"SERVICE ABOVE SELF"

I’m in Rotary in Jacksonville, TX.  We meet on Wednesdays and during the meeting we have several routine things we do.  For example, we say the pledge to both the American and Texas flags; we pray and we say “The Four Way Test,” which is specific to Rotary.  Another routine that started recently with our former president is on occasion we will say the phrase, “SERVICE ABOVE SELF” when he stands and says, “I’m excited.”  That phrase, “SERVICE ABOVE SELF” is a slogan that we have adopted as a group because we believe it truly captures the essence of what Rotary is all about.

Now though that phrase is catchy and fitting for Rotary, that is not a principle that originated with Rotary or any other civic organization.  Truth is that phrase is biblical.  Putting others first is what God tells us we are to be doing in His word.  During Jesus' earthly ministry, he told His followers more than a few times that the greatest among them would be the last.  He says in Mark 4:35,

 If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

Jesus not only taught this, He exampled this for us.  John tells us in John 13,

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.  Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him…When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

"Quote" of the Week

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”  -John Bunyan

A ROYAL ENTRY?

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”  And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”  John 12:12-15

 John tells us that Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt” (vv. 14–15). The people welcomed Jesus as their victorious King. However, kings usually rode into their places of accession on royal steeds. Not Jesus. Knowing what was coming, He gave explicit directions to His disciples to go and bring a donkey that had never been ridden (Luke 19:29–30).

The donkeys people ride in the Holy Land are nothing like the donkeys we breed in the United States. They’re much smaller, so that grown men have to bend their knees as they ride so that their feet don’t hit the ground. The donkey Jesus rode was of this small type, and it was young, too. So instead of riding the steed of a military victor or of a king, Jesus entered Jerusalem on this lowly donkey, self-consciously identifying with the messianic prophecy that we find in the book of Zechariah:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” (9:9)

This is not the picture of the Messiah that the people had in mind. They wanted someone to ride into town on a mighty steed and drive the Romans out. But Jesus identified with God’s Messiah, the Messiah who was to come in lowliness, meekness, and humility. Not surprisingly, the same people who cheered Him as He rode into Jerusalem screamed for His blood a few days later after He failed to give them what they wanted. This should be a lesson to all of us who come to Jesus with our agendas, making our demands of Him, only to become disappointed, angry, and sometimes bitter when He doesn’t do things the way we want Him to do them.

It is important to note that when Jesus came into the city, He did not deny that He was the people’s rightful King. However, by riding a donkey colt, He subtly informed them that He was the King God had appointed, not the King that they had conjured up in their expectations.

John then gives us an editorial comment, telling us that His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him (v. 16). Even the disciples missed the message Jesus was sending, but later, probably after the resurrection, they recalled the words of Zechariah and understood what God had intended.

John also notes: Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign (vv. 17–18). Apparently the raising of Lazarus had been much talked about by the people who had been there to see it happen. It was this widespread discussion of the miracle that sparked the interest of the people to come out and welcome Jesus to Jerusalem.

Finally, John writes of the reaction of the Pharisees: The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!” (v. 19). The Jewish authorities saw that all their efforts to confront Jesus, to seize Him, and to warn the people to have nothing to do with Him had been useless; Jesus’ following was growing by leaps and bounds. From their perspective, it seemed that the entire world was going after Jesus.

But if there is one thing this passage makes clear, it is that the people’s interest in Jesus was based largely on curiosity and false expectations that would be dashed in no time. Jesus was God’s King, and He had come to Jerusalem to fulfill a mission unlike what anyone, even those closest to him, could envision. All too soon the people would reject Him, but as Zechariah said, He would become the chief cornerstone.

Sproul, R. C. John. St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009.

