Becoming A Super-Natural Servant I

I'd like you to turn to Philippians chapter 2, please, Philippians chapter 2, Kathy, and then also we'll be reading here, this is going to be the foundational text for the next 13 weeks. Now, we're not going to just be here as you'll see tonight, but this is going to be the foundation. We're going to keep coming back to this and then later on tonight we'll be looking at Mark, several chapters there as well. Let's begin. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the spirit of any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Many of your Bibles say, have this mind or have the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus, 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 and being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Lord, as we start this series of messages and we turn into deeper waters in your word, I do pray for the Holy Spirit to stir in my heart and make alive in my own being the word, and likewise, Lord, to stir the hearers tonight. Somehow Lord, I'm confident that you have brought every person tonight, not by accident but by design, and I sense, Lord, that some lives tonight are going to be encountered in a way that they were not expecting, and I pray for sensitivity to follow those promptings, and I praise you in Jesus' name. What do you think of when you hear the word mindset? Person's mindset is that which is sort of the fixed approach to things that they bear. It represents normally a rather immovable perspective, something that's not fluctuating. Chuck Knoll has a mindset about the New Steeler offense. Some could say, you know, he has an attitude even. The word fits. President Bush has a mindset about Kuwait and the Iraqi troops. He's not fluctuating. It's the way that people see things. It's a frame of reference. When I lived in California, there was definitely a California mindset. Thankfully, when I left there, I left it behind, all right? But I want to say tonight that there is amongst each of us a mindset which we share in common. There's one mindset that all of us have, and I'm going to call it the me first mindset. The me first mindset, we're born with it, and it follows us throughout our life. It's what you see when you pull up to the four-way stop at Babcock and Route 910, and you look through your smoked glass windshield into the eyes of the person at the other side of the stop sign, and in a moment, your brain calculates, me first. Four-way stops have a way of bringing out the dark side of humanity, don't they? It's what motivates someone to sneak into the bag of cookies and grab the last one when they know Dad really wanted it. Me first. It's the old-fashioned grassroots self-centeredness that all of us know lurks in our being. It greatly impacts our relationships and the quality of life that we share at work, in our marriages, in our friendships, with our parents, in our life of this church. It's the kind of attitude that judges every activity, any involvement, on the basis of one question, what's it going to do for me first? What's in it for me? Will it give me pleasure? Will I look better? Will it help me to feel a little bit better about myself? Will it give me the rush that I need? Will it help me accomplish my plans? Will it fit into my sense of priority? If so, let's do it. If not, without a doubt, we are immersed in a culture that absolutely surrounds us with the me first mindset. This culture's been called the what? Me generation. It's the most self-serving culture in modern history because we're active members of it, folks. I have to say to you tonight, I think that we're probably more affected than we know. I know that it takes me sometimes just getting out of this culture to realize how much the culture has me. My trip to India last November just reminded me in a profound way how much this culture controlled me and my values. And likewise, you may not know it tonight, but believe it or not, the me first culture has its claw in every one of you. It's not something brand new, by the way. It's been around since Adam and Eve. It's shown itself all throughout history, and it was addressed profoundly by the Son of God. Jesus recognized that the me first mindset had affixed itself to the human race, and he took on the task of dismantling the lie with his disciples. And we're going to look at that carefully tonight. Now before I can go on, and other teachers are going to come along on this platform and teach you about the spiritual gifts that you all want to flow in, before we can talk about supernatural experiential Christianity, I have to say that you've got to deal with the tough stuff first, and this is it. The me first mindset, the looking out for number one, if we can't tackle this, we're not going to see the flow. We're not going to see the wonderful giftedness that we believe God has for us. And I have to say to you folks, get ready, because I'm smart enough now, I'm not smart, I'm smart enough to know that one message isn't going to do it. And the reason I know that is because the Son of God didn't do it in one message either. Me first has its vice-like grip on far more of us than we'd like to admit. And I have to say, some of us don't even know it. It's pressed in. The culture's so shaped us that we don't even know it. And we need to ask the Lord tonight to open our own eyes, to see our own condition. It's ingrained in us, it's a way of life, it's a way of looking at people, a way of looking at values, a way of looking at friendships, commitments, ministry. Paul says, don't have the world's mindset, he's saying, have this mindset that was in Christ Jesus. That word phreno in the Greek, for mind or attitude that I just read in Philippians 2.5, That word means an affection, a way of thinking, a way of seeing things, literally a mindset. Have this mindset that was in Christ Jesus, have it in you. And that's my goal. And again, I say to you folks, tonight, some of you, it'll