February 2, 2025 • 30 mins
In “Reaching Farther,” Pastor Tyler Lynde invites us to question what true greatness looks like in a world where status and recognition often take center stage. Instead of seeking power, Tyler explains how Jesus’ teaching in Luke 22:24-27 reveals a radically different approach—one where serving others defines authentic significance. Drawing on personal reflections, including a moment of self-discovery when caring for a newborn, Tyler shows that real growth happens when we prioritize compassion over convenience. Everyday acts of kindness, whether within our families or toward complete strangers, hold the key to transformation.
Tyler underscores that this mindset extends beyond our immediate circles. Echoing Deuteronomy 10:12 and Galatians 5:13, he reminds us we’re called to serve God wholeheartedly and use our freedom to love one another. That same spirit of service must also reach the broader world, aligning with Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Whether by going, sending, or praying, believers can engage in global missions that illustrate the love of Christ to those in need. Through these collective efforts, the church becomes a vibrant community of people stepping forward with their unique strengths, ensuring that no one shoulders the burden alone.
Central to Tyler’s message is the compelling example of Jesus’ own servanthood—particularly the moment He washed His disciples’ feet in John 13. This humble act encapsulates the essence of God’s “upside-down kingdom,” where ordinary tasks become opportunities to show empathy and build deeper connections. Embracing this perspective challenges conventional ideas of power, inviting us to examine whether we aim to be served or to serve. In a world hungry for genuine hope, following Jesus’ model can shift the focus from self-interest to sincere acts of care.
Tyler highlights how such a stance not only shapes our relationships but also carries spiritual weight. As we serve, we grow more Christlike, fulfilling our ultimate purpose as disciples. The joy and unity found in a culture of service can transform both the local church and its surrounding community. Even beyond our hometowns, a willingness to reach out—be it through short-term mission trips or long-term support—can change lives globally. For Tyler, this is a crucial part of “reaching farther,” extending the compassion of Christ to every corner of the world. Ultimately, this teaching calls us to trade the pursuit of self for the deeper reward of living each day by the motto, “I live to give.”
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Episode Transcript
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Tyler Lynde (00:00):
Good morning.
I'm Tyler, I'm the lead pastorhere at Trinity and I'm excited
about sharing the Word of Godwith you this morning.
Are you ready for that Just oneday?
I feel like I'm going to askthat and you're going to just
say, in unison, no, and I'lljust keep going because we're
(00:22):
believing that God's going tomake you ready right One way or
another.
So this year we started outtalking about what we felt like
the Lord spoke to us as an elderteam which is together, growing
deeper, so we can reach farther.
And two weeks ago we talkedabout being together and the
fact that, because of thesacrifice of Jesus, god has made
(00:43):
us one with him and with eachother, and so we belong together
.
Right Last week we talked aboutgrowing deeper and the fact
that we are not supposed to justget saved and that's the end of
our journey, but there's thisprocess of sanctification, where
God desires for our roots togrow deep, and the reason that
we can do this is because Christis in us and we are in Christ
(01:08):
and that's good news.
And this week we're going tolook at our final value, which
is serve and sticking with thegrowth motif.
It's great to have roots thatgrow deep, but the purpose for
that is to give us the strengthand stability that we need so
that we can have a canopy thatstretches out far and wide, and
on that canopy, coming from thatcanopy, is a lot of fruit.
(01:31):
And how many of you know, thefruit that is produced by our
lives is not intended to beconsumed by ourselves.
It's intended to be given andused by others, and so we
believe, beyond a shadow of adoubt, that God desires for us
to be fruit producing Christianswho live this life to honor him
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and to love him and to loveeach other, and that's what
we're going to be talking abouttoday.
As we entitle this messageReaching Farther, let's look in
our Bibles at Luke, chapter 22,luke 22, and we're going to be
reading verses 24 through 27.
A dispute also arose among themas to which of them was to be
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regarded as the greatest.
I love this.
And he said to them the kingsof the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them and those inauthority over them are called
benefactors, but not so with you.
Rather, let the greatest amongyou become as the youngest and
the leader, as the one whoserves For who is the greater,
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one who reclines at the table orone who serves Is it not the
one who reclines at the table?
But I am among you as the onewho serves.
Let's pray together today, andwe're also going to be praying
for the families of those who'velost loved ones in the plane
crashes that have happened thislast week, and just asking for
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mercy for them.
So let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for thisday that you have made and,
father, we thank you for theability that we have to come
together to celebrate you, topraise and worship you with our
heart, soul, mind and strengthfor us to love each other and
for us to learn from you, lord,god.
And so, lord, I ask that thewords that you give me and speak
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through me would be filled withmight that comes from your Holy
Spirit.
I pray, lord, god, that youwould break down any walls that
keep us from being engaged inserving you and serving each
other.
And, father, I also pray nowfor those, the family members
and the friends of those wholost loved ones over this last
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week.
Father, we pray for mercy andkindness and compassion.
We pray, lord, god, that thistragedy would somehow be used
for your glory, that you wouldreveal yourself in powerful ways
in this nation, and I pray thatthis would be, like Kelly said,
a time when people's heartswould begin to turn towards you
and Lord, when we hear of thingslike this, that we would not
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consider even just our own lives, but we would consider, lord,
god, eternity, that we wouldthink about the importance of
serving you.
And so, lord, we ask you forthat.
We pray these things in themighty name of Jesus.
Amen.
Growing up, I never consideredmyself a selfish person.
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In fact, as a pastor's kid Idon't know if you know this or
not, but when you're a pastor'skid and your dad is pastoring a
small church, the kids get to dowhat?
Everything A little bit ofeverything, I mean you name any
kind of ministry within thechurch and within my life.
Growing up, I was involved insome part, in some way, in doing
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that thing.
So, again, I considered myselfa pretty selfless person.
