Now and then someone reminds me of something I said in a past sermon.  It's usually something unusual or striking, and rarely do I remember it.  It's interesting what people remember about what we say or show them.  But at least they're listening!  We just never know the impact we have on the lives of others.

          About ten years ago I received a phone call from a woman who was in my first North Dakota church back in the early 70's.  I counselled her for about a year when she was living with her sister and going through some adolescent troubles.  She had lost both her parents and struggled with almost everything.  Frankly, I considered her a pest and I always assumed she noticed I felt that way.  But no matter, she still called to talk.  She had also called about fifteen years ago asking my advice whether to marry a certain man.  That night she expressed her strong faith in God and was so pleased with her happy marriage.  She also thanked me for what I had said, whatever it was.

          You and I don't always realize the impact of our words on others.  Nor do we realize the impact of our actions.  What is comforting to one is confusing to another.

          One New Year's Eve at my Riverside, California, congregation, I was hugging some of the parishioners as they left worship, both men and women - everybody was doing it.  Among those I hugged was a thin, frail woman whose husband was in the Chino State Prison for Men.  A month later she called and asked if I could drive her husband home from the halfway house where he was staying.  I remember the night because I experienced my first earthquake walking to my car, and our house was on a hillside!  Her husband confessed to me a few months later that he had killed a man in self-defense while in prison.  He was one tough cookie.

          Then later that summer he called me in great anger.  I went to their home, again at night, and learned that his wife had confessed to him she had briefly had a romantic attachment to me, based on that one New Year's Eve hug, the one small gesture of warmth for a lonely woman.  I had no idea of this and fumbled for words to explain that this is called transference and that she really loved him and needed to talk it out so they could get on with life.  What a night!  There's nothing like facing a killer at midnight to awaken all your senses!

          A simple gesture like a hug can bring joy to one person and confusion to another, depending on one's attitude at the time.  Jesus once told a story about an Unjust Judge, a man who listened to a woman's complaints until he finally did what she wanted, just to get her off his back.  He didn't care about her plight, but wanted her to go away, so he granted her request.  But another time when Jesus lovingly healed a frail and broken man, His religious critics complained loudly about His working on the Sabbath.  It didn't matter to them that Jesus had healed a shattered man's life - to them He did it wrong!  A cranky old man does what is right, but church leaders plot to kill the Son of God.  Go figure that one out!

          Today is Palm Sunday, when we remember how Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the chariot of Hebrew kings.  Hebrew kings were to be servants, so Christ, the King of kings, rides as a servant.  Our text says, "[Jesus] did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant."  What sort of example does Jesus give us here?  What can we learn from the Lord?  To answer, we must observe what He does.

          In Matthew 11, the Bible says Jesus was confronted by some disciples of John the Baptist who asked, "Are you He who is to come, or shall we look for another?"  And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them."  Jesus invited them to judge Him by His actions.  "Go tell John what you see and hear," He said.  Others must see our faith in action.

          Let's open our Bibles to Matthew 9:1-13.  First we see that Jesus helped people where they were.  He ate lunch with tax collectors and sinners.  He ministered to the hurting, the dispossessed, the outcasts.  Good people acted like they didn't need Him, so He went to the outcasts.  You and I can't serve like Christ if we never get our hands dirty.  We must be willing to associate with everyone in need, including the lowly and the unloved.  But we can't serve if we don't touch people.

          Secondly, Jesus sought no praise in His service.  He accepted thanks, but He did not want His miracles to get in the way of His first purpose, the salvation of souls.  Jesus came to heal hearts, not just bodies.  You and I, too, serve people with the Gospel as well as with a morsel, with eternal gifts as well as material gifts.  It's helpful to get praise, but praise is not necessary to serve.

          Thirdly, Jesus served all kinds of people, sometimes the dregs of humanity.  He loved all people, from the high and mighty to the Tax collectors and sinners.  It's not difficult to serve those who are friendly or attractive, but it takes more from us to love the slobs.  Jesus said in Luke 14, "When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you."  True service comes in helping those who cannot return the favor.  Old friends are wonderful, but new friends are even better.

          Serving like Jesus Christ is all about Sanctification.  Sanctification means doing what God wants us to do.  The Christian life is a sanctified life because the Holy Spirit helps us do God's will.  The Christian life is a process of learning and growing.  It's a life of repenting and forgiving and finding ways to serve God better.  You and I can never serve like Christ without faith, so we must work to make it grow.  Read the Bible, pray daily, worship regularly, help others often - all this will help our faith grow.  And we can only have true faith if we let go of ourselves and, by faith, grab onto God.

          "Let go and let God."  I've always liked that phrase.  It means having God take control of your life.  And how hard it is to do that!  I like to do things myself.  I love solving things myself.  If I just try a little harder, I think I can do just about anything.  But a wise but uneducated friend once said, "The harder I try, the worser things get.  The hurrieder I ran, the behinder I get."  Years of doing our best often come to naught.  It takes Jesus Christ to have our life make sense.  Only with His help can we do the important things in life.

          It's okay to be a good little beaver, building, fixing, making things better.  But we'll still fail now and then.  And in Christ failure no longer drives us crazy.  God asks us to trust in Him and to serve the best we can.  He'll take care of the rest.  Christian service means doing our best and letting God take care of the rest.

          Jesus had the heart and mind of a servant.  The Bible says, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant."  You and I can serve like Christ served.  There are plenty of people in need, plenty of opportunities.  He gives us strength and opportunity, especially with the poor and lowly.  He asks that we seek no glory, only to help.  And He will accomplish great miracles through us.

          Herman Ostry is a farmer in Bruno, Nebraska.  About forty years ago, his barn needed to be moved due to recurrent flooding from a small stream.  Herman wanted to fix this, so he invited dozens of his friends to a barn raising - a literal barn raising.  His son Mike devised a lattice work of steel tubing, and nailed, bolted and welded it on the inside and outside the barn.  Hundreds of handles were attached.  After a practice lift, 344 of his friends, each lifting about 50 pounds, lifted the entire 17,000 pound barn.  In just 3 minutes, they carried the whole barn to its new foundation.

          Sometimes I think Epiphany congregation is like that barn.  When each member does his part, God can help us do miracles.  Today is the last Sunday of having only one Sunday worship service.  Now there will be more opportunities to worship and to invite others to come as well.  Please remember you are the best evangelists.  Visitors come because they're interested, and they come back because they're invited.  Like Jesus said, "Go tell John what you see and hear."

          There will be a few negatives during this time - smaller numbers, missing some friends, needing more Sunday helpers.  It may seem for awhile like we've stepped backwards.  But having two Sunday morning services is necessary for the Kingdom.  The reality of heaven and the finality of hell are too important for us to sit in one place.  But if we all lift a little, we can get this Lutheran barn moved to a better place.  Amen

Copyright © 2004 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.