09/08/2018
We are told to serve one another, but how, and in what way are we to do that? This subject is just as deep and profound as it relates to our faith as our prayers. You might argue this point, but think back on the life of Jesus. You may not have recognized all the acts of servitude He performed because He did them disguised as love, and shrouded in humility; yet there they are. His lesson on serving that He taught as He washed the feet of His disciples was just the most obvious and most frequently touted... yet quite possibly the least of them all.
“For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”John 13:15-17 ESV
There are two types of serving, one is the philanthropic service of the world, and the other is the less obvious service of the faithful. One comes primarily from empathy and self promotion, while the other is founded on love. There is a place for both, but they shouldn’t be confused with one another, and sometimes telling the difference in them is hard. If you watch much television you see commercials that present a charitable cause and tell you how you can contribute or help in some way, but they typically include the name of a company or large corporation that is sponsoring the effort to promote themselves as caring. Around election time we see politicians as they tout their caring about this charity or that and show us images of themselves as they build playgrounds or work in soup kitchens. Don’t get me wrong... these types of involvement help people, lots of people, and sometimes dramatically, but they are like the hypocrites who stand on the corner... they are getting their reward here in this world. This is empathetic service that is often swirled with just enough love so that it is hard to tell the difference.
“"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”Matthew 6:5 ESV
Jesus had no agenda other than to serve God’s will, and to love those He came in contact with. His humble nature, and desire to glorify God, not Himself, often keeps us from referring to the things He did as service. We call attention to them through the use of other names such as... teaching, feeding, healing, visiting, witnessing, suffering, dying, and redeeming, but when we strip them to their core they are serving.
We get excited when an opportunity to serve arises! We want to be like Jesus so very badly, and we want to love one another as He instructed us to do. We want to follow His lead and commandments, but these things are much like prayer... when they are matters of our personal faith they are served best in secret, or shared only as encouragement to one another.
Churches receive many sizable donations from individuals; some come with fanfare, and others in secret. Some have a stipulation attached to them, while others have none. Each of these donations, or acts of service, must faithfully be weighed out and the desire behind them ascertained. Asking for donations for a worthy cause from the pulpit is like corporate prayer, but the individual donations we make to them are more like the prayers we offer up in the privacy of our prayer closets. Do you see the difference, and the need for both?
Now that we have discussed the types, and motivations of serving, let’s talk about the reward that faithful giving and service can bring.
Serving without the expectation of personal reward can change your life! It can achieve something in you that nothing else can. It can bring you close to God in a way that is so contrary to your human nature, and personal life, that it will shock you when you realize what has been done. Faithful serving takes the “Me” out of you and replaces it with a love and humility for another that overwhelms your ability to describe. All of the self gratification ebbs away, and you are left standing on a pristine beach with Jesus. Sometimes this comes quickly, but it can also take years for our egos and selves to be overcome. This is where He wanted us when he taught...
“Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'”Matthew 25:34-36 ESV
We shouldn’t serve to receive, we should serve simply to give, yet somehow in the end when we have served in love without any expectation of return, we find that our faith has been rewarded in spiritual ways that astound us. This is a mystery that can’t be understood until it is experienced, and it doesn’t happen without great personal dedication, love, and sacrifice.
I once served an elderly couple for several years. I did it because I loved them, and I had no expectation of any return. It required great dedication, much time, faithfulness, and even some suffering, but as the months, and then years went by I found a new and even deeper love for them that I can’t explain in any other way but to say that it was like the love of Jesus was gushing through me. The work became easier, and the suffering pleasurable in an indescribable way. So there was no reward, no notoriety, or fanfare, just quiet servitude, and it transformed me... it changed my life, and grew my faith. It bled over into every aspect of my everyday life, and became who I was.
Prayer transforms us as we converse with the Lord, but service transforms us as we give, work, and suffer... it is a transformation of both body and soul; the joining of what was created with what was breathed into us in one amazing effort, It is inexplicable and ties us together in our faith like a bow around a package. Jesus didn’t come to tell us that we were forgiven, He came to serve, suffer, die, and to show us through these things that we had been redeemed. He did this in body, soul, and mind... He did it in obedience, service, and prayer.
Who do you serve? What do you serve? Are you prepared for a journey that will change everything that you are? Are you ready to take a pilgrimage with Jesus that will require much of you? Are you ready to pick up your cross?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for hearing my prayers, and I thank you for helping me through the journey of servitude that I am on. I thank you for the very personal conversations, and the quiet and obscure ways you provide for me to be of service to you through those around me. Help me Holy Father to defeat the nature of the world that is so tied to who I am. Help me to become more like your Son Jesus with each step I take, each prayer I utter, each act of love I perform. Help me Merciful Father to find the humility of Christ that is at my very core, and draw it out of its hiding place into the light of your day. No matter the need, no matter the desire, no matter the motivation that I find in others, help me to see them through your eyes Heavenly Father, and let my service to them be rendered as your child, as your son. Empty me Father of the man I am, and fill me with your loving kindness, and all those characteristics that would make me better... more like you. Though I walk like a man, help me to act and bleed in humility and righteousness as Jesus did. You are great Father, and I will shout out “Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God of Love and Grace!” You are deserving of all glory, and in you I hide myself; in you I am nothing, and yet I am everything. Praised be your name!
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”Philippians 2:3-7 ESV
Rich Forbes