Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and Esther 3: 8-11, 4:1-17 to start.

Who here has a set of dominoes at home? Yes, I’m talking about the double-ended rectangular tiles with pips numbering from zero to six, or twelve on a larger set, not the pizza franchise. If you do or if you don’t, you’re likely familiar with them. Maybe you play dominoes, maybe you don’t, but maybe you know the other, better use for dominoes. That is of course to make a domino chain. Stand the individual dominoes up on their ends in a line, spaced maybe an inch or so apart, then knock over the first one and watch them all fall down in sequence.

I don’t know about you, but I find this type of chain reaction is decidedly more entertaining than actually playing a game of dominoes. Of course, one set of dominoes does not make a very long chain. You can search for domino chain videos on YouTube and find ones that feature thousands of dominoes arranged in elaborate patterns, perhaps in different sizes and colours, and which produce spectacular displays when they are knocked down in sequence. Sometimes people integrate other toys or devices into these displays or use vast numbers of dominoes to make the effect even more interesting. I looked it up, the world record for the largest of these used more than four million dominoes. That’s a lot of sets, and a lot of work to put together. But no matter how large or small the arrangement might be, it all starts from a single domino knocking over the next one, which knocks over the next one. Each domino plays a part or it doesn’t work.

There are many things like that, perhaps not as visually spectacular as a domino chain reaction, but often more important and necessary. Inside your car there is an engine and transmission, both of which contain dozens of interlinked components that are all involved in delivering power from the pistons to the wheels. If one of those components is missing or broken, the whole system does not operate.

A mechanical clock or watch is another excellent example. All those gears and cogs mesh together and move in perfect sequence to keep the time accurately. I remember from when I was a child I knew someone who worked in children’s ministry. He had a fascinating watch, I’ve never seen one like it since. On the back he had engraved the words Thou God Seest Me, from Genesis chapter 16 verse 13, and the reason why was because it had the face open behind the crystal so you could see inside of it and see the moving parts. He used this as an illustration of how God can see us inside and out, He knows our hearts and minds just as plainly as He knows our words and deeds, even if no one else does, not even ourselves. It was obviously an effective illustration, because here I remember it forty years later. And I remember seeing all those little cogs in action, because you could watch the gears moving at their various different speeds, some fast, some slow, but all doing their part to keep the hour, minute, and seconds hands in motion.

There’s a lot that goes on inside a watch to make it work, but we only see the hands on the front actually moving. Sure, they are important, but they don’t really do most of the work, they are simply the visible components, the parts that we actually interact with. If any of the cogs inside were not present, then the hands either would not move, or the watch would not provide an accurate time, and neither of those would make it much use. Everything has to play its appointed part.

It’s not just applicable for mechanical devices. It applies to us and what we do, what part we have to play. If we would follow Christ, we are called to be servants. Not once or twice, but repeatedly throughout the gospels. For example, we read in John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. In Mark 9:35, Christ told the disciples after they had been debating who would be greatest among them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And then again in chapter 10, (42) But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. (43)  But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: (44) And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. We see much the same instructions in Matthew and Luke, and I could continue with this, because we see this repeated in throughout the gospels, and then echoed in Paul’s epistles.

It’s not merely words, either. Christ told the disciples to be servants, yes, but when you look at the example He provided it was as a servant. I read from Mark 10 a moment ago, reading one verse further it says (45) For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. This is how Christ lived, how He behaved towards the people around Him. He did humble tasks, he even washed the disciples feet, perhaps the lowest task for a servant. He served His Father continuously, even to the death of the cross. In the garden He prayed “Not my will, but thine,” because He was in submission to the Father’s will. That is the essence of a servant. A servant does what is required by the master, a servant does not make executive decisions, and a servant does not go against the master’s will or instructions. Otherwise this is no servant, this is a rebel and a renegade.

It is in our human nature to want to rebel. We think that mavericks and renegades are cool and we are attracted to this way of living, but it is an error, and it is trap. Funny to think that the promise of unfettered freedom could be a trap, but it most definitely is. When you don’t serve God, you serve someone or something else, and I promise you that whatever else that might be, it will not be even half so good a master.

If we would follow Christ, we are clearly intended to be servants. Scripture is replete with examples of those who served and were both blessed and a blessing to others. And scripture also shows us the alternative, we see also with those were not content to serve, those who did their own thing, and the suffering and devastation that resulted, examples running from Satan to Saul.

