Full Service

by J. H. Horsburgh

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45).

A great fact is here stated concerning the Son of Man. The speaker is our Lord Himself who left us an example that we should follow in His steps.

THE INCIDENT

Two of His disciples, James and John, wanted to be served by being granted the chief places in His glory (Mark 10:35-37). When the others heard it, they were highly indignant, for they wanted to be served by having the chief places themselves! But the Lord made it an occasion to remind His disciples that they were not of the world, and that their distinguishing mark must be lowliness and readiness to serve one another.

THE MASTER'S EXAMPLE

He had been telling the Twelve about Himself - of the awful betrayal, the cruel sufferings and indignity, the shameful death that awaited Him at Jerusalem (Mark 10:32-34). Surely their hearts are melted? On the contrary, they seem unable to think of Him. They begin to quarrel among themselves as to who should be the greatest. Picture their flushed faces, their angry tones, their violent gestures! "But Jesus called them to Himself" (Mark 10:42), and gently quelled the storm. Earthly rulers, He tells them, lord it over others: "yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:42-45). In a word, "Remember that you are My disciples. The disciple must be as his Master!"

"DID NOT COME TO BE SERVED"

This is something which concerns us all as Jesus' disciples. It tells us something of what attitude we should have and what our life ought to be like today - and every day. The passage tells us that the Son of Man came to serve. It is not whether He served few or many; but that He came to serve. That was His set purpose.

But this passage tells us something else about the Son of Man. He "did not come to BE SERVED." We are likely to slur over this, to forget it, or perhaps to pass it by altogether. The disciples of Jesus are to be even as the Son of Man in not wanting to be served.

A PERSONAL TESTIMONY

In the ups and downs, the wear and tear of daily life, there are few passages of Scripture which search me as this one does. It convicts, rebukes and condemns me. It is always finding me out! It seems to knock me over at every turn! And, yet, how it encourages, quiets, strengthens, comforts and helps me.

COMING TO BE SERVED

This attitude of wanting to be served is the attitude of the world. It is at the bottom of disagreements in the nursery, fights in the school, quarrels among individuals, wars among nations. Not only that, but this attitude is prevalent in the Church as well. As Christians we do not adequately realize how much of our sin, failure, anger, discontent, peevishness, irritability, discord, and unhappiness is due to our desire to be SERVED instead of SERVING.

Are we not often angry, cross, frustrated, indignant? Sometimes we show it by an exhibition of temper; sometimes we restrain ourselves, but the nasty feeling is still there! Why? In all probability because we have come to be served and have been disappointed. The fact is, we are always wanting to be served: by others, by circumstances, by the weather, by something. The desire to be served is so natural, so necessary, so proper! We have been brought up to expect service. If we are thwarted, we are likely to get cross, become sulky, moody and nervous. By the end, we make ourselves miserable and others too!

How different things would be if, like the Son of Man, we came not "to be served".

ILLUSTRATIONS

Are you slighted, ignored, brushed aside? Are you not shown proper consideration by your employer or employee? Are you not treated with the respect which is due your position, your abilities, your character? You feel these things very much, in fact, you get quite upset about them. Why? Is it because you came to serve and were deprived of the privilege? No, not at all! Rather, it is because your feelings, your rights, your gifts, your position, your dignity, your importance were not recognized! You were not served, and you want to be served.

Or consider jealousy. Another is praised or put before you. Another does better than you. Another is more fortunate than you. The honor, the success, the money, the popularity, the reward has gone to someone else. You wanted it for yourself. You want to be served! Since the other person has been served and not you, you are jealous!

"But it was not right," you say, "he had no business to ignore me, to snub me, to treat me as he did. It was not fair. That other person should not have been placed over me." That may be perfectly true (and we make no excuse for injustice), but you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. Let me ask you, "If your desire was not to be served, but to serve would these things make you so sore, angry and jealous?" The trouble is, you want to be served.

You have been kind to someone. You have served him well. It has cost you something to do it. Naturally you thought your goodness would be appreciated. However, it wasn't, at least not as much as you thought it should have been. You expected profuse thanks and quite a fuss to be made over you. But your friend took your service coolly.

You are disgusted. You wish you hadn't helped him. You feel half inclined to say you will never do anybody a kindness again! Why? You have served someone else; you have helped someone in need. However, you were not served! You wanted to be considered exceedingly good and kind and generous. You expected to be served by thanks, praise, and perhaps a little flattery.

