ready for this? I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. That’s a powerful line. You ever just feel worn out? It’s Mother’s Day, so if you’re a mother, yeah. Probably if you’re just married, too, even if you don’t have kids. Just feel worn out and you just feel like you need them. My wife and I, we talk, my reserves are depleted. I have nothing to pull from. I just need some time. And that’s what Paul’s saying. I’m willing to empty it all out for you. Whatever I’ve got to do, I will drain myself of energy for you. Because at the bottom of his heart, he cared for others.

6. Jesus Took the Form of a Servant

What a wonderful motto. From someone who had realized that the world did not revolve around them. Someone who had sloughed off the cares of this world. And putting in to the bank the investments of their own life. All of these examples, and we haven’t even talked about Jesus. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. Are there some passages in the Bible that people say, hey, turn to this passage, and you’re like, I don’t even have to turn. I know that one. And turn to this passage, and you’re like, again, really? You know, we kind of run out of passages, maybe for the giving or the Lord’s Supper talk. We kind of have the same ones on a regular basis. Kind of get tired of hearing the same old, same old.

This is a passage I never tire of. And I think the reason is is because I’m still nowhere close to it. And Paul says, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility. Count others more significant than yourselves. You know why I say everyone should work in fast food? Because you learn very quickly that you’re not that important, and that you can be replaced at the drop of a hat.

And have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, although he was in the form of God, did not count quality with God, a thing to be held on to. But emptied himself. Taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Even death on a cross. That’s what service looks like. To go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows for the sake of somebody else. Paul doesn’t stop. Paul never stops. He can’t help himself. He just keeps going. Therefore, God has highly exalted himself and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

And because of that selfless service, you and I have the privilege of being a part of the kingdom of God. Because of that self-sacrifice, you and I can have our sins washed away. And because someone who was at the highest of highs and didn’t feel the need to make sure everyone knew exactly how special he was, came to earth, died on a cross, so that I could go be with him in the highest of highs. Here’s what’s really cool. We see Jesus, our King, sat on his throne. And you know what he promises? To those who follow him. To those who have faith in him, to those who have their sins washed away in baptism, that we can sit on the throne with him. That’s the servant we follow, and that’s the example that has been set for us.

Conclusion

If you are a Christian, this is the life you signed up for. It’s a life of service to any and everyone you come into contact with. The man asked Jesus, Well, who is my neighbor? And Jesus basically says, You’re asking the wrong question. The question is, to whom can you be a neighbor? Because we are called to serve. If you’re not a Christian, you are blessed because God chose to serve you. Send a son, die for your sins. That when you’re buried with him in baptism, his blood will wash away your sins, and you can rise to walk a new life. If there’s anything we can do or say this morning to encourage you to obey the gospel, let us know while we stand and while we sing.