Sermon – Mark 10:35-45 – Drink From The Cup

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Mark 10:35-45 – Drink From The Cup

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

October 21, 2012

We are continuing to listen to the conversations between Jesus and his disciples. I have been thinking this week that what we are doing is a little like listening on the old telephone party lines. Years ago I remember picking up a phone and hearing not the dial tone, but a conversation. My mother told me that we had a party line and I should hang up if I heard someone speaking. But sometimes I would listen in to hear what the neighbors were talking about. This is a little like that. We are listening in, with Mark's help, to a conversation that originally was just between Jesus and his disciples.

In the first reading today we heard Jesus with James and John discussing where they will sit when they are all gathered together in God's glory. Jesus has a little more on his mind than seating arrangements. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

In the American church today we are preoccupied with numbers. We measure attendance numbers in worship and Sunday school. We measure giving and expenses. And we try to measure spiritual growth in the congregation by recording who attends prayer sessions, worship and Bible study on a regular basis. Numbers are important.

All churches want to increase their numbers. They want more people in their pews. They want more kids, youth and adults in Sunday School. They want greater tithing so that the expenses of the church can be paid and greater funds are available for local and worldwide mission. All churches want to be growing churches. We want our numbers to get bigger and bigger.

To achieve these goals the church tries to make its product as pleasing as possible to attract the maximum number of people. So we erect beautiful buildings with ample parking and comfortable seats. We make sure that the heating and air conditioning works. We check the lighting and sound systems to make sure that everything can be seen and heard. We design quality programs for children and youth. We have music programs with choirs, organs, pianos and bands. And we hire expertly trained pastors who preach biblical sermons and make all of this happen. Our hope is that after doing all this people will come and our pews will be filled. The focus of our endeavors is on the people who come to worship, and those we want to come to worship. We want them to feel good about our worship. We want them to have a good time. We want them to tell others how good it all is.

In the 1980s the church experienced the church growth movement. The idea was simple. Sell your old building with little parking, uncomfortable seats, bad furnace, no air conditioning, and a poor sound system. Build a palace on the highway with everything state of the art. Hire a band and sing the soft rock Christian music Baby Boomers love. And you will have a mega-church.

But our experience with this was that the mega-churches did not produce new Christians. They simply took Christians away from existing churches. The result was that neighborhood churches experienced decline. And mega-churches could only grow as long and neighborhood churches had members to lose. Eventually that stopped and the mega-churches stop growing. We found through this process the important role that neighborhood churches play in the community. It the neighborhood church that takes care of the poor and widows in that community. The mega-church could never fulfill this role. And with the decline of the neighborhood church God's mission in the neighborhoods was being neglected. So we are now starting new neighborhood churches designed not for maximum attendance, but to care for the those in its community.

Our focus as church should not be on the people in the pews giving them what they want. Our focus should be on God and the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us and the mission of God to care for the needy in our community.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee were focused on themselves when they came to talk with Jesus. They were looking forward to the coming Kingdom of God. They knew it would be glorious. They had witnessed Jesus' miracles. They had heard his teaching. They had even seen Jesus transfigured on the mountain. And they were ready for Jesus' coronation as king. They wanted to be right there at his right and left participating in the glorious event.

And that is how most Christians approach worship. We have experienced miracles in our lives. We have heard Jesus' teachings. And we are ready for the coming glory. So we come to a church with plenty of parking, comfortable seats, good lighting and sound, great music, programs for kids, youth and adults, and scholarly preaching. We are all ready to sit at Jesus right and left and participate in his glory. But where we sit is not up to us. It is not even Jesus' decision. Our place in heavenly worship is God's decision. And before God decides we all have to drink from the cup and be baptized just as Jesus was. This seems pretty easy. Most of us have passed though the baptismal waters, and we have drunk from the communion cup. But we have to remember the after the cup comes a cross.

When the other disciples heard James and John asking for the best seats when they all got to the Kingdom of God they became angry with them. A fight resulted and Jesus settled the dispute. Let's pick up the party line again and listen into the conversation between Jesus and his disciples.

Mark 13:

41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

The disturbing news from Jesus is that the purpose of church is not to make you happy any more than it was to make James and John happy. They expected, as followers of Jesus, to experience the great joy of sitting at his right and left in glory. But according Jesus this honor goes not to those who just experience miracles and hear his teaching. Jesus says that to experience the joy of being a Christian you must serve others.

I am not saying that we should get rid of our building or programs. There is nothing inherently wrong with the thing we do so long as they are used for the right purpose. If we do things as church just to make ourselves happy then when are not doing what God wants. Rather if what we do brings glory to God then we hit the mark. So we need to align ourselves with God mission in the world. Church should be the assembly of God's people doing what God wants done.

So church is not about making its members happy. Rather the church's purpose is the equip its members to humbly serve others. Just as Jesus' life was sacrificed on the cross so to should we sacrifice to serve other people. We don't really need the best parking lot, the most comfortable seats, or the highest quality sound, heating and air conditioning systems. We don't need the biggest choir, or the best Sunday school program. The numbers we measure should not be our primary focus. What matters is that we serve others, the neediest in our community because if we do this the promise of scripture is that we will experience our greatest joy sitting at Jesus' right and left in God's glory.

In our baptisms we are baptized with Jesus into a life of service to others. In the communion cup we are filled with the Spirit who empowers and strengthens us to fulfill God plan on earth. So I urge you to look for ways to serve others. Be concerned with the plight of the poor, widows, orphans, shut ins, those in nursing homes and hospitals. Visit them. Care for them. Love them as much as you love yourselves. Do this and you will be richly blessed.

Lord Jesus we love to follow you and drink from your cup. Like James and John we hope to sit at your right and left in glory. We know that church is not here to satisfy our needs. Rather church is here to organize us as groups who satisfy the needs of others. Help us to maintain this focus. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.