You are a person of excellent taste, sound judgment, and good common sense. However, you find your advice has been ignored, perhaps it was not even asked for, in a matter in which you consider yourself to be an authority. You cannot understand it. You feel rubbed the wrong way. You are ruffled deep within. What is the trouble? Is it that you came wanting to serve your friend, and by neglecting to take your advice he has got himself into a sad mess? Not at all! In fact he has managed very nicely without your help. The real trouble is that you have not been acknowledged. Your reputation as an authority has not been recognized. You desired not to serve but to be served. And you have been disappointed!

You have been announced to speak on a special occasion. A good audience assembled and you noticed with particular satisfaction that Mr X., a well known and influential Christian man, was present. You had a great subject and spoke very well. At the close you felt extremely pleased with yourself, and you naturally expected Mr. X. to shake your hand and to thank you warmly "for such an able, interesting and moving address."

But Mr. X. walked quietly out of the room without a word to you! You were crushed! The joy you had was extinguished like a snuffed-out candle. Why was this? You had had the opportunity of ministering to a number of people. However, deep in yourself you wanted the results of your speech to serve you.

You are a professional man or a businessman. You are doing fairly well. You have enough for all your needs. You have set your heart on great things. Your success has fallen short of your expectations. This is weighing on your mind. It is a daily problem for you. You are feeling constantly depressed. What is at the bottom of this situation? Is it that you want to serve others and you are disappointed in that you cannot serve as fully as you hoped to? No, not at all! You desire to gratify yourself, you want to make a bigger show, to be thought more of, you covet to be rich; and your desire for these things has not been gratified. You have not been served!

Even your recreation is ruled by this attitude of wanting to be served. You entered a race, a competition, a game. You lost, you were beaten. How terrible you felt. That feeling haunts you to this day.

A Cambridge athlete won a race three years in succession. If he could win it the fourth year it would be a new record. He expected to win. But he lost! For weeks he never smiled. He wanted that race to increase his fame. He wanted people to point to him and say, "He has done what nobody else has done." But because his desire could not be served he was crushed.

Have you ever seen a full-grown, well-educated man stamp wildly up and down on the ground because a poor little golf ball did not serve his conceit by going where he desired? Have you ever heard of people being made so unhappy by not being served by their golf game that they had to give it up?

"But," you reply, "in our sports and competitions, we are out to do our best and to win." Yes, of course. But, after all, it is only a game. A disciple of Jesus Christ must not take his games too seriously. Even on the playing field he can manifest the servant attitude. When he is defeated he can enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that in losing he has been able to serve the winner.

CHRISTIAN SERVICE

You are doing Christian work. You are a Sunday School teacher, a church officer, an elder. Perhaps you help at the Ladies' Meetings or serve on the Missions' Committee. Now you are thinking about giving up the work. Why? Has your health failed? Have you got too much to do? Are duties at home too pressing? No, none of these is the reason! Perhaps then you are not wanted. Is there no longer a need for your services? Has the opportunity for service been removed?

No, the need is as great as ever. The door of opportunity remains wide open. Then why are you giving up? Well, you are tired of the work, so you think you will drop it. You expected it would be of interest to you. It would bring you into touch with others. It would give you a position in the church. In fact, you thought you would like it! You did like it for a time, but now you are tired of it. You thought the work would serve your needs. As long as it served you, you were willing to go on with it. Now that it no longer serves you, you want to give it up. But "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve." Are you not His disciple?

PROBLEMS IN THE HOME

You and your friend are rooming together. You do things quickly, your friend is slow. You are economical, your friend is extravagant. You are punctual, your friend is always late. You are a tidy person, your friend is messy. You like everything done in your particular way, your friend does them in different ways. There is constant friction! Why? Is it because you cannot serve your friend? No, it is because your love of tidiness or whatever it may be is not being served.

Perhaps you are the free and easy-going person, and you are annoyed because your happy-go-lucky way is not being served. Suppose you both had the attitude of serving one another!

MERE TRIFLES

It is astounding how many little things disturb us. Your plan for the afternoon is upset. You desire a wet day, it persists in being a fine day. A visitor calls just when you want to go out. You are asked to sing just when you are having problems and the song doesn't do you any credit. The answer to your letter has not come. Your request has not been granted. You are interrupted in the middle of an interesting book. The pen won't write. The dress doesn't fit. The fireplace won't work. Dinner is a disaster. The children are so noisy!

