Sermon from December 2, 2007
Jesus said: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" – Mark 10:43-45.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. offered a memorable commentary on this text. He said: "Anybody can be great, because anybody can be a servant."

Dr. Francis Collins, the leader of the Human Genome Project, which mapped the genetic structure of the human body, offered another memorable commentary on this text. Dr. Collins grew up the child of atheist parents and became a Christian through the writings of C.S. Lewis. He gave the commencement address at the University of Virginia in 2001. He told them this story about his short-term medical experience in West Africa.

He said: "I went there with my medical student daughter. And I had grand ideals about how, in those three weeks, I was going to change the course of health care in Nigeria, and those 93 million people who live there would never be the same because I had been there for my three weeks. And I got there working in this very crowded little hospital, surrounded by people with terrible illnesses. And I began to feel pretty discouraged. Because while I could help one or two of them, I knew they would go back out to the same environment. And the same conditions that caused them to be ill would still be there.

"So, I was feeling pretty low about this and wondering, 'Why am I here?' And on rounds one morning, a young farmer who had been admitted almost dead the night before with fluid around his heart from tuberculosis that we were able to draw off and bring him back to at least temporary health. He stopped me and said, 'You know, you are different. I have the sense that you haven't been around here very much. And I have a sense that you are wondering why you are here at all.'

"I was a little take aback. I didn't know it was quite that obvious. And he said, 'I want to tell you something. You came here for one reason. You came here for me.' And that occurred to me that that is all it ever is about. To reach out to one person, to make a difference in one life, that is really what we are here for. So, have your grand dreams. Have your great plans for what your professional life will be, but don't forget that it is one person at a time where we really leave a legacy." (http://www.virginia.edu/majorevents/speeches/01speech.html accessed on 11/26/07)

What strikes me about Jesus and his two latter-day commentators is that they are each in his own way world-renowned men. But they have put the meaning of life that God made us for within easy reach of all of us. Imitate the example of Christ and be a servant to one person at a time.

If we in this sanctuary patiently did that for a lifetime, we would leave a rich spiritual legacy. If 30 million Christians in this country patiently did that for a lifetime, they would leave a rich national legacy.

Throughout September, October and November we have considered the prospect of building bridges to people, some of whom may be uncomfortably different from us. I was not proposing a program. I was trying to articulate a vision of spiritual greatness that consists in being a spiritual servant to people around us, one person at a time. If we catch that vision and live that vision, most of what we do will go unnoticed, except by the people whose lives we touch with the love of Christ. It may not put BVBC on the map as an institution to be reckoned with, but it will bring the heart and soul of this congregation closer to the heart of Christ.

Today is the first Sunday in Advent. Advent, as our children remind us, means coming. 1 John 3:8 expresses clearly a central purpose in our Lord's coming into our world: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. How do you think He is supposed to do that? By military force? By an act of Congress? By seizing the media outlets of the world?

In John 12:31-33 Jesus said: "Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. "Now the prince of this world will be driven out, because now I am going to die."

What kind of foolishness is that? It is not foolishness. Or if it is, the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength – 1 Corinthians 1:25. The death of Jesus was the wisest and most powerful thing God ever did to destroy the devil's work.

This is the mystery we celebrate in Holy Communion. In the language of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, we are showing forth the Lord's death until He comes. We are remembering and celebrating the wisest and most powerful thing God ever did to destroy the devil's work.

And God's wisdom and power extends to us. Our baptism involves us in the meaning of the death of Christ. All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death – Romans 6:3. If Jesus' sacrificial death was the decisive act in destroying the devil's work, then we also in sacrificial ways are called to participate in that destruction.

The book of Revelation construed the martyrdom of Christians at the hands of the beast as a victory over evil. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death – Revelation 12:11.

It does not appear that God has granted the Church of North America the gift of martyrdom. But "anybody can be great, because anybody can be a servant." All of us can "make a difference in one life." All of us can imitate Christ's sacrificial service to the needs of other people.

As we now hold communion with Jesus through the bread and wine, let us take to heart the wisdom and power of His death, and let us also take to heart our vocation to participate with Jesus in the destruction of the devil's work by being servants to one person at a time.