The movie “Walking across Egypt" has a scene where Mattie (an older widow) was listening to her minister’s sermon where it talks about serving the “least of these”
Matthew 25:35-46
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'…
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"
In the scene Mattie was struck by what the minister had said and decided to serve in some way.She baked a pound cake for a juvenile delinquent named Wesley who was the local dog catcher’s son.And she went and gave it to him.
Below is the movie clip:
Then in the next movie clip Mattie is talking to her friend and Mattie told her friend that she thought that making that cake and taking it to the boy (Wesley) would be like taking the cake to Jesus. And her friend asked her “Was it like taking a piece of cake to Jesus?” and Mattie’s latter reply was “No, he didn’t look like Jesus, and he definitely did not talk like Jesus.”
This is the movie clip I am talking about:
When I watched this clip I thought this woman nailed it right on. When we hear that passage we think of Jesus and serving him, but then it is a little shocking when we serve because the feeling we sometimes get when we read this passage is “I want to go out and serve Jesus right now!This passage motivates you to serve.So you go out and try it…what happens? Sometimes it is great, sometimes though it is not.And it is like Mattie says “No, he didn’t look like Jesus, and he definitely didn’t talk like Jesus”
I have another example of our feelings when we serve. This one is not as light hearted as the last ones were. This one is of Dorothy Day from a move called Entertaining Angels. This woman had given up her life for the poor and also for many other causes. But this woman was dirt poor; she was serving God in a powerful way. Watch this clip:
Dorothy felt alone, she felt desperate, and she felt angry. She was crying out to God about how He wanted her to love these poor people. And how was God in them? How was He in them when they stunk, when they were sick, and when they wet themselves. She then comes back after her rage and asks God to be with her.
So then my question is how do we remove that feeling of serving? How can we serve as Jesus calls us to serve?
Maybe we have to look at ourselves serving God first?
As Bishop TD Jakes puts it in his sermon titled Is Serving God Worth it? One of his points is I don’t need you to tell me how to shout when I get a job, I need you to teach me to pray when I lost my job…He drives a good point here. His point is that we need to endure these things ourselves before we can teach others. The good times are easy, what about when the times get rough?
Look at the story of the widow when Elijah had prayed for drought and the Lord withheld rain for 3 1/2yrs. And Elijah had been instructed by God to go to Zarephath.
Now God had commanded a widow to provide for Elijah so Elijah was to go.
1Kings 17.Verse 9 to 16 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. So he arose and went to Zarephath and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son that we may eat it and die.” Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and your son. “For thus says the Lord God of Israel, “The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.” So she went and did according to the work of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.”
This woman who was a gentile was being asked a great deal. She was being asked by a stranger to give up her very last meal that after she ate, her son and she would die. I do not know if I could do that. Give up my very last meal my hope that, perhaps something would happen to make us survive a little longer. She was being asked the opposite of what we would do in a dire situation like that. But she did it. I believe because God commanded her to listen in the earlier verse perhaps had a lot to do with it! God blessed her for it, in multiple ways.Read more in the chapter to find out…
So now we seem to be getting a little closer to removing the feeling or want out of this. This previous story is clearly showing to seek the Kingdom of God first.
Further in my searching I stumbled across yet another sermon by John Piper on prayer.And the sermon hit it right on the nail. I was so excited I found it! I found what I was looking for. I finally found the key to servant hood….
Romans 12:12
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Ephesians 1: 15-23
“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
As John mentions in his sermon he replaces the word rejoice in Romans 12:12 with the word Joy.So there is Joy in hope. He also mentions “that joy sustains patient endurance.”
“This endurance through tribulation by means of joy in hope is what sustains the sacrifices that love demands. The best illustration of this is Jesus himself in Hebrews 12:2, “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross.” The greatest act of love that has ever been performed was sustained by the joy of hope. “For the joy set before him” he died for us.” Quoted by John Piper
“And since hope is the key to joy in tribulation, and joy is the key to endurance, and endurance is the key to love—prayer, as the key to hope, is at the bottom of everything in the Christian life.” John Piper
As John says “Minimize life in prayer than you minimize everything in the Christian life”
That is a powerful statement which I did not pay enough attention to in my life.Of course I pray everyday. Do I pray powerful prayer, prayer to change my heart to see? Perhaps not. I love the connection in this passage of scripture.
So let’s get back to servant hood.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.
"I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'…”
Remember this scripture at the beginning of this article Matthew 25?
Re-reading this in the light of understanding “Joy is the unshakable blood bought hope of Jesus” quoted by John Piper, Mattie in the movie “Walking across Egypt” did not truly understand the act of serving. The act of serving comes from our hope in Jesus Christ. Not in a smell, nor a feeling, nor pretention. It comes from seeing through our heart that we may truly understand what is “the hope”, from praying for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of God and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.
In the movie “Entertaining Angels” there is a scene where Dorothy has an unexpected visit from the Cardinal who was not happy with Dorothy’s work she was doing.
She mentions 2 things in this clip.One “I thought we were being church”.The second comment she made to the Cardinal was “I am here to help the people down here feel loved by God”.
That is exactly what we are to be. We are to be the church, everyday, constantly. We are also to help the people down here feel loved by God. How can we teach others what to do when trials come? When trials come to us what do we do? Do we give up, or do we really truly see with our hearts and know God’s hope.Do we consistently pray for this? How can we love and serve when we are drained ourselves? How did that widow who was preparing her last meal before she was going to die, was still able to go and fetch water and make a meal for a stranger? This was God’s glory. Nothing else. His immeasurable power was shown in the story of the widow.
I end with this prayer by John Piper…Please make this your prayer as I am making this my prayer…
“Oh God awake me and sustain my hope. Grant me oh God a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of yourself so that I know you better than I know my spouse or my friend or my child. Grant that there would be an opening of the eyes of my heart so that when I come to the bible or to a sermon that is saturated in the bible I would taste and see that the Lord is good, it wouldn’t be just a head thing. I would find my arms embracing you and your truth and your promises. Out of the blood bought hope that I am now seeing would you cause joy to rise up in tribulation so that joy would give me endurance so that I can endure my cross to help me love with that endurance the way Jesus loved so that the world will see and give glory to you. Amen”
Now I know how to serve so only the glory of God will be seen!
This is the link to John Piper’s sermon:
see here in separate link
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