MY AGENDA OR GOD'S?

Why is it so hard to convince people that the only thing in this world worth pursuing is God's kingdom?  Why is it so hard for professing Christians to see that commitment of one's life to the Lord Jesus --- commitment to function as a servant in his Body on earth---is the highest fulfillment a human being can know?

Simple answer:  Everybody has an agenda.

This is what I want…..this is how I'm going to spend my time….this is what I hope to do.  It's my agenda.  And naturally, my agenda is top priority for me.  Maybe I haven't written it down on paper.  Maybe I've never spoken it with my mouth.  But it's there, sitting on the throne of my heart.

It can be an agenda out there in the business world.  I want to prove that I can make some serious money.

It can be an agenda in the world of sports, politics, or even to be the biggest fish in the family pond.  To be the family Godfather or Godmother, the Big Cheese.

It can be a religious agenda.  I want to revive this church.  I want to get this church on the right track.  I want to establish myself as a teacher, a healer, a spiritual heavy.

Everybody has one.  So you're going that way with your agenda, and I'm going this way with mine.  Sometimes we're even going in the same direction.  You like music, I like music, so we'll sing in the choir together --- provided you can carry a tune.  You like hockey, I like hockey, so we'll play hockey together.  But don't be asking me to change my agenda to fit into yours. 

James and John had been chosen by Jesus to be among his closest disciples.  They had been up on the Mount of Transfiguration with him.  They had seen glory.  They were good men.  And yet, while they had come all this way as Jesus’ disciples, they still had their own agenda.

They knew that they were into something big. And they wanted to make sure, that when the big day came, and the world would at last find out that Jesus is it's Messiah, they would be up there on top, right next to the Master.

"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."  And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"  And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."

                                                                        Mark 10:35-37

Why not?  We're putting in our bid ahead of the other guys.

Jesus looked at these two brothers and shook his head.  He loved these men.  But their agenda was blinding them to what the kingdom of God is all about.

Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"  And they said to him, "We are able."  And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."  And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.

                                                                        Mark 10:38-41

Now we have division in the fellowship.  James and John are bidding for the top seats.  The other disciples are indignant.  "Who do James and John think they are?"

So Jesus lays out a truth that's hard for them to grasp --- hard for us to grasp.  "You want to function in God's kingdom?  There's only one agenda that works: God's agenda.  And God's agenda is the direct opposite of the way things are done in this world.

"You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.  But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

                                                                        Mark 10:42-45

That's God's agenda.  It's the only way anything eternal ever gets done on this earth.  The only way the Body of Christ can transform us from slaves of vanity into servants of God.

Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

That's God's agenda for you, for me, and for our church.

The kingdom of God is not talk but power.  And the power of God's Spirit is entrusted only to servants, men and women who wash feet and serve wherever God puts them. 

So here's the critical question, the question that will make all the difference:  Am I willing to give up my agenda for God's agenda?  Am I willing to say now, and every morning when I get up, from now on, "Okay, Lord, you call the shots.  Your agenda; not mine.  I present my body to you as a living sacrifice."

If we are willing to make such a transaction with God, and keep renewing it morning by morning, we will receive power to walk the walk --- and guidance as to where to go and what to do.  We will receive our first installment now before we finish reading these words, and we will get a fresh supply every day.  The power of God's Spirit will not only be a wind at our back, lifting us along, it will be a flame of faith directing us from within.

And here's where we start:

"You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.  But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

We settle for being servants in the place where we find ourselves, and we are guided step-by-step, empowered with all the power of heaven. 

And here's what will happen next:  Your phone will start to ring with people who need a listening ear or a sustaining word.  Your routine will be interrupted by someone who needs a ride to the emergency room.  A forgotten relative will turn up at your doorstep, broke!  The husband and wife who live next-door are getting ready to kill each other, and they want you to mediate.  You bump into somebody in the supermarket who hasn't spoken to you in three years, and now they tell you why. 

Of course, you will also come across someone who has just the word you need to hear to encourage, help, correct you.  And you will just know that Somebody's running this show besides you!

It may not always be a smooth ride.  But you will be alive like you've never been alive before, as you live your days to God's glory as a servant.  God's agenda.  A thousand times more wonderful than your agenda.

It was after the resurrection.  Actually, it was the last time they were going to see Jesus with these eyes on earth.  They still were not sure what Jesus was going to do --- or what they were going to do.  Maybe he's going to set up the kingdom now.  Perhaps the Day of the Lord is about to dawn, and we'll be right up there with him.

So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"  He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth."

                                                                        Acts 1:6-8

"Not your agenda, fellas, God's agenda."

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses."

So here it is:  Am I willing to give up my agenda for Gods agenda?  Am I willing to let God fit me into his program, even at the expense of my program?  Am I ready to let God take over, even if it means a few changes in my life-style?

Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"  And they said to him, "We are able."  And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized."

And so it was.  James was the first of the twelve apostles to be killed for his faith.  John was probably the last.  But when they said, "We are able," they meant it, and they never regretted it.

They started out as servant-footwashers and ended up drinking the Master's cup of trial, sharing his baptism of fire, trusting God to handle the "glory portfolio" any way he chose.  The day those two brothers abandoned their own agenda for God's was the day they stepped into freedom. 

God help us to take courage and follow their example.

"Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and to be baptized with my baptism of fire?"

We are able.

Then the first item on God's agenda for each of us: just be a servant to our sisters and brothers in the Body of Christ, and to our neighbors out there beyond the Body.

"For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Start as a servant-footwasher, right in the body of believers where the Lord has put you, and God's agenda will take you out into the world on a journey of glory that will never end.

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses."