Serve Or Die

Read: Mark 10:35-45

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. --- Mark 10:35

The Bible In One Year:
Ezekiel 25-27
Proverbs 14:1-11

Dr. Paul Brand told me of a memorable Frenchman named Pierre, who had served in Parliament until he became disillusioned with the slow pace of political change. During a harsh winter, many Parisian beggars froze to death. In desperation, Pierre became a friar to work among them and organize the beggars themselves.

They divided into teams to scour the city for bottles. Next, he led them to build a warehouse out of discarded bricks and start a business processing the bottles. Finally, he gave each beggar responsibility to help another poorer than himself. The project caught on. In a few years he founded the charitable organization Emmaus.

Eventually, there were few beggars to be found in Paris. So Pierre went to India. "If I don't find people worse off than my beggars," he said, "this movement could turn inward. They'll become a powerful, rich organization, and the whole spiritual impact will be lost. They'll have no one to serve."

At a leprosy colony in India, Pierre met patients worse off than his former beggars. Returning to France, he mobilized the beggars to build a leprosy ward at a hospital in India.

"It is you who have saved us," he told the grateful patients. "We must serve or we die." --- Philip Yancey

THINKING IT THROUGH
In Mark 10:35-37, what did James and John seek?
What did Jesus say about the world's authority? [v.42].
How are followers of Christ to be different? [vv. 43-45].

IF YOU WANT A FIELD OF SERVICE, LOOK AROUND YOU.