A Texas rancher met up with a northeastern Pennsylvania dairy farmer. The two were talking about their land and the dairy farmer told the cattleman that he operated his business on 125 acres. The Texan scoffed at such a small parcel of land. He said, "Yankee, that ain't nothin'. On my ranch I can get in my truck at sunrise and I won't reach the fence line of my property until sunset."
The dairy farmer snorted, "Yeah, I used to have a truck like that."
Whether it is the biggest house, the fanciest car, the most impressive wardrobe, the most well behaved children, everyone wants to be top dog in some aspect of their life.
This desire to be first is also called pride, and God has something to say to those who have too much of it.
The religious leaders of Jesus' day wanted to be looked at and treated as though they were a step closer to God than anyone else. Like many today, the Pharisees wanted others to see them as special. They wanted others to be impressed with their piety and be impressed with their holiness. You could almost hear them say: "Hey, look at me! Look at how important I am!" See how broad my phylacteries are, and how long my fringes are?"
Now, phylacteries were small leather boxes containing portions of God's Word and they were worn by Jews who interpreted literally the instructions to fasten God's Word on their hands and forehead.
In Numbers 15, Moses instructs the children of Israel to put fringes on their garments to remember not only the law in general, but also the smaller parts of the rites and ceremonies belonging to it. So the Pharisees made their phylacteries broad. They put more writing on them or made the letters larger and more visible to appear more holy.
These Pharisees are where I believe most here at First Congregational-UCC are not. They wanted to appear religious without actually being religious. We are the other way around. We are religious, we are devout in faith—and you're just going to have to trust me on this one here—we just don't want to show it necessarily, or show it specifically. Extra services and mid-week studies are changing us, however. More here realize religion isn't a something worn on our sleeves, it's the one road that leads us to God.
These religious leaders thought they were important to God, but they were just hypocrites. They thought they were going to be first in the Kingdom. Yet God is not impressed with pride. Jesus shares this truth: those who seek to be first will be last.
See, Jesus is not interested in how great you are. He is interested in how great others are as a result of your life.
Here's a truth. We are not perfect alone, but in Christ's love, we are. We are not good and glorious all by ourselves, but when we walk in the ways of truth and of understanding as taught to us by our greatest teacher, the Messiah, we are perfect and complete in his love. Yes, we may snip and snarl at each other from time to time—and both you and I have seen it here—but, as I heard from one of the speakers Thursday night, that's what families do. And we are a family here, and what links us as a family is our one common trait: and it isn't hair color or genetic aptitude. It isn't that we are all gung-ho Penn State fans, though Joe did have his 409th win yesterday. No. we are all so vastly different—amen—it's that we are servants. To be servants, we let others go ahead of us. We uplift each other, bearing in mind our first sermon point which comes from Paul in Ephesians 4:2. Yes, to be servants we must—and here it comes—be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.
Here's an example of what I mean. Miss Thompson taught Teddy Stallard in the fourth grade. He was a slow, unkempt student, a loner shunned by his classmates. The previous year his mother died, and what little motivation for school he may have once had was now gone.
Miss Thompson didn't particularly care for Teddy either, but at Christmas time he brought her a small present. Her desk was covered with well-wrapped presents from the other children, but Teddy's came in a brown sack.
When she opened it there was a gaudy rhinestone bracelet with half the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to snicker but Miss Thompson saw the importance of the moment.
She quickly splashed on some perfume and put on the bracelet, pretending Teddy had given her something special.
At the end of the day Teddy worked up enough courage to softly say, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother, and her bracelet looks real pretty on you too. I'm glad you like my presents."
After Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and prayed for God's forgiveness. She prayed for God to use her as she sought to not only teach these children but to love them as well. She became a new teacher.
She lovingly helped students like Teddy and by the end of the year he had caught up with most of the students.
Miss Thompson didn't hear from Teddy for a long time. Then she received this note. "Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class. Love, Teddy Stallard."
Four years later she received another note. "Dear Miss Thompson, They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stallard."
Four years later: "Dear Miss Thompson, As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now. Dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard."
Miss Thompson went to the wedding and sat where Teddy's mother would have sat. She made a difference. She let God use her as an instrument of his love.
Yes, be patient with one another. Make allowances for other people's faults because of your love for Christ.
When you do this, or continue to do this, you realize how this scripture speaks to you. You are not to be first. Instead, you are to serve others. This leads to our second point today. Deuteronomy 10:12 brings this in for us. That verse says, "And now, oh Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and your soul."
Speaking of pleasing God and loving and serving him with all our heart and soul, which, remember, was a part of last week's sermon, consider the story of Oswald Golter.
After ten years service as a missionary in China, Oswald Golter was on His way home. His ship stopped in India, and while waiting for the connecting boat home he found a group of refugees living in a warehouse on the pier. They were unwanted, so they were stranded. Golter went to visit them.
As it was Christmas time he wished them a merry Christmas and asked them what they would like for Christmas. "We're not Christians," they said. "We don't believe in Christmas."
"I know," said the missionary, "but what do you want for Christmas?"
They described some German pastries they were particularly fond of. So Oswald Golter cashed in his ticket home, used the money to buy baskets and baskets of the pastries, took them to the refugees, and wished them a merry Christmas. When he later told the story, a student said, "But sir, why did you do that for them? They weren't Christians. They don't even believe in Jesus."
I know," he replied, "but I do!"
And we do as well. And believing in Jesus and claiming his power not our own makes the difference not just in our own lives, but in the lives of others. Serve others.
And this takes us to our final point. It's from 1 Peter 5:5. "And all of you, serve each other in humility, for "God opposes the proud but favors the humble."
Speaking of serving others, if you had any connection with the 1970's (and by any connection I'm including for the kids here today any one who lived through the 1970's) then you'll easily remember this. Many, many McDonald's restaurants at that time advertized right beneath their golden arches the following: "now serving..." And following those two words would be this big, huge number that you, if you were a kid in the 1970's, would have to say to well-meaning adult as part of an impromptu mini math lesson.
Even then, and there are more McDonald's restaurants today then some forty years ago, this mega-buck, world-wide conglomerate would serve hundreds of thousands of people. Serving people is what Jesus here today is calling us to do. "The greatest among you," he says there in verse eleven, "must be a servant." The greatest among you, he says, and great here means those who hear the call, must serve others.
I did a little math to come up with the figure you see in your sermon title which reads, now serving 7,655,355. That can seem like a large number to serve. We're only a small church. We only have one pastor. We only have limited funds. We can only do so much. To serve nearly 8 million people? Us?
Us. It's not about what we can't do; it's about what we can. Two small loaves and five fish. That was enough.
And we are more than enough. With God's love and direction, his provisions and protections, we will do it.
Some may say we're more like the Pennsylvania farmer than the Texas rancher, but for two hundred and eleven years this church has been at this. In twenty-one decades, maybe we are (or are not yet quite) up to serving the 7,655,356 person just yet, but think of those old McDonald's signs.
Better yet. Realize what is true: day is young, isn't it?
Go. Serve.
An old American Indian tale recounts the story of a chief who was telling a gathering of young braves about the struggle within. "It is like two dogs fighting inside of us," the chief told them. "There is one good dog who wants to do the right and the other dog always wants to do the wrong. Sometimes the good dog seems stronger and is winning the fight. But sometimes the bad dog is stronger and wrong is winning the fight." "Who is going to win in the end?" a young brave asks. The chief answered "The one you feed."