We are in a series called The Walk, where we are looking at 5 spiritual practices that can help us grow in our faith so we can look more like Jesus. The first week we talked about the importance of worship both personally and as a church. While all of creation worships God, we are the only part of creation that chooses to worship or not to worship God. It is our choice, but when we do worship, we begin to experience all the fullness of life because we are doing what we were created to do.
Last week we heard that in time we begin to look like those we walk with, so it’s important for us to walk with Jesus and the best way to do that is to walk with Him in God’s word. The best way to spend time with Jesus is to read the gospels and place ourselves in the story and allow the story of Jesus to form in us. Reading and reflecting on God’s word is the best way to strengthen our faith so we need to make it an ongoing part of our lives, but reading God’s word with others has a unique power to shape us as well.
Today we are going to look at the spiritual discipline and practice of service. When the people of Israel finally settled into the Promised Land, they weren’t given the command to serve God, they were given the invitation to serve God. Joshua said,
If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15
Joshua wasn’t commanding the people to serve God, he was inviting them to, and today we are still invited to serve the Lord. Now, what serving the Lord often looks like is serving others. Jesus talked about the importance of serving others.
Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:26-28
While we are invited to serve God and called to serve others, the Bible is also clear that we were created to serve others.
We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
If we were created to serve others and do good works, then when we do them, we are doing what we were created to do and that is where we experience all the fullness of life. A few weeks ago, we talked about living in that “sweet spot” of life where we feel like we are doing everything that we are born to do and life is good. That sweet spot comes when we are doing all the good works and service God created us to do.
Now I do want to be clear and say that God’s love and salvation aren’t given to us when we serve others. Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Ephesians. Right before Paul talks about the good works we were created for, he says, for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Our good works don’t save us. We are saved by faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. and that is a gift of God. Paul wants to be clear that salvation is not from good works we do but that good works flow from our salvation and that they need to be part of our life because it’s part of why God made us. God made us to worship but God also made us to love and serve Him and others so when we walk in paths of service we experience the peace and power of life, but the choice to serve is always ours.
In the book of Isaiah there is this wonderful call of God to serve.
Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Isaiah 6:8
It’s not a command to go and serve, it’s a call and invitation. Isaiah replies. Here am I. Send me! Isaiah 6:8
We are being invited to walk with God in paths of love, kindness and service, and when we do this, we are following the example of Jesus, but serving others doesn’t just happen, we have to be intentional and make service the orientation of our lives. To do this, 2 things are needed. We need to be Available to God and Aware of People.
Becoming available to God might start with a simple prayer every morning. God, today I make myself available to you.
Like the Prophet Isaiah we could say, Here I am, send me.
We could use the words of Mary who, when asked by God if she would be the mother of the Messiah, said I am the Lord’s servant, May your word to me be fulfilled.
Over 200 years ago, John Wesley, one of the founders of the United Methodist Church, wrote a prayer that can also be used as a means of making ourselves available to God. (provided on the next steps)
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
To thy pleasure and disposal.
There is also an old hymn of the church we could use as a prayer.
O Master, let me walk with Thee.
In lowly paths of service.
Tell me Thy secret, help me bear,
the strain of toil, the fret of care.
What I like about this hymn is that it asks Jesus to tell us His secret to living a life of sacrifice and service. One secret to sustaining a life of service is knowing that serving God actually makes our lives better. This has been proven over and over again.
Studies have shown that there is a benefit we get when we serve. We know this. How do you feel when you serve someone or practice a random act of kindness? How do you feel when you are able to help someone or bless someone? You feel good. That good feeling has many physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits.
Physically, when we serve others on a regular basis, we experience less stress, have a lower blood pressure and are more likely to be physically fit. This all leads to a longer life. Studies show that those who volunteer and serve actually live longer than others.
Emotionally, those who serve others experience less depression. One of the key factors for people who said they felt very happy in life was that they volunteered about 6 hours a month.
Spiritually, because Jesus loved and served others, if we do the same thing, we are walking with Him and therefore we will look more and more like Him. Serving others strengthens our faith.
Making ourselves available is the first step in a lifestyle of service, becoming Aware of People is the second.
When we ask God to use us, God will show us the times and places where we can be used. When we want to be used by God and make ourselves available to God, God will show us the needs He wants us to meet. There are needs all around us and we probably see them already, but if we are going to meet those needs, we have to be willing to have our lives interrupted.
A lot of the work that Jesus did, and the miracles He performed, were not planned but happened because Jesus saw a need and allowed Himself to be interrupted. Jesus was walking into the city of Nain one day when He saw a funeral procession heading out of the city. They were carrying out a young man to be buried. When He heard that the young man was a widow’s only son, He was moved with compassion and stopped to raise the young man and return him to his mother.