just be water off your back. Some of you tonight are going to start having the experience of being in touch with the profound nature of the clause of the Me First Mindset. First of all, let's look and see it in the disciples, and now flip over to Mark chapter 8, would you? Mark's gospel is the first one that I really learned. When I was a young Christian, I memorized Mark's gospel, well, the first chapter. And then I did paragraph headings, and I did memorize all the paragraph headings of Mark's gospel. It's the shortest gospel, and probably the easiest to come to terms with. If you're a young Christian, soak in it, soak in it. Look at Mark chapter 8, beginning in verse 31, he, being Jesus, then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed, and after three days, rise again. He spoke plainly about this, all right, let's stop there. Keep in mind that the disciples had been with Jesus at this point somewhere between two and three years, they've seen it all, all right, they've had the crusades, they've seen the miracles, they've seen the healings, they've seen Jesus speak incredible incisive words of wisdom and absolutely flatten the Pharisees, they'd seen him literally raise someone from the dead. How many of you have seen all that? Okay. They'd seen all that, keep it in mind now, and you think that all that Jesus would have to do, I mean, you'd think that they would know that he was who he said, and you'd think that when Jesus spoke this word to them, you know, hey guys, this sort of self-centered stuff that you're into isn't very good. Come to terms with this, get it out of you. You'd think that they would have right away said, Lord, whatever you say, whatever you say. But you see, Jesus knew better. He knew that saying it one time casually wasn't going to happen. He knew how deeply ingrained this is. I want to say it again. It's like a claw, it settles down inside of us, and it does not come out just by winking at it. And so Jesus broaches this whole subject of the me first mindset by talking about himself. He says, I'm going to lay down my life as an act of servanthood. I'm going to demonstrate my love by becoming a sin sacrifice, by giving my own life's blood as a sacrifice for sin. I'm going to suffer, he says here, and die, and after three days, I'll rise again. Look at verse 32. It says, he spoke plainly. But then, look at it, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Let's talk about Peter a little bit, shall we? You know, Peter kind of sensed the need to exercise his own incredible mindset, and he decided it's time to correct the Son of God. I might give him a lot of credit, you know? I mean, he had the courtesy to pull Jesus aside. You know, Lord, I don't want to embarrass you in front of the disciples here, but it's not the way you said it's going to be. What's he thinking about? You know, is he thinking, oh, what a pathetic waste, you know, he's talking about dying here, he has all this talent and power. You know, I have to say, I think Peter, at this point, is so blinded by the me-first mindset that he's literally, the wheels are turning in his mind. Peter's thinking this. Up until these last couple of years in his life, what was Peter? He's a fisherman. How big of a deal was being a fisherman back then? No, it wasn't a big deal. Nope. Fishermen were just a day in and day out kind of job. Get up in the morning, you know, long before dawn, haul your nets in the boat, throw them out, make your catch, go in, clean the fish, sell them, eat dinner, go to bed, get up and do it again. That was Peter's routine. And suddenly a man walks into his life and in an instant turns him around. He finds himself two years later being the right-hand man of the most powerful, charismatic, revolutionary leader that the world had ever seen. Put yourself right there for a second. What are you inclined to do when you find yourself rising to the top? You want to protect your ticket. You want to protect this little treasure that's come along that's your ticket out of the routine boredom of daily living. Now, it's speculation, I grant you that. But obviously, Jesus felt very strongly about this, didn't he? Based on his response, he recognized that something heinous was whirling around in Peter's mind. He recognized that Peter had no regard for the fact that Jesus had just said, I'm going to die for the sins of the world. I have a plan of redemption. And Jesus looks over at Peter and look at these words. When Jesus turned and he looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. Okay? Remember, they're back here off to the side. He looks at his disciples over here and then he looks at Peter and he says the most penetrating words. Words. How would you like to hear these words? Get behind me, Satan. Powerful. Peter, you think the whole world's revolving around you. You think your mindset is what's going to control the world? Peter, you're wrong. The world doesn't revolve around you. You're locked in the grip of Satan himself. That's what Jesus is saying. You've missed everything I've been telling you, Peter. You can't see it. You don't appreciate it. You don't understand it because you've got your mirrored sunglasses on backwards and all you see is yourself. You know why I think Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. You know why that's there? I think the son of God wanted us to know something, church, in 1990. He wanted us to know that self-centeredness, the me first mindset, is not just some kind of little psychological bug that we have to work out. It's not something that we can go to the counseling people and say, hey, help me out. I'm a little on the selfie side now and then. I think Jesus wants us to know that self-centeredness, me first, in whatever dynamic it exhibits itself in our life, Jesus wants us to know that it comes from the pit of hell. It is a script that Satan himself has written for mankind. It isn't just the way we are because we're