“In His Majesty’s Service”

Preached by John DeBevoise
At Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church
 On September 11, 2005

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Romans 14:7-9

As I stand in the pulpit and look out in the congregation a bit longer, I see that both my older brother and my brother-in-law are in church today. Which is either a sign of the end times, or somebody has offered them free Bucs tickets. I’m just kidding. They are both outstanding Christian men whom I love dearly, and I’ve always considered them two of my heroes. So it’s an unusual twist of providence for me that they are both here, because I think this text talks about heroes today, particularly, the text, We are not our own, we belong to God.

This text from Romans, We do not live for ourselves, we live for Jesus Christ, makes me think of that great American (well, British) hero, James Bond, in the movie “In His Majesty’s Service.” Maybe some of you remember that movie. I remember when my older brother went to see it and I got to tag along. 1969 – at the peak of our adolescent journey. What a great movie it was! An action flick. You may remember it.

It was the first James Bond movie in which Sean Connery did not play James Bond. Do you remember who was James Bond after Sean Connery? It was a fellow named George Lazenby. It was the only time he ever played James Bond. He was an Australian, and they picked him out of a group of unknowns. He had no prior acting experience, and they thought that would be great material for somebody who had to replace Sean Connery. It was George Lazenby’s only appearance as James Bond. Not having any prior acting experience also meaning that he had no acting ability as well.

In His Majesty’s service. Or “On His Majesty’s Service.” It makes me think that we Christians share something with George Lazenby, or James Bond. We also are on His Majesty’s service. In His Majesty’s service. That is to say, in the service of the majesty of God. “We do not live for ourselves,” says the apostle, “we live for Jesus Christ.” 

This is a very difficult notion for us to embrace regularly, though at times we may catch it grandly. It’s difficult because both culture and human nature push us to teach us that we had better look out aggressively for ourselves and for our own interests.

Both culture and human nature push us to learn that we had better learn to look out aggressively for ourselves and our own interests. I could spend a lot of time illustrating for you with material out of the world today how this is true. Lots of powerful illustrations about how this is true. I could illustrate that for you, but I don’t think I will. I don’t think I’ll spend any time reinforcing that.

Suffice it just to repeat it: Both culture and human nature push to teach us that we had better look out aggressively for ourselves and our own interests.

Today in this text, the letter to the Romans suggests just the opposite. As Christians, says Paul, we should live our lives seeking Jesus Christ’s purposes. Indeed, he says, even our dying, not only our living but the way in which we die, even our dying should reflect our commitment of belonging to Jesus Christ.

This is a different way of living, this seeking out Jesus Christ’s purposes. It positions us when we seek to live this way for a life of serving others. It positions us to serve Jesus Christ by serving others.

John Calvin, that great student of the Bible, said five hundred years ago about this very text, we are not our own. Let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans or our deeds. We are not our own. Let us therefore not seek it as our goal to find what is expedient for ourselves, according to the flesh. We are not our own. Insofar as we can, let us therefore forget about ourselves and all that is ours. We belong to God. Let us therefore live for God and die for God. We are God’s. Let God’s wisdom therefore rule all of our actions. We belong to God. Therefore, let all parts of our lives accordingly strive toward God as our only lawful goal. And let this be, said Calvin, the first step for us, that a man should depart himself in order that he might apply the whole force of his ability in the service of God by following the example of Jesus Christ.

We are not our own. We belong to God. You are, if you will, in His Majesty’s service. You may not have been given a 007 number. But you know who has been the best secret agent, the best agent in the service of God? The best public agent? Not James Bond, but Jesus Christ. No one has ever done a better job of serving in His Majesty’s service than Jesus Christ. Jesus was the most loyal and the best agent God has ever had. He is the model for us for how we can live, as if we belong to God. What Jesus modeled for us is that we should serve God by caring for others. As God’s agents, Christ has showed us how we should seek to serve others according to the purposes of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

What has been new for us, Christ said, is this way in which we can learn to serve others. You remember what Christ said about serving others. Love your neighbor as yourself.

You remember what Christ said about serving others, don’t you? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

You remember what Christ said about serving others. When you have done it to the least of these, you have done it also to me.

We live out our belonging to God. We live out being in His Majesty’s Service by serving others in the pattern of Jesus Christ.

In the tradition of Jesus, we do this service even to the point of personal sacrifice for the high ideal or the community good. In fact, Jesus Christ was the epitome of the Christian tradition of one who gave his life as sacrifice for the good of many, for the community good. For the good of his friends.