Jesus was on His way to heal the daughter of a Roman official when someone touched His robe and He felt the power of healing flow through Him. Jesus stopped to find that person and when He did, He offered her an even greater blessing of restoration by calling her a daughter of God.
On other occasions, Jesus allowed His day to be interrupted by children and He took the time to bless them. Jesus fed the multitudes when they all found themselves far from any town and close to dinner time. The disciples wanted Jesus to send the people away so they could go on with their own plans, but Jesus said, no, you feed them. All of these miracles and moments of Jesus blessing and serving others took place because Jesus allowed Himself to be interrupted.
You may have heard the expression; life happens when we are busy making other plans. Well, the same is true for ministry, miracles, and service. Those opportunities often come as interruptions to our life, but if we choose to stop and serve, we will be blessed.
Personally, we need to walk with Jesus and develop a lifestyle of service, but we also need to find ways to serve together. The reason we need to serve with others is that together we can do more than we can alone. The examples of this are all around us.
If I tried to feed the hungry in the community by myself, I might be able to buy a few bags of groceries and find some people to give them to, but I wouldn’t be making a big difference. When we work together, however, we are able to gather all kinds of food from all kinds of sources and make sure all those who are hungry get fed. Together we are able to do so much more than we can on our own.
During Vacation Bible School we will have the opportunity to serve 100+ children and teach them about Jesus through games, lessons, music, and snacks. On my own, I might be able to do something for a child or two, but together we can make a bigger impact.
Each Sunday we get a great example of how this works with the Choir (Worship Team). On their own, each part (instrument/singer) would have been able to provide something, but it wouldn’t have moved us like the full choir(team) did. We can do so much more together.
A few years ago our mission team helped a woman in need and if I had gone to her house alone, I may have been able to sweep out her basement and paint some of her walls during the entire week. Working with others, however, we did electrical work, put in a new bathroom, regraded her yard so that her basement wouldn’t flood and we did a full clean out of her basement to create a usable play space for her special needs daughters. None of that would have been accomplished if we didn’t have a team of people who fed us and provided water and coffee. We made a much larger impact because we worked together.
The Christmas Dinner is another great example of this. There is no way one person can serve 700-800 people a full turkey dinner in 3 hours, but working together, we can, and each year we do. But to do this kind of work, we need everyone to be willing to say, Here I am, send me. Put me to work. Let me serve with you. If each one of us is willing to do this, we can make a huge difference in our community and world.
Right now, at Faith Church, we are seeing some amazing growth in the area of children and youth. It’s wonderful, but it also means we could use a few extra people so we could start some new classes. Pastor David is working with a team of people to help launch some fresh expressions, some ways of sharing Jesus with our community beyond the walls of the church. Those expressions need some help and support. No growth can take place in a church and be sustained over time without everyone making themselves available to God and being willing to be aware of and meet the needs. What needs can you meet? How can you serve God and others? On the next steps you can find some specific needs we have right now.
A few weeks ago we talked about praying 5 times a day, what if we committed ourselves to serving 5 people a day, every day. The service doesn’t have to be big; it can be a note, a phone call, holding the door for someone or a kind word of welcome or encouragement. Or maybe it’s offering your service to others through the church or a community group. If each one of us could commit to 5 acts of service every day, lives would change. Do the math.
There are over 400 people who worship with us in person and online. If each of us serves someone 5 times a day, that’s 2,000 acts of kindness, love and service in our community - every day. We all do that for a year and it means that 730,000 acts of service have touched the lives of others. I can’t help but think that ¾ million acts of kindness and service will change our community in some pretty significant ways. Even if it doesn’t change our community, it will change us.
God doesn’t command us to serve others, He invites us to. It’s an invitation into a life where we will experience abundance and joy as we honor God and make the lives of others better. Who will go and serve, God asks. May our response be, Here I am, Lord. Send me.
Next Steps
The Walk - Service
When have you served others and how did it make you feel?
What acts of kindness and service are already an ongoing part of your life?
To strengthen your walk of service, be:
Available to God
• Read Isaiah 6:1-8
• Read Luke 1:26-36
• Read Luke 10:25-37
How can you make yourself more available to God?
What holds you back?
Aware of People
• Ask God for eyes to see and ears to hear the needs of those around you.
• Keep a journal of the needs you see & ask God to help you discern what needs you might be able to meet.
• What need is God asking you to meet and how can you invite others to help you meet it?
John Wesley Covenant Prayer
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
To thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
