Dear Christian friends:

We all wish to receive respect, honor and praise from others. In the world, many people get respect and honor because they are handsome or have a beautiful body, like a beauty queen or a movie star or an athlete. Some people get respect and honor because they are rich or a son or daughter of a rich person. Politicians often get respect and honor because of their office but they maybe do little or nothing to earn that respect. Even preachers get respect because of their office, but they may not deserve it.

In our text, Jesus complains of the Jewish church leaders and law teachers who loved to receive honor and respect from the people, but they did not deserve it. Many people in the world who get honor and respect do not deserve it. In the church, Jesus expects us to earn honor and respect through humble service to others. Jesus says in our text, "The greatest person among you is the person that serves you." (verse 11)

Today is our Loyalty Sunday. We will ask each one of you to promise that you will serve in our church during 1979. This is a fine text for today. Let us consider our text and attend to the theme:


We need to hear Jesus' warning about this, because we often are like the Jewish church leaders and law teachers. We want respect, honor and praise, but often fail to earn it by humble service.

Jesus disciples were also like that. They argued and quarreled about who will be greatest in God's kingdom, but they were not eager to humbly serve one another. So Jesus taught them a good lesson. He washed their feet, a very humble job. He said to them, "You now see what I have done? If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, then you ought to wash one another's feet. Whoever wants to be your leader, must be your servant, because also, the Son of Man came not to receive service, but to give service, and to give His life a ransom for many." (John 13:4-17 and Matt. 20:20-28)

Maybe we join church to get honor and praise or accept office in church as president or any other office, but we do not work hard to serve our brothers and sisters in the church. One lady that I know, joined two different churches. Why? She wanted to meet more people and sell things from which she was making larger profits. She was a saleslady for a large company. One time, many years ago, I was riding the bus from Great Falls, Montana to Helena. I sat next to a man and I told him that I was a Lutheran minister for the deaf. He told me that he did not go to church anymore. I asked him "Why did you quit?" He said, "Because I used to work hard in the church, but nobody thanked me." I told him, "Well, we should not serve in church to get honor and praise, but because we love Jesus and love other people."

In our text, Jesus complains about the Jewish law teachers who had large Bible verses on lockets which they wore on their foreheads and arms. They acted like they loved God's Word and honored it, but they never obeyed it. Many people are like that in our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. They argue and quarrel much about having a perfect Bible, with no mistakes. But these same people never obey and do what Jesus teaches in the Bible. What good is it to have a perfect Bible with no mistakes if you do not believe and obey it?

It is the same here at Pilgrim Lutheran Church. We honor the Bible, we come to Bible class and learn much. We also come to church regularly and attend to the Epistle and Gospel lessons each Sunday, and list to God's Word from the Bible. But do we really believe it and obey it? Are we really loving one another and serving one another? Or do we love only ourselves and love pleasure, honor, praise and money and extra fine things that we can buy with money?

In our text, Jesus says, "The greatest one among you is the person that serves. The person who thinks himself important (great) will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will become great." (verses 11-12)

We must look to Jesus for receiving a right, humble, serving heart and spirit. Jesus loved God. His heavenly Father, and He loved us, and He became our Servant. He told His disciples, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Matthew 28:20) Jesus came here on earth from heaven, not to receive service from men, but to give service to them, to give His life and blood on the cross to pay for man's sins.

St. Paul writes, "The attitude you should have is the one that Jesus Christ had:

"He always had the very nature of God,
But He did not think that by force
He should try to be equal with God.
Instead, of His own free will
He gave it all up,
And He took the nature of a servant.
He became like man, He appeared in
human likeness;
He was humble and walked the path of
obedience to death -
His death on the cross.
(Philippians 2:5-8)

Jesus is our EXAMPLE. We should try to copy His humble, serving heart and spirit. Here is another example of a man who showed some spirit as Jesus Christ; Father Damien was a Belgian missionary who went to serve in Honolulu, Hawaii. Learning of the leper island of Molokai, and those 600 poor unshepherded souls, he obtained permission from his bishop to go and be the father and priest to them. He was very lonely on this island, because he was the only person on the island who did not have leprosy. All 600 of the others were lepers. But one morning something happened. He was pouring some boiling water into a pan when some splashed on his bare foot. He did not feel any pain from the hot water. He looked at his foot very surprised. It was boiling water and he did not feel the pain! Then he realized why he felt no pain. One of the signs of the local leprosy was no pain on the affected area. Now he knew that he himself was a leper. A strange joy swelled up in his heart. He rang the church bell. He called all the people to gather in the church. Then he hurried into the pulpit very excited. He spread his arms wide and said, “Fellow lepers - fellow lepers." Father Damien, like Jesus humbly served others. Father Damien risked getting leprosy in order to serve this leper colony with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus' love for us should lead us to love and serve others. Then we will be truly great. Also one day, we will receive great honor and praise, as Jesus now receives great honor and praise.

Paul writes of Jesus' honor and glory: "God raised Him to the highest place above, and gave Him the name that is greater than any other name, so that in honor of the name Jesus, all beings in heaven and on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, and ail will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Lord, To the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11) If we humbly serve now on earth, we shall one day share Jesus great glory in heaven.

So, today, this afternoon, when you are asked to make a promise to serve let this be your spirit and power.

Amen.