In fact, not just not selfish,but selfless.
And that all changed one daywhen we had our firstborn child.
So Amy had been laboring forthree days yes, three days and
then, as she was waiting to beable to deliver this baby, her
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body stopped progressing and sheended up having to have an
emergency c-section Now cominghome after that, amy's mom came
and helped out for a littlewhile and I was so grateful for
that, but then she left and wenthome and I discovered something
about our firstborn child Notnaming names, although he's out
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of the country right now so Icould actually say his name.
If you know me, you know it'sJordan.
Okay, this isn't a bad story,it's just Jordan.
He was a baby, right.
I discovered something aboutJordan.
He could not do anything forhimself.
Well, there was a couple ofthings he could do for himself,
but I'm not going to talk aboutthat today.
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Everything else he couldn't dofor himself.
And Amy was bedridden,basically because she had been
so exhausted by all that she hadgone through.
And so guess who got to helpJordan do everything that he
needed to do this guy, andthrough that process, guess what
I discovered?
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Tyler was a selfish man.
Tyler was a very selfish man,and you know why I recognize
that, because not only was I nowtaking care of every need, of
well, most needs of this littlebaby, but also Amy wasn't able
to take care of my needs, and upuntil that point in time, I
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could pretty much count on herto take care of my needs right.
And so now I was actuallyhaving to help not only getting
to help, getting to help, to usethe right terminology my baby
and my wife now as she'srecovering.
And in that moment I realized Idesperately needed help.
I desperately needed help.
(07:03):
So we'll get back to that storyin a little while, but think
about this passage today.
The disciples had just finishedthe last supper we just took
communion in commemoration andjust had finished the last
supper with Jesus before hewould be crucified, and they're
having a dispute amongstthemselves about who's going to
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be the greatest in the kingdomof God.
You can't make it up.
It's too good.
They wanted to know who was onthe top of the best disciple
list.
Did they make the cut Right?
Can you imagine that, three anda half years after walking and
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talking with Jesus every day,eating meals with him, watching
him love on people and ministerto the needs of everyone, being
so wise in the way that hetaught and the way that he dealt
with those who were inopposition to him, the authority
that he had over demonicspirits, all of the things that
he did and accomplished whilethey were with him, and still,
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these disciples were miles awayfrom understanding what
greatness was all about.
True greatness, authenticspirituality, was what?
Genuine servanthood.
Genuine servanthood Right inthe shadow of the cross.
These men are grasping forposition.
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Now it's easy for us to lookback on that occasion and
picture that story and put blameon them, and it's normal,
natural.
But how many of us think itwould have been different if we
had been one of the disciples?
Would we have acted anydifferently?
Would we have changed our tone?
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And not only that, would wehave been, but are we any
different now?
Jesus begins, in his discussionwith his disciples, to compare
and contrast the differencebetween the kingdoms of this
world and the kingdom of God asa way of illustrating the point
that the disciples aren'tviewing things from the proper
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perspective.
One of the things that I wantfor each and every one of us is
I want us to have the rightkingdom mindset.
Jesus spent the majority of hisministry teaching and preaching
about what the kingdom of God,and it's important for us to
understand that from hisperspective and not from our own
.
So let's dive into this.
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The first thing that thispassage says to me is that this
world wants to be served.
This world wants to be served.
Remember that first line.
And he said to them how many ofyou would acknowledge this
morning that the naturaltendency of human beings is to
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desire what To be served.
I want to be served.
I'll give you a little proof.
Bk, have it your way, I know,don't quit your day job.
Okay, I'm not planning on it,but it's in the commercial.
I mean, we want to be served.
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We want to be served our way.
We want to get what we want inthe way that we want, how we
want it.
It's all about me.
How we want it, it's all aboutme.
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We could switch that songaround.
It's all about me.
Jesus, no, no, I can hear himscreaming no, please.
But we've been trained by ourculture to believe that life is
all about us and thereforeshould be about others, taking
care of our needs and ourdesires.
And those in authority thatJesus is speaking about here
tend to try to make otherssubservient to them.
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They want power, they wantabsolute power, so that they can
exercise that power over otherhuman beings and, ultimately,
that those other human beingswould do what Would serve them.
Would serve them, would servethem.
Now, here's the problem.
It doesn't matter in that kindof scenario who you have to harm
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or who you have to run over inorder to accomplish that.
As long as I'm being served, myneeds are being met, then I've
accomplished whatever I need todo, and it doesn't really matter
how it affects anybody else onthe planet, right?
So this world wants to beserved, but it not only wants to
be served, but it not onlywants to be served.
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This world wants to be seen asserving people.
It goes on to say in thepassage.
And those in authority over themare called benefactors.
Benefactors the only thingbetter than being served for an
ungodly leader is to beconsidered a servant by those
who that they are making servethem.
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So if I can somehow make thepeople that are serving me feel
like I'm serving them, then I'mgoing to feel really good about
myself and they'll feel goodabout me.
So you know how they used to dothis.
They'd give little token giftsto all the little people out
there, and the little tokengifts that were given to all the
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little people out there and thelittle token gifts that were
given to all the little peopleout there were to change, to
brighten up the attitude of thepeople towards their leaders, so
that they would speak well ofthem, so that they would think
well of them, so that they wouldcall them their benefactors.
These people are here andthey're serving us, don't you
see it?
All the while, many times,these very leaders ended up
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being cruel tyrants, not caringat all about the people that
they were supposedly serving.
They were only interested intheir own status and power.
Why do we do the things that wedo?
Are we looking for something inreturn?
Are we looking for some kind ofadoration or acclamation?
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Are we looking for somebody tolook at us and say, wow, they
really love me, they really careabout me, they really serve me?
Are we doing that with theright motivation and the right
heart and the right attitude?
That's what Jesus was trying toget to with his disciples.
Let's make sure our heart isright.
