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Text Sermons : J.R. Miller : September 28. Serving Others

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"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28

The art of photography is now so advanced, that a whole page of a newspaper can be taken in miniature so small — as to be carried on a little button, and yet every letter and point be perfect.

Just so, the whole life of Christ is photographed in this one little phrase, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28

He did not come to be served — if this had been His aim, He would never have left heaven's glory, where He lacked nothing, where angels praised Him and ministered unto Him. He came to serve. He went about doing good. He altogether forgot Himself. He served all He met, who would receive His service. At last He gave His life in serving — He gave it to save others, to redeem lost souls.

You say that you want to be like Christ. You ask Him to print His own image on your heart. Here then, is the image: "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

It is not a vague dream of human greatness which we are to think of, when we ask to be like our Master.

The old monks thought that they were becoming like Christ — when they went into the wilderness, away from men, to live in cold cells. But surely, such a dream of uselessness is not the thought which this picture suggests. "To serve — to give our life" that is the Christ-like thing! Instead of fleeing away from people — we are to live with others, to serve them, to live for them, to seek to bless them, to do them good, to give our lives for them — that is the meaning of the prayer for Christ-likeness.

Christ also tells us that this is the stairway to the highest reaches of the Christian life. "Whoever wants to become great among you — must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first — must be slave of all." Mark 10:43-44. To worldly men — this seems indeed, to be a strange way of attaining greatness. According to this, all men's scrambling for place and power — is really scrambling downward! The real heights in the human life — are self-forgetfulness and service. We are to use all our redeemed abilities, in doing good to others in Jesus' name. That is what Jesus did in His blessed life — and we are to follow in His steps.






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