Today is the last in our series, what on earth are we here for? What has God placed on this earth to do? To love God and love each other. Remember love is a verb, it is not so much something we feel, as much as it is something we do. Love is a choice. Jesus taught and modeled for us that one of the primary ways love is lived out is when we serve each other. In John’s gospel we read of what happened the night Jesus shared his last meal, the Passover meal (Last Supper) with his disciples:
NLT John 13:1 He [Jesus] now showed the disciples the full extent of his love...[5] And he got up from the table, removed his outer garments, and taking a towel, wrapped it around his waist, and poured water in a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.
Jesus, the Son of God, demonstrated the full extent of his love by getting down on his knees in humility and washed his disciple’s filthy feet. He showed his love by serving them. After Jesus washed their feet he said to his disciples, "And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you (John 13:14-15)."
What Jesus was saying to his disciples, and to all of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus, is that he expects us to do what he did. We must demonstrate our love by washing each other’s feet, meaning we serve each other. Anyone can say they love others, but the proof is in the serving. How are you serving your brothers and sisters in Christ or Christ’s church?
Serving requires humility.
In order for us to have a servant’s heart it will require humility. Serving requires humility. Philippians 2:3 Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.
Some of the biggest problems we as human beings have are pride and selfishness. Luke’s gospel account tells us on that very same night in which Jesus washed their feet the disciples were arguing over which one of them was the greatest (Lk. 22:25). So I can imagine the disciples all sitting around the table in awkward silence wondering who was going to have to wash their feet. No one was willing to humble themselves and make the first move taking the role of servant, because it would be like admitting they weren’t the greatest. It was an issue of pride. Yet what was Jesus’ response?
NLT Luke 22:26 But among you, those who are the greatest should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. 27 Normally the master sits at the table and is served by his servants. But not here! For I am your servant.
Jesus made it clear we are to love by serving, no matter what our station in life. Jesus could serve others in humility because he knew who he was, and what he came to do. He didn’t have to prove anything. He wasn’t worried about impressing people, or disappointing people’s expectations of him. Unlike the disciples, he wasn’t concerned about what they would think of him if he played the role of servant. He was truly free to serve in humble submission to God. Too often we get caught up in thinking we need to impress people, and we are unwilling to be humble, but it is knowing who we are and whose we are which allows us to be a servant. We are a child of God, loved by him.
Sometimes I find we are unwilling to serve certain people because, like the disciples, we don’t want to look like a servant, we want to be in charge. For example how often are you serving your spouse, your coworker, your boss, your employees, your parent, or child? Do you find yourself thinking, I’m not going to do that, that’s not my job. Whether it is a responsibility at home, or a task at work? I remember one time at work the garbage kept piling up because no one was willing to be the servant and take it out 20’ to the dumpster, ’it’s not my job,’ we all thought. Well if I do that, they will take advantage of me. I remember an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Ray came home from work trip and he set his suitcase down in the stairwell, and he thought his wife was going to bring it upstairs, and she thought he was going to bring it up, and so the suitcase sat there right in the stairwell, a day, a week, two weeks went by and nobody would touch it. It became a matter of pride. I’m not going to move that suitcase because if I do, than they win. Because neither was willing to be the humble servant, the suitcase became an explosive issue in their home.
God says we are called to serve each other in humility, just like Jesus did, no matter where we are at, whether it is in our homes, at work, or in the church. When we are humble we are willing to go out of our way to do the little things for each other. God rewards the little things we do to serve because God is more concerned about our faithfulness and attitude in serving than the size of the ministry, and many times God gives us little tasks of serving before he gives us the bigger jobs. There is no small task if we are doing it for God.
Serving Requires Thinking of the Other Person First
Serving also requires thinking of the other person first. The passage from Philippians chap 2 continues: Philippians 2:4 Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.
When we love other people, we think about their needs not just our own. What can I do for them? How can I serve them? We tend to be so caught up in our own affairs that we ignore the needs of those around us. We think, I’ve got enough to deal with in my own life without getting involved in theirs. That’s not the attitude of Jesus. That’s not an attitude of love.
This passage goes on to say we need to have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had who gave up his rights as God, his power, his authority, and came as a servant in human form to earth, and then died a criminals death on a cross. Why would he do this? Because he loves us. He gave it all up and sacrificed for us because he was thinking only about our needs. Our need for salvation. Our need to be cleansed of sin and restored in a right relationship with God. He came to serve, not to be served. God says our attitude toward others needs to be the same, we must change the way we think.