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Jesus goes on to say basically,in our terms, we are not of this
world.
We are not of this world.
Everybody's wondering if thereare aliens.
Look around.
This room is filled with them.
This world.
Everybody's wondering if thereare aliens.
Look around.
This room is filled with them.
We are not of this world.
We belong to another kingdom.
Peter actually called us aliens, right Strangers in this land.
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We are set apart.
We are in this world, but weare not of this world, and so we
live in this dichotomy betweenthose two things.
The kingdom of God isn't likethis world system at all.
In fact, jesus said but not sowith you.
You're not going to be like theGentile leaders and the Gentile
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lords that require service orserve a little bit, so that
other people will look at themand say, wow, look at how great
those people are.
We're going to be differentthan that.
Not so with you.
According to Jesus, greatnesswas the very opposite, in fact,
of what the world says that itis.
That's why some people havecoined the kingdom of God as the
upside down kingdom.
Everything that we've beentaught in our culture,
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everything that we believe to betrue based on what we've
experienced and seen and heardabout and learned, many of those
things are completely backwardsof what they should be when we
talk about the kingdom of God,and we have to continually
remind ourselves of this, orelse we could easily find
ourselves slipping into the waythat this world does things.
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So if we want to be great Jesusis talking to his disciples
you're worried about being great.
Here's how you're going to doit.
If we want to be great, we mustserve.
We must serve.
It goes on to say rather, letthe greatest among you become as
the youngest and the leader, asone who serves.
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Jesus redefines the meaning ofgreatness.
Here.
He reverses the values of theworld.
The greatness is measured interms of services that are given
without thought of any kind ofreward.
I'm serving because it's myheart's desire and I'm not
looking for anything in return.
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It's amazing.
That is the kingdom of God.
This is the natural dispositionof those who are a part of the
kingdom of God.
Don't give in to the temptationto come underneath the culture
of this world.
In this regard, let's make surethat we're standing strong and
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implementing, by God's grace andby the work of the Holy Spirit,
the kingdom of God culturewhich says I live.
I'm going to just give you theanswer here to my dilemma.
When Jordan was born, not longafter that, the Lord dropped
something in my heart.
I don't even know if I heardsomebody else say it I don't.
I honestly don't know where itcame from, but it became kind of
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a defining phrase for my life,and it's just simply this I live
to give, I live to give.
My kids will tell you.
They know this saying because Isay it all the time.
I live to give.
It's a part, it's becoming apart more and more every day, of
who I am.
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The natural disposition of mylife in Christ is that I live to
give.
It's my heart's desire, it'swhat God has placed in me and
it's what I want to emulatearound me and it's what I want
to emulate around me.
So the first service that wemust offer is we must serve God.
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Deuteronomy 10, verse 12, saysand now Israel, what does the
Lord, your God require of you?
But to fear the Lord, your God,to walk in all his ways, to
love him, to serve the Lord,your God with all your heart and
with all your soul, not justsurface stuff, but from the
depths of who you are.
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I'm serving because this God isworthy of my service.
Remember when Jesus was askedwhat's the greatest commandment?
What was his answer?
You shall love the Lord, yourGod with all your heart, soul,
mind and strength.
And then the second is, likeunto it, you shall love your
neighbor as yourself.
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Serve God and serve each other.
That's the next point.
We must serve each other.
Galatians 5.13,.
For you were called to freedom,brothers, only do not use your
freedom as an opportunity forthe flesh.
How many of you know it's easyto serve him and love him
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Because he never does anythingwrong?
How many of you know it's easyto serve him and love him
because he never does anythingwrong?
He never says anything wrong,although we disagree with him at
times, if we're honest, right,he doesn't do anything that's
wrong.
Although we sometimes havequestion marks there, his
motives are all pure.
Everything about serving God isfairly easy in some ways
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because of the character andnature of who he is.
But when we talk about lovingand serving each other as a part
of the body of Christ, how manyof you know we're still in
process.
We're not quite there yet.
We haven't yet arrived where wewill one day arrive, when we
see Jesus and we will betransformed and changed and we
will be like him.
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We, as the body of Christ, needeach other and the gifts that
God's given to each one of us.
It matters which local churchyou're a part of, and it matters
that you choose to serve theother people that you're
connected with within that body,because each one of us provides
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a different aspect of the lifeof Jesus that is needed within
that body.
Each one of you have tremendousgifts and things that God's put
in your heart, and strengthsand things that are unique to
you as a person and this body.
If you're a part of TrinityCommunity Church, I'm telling
you right now this body needsyou.
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We desperately need you, and weneed you not just in attendance
.
We need you not just you know,in a peripheral way.
We need you as a part of thelifeblood of this body.
And one of the ways that we caninteract in that way, one of
the ways that we can engage inthat way, is to think about how
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can I serve one another, how canwe serve one another, how can
we serve each other?
I want to say to you that thischurch is unique.
Most churches and most leadersthat I talk to talk about the
20-80 rule.
Do you know what that rule is?
That is a rule that 20% of thepeople do 80% of the work.
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20% of the people do 80% of thework.
How many of you know if you'retrying to do anything much,
that's not going to work forlong.
Because what happens to the 20%of the people.
They get burnt out, they getweary, they grow tired.
It's just too much.
In this church, 80% of thepeople do 80% of the work and I
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want to say to you thank youvery, very much.
It is an unusual situation thatwe find ourselves in.
It is rare beyond belief.
And so, as I speak these thingsto you today, I'm not speaking
them to you in some kind of tonethat comes from frustration or
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like I wish that you would serve.
It's more like can we make surethat our serving is aligned
with where the areas of need are?
Can we connect the gifts andstrengths and character and
personality that God has placedin each one of us with the areas
of need?
Now, if there's an 80-80 rulehere, guess what's left.
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Now, if there's an 80-80 rulehere, guess what's left.
