My wife's grandmother was a wonderful person and one of the greatest Christians I ever met. Her last years were spent in a Lutheran home in Mars, Pennsylvania. She was a woman with a lot of wisdom. One of the stories she loved to tell was how, when she was a little girl, she loved to skip rope and sing, "I hope I live to be a hundred." Then she would shake her finger at us, and with a laugh would say, "You've got to watch what you hope for!" She lived to be ninety-eight.

The disciples who come to Jesus hope to rule in an earthly kingdom, and hold seats of honor there. They want to be Jesus' Chief of Staff and Secretary of State. But Jesus informs them that His kingdom is run a little differently from other earthly kingdoms. In His kingdom, the higher up you go, the more you serve - the more you have to give of yourself. The higher up you go, the less honor and glory, in earthly terms, are yours. Those at the top must be servants of all the rest! Imagine an earthly kingdom like that, where the President and Secretary of State make way for the lowliest bum on the street - where they see themselves as servants of the people!

I guess you might expect someone to ask Jesus this question, sooner or later. The other Gospels reveal it was a thought on all the disciple's hearts. Jesus kept talking about a new kingdom, a revolutionary order - that's no doubt why some of the disciples followed Him. But after three years, you'd think they would have learned something about the nature of that kingdom. It amazes me that Jesus is so gentle with this request. Jesus had a lot of patience - and that's good news for me - I know He needs a lot of patience with we as well. I need to know that He doesn't give up on me easily.

James' and John's request seems almost laughable - it's so blatant and crass. Yet maybe we shouldn't laugh too soon. We may not be quite as direct as they were but, as Jesus points out in his answer to them, we are just as guilty. Maybe some of our indignation ought to be aimed at ourselves!

The truth is, that the greatest perversion of Christianity over the centuries has not concerned any of the great theological debates of the church: over Jesus' humanity or deity, whether he was born of a virgin, or rose from the dead. The greatest perversion of Gospel has not been tying it with the agendas of the right or the left, or by those who wish to over-spiritualize its claims. The greatest harm that has been done to the Gospel over the centuries has been done by the average guy sitting in the pew, who comes faithfully week after week - except, of course when he is mad at the pastor or another member of the church - who is entirely willing to help around the church - if he is properly recognized. It comes by way of the person who thinks that the church is there to serve them, to take care of them - to baptize and confirm and marry their kids, to comfort them when they are hurting, recognize their accomplishments, soothe their ego, and say nice things about them when they are dead. And God help the pastor, secretary or anyone else who forgets to stroke their ego! It would be better that a millstone were placed around their neck . . . well, you know the rest.

Jesus said, "I have come not to be served, but to serve." Unfortunately, many church members take that to mean that He came to serve them. But the servant is not greater than their master. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:15: "He died for all that they who live might not live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again."

What should you expect from your Christian commitment? Freedom from illness, stress and anxiety? Victory over bad luck, sin, bad habits, and people who want to change things? To sit at Jesus' right hand so that we can dictate when and how people can change the hymnal? Nothing has hurt the church more than this gross heresy - that God is there to serve ME; that the church exists to serve ME. I can't begin to estimate how much of a pastor's time, as well as the time of church secretaries, council members and others is spent trying to cover all the bases, so that this person or that person won't get upset; how much time is spent worrying about what effect this or that change will have on people's feelings - who will get mad at whom. How much time church leaders have to spend smoothing ruffled feathers!

That is NOT the job of the church! I don't read that anywhere in the Great Commission! Yes, we are to care for one another in His name. Yes we are to love one another and exhibit that love in our fellowship together. Yes, we have a special concern for those who are ill, or weak in the faith, or those who have other needs. But the church is not a babysitting service for immature Christians who don't want to grow up. The job of the church is not to pamper and spoil its members, but rather to get them ready for battle. It's job is not to soothe hurt feelings, but to proclaim the Gospel. And all of the time we spend pampering and coddling folks who don't want to grow up, is time and energy we can't spend doing what we are called to do: to witness to the world of a God who loves it, who has saved it, who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. It is time and energy not spent on spent on calling the world to new life, to a new way of living - living for God and for the world.

The longer we pamper one another and play that game, the harder it is for the church to be the church - to be an authentic witness. That is how churches die.

I don't know how many of you have been to New England, but most folks know about the beautiful lighthouses there. You'll also find a lot of posh clubs there that started out as lifesaving stations. They started because ships, even with the lighthouses, would break up occasionally on the rocks. So volunteer organizations formed to go out and rescue the people, who were obviously relieved, and would sometimes donate sums of money in gratitude to these lifesaving stations. And the lifesaving stations, in return, made the stations a little nicer - put in sleeping quarters, a refrigerator, a bar, some nice paneling, nice furniture, carpeting. And, with their success, others would join, helping to support their services.

Then, one day, someone would come in right before a meeting, and they would notice that there was a shipwreck the night before, and that there was mud on the carpet and chairs, and that some of the refreshments for tonight's meeting were missing. So, at the meeting - or perhaps even beforehand - a lot of hell was raised about the cost of the carpet and about ungrateful people, and restrictions were put on who can and can't use the building, effectively excluding . . . shipwrecked people.

Then, somewhere down the line, someone noticed that people were again dying on the rocks, and another lifesaving society was formed. And the story has continued, until now there posh clubs line the seacoast. But few are saving lives.

Jesus tells us there are people all around us who are shipwrecked and dying on the rocks. But the church often seems more interested in smoothing egos and self-gratification and self-glorification; its members seem more interested in who hurt me, and why can't the secretary spell my name right, and why didn't they ask me - than in doing what we are called to do.

We are here to saved shipwrecked people. We are called to serve. We are called to witness. We are called to pick up the cross and follow our Lord. It is not a way of glory - we will probably not get our egos stroked much. But if we are faithful, if our eyes are on Jesus rather than on ourselves, we will forget the slights and misinterpretations of our good intentions, and get the job done anyway.

We have a great God, we will reward us far beyond our wildest dreams. We have a great Savior, who is infinitely patient with us. He calls us to walk in some very large footsteps - His footsteps. He is faithful, and He calls us also to faithfulness. Not to be served, but to serve. May you prove a faithful servant.