Freedom to Serve

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning the 5th of July, 2020, July 4th weekend, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This was an abbreviated service, also streamed live, due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Back on Mother’s Day, I mentioned that one of the women who stayed by Jesus to the end was the mother of James and John.  She loved her sons so much that she stayed with them all the way to the cross.  She had even dared to approach Jesus shortly before then to ask a special favor of Him for her boys.  Her request upset the other disciples when they heard about it.  What Jesus told them is something we all need to hear, and to take heed of.

Please listen and follow along to the conversation as recorded by the Apostle Matthew in chapter 20, verses 20 through 28 of his Gospel account, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

20 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. 21 “What is your request?” He asked.

She replied, “In Your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to You, one on Your right and the other on Your left.”

22 But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”

“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

23 Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from My bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on My right or My left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones He has chosen.”

24 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

--Matthew 20:20-28 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, by Your word in our Bible, You remind us that we will not be spared suffering in this world.  Even Your own Son Jesus had to drink from the bitter cup of betrayal, injustice, brutality, and pain.  As believers, we can expect no less.  But just as did Jesus, we must look past the bitterness and see the great opportunity You give us to serve.  By our service to others, we serve You.  By our Lord’s sacrifice and blood, we have been set free from slavery to Satan and sin and given the chance to please You by our service to others.  Please help us as we strive to serve.  Help us to love unconditionally as Jesus loved, to see others for what is in their heart and not their physical appearance.  Help us to be more worthy of Jesus’ sacrifice.  And Father, please protect this family from all the effects of the coronavirus and what is going on in the world today.  Please keep us strong in our faith, unified in our love and worship, and healthy and safe through the days ahead.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us for this day and for every day.  Speak to us of serving You by serving others.  Help us take guidance and strength from the words in our Bible and from Your Holy Spirit within us. This we pray under the blood and in the name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.


Peter Marshall was born in Scotland, came to America with his family, and became a pastor.  In 1947, he was appointed as Chaplain of the US Senate, where he served until his sudden death of a heart attack two years later.  During that time, Rev. Marshall lifted this prayer:

"Lord Jesus, thou who art the way, the truth, and the life; hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make all free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Help us see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right."

Liberty is not only to be loved, but to be lived.  It does not give us the right to do as we please, but the chance to do what is right.  We who believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Lord have seen the truth, the truth of Jesus, and have been set free.  And that freedom gives us the chance to choose, whether to return to the bonds of slavery to Satan and sin, or to become servants of our Lord.  Celebrate liberty by living it, and live it by serving God.


And yes, once we have been freed by Jesus, we do have a choice whether to faithfully follow Him or to return to a life of sin, of disobeying God and serving the devil’s agenda.  There are some who say that if a person returns to sin, they were never truly saved in the first place.  But I think that someone can hear and believe in the Gospel, can accept Jesus, yet still go astray.  I believe Jesus Himself addresses this in His parable of the sower, and the seed that falls on stony ground, where the plant sprouts but there is not enough good soil for it to fully take root.

And I also think we can all see how hard it can be to stay sinless in this world, to not be disobedient to God in all things.  Little hatreds and distrusts creep into our thoughts and out of our mouths.  We become more concerned about what we see being done to us than about what we are doing for others.

The Apostle Paul cautions us about returning to our old, sinful ways.  Please listen to what he wrote to the church in Rome in chapter 6 verses 12 through 23 of that letter…

12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

--Romans 6:12-23 (NLT)

19th century American pastor Phillips Brooks may be better known as the person who wrote the lyrics for that wonderful Christmas hymn, "O Little Town of Bethlehem".  But Pastor Brooks also echoed Paul's words when he said, "No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude.  There is no such thing as an entirely free man conceivable."

We have a choice of who or what we will serve.  Do we want to help Satan in his efforts to hurt Jesus and destroy the church?  Or do we want to help God advance His kingdom as He works out His great plan?

Those are our choices:  serve Satan or serve God.  Jesus said we are either working for Him or against Him.  There is no middle ground, no riding the fence, no standing on the sidelines watching the game.  We have a choice – choose wisely!


One last point I’d like to bring up regarding our freedom and liberty.  As a nation, a united people, we fought to gain our independence and we have continued to fight to maintain our freedoms.  And as a nation, a united people, we instituted our liberty by our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

But family, as a people freed by Jesus, our only true right, the only one that matters, is to serve God.  Just as Jesus came to us not to be served but to serve, let us make serving others our priority.  We have been set free, and now we are free to serve our Lord.

Let us not be self-serving, nor serve the devil and his agenda.  Love God and love others.  Serve God by serving others.  And in all things, do no harm.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, our Master, our Savior.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for allowing us to see the Truth that is Your Son Jesus.  Through Him we are washed clean and set free from Satan’s grasp.  Please help us remain free.  Help us to make the right choice when faced with any decision life puts in our path.  Help us serve You by serving others, just as Jesus served.  And help us be more faithful, more trusting, more loving, more merciful, and more kindhearted in our daily dealings with all we encounter.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You straight from our hearts, promising to repent of our sinful ways, seeking Your forgiveness and Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You came down from heaven to earth, and as God, You could have demanded anything You wanted of us.  But instead, You came to serve us, to offer us salvation and eternal life, to wash us clean in God’s eyes.  Jesus, help us, please, to stay clean, to do the right things.  Help us to make the right choice to serve You and our Father God by serving others like You served.  Help us to love and to do no harm.  And please, Lord, be ever with us as we walk through these troubling times.  Help us remain faithful and obedient through it all, concerned more with the needs of others than with our own wants and desires.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.