Some of the mathematicians inthe room can help me with this.
There's no trick questions here.
What's left?
20%, to be honest with you,that's where we're lacking.
We have a 20% need within ourchurch when it comes to the
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ministry teams here, and so whatwe'd ask if you are not
currently serving in a ministryteam, or if you are serving in a
ministry team but you feel likeyou have more time that you
could dedicate or donate.
If you're serving, maybe, say,once a quarter, and you'd be
willing to serve once a month,or there's all kinds of
scenarios that Derek can talk toyou about in a few minutes.
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I won't get into all thedetails, but we're just asking
you to prayerfully considerstepping up and being a part of
the solution to our 20% need.
Does that make sense?
Appreciate that very much.
You guys like I said before,you guys are amazing.
I'll just give two or threeexamples.
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There are some of you who visitpeople that are shut-ins.
Did you know we took communiontogether today?
There are people in our churchthat take communion elements to
the shut-ins that can't come tochurch and they sit with them
and they pray with them and theytake communion together.
That's amazing to me thatpeople would have the heart to
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do something like that.
There are other people who takein other people's kids that
they barely know into their hometo take care of them, to watch
over them, to help them, so thatthe family can focus on one
child that is in need of medicalhelp for an extended period of
time.
That's happening right here inthis church, not a program that
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we started, not anything that we, you know, begged or asked for
anybody to be involved with.
This is just in your hearts todo this.
I got an email this week fromsomebody that was we were
praying for them and they werejust thanking us for the support
.
They had an injury, a physicalinjury that's kept them out of
church for a certain period oftime, but they really want to
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get back with us.
And what I didn't know was thatsome of you have been preparing
meals for them and taking themto them.
Some of you have went and satwith them as they were trying to
recover and trying to getthrough the physical therapy and
all of that stuff that goes onwith trying to get better from
something physical, you know,something difficult physically.
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The other thing that I'll justnail this as the over the top
thing I guess they have poodles.
Somebody's been taking care ofthe poodles and they mentioned
that in the email and I'm liketalk about going above and
beyond.
I mean, you care, some of youcare even about the dogs in the
house.
That's amazing to me.
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That's amazing to me.
Keep it up, let's keep going.
Let's engage all of us in thiskind of thought, in this kind of
imagination, lord?
How can you use me today to bea blessing to somebody else?
Amen, let's finish up here.
There are several teams withinthe church that are here to
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serve you the elder team we areservants of the Lord and we are
here to serve you.
And I mean that.
The deacon ministry, same thing, the staff, our oversight team,
the ministry teams within thischurch.
I could go on and on and on.
And then, finally, we mustserve the world.
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Matthew 28,.
We know, as Jesus is speakingto his disciples before he gets
ready to ascend, he says allauthority in heaven, on earth
has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching themto observe all that I have
commanded you, and behold, I'mwith you always, to the end of
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the age.
God's kingdom plan is for us topartner with him in reaching
the world for Jesus.
God doesn't just want us toserve within the confines of
this church.
He wants us to reach out withhis love and his compassion and
his kindness to a world that isin desperate need of Jesus.
Some of you young people overhere.
God is going to be calling youto a life of missions and
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serving him around the world,and I want you to know that you
being in church and payingattention to what we're talking
about is something that God'sgoing to use in your life as a
preparatory step.
And wherever you go, whateveryou do, your life is on mission,
whether you're in Zimbabwe orwhether you're in Knoxville,
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tennessee.
So I just want to encourage youwith that Don't resent this
time in your life.
This is some of the best timesthat you have to be able to
focus in on what's reallyimportant.
So we can serve the world bygoing.
We have trips scheduled to goto Cuba as an exploratory trip
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to see if God might make aconnection point there for us to
take more short-term trips toCuba.
We also have a potential tripto Poland.
Rob and Chris obviously have aBuffalo trip that they'll be
doing in the summer and otherthings to be involved with.
We can go.
We can also serve the world bysending, by equipping people, by
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discipling, by working withpeople to make sure that they're
ready to go, and also by givingto the work.
Again, this is a giving church.
Thank you so much.
And we can serve the world bypraying.
There's no distance in thespirit.
There's the same reward.
Mark is on mission right nowand Yuri's getting ready to join
him in just a short while, andwe prayed for them last week and
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I ask you that you wouldcontinue to pray for them, lord.
We just pray for Mark right nowand for Yuri, lord, as he goes
to meet him.
They're going into areas thatthere's a lot of darkness but,
lord, we know that the light ofJesus is upon them and shines in
them and through them, and wejust ask that you would do the
good work that only you can doProtect them and keep them safe,
fill them with your spirit,help them to have maximum impact
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in Jesus' name.
Thank you, lord.
Finally, jesus is the greatestservant of all, it says.
For who is the greater?
One who reclines at the tableor one who serves?
Is it not the one who reclinesat the table?
That's the way the world thinks.
Who's greatest?
The one who's being served.
Jesus says but I am among youas the one who serves To drive
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the point home.
Jesus is making thisillustration.
Jesus came as a servant of men.
This is the character of hisown life and his own ministry,
and all who would follow himmust imitate him in this.
How did Jesus serve?
He came into this world, gaveup everything, humbled himself,
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lived a perfect life, and hehumbled himself to the point of
death on the cross.
He served God and he served theworld by doing these things.
He's our example.
And as the story continues on inthe book of John, it says Jesus
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, knowing that the Father hadgiven all things into his hands
and that he had come from Godand was going back to God, rose
from supper.
He laid aside his outergarments and, taking a towel,
tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into abasin and began to wash the
disciples' feet and to wipe themwith the towel that was wrapped
around him.
He came to Simon Peter, whosaid to him Lord, do you wash my
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feet?
Jesus answered him what I'mdoing now doing you do not
understand now, but afterwardyou will understand.