To rebel, to forge your own path, may sound exciting, and yes, it can be exciting, but commonly not in a good way. Forging your own path is often exhausting, unproductive, and painful. Over the Christmas holidays some of us went sledding with some friends up in Rollo Bay. There was a path to the sledding hill, but it had not been thoroughly cleared since Tropical Storm Fiona came through, and so and we had to make our own path through the woods. This featured clamouring over and under downed trees, breaking branches that were in the way, and dealing with knee-deep snow, all while dragging sleds along. It only took maybe ten to fifteen minutes, but it felt much longer, because forging your own path is hard. On the way back, we spotted the actual path, and while it seemed a bit more roundabout and not as obvious at first glance, it was far easier to navigate. Going the right way is the better choice.

When you have a part to play, a role to fulfill, obligations to attend to, that sounds less appealing to us than going offroad, as it were, because going our own way is selfish, and deep down, we all tend to be selfish. And serving others is definitely not selfish.

Filling our roles and taking care of what we are responsible for, being a servant rather than a rebel or a tyrant, that is how civilization is supposed to operate. Otherwise there is anarchy and disorder. We have seen throughout history all too often how those in leadership roles do not care about vulnerable members of society, but instead about their own comfort and power, how those in the middle can be more concerned with moving forward than with those around them, and how the people on the bottom, faced with limited options and opportunities, can become restive and revolutionary.

Responsibility and roles, that is how a family is supposed to operate, with adults providing food, shelter, protection, guidance, and love to the children and to one another, and the children contributing as they are able as they grow and mature. If that doesn’t happen, then you get laziness, resentment, imbalance, and strife.

And service, with and without notice and recognition, that is how the church is supposed to operate. Not as a bunch of free agents doing whatever, but according to the ways that God has ordained for us in His word. He has given us many roles to fill, many jobs to attend to, many tasks to complete. He has given us many opportunities to serve.

We read earlier from 1 Corinthians chapter 12 about the body and the church, which have a lot in common. A human body has many components or members as the passage reads in the KJV, and these are all necessary, even though they do various different jobs. A hand is no use for hearing, nor an ear for tasting, but we would certainly miss those capabilities and functions if they were suddenly gone.

And likewise in the church, in the body of Christ, we have various members, various believers, and we are not all the same. We all don’t have the same skill sets, we all don’t have the same gifts. We read from verse 12, but if I had asked him to start from verse 1, it talks first about spiritual gifts, and how there are various ones, all given through the same Holy Spirit, but not all the same. Some have knowledge, some have wisdom, which we think are closely related, but they are not the same. Some have faith, some have prophecy, some have interpretation, for example. Some of us have more visible, noticeable roles, and some of us less so. But that does not make us more or less important. God uses any and all who are willing to do His work, and it’s not about us, it’s about Him, His Holy Spirit, and His work.

This morning I’m up front preaching, and that is about as visible a role as there can be in a local church. This is what people expect to see and hear when they come to meeting, and it’s immediately apparent when the speaker does not show up, or does not do a good job. You only see and hear me for the 40 minutes that I’m standing behind the pulpit, but the actual work is significantly larger. It took me something like seven or eight hours of work to prepare this sermon, and if I don’t take that time, everyone would be able to tell, because it would be incomplete or incoherent. I’m not saying this to blow my own horn, but it illustrate how much behind the scenes work is required for the noticeable part.

Yesterday, while I was working on this very sermon, my family came over and cleaned the chapel, as most of us have at one time or other. You didn’t see them do that, but you can see the evidence of it in the clean floors and bathrooms. I’m not mentioning this to get them recognition, but to point out the unseen work that takes place. Did you have a coffee before meeting? That didn’t brew itself, and the cream didn’t simply materialize in the fridge. We have lights on and heat on because the Maritime Electric and Irving Energy bills were paid. You can hear me because the guys are running sound in the back. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes and that does not get much recognition, apart from seeing your name in the bulletin. This is only what I’ve mentioned in relation to this Sunday morning meeting, at this one place, right now. There’s a lot more that I haven’t mentioned, that I haven’t even thought of, that believers do with and without recognition, because they are willing to serve.

