Sermon 15th March 2015

Today, our Honorary Assistant Minister, Ben Hughes, preaches. The reading is from Luke 10: verses 35-45.

A man dies and is met by Peter at the pearly gates.

Peter says to the man, ‘You need 100 points to make it into Heaven. Tell me all of the good things you’ve done and I’ll give you a certain number of points for each item, When you reach 100 points, you get in.’

‘Okay,’ the man says, ‘I was married to the same person for 50 years and never cheated, even in my heart.’

‘That’s wonderful,’ says Peter, ‘that’s worth three points!’

‘Three points?’ the man exclaims. ‘Well, I attended church all of my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service.’

‘Terrific!’ says Peter, ‘that’s worth 1 point.’

‘One point? OK, well I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for the homeless.’

‘Fantastic, that’s good for two more points,’ Peter says.

‘TWO POINTS!’ the man cries. ‘At this rate, the only way I’ll get into Heaven is by the Grace of God!’

‘Come on in!’

Hopefully this sermon will get you thinking – in that I hope to pose more questions than perhaps answers. But what I do want to do is to challenge you this morning to think about how you can better serve God through his son Jesus Christ and challenge you to think about how you might better serve God through service in our church here in Herne Hill

However firstly to fully understand service in the Church it is essential to understand the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven

Why?  Well the Kingdom of heaven is different from Kingdoms the world. CS Lewis calls the Kingdom of heaven ‘topsy turvy’ and what he means is the Kingdom of heaven turns all the values of the world on its head. And then he adds – and the values of the Kingdom of heaven are usually in opposition to the values of the world.

So the world screams out – serve me serve me!  – Jesus instead says: No it is better to serve than be served.  

And the ways of the world is to be served – it seems to be wired that way – read the papers and you see the one-up-man-ship and fighting egos – everyone wants to rule the world – who doesn’t to be  top dog in their work, homes or families  – we are about to enter what people reckon will be one of the most unpleasant and bitter election campaigns in recent history – where it’s all become about being served rather than service

The bible says that people will kill and hate one another to get what they want. Our desires to self serve tears families and organisations apart. Relationships fail and we end up at war with each other. Self-service leads to self destruction. 

The maxim of the world appears to be serve self and those that love us – but the maxim of the Kingdom of heaven – is Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself – Jesus says: there is no other commands greater than these,

So then we need to ask our first question: How do we serve God?

Foster says in this Lent book we are reading that there is – good Christian service and bad Christian service – good Christian service is when we serve without seeking reward or recognition – good service should be done discreetly -  like  the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing! Which is a bit like my Piano Playing! Good service is the fruit of faith and Christian love

Foster suggests bad Christian service is hierarchical which leads to inequality. Inequality enslaves others and bonds us to pride and conceit. Be watchful in our churches Foster says –and serve from the bottom up. If you are in leadership – or in a position of power – understand that it is a temporary commission and calling from God to serve and has little to do with anything you have done. Jesus’ response to James and John is that the places you seek have been assigned to others and not you – so if you’re seeking high places stop now and ask God in prayer what he wants from you and if you’re blocking the service of others then stop that as well.

Foster also says serve cheerfully – do so with a glad heart and do not envy the service of others. And Foster says do not become beholden to one another in service – you are familiar with the expression – I owe you so much. Your generosity weighs heavily on me – in obligation to you and that is I am in your debt.  When we serve God we release ourselves from the debts of others – In Christ we are indebted to him and we serve him alone.

So who is fit to serve in this new Kingdom?

Anyone is fit and able to serve – if you feel rubbish about yourself and believe yourself unfit for service of the King then you are probably in the right place to serve God?! The least are the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, you see. Less is always more in the Kingdom.

And if you believe yourself to be indispensable to service then you are a risk to shipping. No single person in the church is greater than the sum of Church all together and the least in any church is often the one where God can work through most effectively.   If you think that you are indispensable – then it’s probably time to repent and stand down from what you are doing and train others for the job.

And Foster summarises – that service is a way of life – it’s not ‘just’ deed – it’s the living out service to others day by day 

We have to yield and be yielded to in our service – in my experience it is as hard to have your feet washed as it is to do the washing. And it is in the little everyday details that God notices our service. The elderly person straitening the kneeler cushions after church– or the person who makes sure that the toilet is clean after using it or the person who picks up the rubbish that has blown into the Church garden etc.

And it is service with a smile – sacrificial service with a glad heart and service in secret is never wasted because God sees what the world ignores and sees the true motives in everything we do think and say. Jesus say do not be like the hypocrites who stand on street corners letting everyone know their sacrifice. Go to your room and do your business in quite because God sees into your heart and will bless you.

Which brings me onto why do we serve!

When we have genuine faith – then we have no choice but to serve – service is the fruit of Christian living. It’s what we become and what we automatically do! Service is part of the process of Christian transformation from living for self to living for God ad others

And God cannot make us serve either– if He did we would be robots – we would be like that Japanese Honda Robot that serves tea in Disney world – we would be a program running until its reprogrammed or turned off – that is not service – that is functioning – it’s control and automatic. God desires our ideas, our creativity; he wants us to collaborate with him and others out of free will

And our team has a captain called Jesus. And Jesus is the best boss – he says my Yoke is easy and my burden is light – he is the boss – if someone says – I am the boss in Jesus’ absence – tell them to politely sling their hook – test the authorities – pray about it – be alert and measure their intent And as we pray for help to better serve us and the Holy Spirit is sent to guide us.

When you put your hand to the proverbial plough as the bible says – the Holy Spirit is there behind us providing the push and power.  

So how do we serve?

Well, all activity done in the name of Christ is service in and to Him. If you need some structure to help focus service here in Herne Hill then I have a booklet of things that we need to do.  This church like all others – it runs on goodwill and it needs people to do things. There is twenty-eighty club of course – 20% of people who do 80% of the volunteering and thanks to you all for that – but it is a matter of balance, sharing and teamwork and there are things that need to be done if we are to have a church at all. My challenge to you is to get involved – as volunteers we need people to help – chair stacking, flowers, sound desks, overhead,  music groups, prayer rota, playground, coffee rota – gardens, PCC, children’s church, prison visits, food ministry playground, youth club, prayer ministry and so on. – The problem is – that we have quite a few rotas of one person and people need some help! You could also Join a weekly prayer group, the challenge is  give generously at all times because God will bless you and you will feel the warmth of His pleasure – which is the greatest feeling ever.

So to end I leave you with that challenge and a reminder to serve generously with a glad heart because the rewards are fantastic – deeds do not get us into heaven alone but a gracious generous heart is the one that responds to Grace and it is by grace we enter – I leave those words of Jesus - Good and faithful servant you have done well – you have been faithful in small things come now and be trusted with many great things.

Amen