Peter said to him you shallnever wash my feet.
There must have been some badfeet right.
And Jesus answered him if Idon't wash your feet, if I don't
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wash you, you have no sharewith me.
And Simon Peter said to himLord, not my feet only, but also
my hands and my head, all of me.
And Jesus said to him the onewho is bathed does.
Did you ever think about thefact that Judas was here?
For he knew who was to betrayhim.
That was why he said not all ofyou are clean.
When he had washed their feetand put on his outer garments
(30:23):
and returned, resumed his place,he said to them do you
understand what I've done foryou?
You call me teacher and Lord,and you are right, for so I am.
If I, then your Lord andteacher, have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash oneanother's feet, for I have given
you an example that you alsoshould do just as I've done to
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you.
Truly, truly, I say to you aservant is not greater than his
master, nor is a messengergreater than the one who sent
him.
If you know these things,blessed are you if you do them.
Good morning.
I'm Tyler, I'm the lead pastorhere at Trinity and I'm excited
about sharing the Word of Godwith you this morning.
Are you ready for that Just oneday?
I feel like I'm going to askthat and you're going to just
say, in unison, no, and I'lljust keep going because we're
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believing that God's going tomake you ready right One way or
another.
So this year we started outtalking about what we felt like
the Lord spoke to us as an elderteam which is together, growing
deeper, so we can reach farther.
And two weeks ago we talkedabout being together and the
fact that, because of thesacrifice of Jesus, god has made
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us one with him and with eachother, and so we belong together
.
Right Last week we talked aboutgrowing deeper and the fact
that we are not supposed to justget saved and that's the end of
our journey, but there's thisprocess of sanctification, where
God desires for our roots togrow deep, and the reason that
we can do this is because Christis in us and we are in Christ
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and that's good news.
And this week we're going tolook at our final value, which
is serve and sticking with thegrowth motif.
It's great to have roots thatgrow deep, but the purpose for
that is to give us the strengthand stability that we need so
that we can have a canopy thatstretches out far and wide, and
on that canopy, coming from thatcanopy, is a lot of fruit.
(01:31):
And how many of you know, thefruit that is produced by our
lives is not intended to beconsumed by ourselves.
It's intended to be given andused by others, and so we
believe, beyond a shadow of adoubt, that God desires for us
to be fruit producing Christianswho live this life to honor him
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and to love him and to loveeach other, and that's what
we're going to be talking abouttoday.
As we entitle this messageReaching Farther, let's look in
our Bibles at Luke, chapter 22,luke 22, and we're going to be
reading verses 24 through 27.
A dispute also arose among themas to which of them was to be
(02:17):
regarded as the greatest.
I love this.
And he said to them the kingsof the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them and those inauthority over them are called
benefactors, but not so with you.
Rather, let the greatest amongyou become as the youngest and
the leader, as the one whoserves For who is the greater,
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one who reclines at the table orone who serves Is it not the
one who reclines at the table?
But I am among you as the onewho serves.
Let's pray together today, andwe're also going to be praying
for the families of those who'velost loved ones in the plane
crashes that have happened thislast week, and just asking for
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mercy for them.
So let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for thisday that you have made and,
father, we thank you for theability that we have to come
together to celebrate you, topraise and worship you with our
heart, soul, mind and strengthfor us to love each other and
for us to learn from you, lord,god.
And so, lord, I ask that thewords that you give me and speak
(03:24):
through me would be filled withmight that comes from your Holy
Spirit.
I pray, lord, god, that youwould break down any walls that
keep us from being engaged inserving you and serving each
other.
And, father, I also pray nowfor those, the family members
and the friends of those wholost loved ones over this last
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week.
Father, we pray for mercy andkindness and compassion.
We pray, lord, god, that thistragedy would somehow be used
for your glory, that you wouldreveal yourself in powerful ways
in this nation, and I pray thatthis would be, like Kelly said,
a time when people's heartswould begin to turn towards you
and Lord, when we hear of thingslike this, that we would not
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consider even just our own lives, but we would consider, lord,
god, eternity, that we wouldthink about the importance of
serving you.
And so, lord, we ask you forthat.
We pray these things in themighty name of Jesus.
Amen.
Growing up, I never consideredmyself a selfish person.
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In fact, as a pastor's kid Idon't know if you know this or
not, but when you're a pastor'skid and your dad is pastoring a
small church, the kids get to dowhat?
Everything A little bit ofeverything, I mean you name any
kind of ministry within thechurch and within my life.
Growing up, I was involved insome part, in some way, in doing
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that thing.
So, again, I considered myselfa pretty selfless person.
In fact, not just not selfish,but selfless.
And that all changed one daywhen we had our firstborn child.
So Amy had been laboring forthree days yes, three days and
then, as she was waiting to beable to deliver this baby, her
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body stopped progressing and sheended up having to have an
emergency c-section Now cominghome after that, amy's mom came
and helped out for a littlewhile and I was so grateful for
that, but then she left and wenthome and I discovered something
about our firstborn child Notnaming names, although he's out
(05:38):
of the country right now so Icould actually say his name.
If you know me, you know it'sJordan.
Okay, this isn't a bad story,it's just Jordan.
He was a baby, right.
I discovered something aboutJordan.
He could not do anything forhimself.
Well, there was a couple ofthings he could do for himself,
but I'm not going to talk aboutthat today.
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Everything else he couldn't dofor himself.
And Amy was bedridden,basically because she had been
so exhausted by all that she hadgone through.
And so guess who got to helpJordan do everything that he
needed to do this guy, andthrough that process, guess what
I discovered?
(06:19):
Tyler was a selfish man.
Tyler was a very selfish man,and you know why I recognize
that, because not only was I nowtaking care of every need, of
well, most needs of this littlebaby, but also Amy wasn't able
to take care of my needs, and upuntil that point in time, I
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could pretty much count on herto take care of my needs right.