In fact, Jesus speaking to his friends, said, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Now I don’t see this as a glorification of death, which Jesus in his resurrection sought to triumph over. Rather, I see this statement, Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends, as a statement that there are some things in this world that are so valuable that they are worth spending your life on. There are some things in this world that are so valuable, they are worth spending your vocation on. There are some things in this world that are so valuable, they are worth spending your time and your resources and your stewardship on, giving your whole life toward. You are agents in His Majesty’s service. You are agents in the service of Jesus Christ.

Today is, of course, the 9/11 anniversary. And in an unexpected turn of providence, we find ourselves encountering the anniversary once again surrounded by images of men and women throwing themselves into the task of caring for others, even at the point of personal risk, both in their vocation and as volunteers. We find ourselves once again seeing the images of people working for the protection and shelter of others. We see again the images of volunteers going into buildings and working in shelters, pulling people to safety from rooftops and flooded homes. We see the images of people providing medical care and protection and relief in difficult circumstances. Bringing in supplies and materials that are necessary for the common welfare.

If it feels inspiring to your faith to see these rescuing images, that may be because serving others is at the heart of the pattern of your faith as Jesus Christ has given it to you. You know this drill. This is the pattern of Jesus. And this is such a deeply taught and cherished pattern that it may seem simplistic to take a sermon just to point it out. But remember where we started: Both culture and human nature push to teach us in the face of this pattern that we had better look out for ourselves and our own interest, and let our neighbor look out for himself.

An inspiration to self-sacrificing service is not the only thing that we have experienced over the last four years. Or the last two weeks, for that matter. I could spend a lot of time illustrating powerfully all of the places that illustrate the discouragement we contend with, or the negative possibilities of human nature, but I don’t think I will.

Instead, let us use this day, the 9/11 anniversary, to renew our commitment to our Heavenly Father’s service. Reminding the church, the community of faith, that what the faith calls for in terms of self-service, and seeing in heroic measures, in the midst of disaster, the pattern of faith. And pointing them out as the pattern of faith is an important part of the proclamation of the Gospel. We should be saying this to one another. We are not our own. We belong to Jesus Christ. We are in His Majesty’s service.

Of course, every act of Christian service is not going to be as dramatic as dangling from a Coast Guard helicopter and pulling somebody off a rooftop. Everybody is not able to act like Sean Connery. We don’t all look like James Bond. Every act of Christian service is not likely to be as dramatic or as internationally powerful in terms of the image as those that we have been seeing in the rescues over the last week, or in the stories from Afghanistan and Iraq. Christian acts of service are more likely to be characterized by tenderness. By thoughtfulness. By prayerfulness. By humility. By forgiveness. By persistence.

This week I have seen images of Christian service. People going into the drug store to buy band-aids and wash cloths to bring for health kits to send to those in Louisiana and Alabama and Mississippi. This week, Christian service has looked to me like someone giving up their morning to move a friend out of the rehab center and back into Manhattan Villas. This week, Christian service has looked to me like somebody giving up their vacation to go hiking with the Boy Scouts on the Appalachian Trail. This week, Christian service has looked to me like somebody giving of their presence in committee meetings so that their wisdom and their accountability and their action can be a part of shaping the work of the greater good.

Every action of Christian service is not likely to look as dramatic as dangling from a helicopter. Nevertheless, they are vital. Mother Theresa said, “We are not all able to do great acts of service, but we are all able to small acts of service with great love.”

Every act of Christian service may not be as dramatic as James Bond. Some of them may look like hymn writing. Have you seen any of the lyrics to new hymns that have come out since 9/11? There is one in particular that has touched my heart, and I think the writing of it has been an inspired act of Christian service. We sang it last week. It started as a poem written by Carolyn Gillette, a Presbyterian minister, who wrote this poem and then set it to a hymn tune so that congregations could sing it as an act of their worship following disasters. She wrote it for 9/11, but we sang it after the tsunami, and now we are singing it after Hurricane Katrina. The truth about the world is that we probably sing it again. The poetry touches me.

God, we’ve known such greed and anger
And we’ve heard your people cry.
We have asked you, “How much longer?”
We have sadly wondered, “Why?”
In this world of so much suffering,
May we hear your voice anew:
“I will never leave your orphaned;
I will not abandon you.”

Hope is ours for, God, you love us!
You have claimed us by your grace.
And through Jesus, you have called us
To bring hope to every place.
In each rescue worker’s caring,
In each faithful volunteer,
In each Christian’s love and serving,
God, we glimpse your kingdom here.

 Every act of Christian service will not be as dramatic as dangling from a helicopter and pulling people off rooftops. But you are in His Majesty’s service.

This poem, this hymn, reminds me of another inspired Christian poem about serving that was written well over eight hundred years ago, one you probably know by heart. It goes like this:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
And where there is sadness, let me sow joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console.
To be understood, as to understand.
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are born into eternal life.

©John T. DeBevoise 2005