unfortunate human beings. It's Satan's way of putting the focus of eternity on ourself. We shall be his God. Don't you see it? It's the same words that he uttered back to Adam and Eve and it's a lie. And that selfishness that drives every one of us from time to time isn't just some little unfortunate thing. It's a satanic strategy to cost us our life, our fulfillment, and even our eternal destiny. I think Jesus uses shocking language because Peter needed to be shocked. He needed to be confronted with the truth that he literally had not yet seen the magnitude of the situation. Peter, he's got you believing that you're the most important person in all the world. Peter, you're not. In Mark 8.33, look at it, you do not have in mind the things of God, Peter, but the things of man. Let's put up that overhead, shall we, Dad? The me first mindset, first of all, it's exposed in Mark 8.31 and then there's two things here. You don't have God's interest, you have man's interest. You see it? You're not putting me first, you're not putting Father first, you're putting me first, Jesus says. And folks, the difference between me first and Father first is the difference between heaven and hell. And I want to submit to you that's an eternal distance. Verse 34, Jesus says, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. He's saying that I have renounced the me first mindset, Jesus is speaking, I've laid it down, I've chosen the Father first mindset in my own life, and that's involved a cross. And if it's involved a cross for me, Jesus is saying, dear one, it involves a cross for you and for me every day. Jesus is saying better to have the cross of the Father's mindset than the crown of man's mindset. Verse 35 is the fundamental paradox of the Christian life. Look at it, underline it, scribble on it, mark it. If you don't have Mark 8.35 in your life, you'll never really understand what it means to live fully as a Christian. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. A life of self-interest, now catch this, folks, these are not conditional words. Whoever wants to save his life, whoever wants to live a life of me first, self-indulgence, keep, possess, focus on me, what does Jesus say? What does he say? You what? Will lose it. How many think that's a certainty? You will lose it. You may, you know, it's not maybe you'll lose it or you might have a bad time. You will lose it. Just as surely as Jesus spoke that you will gain life from him if you lose it to him. But if you choose to live his life, you will gain. If you lose this life, you will gain fulfillment and satisfaction and life eternal. John 10.10 says, I've come that they may have life and have it abundantly. How many of you here today would say, I'm living an abundant life? What does that mean? Life in fullness, life in fulfillment, life in satisfaction. Now how does that stack up to what the culture says? Does the culture say, lose your life and you'll find it? What's the culture say? You only go around once, grab for all the guests that you, you know, take all you can and do once. I just have to say again, you know, have you ever gone into a, let's say an office where a lot of people are smoking, let's say. And what happens to you whether you like it or not when you walk out of that office? You smell like smoke and that, you know, we've all had that experience. Whether we like it or not, by walking into the culture, we have on us the scent of the me first mindset. And if we're not careful, it's even more deadly than secondary smoke. It gets its way into us. And if we think we'll find, and I know some of you here tonight are believers who have, you know, committed your life to Christ, but you're wondering why am I not fulfilled? Why am I struggling? One of the reasons may be that you haven't even been aware of it, but you've been creeping into the world's value system. You're trying to save your life somehow, trying to save it your way. Instead of saying to Jesus, I give it up, I lose it for your sake in the gospel. You know, there is just no other fulfillment. I watched a television expose a few months ago, it was about one of the, I think it was the Singing Lennon sisters, I don't know if you saw that, you know, they had a tremendous rise of popularity, I guess it was in the 60s, early 60s or so, and this one sister, that's not the right name, you know, I'll scratch it. And they showed her in her house, she's single at this point, divorced, and in her living room is a recreated, a refashioned model of the Eiffel Tower that goes like 45 feet up into the center of her living room. I mean, all around the place, you know, all of these opulent antiques, you know, she walked into these closets, does anyone else see this program, closets full of, you know, every imaginable designer, this, that, and the other. She had on her, she had on her ring finger a diamond ring worth $2,000,000, I remember them asking specifically what it was worth. Now, you know, watching all this, and interestingly, they comment on the fact that a bodyguard was right outside of the camera, but they're at all times following around the house, and that at an instant, metal shields could drop down all the windows and doorways throughout the place so that anyone trying to break in would be immediately blocked. And I started thinking, this woman is a prisoner in her own house, and she tried to cover it up with the greatest, you know, oh, it's just so neat, you know, I need these 4,000 pairs of shoes, whatever she had, this kind of thing. You just can't buy it, it's fleeting, it'll never get there, it's always the next thing. Jesus is saying, he said, Peter, you can't buy it. Don't buy what the culture tells you, don't believe it, because it's not going to happen. The result of a life of self-centeredness, when it's pushed to the limit, is just crazy. And our culture, how many of you believe our culture is just demonstrating what happens when you just keep pushing self-centeredness? I mean, we sugarcoat it, but folks, there are millions of people hurting, dying people, addicted people. There's perversions that are unspeakable that are happening all the time. The healing ministry of a local church in sexual problems is unbelievable. Abuse problems from childhood, 4,000 unwanted pregnancies every day. It's the me-first mindset. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. You know, I think I first came to terms with this, like a lot of you did, after high school, and for me, it was after college. I graduated from college, and I was looking. You know, I had these options out there for a career and all that kind of stuff. But during the year that I graduated, I was offered a job. I worked at a university in their admissions department and had some other duties. And I, at the same time, was working with some high school kids at a local church. And that became the joy. I mean, I did the job, but I loved the kids, and that's just what I did. And during that time, one of the college students came to me, and he told me about what it meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He happened to be from Pittsburgh, and we spent a lot of time together. And in the midst of all that, I discovered that there was a dynamic that was available to help me be more effective, and all I cared about was being effective with those kids. We had great fun together, and we did lots of neat things, and that's why I met my wife, working with these kids, because she was a teacher in the local high school. It was convenient, God. Thank you for that, you know. But what happened was the power of God was released in me to serve those kids. And to this day, I still think that's why the whole charismatic experience in my life has always been an outward one. It's never been try to get to the next plateau of revelation for me, because it's always been a baptism for service. It's not for my sake. And, you know, North Way started with the same mindset. The mindset of North Way Christian Community in 1981, when a little group of nine couples started together, was this. It was, what can we do to come together to, with integrity and with devotion and with sincerity of heart, seek to worship God and serve one another? That's basically what we decided to do. That's the reason why, by the way, we are called North Way Christian Community. We chose community and not church because we felt like we wanted people to know that serving relationships were important to us. That's the reason. And over the years, that's what we've tried to stick to, and believe me, it's gotten more and more difficult as more and more of you have come on and said, well, what does all this mean? And we're working, but that's what Operation CARE is about. We want to recapture the roots of serving. Because once you get there, once you learn to give your life, the joy is that it comes back to you. Jesus just keeps on giving. Now here, what does he say? He's saying, if you put me first, you're going to lose it. If you put the Father first, you're going to find it. That's the amazing miracle, isn't it? Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and what? All these things will be added to you. Now you would think that the disciples would pick it up, and I want to quickly end now by just running through very quickly a couple more encounters here, all right? The mindset of the disciples still wasn't cracked. Look at Mark 9, verse 30. They're moving on. This is a little bit later. They pass through Galilee, and Jesus, you know, he's kind of listening in, and he says in verse 31, the Son of Man is going to be betrayed in the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise. But they didn't understand what he meant. Look at that. And they were afraid to ask him about it. The last time someone asked him about it, he called him Satan, just to kind of discourage the inquisitiveness there, you know? So they're moving along here, and I'm sure Jesus thought, hey, they're working through this whole issue. They're coming to terms with what it means to put Father first. And look what happens, verse 33. When he came to Capernaum, he was in the house, he asked them, hey, by the way, guys, what were you arguing about on the road? Whoops. Verse 34, they kept quiet because on the way, they had argued about who was greatest. One full sermon on being a servant, one full sermon on Father first, giving up your life, hadn't even made a dent. Instead they were arguing among themselves who's going to be closest to Jesus? Who's the most anointed? Who's going to get the best assignment in ministry? Who takes the best pictures? And Jesus, verse 35, look at this, sitting down, you know? I think it was like, oh, my gosh, guys, you know, I've got to go over this again. I think it was that he was sitting down because he just couldn't believe it. Let me run by this again. He said, if anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last and servant of all. Worship God fully and serve him faithfully and serve others with a humble heart. Then in chapter 10, once again, verse 13, people were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them. But the disciples, holy men, rebuked them. A lot of rebuking going on in these verses, aren't there? I rebuke you. No, I rebuke you. I rebuke you. Don't know them by their love. I rebuke you. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. That word means ticked off. It's in that rough translation, all right? He was ticked off. Don't see it very often. Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as thee. It doesn't have to be important people. It's simple people. It's anybody. Don't hinder them. Serve them. Change your mindset. But that wasn't quite enough yet. Mark chapter 10, verse 35. And then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. I almost picture him doing this, you know, like the genie in the box. Do the little trick for us now, Jesus. What do you want me to do for you? The Lord responded. They replied, oh, Lord, let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory. Let one of us be on the right and one on the left. I mean, as long as it's prominent. And Lord, really, it doesn't matter. You can choose which one is where, you know? Go ahead. It's up to you. It doesn't matter to me. Just as long as we're one of those two spots. Can you imagine now there's been three confrontations with the me first mindset. Three of them already. Three whole sermons. I'm only on my first. Three sermons and they haven't even begun to get this through their heads. Jesus, skip down to verse 41. The ten heard about this. They became indignant with James and John. Why do you think they were indignant with them? That's right. It wasn't because they'd gotten it either. Can I tell you that? It was because they wanted there too. Hey, that was my idea. Jesus, once again, sermon number four says, you know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. And their high officials exercise authority over them. But it's not to be so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. And then he says this, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. He's saying, not just do what I say. He's saying what? Do what I do. And I thank God we have a Savior who doesn't just say, do what I say. He says, do what I do. After all this, I suppose you'd think they got it. Powerful stuff. So let me close tonight's message, the first one, by talking about one last encounter that comes up a little bit later in the flow of the Gospels. It's in John 13. Don't turn there, but just listen. I want you to imagine yourself being positioned in the upper room, all right? And you're behind a two-way mirror. You can see out, but all they can see is the mirror. Got it? So you're watching this upper room where Jesus is about to have the last Passover feast. It's the very end of his ministry, and there you are. Now, just let your mind be free for a second, okay? Try to imagine it. And up the steps, the upper room, walks the first disciple. Now, you know at those days, the custom was that when they had a dinner party, one of the most important things was to have a rank-and-file servant on hand to wash the feet. Why was that? Because everywhere that they had no pavements or everywhere they walked, their feet were dirty. They wore sandals. There was just, it was gross, all right? There was serious dirt. Plus, when they sat down at the tables, I don't know if you know, but the tables were a foot to 18 inches tall. So they didn't have little tiny chairs, okay? They just, they kind of, what they call reclined. They sat on cushions sometimes. So they sat and literally had their feet, you know, up next to other people's food, face stuff. You know, you didn't slide under this 18-inch table. You see it? So it was very important. I mean, they always hired a servant to clean people's feet when they had these kinds of get-togethers. Well, the first disciple comes up. He sees the basin and he sees the towel, but he doesn't see the servant. Right away, it's going through his mind, what am I going to do? You're watching him, you know, what am I going to do with this? Should I go ahead and pick up the towel? And he thinks to himself, not me, not me. I'm going to get a seat. In fact, he tries to speculate where Jesus is going to sit because he knows that someday an artist is going to paint a picture, you know, be right there, you know. That's right. He slips his Bible on the seat to save it. No, he sits down. The next disciple comes up. He has the same thought, well, where's the servant here to clean the feet? Goes through his mind, should I do it? He looks at it, well, if he didn't do it, I'm not going to do it. He slides over and gets position number two. And on and on it goes. Finally, you're looking out the glass mirror and you see Jesus. He walks up the steps. Three years of sermons, confrontation after confrontation. And he walks up and he sees the basin. He sees all the men sitting around this table with dirty, smelly feet. And he thinks to himself, after all this, I can't get one of you to serve your brother. I can't get one of you to even think about serving me. And he goes and sits down. And he just kind of lets the shock of it all. They're all waiting for something to happen. So there they all are. And in a moment, Jesus gets up and walks over to the basin, takes off his outer garment, lifts up the towel, tucks it into his belt, takes the basin around and begins to go from one disciple to the next. Wash your hands. See the eyes of the disciples right now. What's going on inside of their hearts? The eye is the lamp of the body. What's going on? What do you see in there right now? I tell you, what you see is just disbelief. Embarrassment. You might even see tears because they realize that they haven't even begun to change yet. What's wrong with me? Why am I still like this? My whole world revolves around me first. I can't even wash my face. And then Jesus finishes the task and walks back and sits down at the table. And following the meal, he picked up a piece of bread and said, do this in remembrance of me. And he said, if I, your teacher, wash your, you should wash. Dear ones, we may desire all the power to work miracles and speak in tongues and have prophecies and change the world. But until we break the me first mindset in our own personal lives, we have not yet begun to know freedom. We've not yet begun to know fulfillment. I want to ask a question as I conclude today. Will you exchange whatever you know of your me first mindset? Some of you, I'm sure, dealt with this years ago when you were being sanctified. You know, sanctification wears out. It needs to be repolished from time to time. And I want to say to you today, have this mindset in you that was in Christ. It's the only way to be fulfilled. It's the only way to know joy. It's the only way to be a supernatural soul.