And so now I was actuallyhaving to help not only getting
to help, getting to help, to usethe right terminology my baby
and my wife now as she'srecovering.
And in that moment I realized Idesperately needed help.
I desperately needed help.
(07:03):
So we'll get back to that storyin a little while, but think
about this passage today.
The disciples had just finishedthe last supper we just took
communion in commemoration andjust had finished the last
supper with Jesus before hewould be crucified, and they're
having a dispute amongstthemselves about who's going to
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be the greatest in the kingdomof God.
You can't make it up.
It's too good.
They wanted to know who was onthe top of the best disciple
list.
Did they make the cut Right?
Can you imagine that, three anda half years after walking and
(07:45):
talking with Jesus every day,eating meals with him, watching
him love on people and ministerto the needs of everyone, being
so wise in the way that hetaught and the way that he dealt
with those who were inopposition to him, the authority
that he had over demonicspirits, all of the things that
he did and accomplished whilethey were with him, and still,
(08:06):
these disciples were miles awayfrom understanding what
greatness was all about.
True greatness, authenticspirituality, was what?
Genuine servanthood.
Genuine servanthood Right inthe shadow of the cross.
These men are grasping forposition.
(08:27):
Now it's easy for us to lookback on that occasion and
picture that story and put blameon them, and it's normal,
natural.
But how many of us think itwould have been different if we
had been one of the disciples?
Would we have acted anydifferently?
Would we have changed our tone?
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And not only that, would wehave been, but are we any
different now?
Jesus begins, in his discussionwith his disciples, to compare
and contrast the differencebetween the kingdoms of this
world and the kingdom of God asa way of illustrating the point
that the disciples aren'tviewing things from the proper
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perspective.
One of the things that I wantfor each and every one of us is
I want us to have the rightkingdom mindset.
Jesus spent the majority of hisministry teaching and preaching
about what the kingdom of God,and it's important for us to
understand that from hisperspective and not from our own
.
So let's dive into this.
(09:32):
The first thing that thispassage says to me is that this
world wants to be served.
This world wants to be served.
Remember that first line.
And he said to them how many ofyou would acknowledge this
morning that the naturaltendency of human beings is to
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desire what To be served.
I want to be served.
I'll give you a little proof.
Bk, have it your way, I know,don't quit your day job.
Okay, I'm not planning on it,but it's in the commercial.
I mean, we want to be served.
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We want to be served our way.
We want to get what we want inthe way that we want, how we
want it.
It's all about me.
How we want it, it's all aboutme.
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We could switch that songaround.
It's all about me.
Jesus, no, no, I can hear himscreaming no, please.
But we've been trained by ourculture to believe that life is
all about us and thereforeshould be about others, taking
care of our needs and ourdesires.
And those in authority thatJesus is speaking about here
tend to try to make otherssubservient to them.
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They want power, they wantabsolute power, so that they can
exercise that power over otherhuman beings and, ultimately,
that those other human beingswould do what Would serve them.
Would serve them, would servethem.
Now, here's the problem.
It doesn't matter in that kindof scenario who you have to harm
(11:20):
or who you have to run over inorder to accomplish that.
As long as I'm being served, myneeds are being met, then I've
accomplished whatever I need todo, and it doesn't really matter
how it affects anybody else onthe planet, right?
So this world wants to beserved, but it not only wants to
be served, but it not onlywants to be served.
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This world wants to be seen asserving people.
It goes on to say in thepassage.
And those in authority over themare called benefactors.
Benefactors the only thingbetter than being served for an
ungodly leader is to beconsidered a servant by those
who that they are making servethem.
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So if I can somehow make thepeople that are serving me feel
like I'm serving them, then I'mgoing to feel really good about
myself and they'll feel goodabout me.
So you know how they used to dothis.
They'd give little token giftsto all the little people out
there, and the little tokengifts that were given to all the
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little people out there and thelittle token gifts that were
given to all the little peopleout there were to change, to
brighten up the attitude of thepeople towards their leaders, so
that they would speak well ofthem, so that they would think
well of them, so that they wouldcall them their benefactors.
These people are here andthey're serving us, don't you
see it?
All the while, many times,these very leaders ended up
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being cruel tyrants, not caringat all about the people that
they were supposedly serving.
They were only interested intheir own status and power.
Why do we do the things that wedo?
Are we looking for something inreturn?
Are we looking for some kind ofadoration or acclamation?
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Are we looking for somebody tolook at us and say, wow, they
really love me, they really careabout me, they really serve me?
Are we doing that with theright motivation and the right
heart and the right attitude?
That's what Jesus was trying toget to with his disciples.
Let's make sure our heart isright.
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Jesus goes on to say basically,in our terms, we are not of this
world.
We are not of this world.
Everybody's wondering if thereare aliens.
Look around.
This room is filled with them.
This world.
Everybody's wondering if thereare aliens.
Look around.
This room is filled with them.
We are not of this world.
We belong to another kingdom.
Peter actually called us aliens, right Strangers in this land.
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We are set apart.
We are in this world, but weare not of this world, and so we
live in this dichotomy betweenthose two things.
The kingdom of God isn't likethis world system at all.
In fact, jesus said but not sowith you.
You're not going to be like theGentile leaders and the Gentile
(14:11):
lords that require service orserve a little bit, so that
other people will look at themand say, wow, look at how great
those people are.
We're going to be differentthan that.
Not so with you.
According to Jesus, greatnesswas the very opposite, in fact,
of what the world says that itis.
That's why some people havecoined the kingdom of God as the
upside down kingdom.
Everything that we've beentaught in our culture,
(14:34):
everything that we believe to betrue based on what we've
experienced and seen and heardabout and learned, many of those
things are completely backwardsof what they should be when we
talk about the kingdom of God,and we have to continually
remind ourselves of this, orelse we could easily find
ourselves slipping into the waythat this world does things.