Sometimes there is indeed well-deserved recognition for a job done. I read earlier from Esther chapters three and four, it was a longer passage than I might normally read on a Sunday morning, but it tells an important story about Esther and the part she had to play. Haman, the king’s chief minister, had a gripe with Mordecai the Jew, and he decided to take this out on the Jews as a nation. But Esther, who was Mordecai’s cousin, happened to be married to king Ahasuerus, and was therefore in a place to intercede for her people. This was a more complicated issue than we might expect, because you do not get to tell an absolute monarch that He can’t do a thing, not without potential consequences, very serious consequences. In fact, Esther could not even go and see the king unless he had called her first, as anyone not invited to the king’s presence would be put to death unless they found favour with the king at the moment. And from what we know of Ahasuerus, his favour was not exactly consistent. He had not called for Esther for the previous month at this point. His previous queen, Vashti, he had divorced her because she wouldn’t cater to his whims while he drunk. Indeed, in I had skipped over the tail end of chapter 3, but we see there that he and Haman got drunk after writing the order to destroy the Jews. Ahasuerus was not a nice guy. Going to ask him to spare her people was not a safe, simple, or minor task. It could easily cost her life.

Esther was not keen, of course, but she was willing to take this risk, especially after Mordecai reminded her that perhaps she had come into her privileged position for exactly this moment. We won’t read the rest of the story, but Esther did go before the king, she did find favour with him, and she did at last present her case in order to save her people from Haman’s plot. The Jews survived, and I won’t say that everyone lived happily ever after, because Haman certainly did not. He died, hung from the very gallows he had built in order to hang Mordecai. People who seek to practice genocide often come to a bad end, in particular when that genocide is against God’s chosen people.

While the book of Esther does not specifically mention the name of God, it is easy to see how God had orchestrated events in order to preserve His people. Did he need to accomplish this through Esther? No, of course not. God is not limited, He does not need to do things in a particular way that would be easily derailed. His plans are not like a domino chain that would fail if the dominoes are not the right place.

The reason that we know Esther’s name is because she did play a role, she was willing to be a part of God’s plan to save His people. If not for that, no one today would know her name apart, probably not even the most careful scholar of Persian history, because how many other Persian queens can you name? I can think of one, and that would be Vashti, who I mentioned earlier. That’s about it.

Esther is remembered because she stepped forward in faith to do her part, to do something that no one else was equipped to do. She received great blessing because of this, and a large part of that was in being able to participate in God’s plan to save His people. She was blessed, and blessed those around her, because she did what was needful, and what was right, even at great personal risk. Even though what she did in going to see the king without invitation was far from guaranteed to save her people. She stepped forward despite the risk, despite the uncertainty, and was able to be an agent of divine blessing.

Now, God did not need Esther. He could have saved the Jews by other means, but Esther was willing and able to be a central part of that. She chose to participate in God’s plan, and did not refuse the call when her opportunity arose.

While we know and remember the story of Esther, there are many more unseen, unsung, unremarkable people who we don’t remember. So many have done so much away from the spotlight, away from the acclaim, away from the attention. There’s a brief account in Ecclesiastes 9 on this subject. (14) There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: (15)  Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

This may or may not be a factual account, it may more likely be a proverb to illustrate a point about wisdom, but it does make another point. Doing the right thing, the necessary thing, it might get you glory and honour, but the more likely scenario is that it may not. But you still do what is right, what is needed, what brings help and blessing to others, because it is the right thing to do. Even when it isn’t fun, isn’t easy, or isn’t safe. That’s no excuse.

Years ago I had a co-worker, she’s actually been my co-worker twice, I think the only person that I have worked with at two separate jobs in two separate decades. She was a smart and creative person, but someone who could at times get distracted and off track. Eventually she posted a note at her desk “Be a happy little cog.” I remember asking her about it, and she said it was to remind her that doing her job is often not about doing exciting, or interesting stuff, but that she was just one part of a larger organization and she had to fit in rather than stand out. There’s a lot more fulfillment in that rather than being a bold individualist.

And while she did not intend that in a spiritual context, I think that there is a useful application to the Christian life. We may want to do the big things, important things, great things for God, but most of the time, it’s the smaller things that add up, that really matter. The chore completed without complaint or recognition. The gentle word spoken to someone who needs to hear it. The kind deed, not requested but so appreciated. The earnest prayer, unheard by anyone but the Lord. Each of those is not impressive, not exciting, not grand or dramatic, but it’s actions like those, choices like those which make up the life of a good and faithful servant.

Like a domino in a line, we should be ready to play a part and deliver God’s blessing to the next person who needs it. Like an eye or an ear or a hand, do whatever task is available and that you are suited for, and work with those around you to make things better and get things done. Follow Christ’s example, and be a servant, a willing agent of God’s blessing. Be a happy little cog.