God wants us to serve each other, as an act of love in humility, but as our memory verse reminds us, God wants us also to serve together. "Agree with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose." Why does God want us working together? Because we are better when we serve together.
o We each have different ABILITIES AND TALENTS to offer.
Last week I talked about worshipping together and reminded us that our worship is better together because we all have different gifts and abilities which we can share, some can sing, some can teach, some are good at welcoming and greeting, some have the gift of hospitality. But it’s not just our worship which is better, every area of our lives are better when we use our gifts and talents together. The Apostle Paul compared the church to a human body.
Rom. 12:4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.
In a human body there are many different parts that are all necessary for the body to work together to be healthy and effective. When one of these parts isn’t working, what happens to the body? It fails to work correctly. You need every part of your body working together in coordination for you to be healthy. If your heart decides, ’I’ve been putting in a lot of OT lately, I think I’m going to take a break,’ or the liver decides it wants to quit because it is unappreciated? You might be in trouble. You might be able to get by without one hand, or a kidney, but it will make your life a lot more challenging.
What God is telling us is here is that each one of us is a necessary part of this church family. In fact, God has placed you here intentionally because you are needed. You have something to contribute which no other person here can contribute in quite the same way because no one is created exactly like you. You have a special function, a work to do, a place to serve. Your service is a necessary part of our church if we are to be healthy and effective in accomplishing God’s mission in the world.
You know I like to watch football so let my use a football analogy if I may. Imagine if you’re on a football team and the only person who wants to play in the game is the quarterback, and so you send him out on the field by himself. What would happen? I don’t care how good of a quarterback he is, he’s gonna get creamed really fast because he doesn’t have any protection, no linemen to block for him, no one to hand the ball off to, no receivers to throw to. Or imagine if you had a team with 11 quarterbacks out on the field together, or 11 running backs, or 11 wide receivers or 11 of the same position on offense or defense. What’s going to happen? Again, it would be a disaster because they would be trying to fill a position which doesn’t fit their abilities. They may have the best intentions, but when a 300 lb defensive lineman runs up against an offensive line made up of quarterbacks, someone’s getting hurt. Coaches pick their players carefully so the team is balanced with players who have different talents and abilities who can work together to accomplish the same goal. In this case it is winning the game.
The same is true of the church. God has placed us together, (for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sick and in health, oh sorry wrong service) and the Holy Spirit has given us certain gifts and abilities so together we make a complete team. But what happens if only a handful of the people in the church are using their abilities to serve? We’re not as effective as we should be. We will not accomplish all God wants us to accomplish, and God doesn’t have a plan B. We are plan A, so if we aren’t doing it, it isn’t getting done. Maybe you’re thinking ’I’m the bench warmer,’ or ’I’ve retired from the game. They’ve even hung up my jersey up on in the rafters for all my years of service.’ On God’s team, there aren’t any bench warmers and there is no retirement because he’s given us all gifts to put into use right now. We might change the area where we serve, or how much we serve depending upon our life situations and how much time we have, but we don’t alter whether we serve or not. God has a work for each one of us to do. We are a team, working together, serving together to accomplish God’s purposes. And every person is needed to suit up for the game. What are your gifts, abilities, talents, what are you passionate about, and how are you using them to serve God and others? Unfortunately the place many of us use our gifts is every place but the family of God; work, hobbies, recreational activities, community responsibilities, but how are we using our God given abilities together to accomplish God’s purposes here and now?
[Point out the list of places people are already serving in our church]
o WE GET MORE DONE together.
The second reason God wants us working together is so simple I hate to mention it: we get more done together. We all know this. This is not news. Teamwork multiplies effort. As the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 4:9 "Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor." "It’s teamwork."
You heard me say a little earlier, the only way we can accomplish what God wants us to do on this earth is by working together. One of the reasons God brings us together as a community of believers, a church family, rather than just doing our own thing with God, is because he’s got a lot for us to do in this world, in our community. God says he wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Ti. 2:3). As long as there are still people in our community who don’t know Christ, we’ve got work to do. God also desires that our world would reflect heaven (Lord’s Prayer), and in case you haven’t noticed recently, it doesn’t. God wants to work through us to help earth reflect heaven. We have our work cut out for us, and if we try to tackle it on our own we will fail. God knows we need each other to do it.
When this building went up there was a lot of people working together, side by side.
I’ve been a part of several mission teams to Haiti, Mississippi, Appalachia region, Iowa. And we work more effectively when we work together.