(14:57):
So if we want to be great Jesusis talking to his disciples
you're worried about being great.
Here's how you're going to doit.
If we want to be great, we mustserve.
We must serve.
It goes on to say rather, letthe greatest among you become as
the youngest and the leader, asone who serves.
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Jesus redefines the meaning ofgreatness.
Here.
He reverses the values of theworld.
The greatness is measured interms of services that are given
without thought of any kind ofreward.
I'm serving because it's myheart's desire and I'm not
looking for anything in return.
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It's amazing.
That is the kingdom of God.
This is the natural dispositionof those who are a part of the
kingdom of God.
Don't give in to the temptationto come underneath the culture
of this world.
In this regard, let's make surethat we're standing strong and
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implementing, by God's grace andby the work of the Holy Spirit,
the kingdom of God culturewhich says I live.
I'm going to just give you theanswer here to my dilemma.
When Jordan was born, not longafter that, the Lord dropped
something in my heart.
I don't even know if I heardsomebody else say it I don't.
I honestly don't know where itcame from, but it became kind of
(16:22):
a defining phrase for my life,and it's just simply this I live
to give, I live to give.
My kids will tell you.
They know this saying because Isay it all the time.
I live to give.
It's a part, it's becoming apart more and more every day, of
who I am.
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The natural disposition of mylife in Christ is that I live to
give.
It's my heart's desire, it'swhat God has placed in me and
it's what I want to emulatearound me and it's what I want
to emulate around me.
So the first service that wemust offer is we must serve God.
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Deuteronomy 10, verse 12, saysand now Israel, what does the
Lord, your God require of you?
But to fear the Lord, your God,to walk in all his ways, to
love him, to serve the Lord,your God with all your heart and
with all your soul, not justsurface stuff, but from the
depths of who you are.
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I'm serving because this God isworthy of my service.
Remember when Jesus was askedwhat's the greatest commandment?
What was his answer?
You shall love the Lord, yourGod with all your heart, soul,
mind and strength.
And then the second is, likeunto it, you shall love your
neighbor as yourself.
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Serve God and serve each other.
That's the next point.
We must serve each other.
Galatians 5.13,.
For you were called to freedom,brothers, only do not use your
freedom as an opportunity forthe flesh.
How many of you know it's easyto serve him and love him
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Because he never does anythingwrong?
How many of you know it's easyto serve him and love him
because he never does anythingwrong?
He never says anything wrong,although we disagree with him at
times, if we're honest, right,he doesn't do anything that's
wrong.
Although we sometimes havequestion marks there, his
motives are all pure.
Everything about serving God isfairly easy in some ways
(18:43):
because of the character andnature of who he is.
But when we talk about lovingand serving each other as a part
of the body of Christ, how manyof you know we're still in
process.
We're not quite there yet.
We haven't yet arrived where wewill one day arrive, when we
see Jesus and we will betransformed and changed and we
will be like him.
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We, as the body of Christ, needeach other and the gifts that
God's given to each one of us.
It matters which local churchyou're a part of, and it matters
that you choose to serve theother people that you're
connected with within that body,because each one of us provides
(19:27):
a different aspect of the lifeof Jesus that is needed within
that body.
Each one of you have tremendousgifts and things that God's put
in your heart, and strengthsand things that are unique to
you as a person and this body.
If you're a part of TrinityCommunity Church, I'm telling
you right now this body needsyou.
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We desperately need you, and weneed you not just in attendance
.
We need you not just you know,in a peripheral way.
We need you as a part of thelifeblood of this body.
And one of the ways that we caninteract in that way, one of
the ways that we can engage inthat way, is to think about how
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can I serve one another, how canwe serve one another, how can
we serve each other?
I want to say to you that thischurch is unique.
Most churches and most leadersthat I talk to talk about the
20-80 rule.
Do you know what that rule is?
That is a rule that 20% of thepeople do 80% of the work.
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20% of the people do 80% of thework.
How many of you know if you'retrying to do anything much,
that's not going to work forlong.
Because what happens to the 20%of the people.
They get burnt out, they getweary, they grow tired.
It's just too much.
In this church, 80% of thepeople do 80% of the work and I
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want to say to you thank youvery, very much.
It is an unusual situation thatwe find ourselves in.
It is rare beyond belief.
And so, as I speak these thingsto you today, I'm not speaking
them to you in some kind of tonethat comes from frustration or
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like I wish that you would serve.
It's more like can we make surethat our serving is aligned
with where the areas of need are?
Can we connect the gifts andstrengths and character and
personality that God has placedin each one of us with the areas
of need?
Now, if there's an 80-80 rulehere, guess what's left.
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Now, if there's an 80-80 rulehere, guess what's left.
Some of the mathematicians inthe room can help me with this.
There's no trick questions here.
What's left?
20%, to be honest with you,that's where we're lacking.
We have a 20% need within ourchurch when it comes to the
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ministry teams here, and so whatwe'd ask if you are not
currently serving in a ministryteam, or if you are serving in a
ministry team but you feel likeyou have more time that you
could dedicate or donate.
If you're serving, maybe, say,once a quarter, and you'd be
willing to serve once a month,or there's all kinds of
scenarios that Derek can talk toyou about in a few minutes.
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I won't get into all thedetails, but we're just asking
you to prayerfully considerstepping up and being a part of
the solution to our 20% need.
Does that make sense?
Appreciate that very much.
You guys like I said before,you guys are amazing.
I'll just give two or threeexamples.
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There are some of you who visitpeople that are shut-ins.
Did you know we took communiontogether today?
There are people in our churchthat take communion elements to
the shut-ins that can't come tochurch and they sit with them
and they pray with them and theytake communion together.
That's amazing to me thatpeople would have the heart to
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do something like that.