Sometimes everything seems to go wrong. There is nothing big, nothing we can lay our finger on. But we are always coming into situations with our likes and dislikes, our whims and fancies, our wishes and hobbies, our fads and ideas; and if we are not served in these little things we are apt to be depressed and to get put out with ourselves and with everybody else who crosses our path.

THE HAPPY WAY

I am persuaded that our happiness depends enormously upon the attitude with which we face the world each day. If our desire is to be served, we shall soon be fretting and fuming inwardly. But if our desire is to serve, we will be blessed. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" Acts 20:35b. One is much happier serving than being served.

A WORD OF CAUTION

Mark 10:45 does not say that we should not feel the things that happen to us. Frustrations, disappointments - the things that we have been talking about - are feelings. But our feelings should not cause depression. Someone has said, "You cannot stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can prevent it from building a nest in your hair." When we desire to be served, we put ourselves into a position of harboring grievances, exaggerating them, giving way to them - letting the bird build its nest.

When our attitude is one of service, we learn not to harbor the grievance. We ignore it. Let's be like Jesus. He was always too busy thinking of others and serving others to concern Himself as to whether or not He was being ministered to. One sovereign remedy against touchiness is to be busy caring for your neighbor.

ANOTHER WORD OF CAUTION

Again, our text does not say that we are NOT to be served. It does not say that we are always to be slighted, never needed; that we are never to meet with success; that no rewards and prizes are to come our way; that we are to look for injustice to ourselves, insults and ill-treatment. By no means! There is no harm in being served. The Son of Man was often served and He appreciated it very much! We shall often be served, perhaps all the more if we do not expect it! The mistake is having the desire to be served instead of wanting to serve! In wanting to be served, in seeking it, in setting our hearts upon it there will be disappointment, frustration, crossness when we are not served.

We have highlighted this failure - desiring to be served - because it is so prevalent, because its consequences are so sad, and chiefly because so many of us who are habitually guilty are unconscious of the fact.

SELF MUST DIE

At the bottom of this wrong attitude with all its ramifications is SELF. This old enemy Self must be put to death. We must give Self no room to operate. A lady wrote, "I send you my best wishes for your birthday: I hope you are dead." She had it right. SELF MUST DIE.

With this need in view, what a difference it makes. Welcome disappointment! Welcome hardship! Welcome being ignored! Welcome thorns and pricks! All these things will turn out to your good. To fail to get what we want may be exactly right for us. To be thwarted may be good for us. To have our wishes crossed may be a positive blessing! To be trampled upon may be a splendid thing! Every time we are NOT served, we give SELF another opportunity to die! The person who snubs us can be regarded as a friend for giving our inner enemy SELF a good knock on the head. SELF MUST BE PUT TO DEATH! It is only as Self dies that we can live the happy and victorious Christian life.

CHRIST MUST LIVE IN US

It is not enough the Self dies. Christ must also live in us. Self dying - Christ living. It is in proportion to the degree that Self dies in us that Christ can live in us. Let us not then be afraid of death to the Self-life. It is only as Self dies and Christ lives in us that we shall be able to serve others; and in our tiny measure to give our lives, to sacrifice OURSELVES for the glory of our God and the good of others.

A RANSOM

We have not considered the last part of our text, the Son of Man came "to give His life a ransom for many." If this article should be read by one who is not Jesus' disciple, this part of the verse is for you to consider. Jesus Christ could have stayed in His home in Glory, but he came to earth. He came to give His life as a ransom for YOU! Sin - your sin - is brought to light by God's Holy Spirit through the Word of God - the Bible. Your good resolutions cannot undo the past. You stand condemned before a holy God. However, on Calvary's cross the Lord Jesus Christ has made full payment for YOUR sins (1 Peter 2:24). He died to set you free from the penalty and power of sin. Come as a sinner to God, confess your condition, trust in the work of Christ on your behalf. Here is a prayer that may help you: "Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I understand that You died on the cross in my place. I realize that Your death paid the penalty for my sins. I ask You, right now, to come into my life. Wash away my sins. Make me a new person. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Thank you. Lord Jesus."

As a new child of God begin reading the Bible - New Testament. Talk to your heavenly Father as you go throughout the day. Attend a local church where the Christians honor the Lord Jesus Christ and seek to walk in obedience to both the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Share your experience with the Lord Jesus with your friends - letting His life be reflected through yours.

If you would like further help please feel free to write to the address below. We would be glad to help you.

-REVISED

The Bible texts are from the New King James Version, Copyright 1983 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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