# Are you like Christ

Key Passage: Matthew 20:20-28
Date: June 7, 2024

Matthew chapter number 20. Matthew chapter number 20.

Are you like Christ? That would be the title tonight. Are you like Christ? Or maybe you could just say Christ’s likeness, Christ’s likeness.

But Matthew chapter number 20, and we’ll read a couple—maybe a little bit more verses than typical is what I’m trying to say. And then we’ll get to the last verse. That will be our text verse tonight. But Matthew 20, and we’re going to start in verse number 20. Matthew 20:20 of God’s Word.

If you are able, would you please stand just to show the Word of God respect tonight? Matthew 20 and verse number 20.

Just one comment. And I can’t help but mention it’s on my mind. What a blessing. Many of you have prayed for some of our visitors that were here this morning. And I appreciate that. And one getting saved—God just working. So thank you for your prayers. It’s exciting to see God answer those. And praise the Lord for those that have been working on it for a long time.

Matthew 20, verse number 20. The Bible there says, “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.” And he said unto her, “What wilt thou?”

She saith unto him, “Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on the right hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom.”

But Jesus answered and said, “You know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I should drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They say unto him, “We are able.”

He saith unto them, “Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”

So you take it. You kind of get it. Mother’s taking her two boys, two grown sons. Very interesting. And said, “Hey, Jesus, can they sit with you on the throne of the kingdom?”

And Jesus says, “No, no, you don’t know what you’re asking, Mom.” And he says, “But I tell you what, they are going to drink of a cup.” I think of that. These apostles were eventually martyred for Jesus Christ. Jesus crucified. They’ll drink of that same cup. You speak to that. That’s going to happen. But said on my throne, “Hey, that’s the Father’s business.” And we’ll just leave that to the Father.

But I want you to notice what happens after that. Would you look at that? In verse number 24, “And when the ten, the other apostles, heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.”

Parallel scripture, Luke 22:24. I won’t read it for you. It says they begin to argue with each other about who’s going to be the greatest. Now that’s mom coming in here and these boys trying to get overthrown and be the greatest. They started arguing, fussing over who’s going to be the greatest. And they did that a little bit later on at the Lord’s Supper. But they’re arguing; they’re arguing about who’s going to be the greatest. And they’re arguing about that.

Verse number 25, “Then Jesus called them unto him and said, ‘Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you.’”

“But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.”

The great word there has to do with a servant. You’re ministering, you’re serving.

“And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” A little different Greek word. It has to do with a slave or a bondservant. They are committed to be their servant for life, if you will.

Then here’s our text verse, verse number 28: “Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Would you read verse number 28 with me out loud, please? Here we go: “Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Would you pray with me that God would work in our hearts tonight?

Lord, these people, they don’t need to hear from me. Lord, they need to hear from You. And, Lord, I wish You had a better mouthpiece. I pray You to take these lips and this tongue and speak Your message through it. Father, help us to rightly divide Your Word. Holy Spirit, would You empower it? Would You make it real, Lord, to every individual in their lives where this truth is needed? Encourage us to live it out. Father, we’ll thank You and brag on You and praise You for what You do. Lord, we’re asking for this in Your Son, Jesus. And we’re praying, so we’re praying in faith, Father, in His name, Jesus. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

Our life’s love language, if you’ve read or did the test of the Five Love Languages. My wife’s love language is acts of service. And she’s very good at that. I’ve watched her sometimes when our family is together, her just serving our family. And sometimes I come home and I’m tired of whatever, and I should just serve.

She’s very good at it. She’ll just serve, and she’ll take care of the family and do whatever. And can I say this? She spoils me sometimes, amen. Come on now, let’s be honest. We all like to be served, you know. I mean, it’s all right. You come home when your wife just serves, you know. Spoiled rotten. And that’s kind of nice. And I, like all of us, I enjoy that.

But that’s not what I’m called to do. I’m not called to be served. I’m called to serve.

Jesus said, He said, “I didn’t come to be ministered unto.” I left heaven. I left the wonderful place on the right hand of the Father. I left all that and came down to this sin-cursed world to serve.

And if I’m going to be Christ-like, I will be serving others.

I think of the verse over in 1 Corinthians 4, verse number 1: “Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the stewards of the mysteries of God.”

We’re called to be Christ-like. If I’m going to be truly Christ-like, I will be serving. Be busy. You tell me, “Preacher, tell me, give me three points on how to be Christ-like.” All right, here it is: Serve, serve, serve. That’s it.