There are other people who takein other people's kids that
they barely know into their hometo take care of them, to watch
over them, to help them, so thatthe family can focus on one
child that is in need of medicalhelp for an extended period of
time.
That's happening right here inthis church, not a program that
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we started, not anything that we, you know, begged or asked for
anybody to be involved with.
This is just in your hearts todo this.
I got an email this week fromsomebody that was we were
praying for them and they werejust thanking us for the support
.
They had an injury, a physicalinjury that's kept them out of
church for a certain period oftime, but they really want to
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get back with us.
And what I didn't know was thatsome of you have been preparing
meals for them and taking themto them.
Some of you have went and satwith them as they were trying to
recover and trying to getthrough the physical therapy and
all of that stuff that goes onwith trying to get better from
something physical, you know,something difficult physically.
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The other thing that I'll justnail this as the over the top
thing I guess they have poodles.
Somebody's been taking care ofthe poodles and they mentioned
that in the email and I'm liketalk about going above and
beyond.
I mean, you care, some of youcare even about the dogs in the
house.
That's amazing to me.
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That's amazing to me.
Keep it up, let's keep going.
Let's engage all of us in thiskind of thought, in this kind of
imagination, lord?
How can you use me today to bea blessing to somebody else?
Amen, let's finish up here.
There are several teams withinthe church that are here to
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serve you the elder team we areservants of the Lord and we are
here to serve you.
And I mean that.
The deacon ministry, same thing, the staff, our oversight team,
the ministry teams within thischurch.
I could go on and on and on.
And then, finally, we mustserve the world.
(25:26):
Matthew 28,.
We know, as Jesus is speakingto his disciples before he gets
ready to ascend, he says allauthority in heaven, on earth
has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name ofthe Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching themto observe all that I have
commanded you, and behold, I'mwith you always, to the end of
(25:53):
the age.
God's kingdom plan is for us topartner with him in reaching
the world for Jesus.
God doesn't just want us toserve within the confines of
this church.
He wants us to reach out withhis love and his compassion and
his kindness to a world that isin desperate need of Jesus.
Some of you young people overhere.
God is going to be calling youto a life of missions and
(26:15):
serving him around the world,and I want you to know that you
being in church and payingattention to what we're talking
about is something that God'sgoing to use in your life as a
preparatory step.
And wherever you go, whateveryou do, your life is on mission,
whether you're in Zimbabwe orwhether you're in Knoxville,
(26:36):
tennessee.
So I just want to encourage youwith that Don't resent this
time in your life.
This is some of the best timesthat you have to be able to
focus in on what's reallyimportant.
So we can serve the world bygoing.
We have trips scheduled to goto Cuba as an exploratory trip
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to see if God might make aconnection point there for us to
take more short-term trips toCuba.
We also have a potential tripto Poland.
Rob and Chris obviously have aBuffalo trip that they'll be
doing in the summer and otherthings to be involved with.
We can go.
We can also serve the world bysending, by equipping people, by
(27:17):
discipling, by working withpeople to make sure that they're
ready to go, and also by givingto the work.
Again, this is a giving church.
Thank you so much.
And we can serve the world bypraying.
There's no distance in thespirit.
There's the same reward.
Mark is on mission right nowand Yuri's getting ready to join
him in just a short while, andwe prayed for them last week and
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I ask you that you wouldcontinue to pray for them, lord.
We just pray for Mark right nowand for Yuri, lord, as he goes
to meet him.
They're going into areas thatthere's a lot of darkness but,
lord, we know that the light ofJesus is upon them and shines in
them and through them, and wejust ask that you would do the
good work that only you can doProtect them and keep them safe,
fill them with your spirit,help them to have maximum impact
(28:06):
in Jesus' name.
Thank you, lord.
Finally, jesus is the greatestservant of all, it says.
For who is the greater?
One who reclines at the tableor one who serves?
Is it not the one who reclinesat the table?
That's the way the world thinks.
Who's greatest?
The one who's being served.
Jesus says but I am among youas the one who serves To drive
(28:26):
the point home.
Jesus is making thisillustration.
Jesus came as a servant of men.
This is the character of hisown life and his own ministry,
and all who would follow himmust imitate him in this.
How did Jesus serve?
He came into this world, gaveup everything, humbled himself,
(28:49):
lived a perfect life, and hehumbled himself to the point of
death on the cross.
He served God and he served theworld by doing these things.
He's our example.
And as the story continues on inthe book of John, it says Jesus
(29:09):
, knowing that the Father hadgiven all things into his hands
and that he had come from Godand was going back to God, rose
from supper.
He laid aside his outergarments and, taking a towel,
tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into abasin and began to wash the
disciples' feet and to wipe themwith the towel that was wrapped
around him.
He came to Simon Peter, whosaid to him Lord, do you wash my
(29:32):
feet?
Jesus answered him what I'mdoing now doing you do not
understand now, but afterwardyou will understand.
Peter said to him you shallnever wash my feet.
There must have been some badfeet right.
And Jesus answered him if Idon't wash your feet, if I don't
(30:03):
wash you, you have no sharewith me.
And Simon Peter said to himLord, not my feet only, but also
my hands and my head, all of me.
And Jesus said to him the onewho is bathed does.
Did you ever think about thefact that Judas was here?
For he knew who was to betrayhim.
That was why he said not all ofyou are clean.
When he had washed their feetand put on his outer garments
(30:23):
and returned, resumed his place,he said to them do you
understand what I've done foryou?
You call me teacher and Lord,and you are right, for so I am.
If I, then your Lord andteacher, have washed your feet,
you also ought to wash oneanother's feet, for I have given
you an example that you alsoshould do just as I've done to
(30:45):
you.
Truly, truly, I say to you aservant is not greater than his
master, nor is a messengergreater than the one who sent
him.
If you know these things,blessed are you if you do them.
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