Heart to God and Hands to Man Luke 9:23 Sermon delivered on the Christy School/Church House Steps ChristyFest '99 June 27, 1999 Introduction: The story of Christy is near and dear to our hearts…we're here, aren't we? It is a story of hope, faith, and courage. But it is also a story about service, sacrifice, and steadfastness. Christy Huddleston, a young 19 year old girl leaves behind her safe, comfortable, familiar, and secure world in a prominent community. A place we call Asheville, NC. She leaves, sacrifices, all that to live in a poor, dangerous, rugged, and unknown place in the mountains, where suffering and struggle are common. A place we call Cutter Gap. But these places have many names, and can be found all over the world. People like Miss Huddleston, every day, leave comfortable homes to go to places of terror. Why? To serve. To follow the example of a man who did the same thing, 2000 years ago. Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, left the glory, splendor, and holiness of Heaven and His Father's throne to come and live on earth, sinful, full of pain and evil. The timeless, limitless God entered time and limited Himself to a human body. He suffered pain, fear, anger, sadness, and other elements of the human experience out of love for us and obedience to His Father. Read: Philippians 2:5-11 And that is what Christy did as well. She had the attitude of Christ, as Paul describes in verses 1-4 of that chapter. Read: Philippians 2:1-4 If we are to truly honor the character of Christy, the show, the book, the legacy. If we really want to keep Christy alive, then we need to follow her example. BUT, if we want to also practice self-sacrifice and making a difference in people's lives like she did, then we need to follow Christ's example. We need to have the same attitude that both Christ and Christy had. There are three things I know of we need to do, and they are found in the words of Christ. Read: Luke 9:23 I. Deny Yourself In another Mission, around the world in China, Robert Morrison wrote, "The great fault, I think, in our mission is that no on likes to be second." John the Baptist was a man who didn't mind being second. In John 3, the preacher was confronted about the success of Jesus, to which John replied, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase and I must decrease" (John 3:29-30). John learned the secret of denying yourself. It is NOT about loosing who you are, your personality, what makes you a unique individual. God created you as you and not as anyone else. He doesn't want robots. Self-denial is about decreasing so that someone else may increase. It's about considering someone else's needs above your own. It's Fairlight Spencer making sure her children are fed before she eats for herself. It's about Christy fighting homesickness and not going home for Thanksgiving to help the people of the cove eat and be thankful. It's about God dying so that we may live. Jesus said it like this in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." Whether literally or figuratively, it's about dying to self so that you can live for others. Self denial is also about voluntarily entering another person's life. It's a commitment to cry when they cry, laugh when they laugh, hurt when they hurt, and rejoice when they rejoice. In the novel Christy, Miss Alice tells Christy: "If we're to work on God's side, we have to decide to open our hearts to the griefs and pain all around us. It's not an easy decision. A dangerous one too. And a tiny door is opened to enter into a whole new world. But in that world a great experience waits for us: meeting the One who's entered there before us. He suffers more than any of us could because His is the deepest emotion and the highest perception." We can deny self and serve, and if necessary suffer, for others because Christ has already done that for US!! II. Take Up Your Cross I'm sure you've heard, or maybe even used the phrase, "well, that's just the cross I have to bear." People say that, meaning it to refer to some unwelcome burden they have to put up with. But that's not what that phrase means at all. The next logical step after laying your self down, is to take up the cross of SERVICE. It is an extension and really, the full expression of self-denial for the good of others and the glory of God. Jesus didn't deny the glories of Heaven for 33 years for nothing. He did it for the purpose of dying on the cross for us. Neither did Christy leave behind home and family just to run away from home. She did for the chance to serve the people of Cutter Gap. Norman Cousins, after spending a considerable amount of time with Albert Schweitzer in his little hospital at Lambarene in French Equitorial Africa, wrote of those days: "The biggest impression I had in leaving Lambarene was of the enormous reach of a single human being. Yet such a life was not without punishment of fatigue. Albert Schweitzer was supposed to be severe in his demands on the people who worked with him. Yet any demands he made on others were as nothing compared to the demands he made on himself… "History is willing to overlook almost anything—errors, paradoxes, personal weaknesses or faults—if only a man will give enough of himself to others. The same, I believe, is true of God. He can understand and forgive our weaknesses to temptation, our fears and doubts, and our misconceptions. But Jesus said we can NOT be His disciples without laying down our lives for others. He said, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 16:25). "What is my cross?" you may ask. It is that which God has called you to take up and bear. For Christy, it was teaching children in a poor, mountain school. It was helping a grown woman and mother learn to read. It was hugging the hurting and feeding the hungry. For Mother Teresa, it was feeding and helping the people of India. For Billy Graham it is proclaiming God's Good News all around the world. Only you and God can determine how He has called you to serve. But He has called you!! Look at your interests, what fuels the passion of your heart, what your gifts and skills are. These were given to you by God. Use them. III. Follow Me. Not a ritual, a denomination, or a philosophy. We are to follow HIM!! Look at Jesus, what He did and said. Learn how Jesus lived and why, and apply that to your life. That's what Miss Alice and Christy both did. They loved the unlovely. The spoke the truth. They fought injustice. They respected others. Miss Alice describe service like this: "First, the Master cares. He suffers with us. He weeps when we weep. He aches when we ache. He cares. Second, we can have His friendship only if we are willing to let go of our resentments and our bitterness and our hating and our feuding and our name-calling and our shooting and love one another…" Follow Christ. Say what He says. Love who He loves. And Hate evil and injustice and sin, as He hated them. Go where He goes and do what He does. If we deny our self-centeredness and take up the cross of service, we've already done the hardest following there is. Miss Alice said that God "can't use ivory tower followers. They're plaster of paris, they crumble and fall apart in life's press. So you've got to see life the way it really is before you can do anything about evil." That's why we can NOT follow Jesus without first the pain of being pruned and tried by fire. Closing: (Relate personal story of leaving home for Texas, and taking up the cross of youth ministry.) Bruce Thielemann, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, told of a conversation with a member of his flock who said, "You preachers talk a lot about 'do unto others,' but when you get right down to it, it comes down to basin theology." Theilemann asked, "Basin Theology? What's that?" The layman said, "Remember what Pilate did when he had the chance to acquit Jesus? He called for a basin and washed his hands of the whole thing. But Jesus, the night before His death, called for a basin and proceeded to wash the feet of the disciples. It all comes down to basin theology: which one will you use?"