The disciples were arguing about who’d be the greatest later on at the Last Supper, we call it. And both argued about that. One—Jesus, our example—what did Jesus do? He went over there, not to argue about it and fuss and fight about it. He went over there and got him a towel, and he girded himself with that towel. And they got a basin of water. And while they’re arguing about who’s going to be the greatest, he got down, if you will, on his knees, and he said, “Hey, give me your feet there,” and he washed their feet.

They’re arguing about—they’re trying to jockey for position—and who’s going to be this, and who’s going to be this, and who’s going to be this, and who’s going to be this. And what a shame for Christians to do that in the Baptist Church. That happens. And they’re just jockeying and trying to get attention and all the rest of that. And Jesus is washing feet.

And let me read for you what Jesus said in John 13:12. “So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was sat down again, he said to them, ‘Know ye what I have done unto you?’”

“‘Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.’”

And I don’t think necessarily he’s saying, “Hey, you’ve got to physically wash feet,” but he’s talking about, just like I have served you, get busy serving one another. To be like Christ, all right, sir.

And our church is so good about this. But I’m not really impressed with this professional Christianity. We’ve got everything right, and we’re kind of stuffed shirts over here looking like we’re everything in the world, but we’re not serving anyone.

Hey, Jesus called us to serve. “Well, that’s not my position.” Well, find a position. Find somebody to serve somewhere. Do something. I mean, Jesus has called us to be servants.

But it’s so important that we’re servants in the home. Sometimes I’ll serve here and there and yonder with servants in the home.

Hey husbands, we’re called to be the head of the wife. That’s the actual Bible wording. And yet Jesus here will talk about it in a minute. He is teaching servant leadership, many people call it. That’s what he’s teaching. If I’m to be the head of the wife, I ought to be busy serving my wife, looking for her greatest need, looking for what she needs, looking for maybe if she needs some encouragement, looking for if she needs just some time alone or some time to talk and some communication. And you’re always working at time to serve your wife.

Hey, when’s the last time you took an afternoon or the evening and just said, “Hey, I just want to make it a nice afternoon for you,” not so what I can get out of it, but what I can do for you? I want to like to serve you and be servants in the home.

Why is it so important that you’re serving your husband? Sometimes we can get so caught up serving everybody else and everything else. I’m not trying to be mean or harsh, but the Lord made man, and He made the woman to be for the man. That’s biblical, friend. And if I’m busy serving everybody else, but I’m not serving my husband, something is wrong.

I think about a lady years ago. She was very busy in our church, a good lady, and so good with people. Visitors came to our church, and they’d always mention that lady, and boy, she’s just so friendly. She had a way of connecting so quickly, and God can use that as a great asset. But sometimes she was so busy at church, and I remember telling her, “Hey, listen, don’t go to this activity. Don’t go to this; just go home and serve.” I didn’t use the word “serve,” but “go home and take care of your husband.”

Can I say it? It’s very sad to say she’s not married to that man today, and it breaks my heart. But I’m saying the first responsibility is at the home. I’m serving my wife, and my wife is serving her husband. That is so key.

I’m burdened sometimes. We teach young people in our day and time. You know, the philosophy nowadays is children first, children first, children. And if we’re not careful, we’re doing everything for children, but children need to grow up learning to do for others, serving and forming the right kind of a pattern to serve.

It is so key if we’re going to be Christ-like; we’re serving. That’s just part of it. So very, very important. If we want a home that shines the brightness of Jesus, it’ll be a home that’s serving, serving one another.

Let’s go back, verse number 27. Would you please look there, verse number 27? By the way, you’re saying, “Man, you’re honest tonight. You’re very good at this.” But I want us to always be like that. I don’t want us to lose that. So vital that we’re always on this thing.

Look back, if you would, at verses 26 and 27: “But it shall not be so among you. But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” We call it servant leadership—just the leader serving.

We ought to be that if we’re in leadership. I’m not qualified to be a pastor if I’m not serving. Shame on me. “Well, you’re a pastor.” Am I serving? That’s just part of leadership. It ought to be like that. I’m not qualified unless I’m serving.

Deacons, we have wonderful deacons in our church. But you know what the word—diakonos, I believe it is—the thing I like about it. I don’t know that I have to pronounce Greek exactly right because you don’t know it. I’m probably not pronouncing it right, amen, you know. But you think I am. This is a good thing, you know. There’s some truth to that right there. But you know what the word means? The Greek word, it means servant. The first deacons, you know, they were kind of instituted that office because the leaders didn’t have time to serve the tables. We want these guys to serve tables. That’s what it was.

We’ve got great deacons. I’m not trying to, but I’m just saying, servant leadership.

Teachers: Are you serving your class? The ministries you serve in, are you serving the people? Ushers, as people come in, are you serving the crowd and serving our guests? Choir, when you sing, and those involved in music are out here? It’s not for us to promote us; it’s to serve. Are we serving people? That’s a wonderful thing. When somebody comes in the doors of the church, they say, “Those people are there to serve.” That’s what we’re called to: servant leadership.