"Quote" of the Week

"(Jesus) did not deny that He was the people’s rightful King. However, by riding a donkey colt, He subtly informed them that He was the King God had appointed, not the King that they had conjured up in their expectations."  -R.C. Sproul

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.  1 John 3:4–10

Throughout its history the true church has always maintained that Scripture clearly sets forth certain basic standards of belief and behavior as necessary marks of genuine saving faith. An affirmation and acceptance of the biblical gospel, and a life that is characterized by a worthy walk, have rightly been seen as accurate indicators of the work of the Trinity on a person’s heart. And when such fruit is absent in an individual’s life, the church has appropriately called into question his or her profession of faith.

In recent decades, however, that has begun to change. More and more so-called evangelicals have downplayed the significance of biblical doctrine—even such crucial doctrines as the person of Christ and justification by faith alone. Incredibly, some have even asserted that the lost can be saved apart from any knowledge of the gospel at all, arguing that if pagan people merely live up to whatever standards of religion, morality, and ethics they have, God will accept them. Since they claim there are scarcely any doctrinal necessities, there can hardly be any behavioral ones.

The apostle John would have been appalled by such contemporary evangelical equivocation. He wrote clearly and unmistakably that saving faith involves accepting certain essential doctrines—such as the Trinity and the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross—and results in certain essential actions—including repentance from sin, obedience to the Word, a desire to walk as Christ walked (live righteously), love for the brethren, and a hatred for the evils of the world and the flesh. John and all the writers of the New Testament taught that unless a person believes and practices such truths, he or she is not saved, no matter what he or she might claim. Bad theology damns, and bad behavior reveals bad theology. Yet, in spite of the unmistakable clarity with which this is presented in both this epistle (No one who is born of God practices sin [3:9a]) and the rest of the New Testament, a significant cross section of contemporary Christendom remains unpersuaded and confused concerning the truth.

For example, some commentators say the apostle was exhorting lawless, misbehaving Christians to rededicate their lives to the Lord and move from immature, carnal behavior to spirituality. In this way, they attempt to tone down the letter and make it less definitive or harsh. But their arguments cannot account for John’s clear purpose for writing the letter (in 5:13), which was to enable his readers to examine themselves so that they might know whether or not their faith was saving. The dichotomy John presents is not deeper faith versus shallower faith, but rather a saving faith versus a non-saving one.

MacArthur, John. 1, 2, 3 John. MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2007.

"Quote" of the Week

"When the Holy Spirit draws sinners to God, regenerates them, and grants them eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, they are recreated (2 Cor. 5:17) to obey the Word, follow Christ, reject the temptations of the world, and display the fruits of righteousness in their lives (Rom. 8:6; Phil. 3:9; Col. 3:2). That is nothing more than foundational new covenant truth (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:25–27; Heb. 8:10; 10:16; cf. Ps. 119:1–5, 9–11, 97–105, 137–140)."  -John MacArthur

There is a preacher of the old school, but he speaks as boldly as ever.  He is not popular, though the world is his parish and he travels to every part of the globe and speaks in every language.  He visits the poor, calls upon the rich, preaches to people of every religion and no religion, and the subject of his sermon is always the same. 

He is an eloquent preacher, often stirring feelings which no other preacher could—bringing tears to the eyes of those who never weep.  His arguments none are able to refute nor is there any heart that has remained unmoved by the force of his appeals.  He shatters life with his message.  Most people hate him yet everyone fears him, his name?  DEATH.  Every tombstone is his pulpit.  Every newspaper prints his text and someday every one of us will be his sermon. 

It is poems like these that “drive people to drinkin.”  The reason being many do not like being reminded of the certainty of death.  They do not like considering the sobering truth that says, “We are all going to die someday; maybe today.”  The problem, however, is that this is an inescapable reality.   

Nowhere is this point more clearly made than in Scripture.  God goes to great lengths in His Word to drive this point home.  He wants us to experience this truth—He wants us to know that it does not matter who we are, how good or how bad, how wicked or how devout, how loved or how despised, death comes to us all.  Why?  So that we will know that life without Him is hopeless, but life with Him is glorious.

For more on this, click HERE and listen to “KNOWING JESUS AS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.”  

"Quote" of the Week

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”  -Jesus, John 11:25-26