If our church is to be a leader in our area, making a difference and impact in Middle Tennessee, we have to serve this area.

Praise the Lord, you did a wonderful job of serving 5,000 people. How do we do that? You gave them the most important thing to ever receive. You gave them the gospel. You were going throughout this area and communities and restaurants and grocery stores and doors and schools and everywhere serving people by giving them what? They need: the gospel. That’s how you make an impact on a community. You serve them. And Christ has called us to servant leadership.

The Reformation is very interesting. You know the German Reformation, and boy, I tell you what, it turned so many from darkness to light. And Martin Luther, that great Christian that got saved, and he nailed the 95 Theses on the Catholic church doors—a wonderful thing how God, Jesus, has been a great way. But you know there were two Martins in the revolution.

Let me read for you about the first one: Martin of Boussel. He came to the knowledge of the truth but was afraid to make it public. He wrote on a leaf of parchment: “O most merciful Christ, I know that I can be saved only by the merit of Thy blood. Holy Jesus, I acknowledge Thy suffering for me. I love Thee.”

He came to the same realization Martin Luther did, boy, and he realized it’s not only the church. And he removed the stone from the wall of his room and he put that parchment in there. It was not discovered until a hundred years later. And a hundred years later, it came out.

Martin Luther, about the same time, found the truth of Christ. He wrote, “My Lord has confessed me before men. I will not shrink from confessing Him before kings.”

Can I say this? Everybody knows about Martin Luther because God used him in a great way because he served. Martin of Baccells, he got to say it, but he didn’t serve.

If we want to make an impact for Christ, we serve. We just roll up our sleeves and we serve.

By the way, I praise God for our church full of service.

I thought about last Sunday night we had the church fellowship, and towards the end of the night most people were gone, but there were several ladies in there just serving. I think sometimes these men over here, nobody knows about them—they’re counting money on Sunday night. “One for the church, one for me. One for the church, two for me.” How they’re counting the money, amen? They’re serving. Nobody knows.

What about those nursery workers? Nobody ever knows about them for the most part. What about the bus workers here? You know, 8 a.m. or whatever time, and get home 1, 2, 3 o’clock in the afternoon, just serving.

What about the people cutting the grass here on the new property, and other people getting involved in all these different ministries doing the maintenance, just serving? Nobody knows about those. What about the hours the Sunday school teacher spends in secret studying the Word of God, getting ready to serve that class? What about the instrumentalists that practice and are prepared, and all the people that are just finding somewhere to serve? That’s Christ-like. That’s what he wants.

It’s a wonderful thing to have a church full of the Johnsons—and they didn’t always go to mention this—but they said, “Hey, would you pray about where we’re supposed to serve?” And so I have a list of five different positions I want them both to serve in.

Praise the Lord, they’re looking to serve. I thought about the Millers; they came about a year and a half or so ago, and they said, “Put us to work.” A year and a half later, they’re like, “Please, no more work,” you know, but in junior church overtime here lately. But praise the Lord for people just serving. If you’re truly serving Christ, you’ll be serving others. Christ-likeness.

“Others, Lord, yes, others, let this my motto be: ‘Help me to live for others that I might live like Thee.’”

I like to make an impact for Christ, sir. Not to be seen in me, not for those positions and all that. You know, the one that may be serving us the most and serving each other the most is somebody in a nursing home, can’t get out, with a prayer. And that little man and that little lady just pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. And they’re serving until the last breaths of them take. Just serving. That may be the greatest way you can serve someone. Nobody will know about it. Heaven knows about it, but just serving. And just serving. A great way you can serve someone is just to listen to them. So, well, they’re going to tell me—I know what they’re going to talk about—the burden of their heart. They’re going to go for three hours. Hey, maybe you’re all just serving for three hours.

Serving, serving others. If I’m to live for Christ and live like Christ, I’ll be serving.

A couple years ago, I was in a hotel just a night or two, and by myself, and someone sent me—and I think they’re very gifted at it, I think they got a second mind hard—and they sent me a very encouraging email. It just was such a blessing. I think it was Spirit-filled, and out of that, honestly, God’s been burdening my heart for years, but out of that, that night, and God just encouraged my heart, and the Lord said, “Time to do the Bible Institute.” And that Bible Institute, very much, God used a man in a great way in that, and nobody knows about it: serving, encouraging others.

Yesterday, I believe it was—he heard a day or two ago—or heard a pastor. He was bragging on a member of their church. Forty-six years, he said, 46 years, this man has been teaching in Children’s Church during church time. And in their church, I guess it is, sounds like every Sunday they’re in that position, and they have not been in the morning service for 46 years just serving. Wow. Servanthood—that’s living for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I heard of a preacher; he was a guest at another church preaching there, and a little lady—you could tell an old, frail lady—she would come, and she would put water in the pulpit, and he was worried about spilling it and things pastors would never do, you know. But he was worried about that, and so he told the pastor of the church, “Have that lady just not put that out there?”

And the pastor of the church said, “Would you let her do it, please? Maybe move it or something. Because that lady can’t do much of anything, but that’s her one job. She serves, and that’s her burden.” She’s served. She’s concerned. She wants to make sure there’s water for the preacher. Would you let her serve? So why is pastor serving?

If I’m to be like Christ, I will be serving. You want to be close to Christ? You want to resemble Him? Be a servant. Be a servant.

Jesus appeared to His eleven apostles, and He said to them—this is when they were having their Sunday service after He had resurrected, the first time He appeared. John 20:21: “Then said Jesus unto them again, Peace be unto you: As my Father hath sent me, so send I you.” He sent Him to be a servant. Now, I’m going to be close to Him; I’ll be a servant.

I recall Franklin Roosevelt when he was president. It is said that a man, Wendell Willkie, a very prominent lawyer, came there in the White House. And he said, “Mr. President, why do you keep this frail, sickly man, Harry Hopkins, at your elbow?” Harry Hopkins, they say he had stomach cancer. Nowadays they debate; maybe it wasn’t stomach cancer. He had problems, and it seemed like his stomach couldn’t digest any nutrients, and he had all kinds of physical problems. Very frail man. Yet he was always by Franklin Roosevelt at the end there, especially in World War II and whatnot, and helped him in different aspects. He was always by his side. This prominent lawyer asked, “Why have that frail, sick man there all the time?”

This is what the President said. He said, “Mr. Willkie, through that door flows daily an endless stream of men and women. He said, almost invariably, they want something from me. Harry Hopkins wants only to serve me. That’s why he’s so near to me.”

Friend, you want to be near to Christ? Just serve Him. If you’re serving Him, you’ll be serving others.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes tonight? Just servanthood. I’m not going to ask you to raise your hands. But would you tonight just kind of re-enlist to serve the Lord? Say, “Lord, I’d just like to sign up again to be Your servant. What do You need done? Who can I help? Who can I serve?”

Would you tonight hear my Lord, “Send me. I want to serve.” Would you re-enlist in the home? Would you enlist in the workplace? “I want to serve You, Christ.” Would you let them know that? It would be great to just have a host of people come down an old-fashioned altar and just say, “Lord, we’re re-enlisting to serve.” Just want to serve in some capacity, however You like. I’d like to be a servant. Those are the ones that are close to Him.

Would you please stand? They’re going to have a word of prayer. And when I say, “Amen,” would you just come, just spend some time? It would be great for all of us, just as a church family. Man, if you get a church family full of service, it’s sweet. We don’t want to lose that. It’s sweet. Serving the Lord and serving each other. Let’s just relish tonight to serve Him tonight.

Father, thank You. You really have given us a wonderful church family and wonderful people. It is such a blessing to see Your people serve. Lord, help us never lose it. Lord, help us tonight to come before You, humbly before You, just re-enlisting to be Your servant. Use these dear people, Lord, in a great way. Lord, I pray You to use this as Your servant. And Father, well, thank You for what You do. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Would you come? Just re-enlist, re-sign up. “I want to be Your servant.” Would you do that as our instruments play? Would you just hear my Lord and serve? Let them know that.

Maybe the devil would have come along and said, “Hey, Lord, why do I keep them so close to You?” And the Lord would say, “Hey, devil, I’ve got a lot of people to serve out there. And this individual, all they want to do is just serve Me.” Wouldn’t that be wonderful? That’s why I keep them close to Me. It may be a great thing. Hey, just servants. Praise the Lord for people at Brother of the Catholic Baptist Church, just serving. It’s a wonderful thing. I’m so honored to be a part of it all. I love you, and I just felt like the Lord wanted to just talk about serving. You’re there; let’s just stay there and keep after just serving. That’s what God wants.

It would be a wonderful thing, one day, to go to heaven. These little medallions we’ve given out, that’s nothing compared to what’s going to happen in heaven. That’s going to be the real deal there, and Christ is going to give it to you, and it’s going to be wonderful for those that serve Him. That’s going to be awesome, just serving the Lord. I mean, just… Happy people are people that are involved, just busy serving. And praise the Lord for it.

Original File: Are You Like Christ - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday PM 10022022