Why Serving Matters

If you're a Christian, especially if you're a church-going Christian, the idea of serving the Lord has been hammered into you. Wait. That sounded terrible. I didn't mean "hammered into you" as a bad thing. If the church is doing what the church is supposed to do, then it should be hammering serving into us. What I really mean to say is this: maybe you've always been told you need to serve, you have to serve, you need to make serving a priority, you need to sign up for service opportunities, whatever you've been told. But maybe you've never really taken the time to think about why it matters.

One of the great things about growing up from probably middle school on through college-age years is that you have the opportunity to ask questions about your faith. There's a point at which most of your belief system has been setup by your parents, your church, your community, your youth group. And all of a sudden, as you start to mature and become a more independent person, you may start to wonder why you believe what you've been taught--about faith or about most anything else. Don't squelch the idea of asking questions. As we question, we have the opportunity to choose God and we have the opportunity to dig deep into things in life that really matter.

Serving the Lord is one of those things that really matters.

So, why does serving matter?

1. Jesus Demonstrated It - One of Jesus' most famous sayings about serving is in Mark 10:45. This is where Jesus says that He didn't come to be served by others--as would be the case of a king--but to serve. You're no doubt familiar with the saying "What Would Jesus Do". That was a very famous wrist band back in to the 1990's. The things we read about that Jesus did, we should strive to either do them explicitly, or to do things that represent the things He did. We saw Jesus travel around and serve others--we can follow that example almost exactly. We also know Jesus was crucified on the cross--we don't follow that one explicitly, but Jesus does tell us to take up our cross and follow Him, which is a representative way of doing what Jesus did.
2. It Brings "Love" to Life - The love described and demonstrated in the Bible is a verb. It's active and alive and doing stuff. Service is a tangible way for us to demonstrate our love for others. Read Romans 12:1-2. The author speaks of a "living sacrifice". When we give of ourselves for the benefit of others, it's not only an act of love, but is classified as holy and pleasing to God.
3. It's Why You Were Created - Hold on a second. Read that again and then sit with it. At some point in your Spiritual journey, you'll likely ask the question, "Why am I here?" As a follower of Jesus, the question really is, "Why did God create me?" God created you in order to have a relationship with you and to have fellowship with you as you and He walk through life together. But what will you and He be doing as you're walking through life together? You'll be serving other people! Look up Ephesians 2:8-10.
4. It's Why You Were Saved - God did not offer us grace and mercy that leads to salvation just so we could sit on that and wait for our trip to Heaven to get started. We have received salvation to set us free to do great things for others. Galatians 5:13 tells us not to use the freedom we have obtained to further our own agenda, but to further other people's agendas.

CHALLENGE:

1. How does really thinking about why serving matters change your perspective on serving?
2. Which aspect of why serving matters stood out to you and why?
3. Where does serving the Lord rank in terms of being a priority in your life?

Jesus Talks Serving

Matthew 20:20-28 is an encounter that Jesus had with his disciples and a helicopter parent. It all starts when the mother of James and John (Zebedee's sons) comes to talk to Jesus. Out of respect for Him, she kneels down and asks Jesus a favor. She asks him what seems like a random favor. "Grant that one of these two sons of mind may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.". Mom was anticipating that Jesus would ultimately ascend to some high seat of royalty. In Biblical times, that high seat of honor was often setup as an actual seat, and then there were seats on either side for the next two most important people in the kingdom. So, Mom isn't referring to some vision she sees about how Heaven works, she's just pushing for her sons to get the seats of importance in whatever kingdom / royalty setup may evolve.

Jesus' response, however, is about a heavenly throne. In verse 22, he tells her she has no idea what she's asking. The throne that Jesus will ultimately occupy will come after He has died on the cross, benn ressurrected, and then has ascended into Heaven. That's what he's referring to when he asks, "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?". James and John then respond saying, "We can". If I were Jesus, I think I would have just said, "Yeah, right!"

But Jesus tells them they will drink from His cup. So, they will participate in what Jesus is going to do by benefitting from His death for their sins. And when they do arrive in Heaven, they will see who the Father has appointed to sit where--you know, if there's actually "sitting" in Heaven. If we indeed will be walking around on white clouds, then who would need to sit? (Smiley face emoji).

So, the other 10 disciples are listening to all this, and they grow indignant--a word that means "righteouly angry". Not a good thing. That basically means just getting irritated because you feel insulted. I'm sure the other 10 are like, well what's so special about you two? Maybe we would like to have those two seats.

Jesus, being Jesus, and serving as the twelve disciples' Rabbi, launches into teaching mode. He tells them that His Kingdom isn't going to work at all like the kingdoms of the world that they see. The people who get the "big chairs" aren't the ones who have all the power and authority. For them, it works much differently.

Then Jesus says what I believe is one of the most powerful statements of how He wants His followers to live life in all of Scripture. He tells them that whoever wants to be great among them must take the role of being a servant (Greek word "Diakanos"). And whoever wants to be first must take the role of being a slave (Greek word "Doulos"). What makes you a big deal in God's Kingdom, in God's Economy, is to do exactly the opposite of how earthly kingdoms and the earthly economy are setup.

This Greek word for slave, "Doulos", paints this picture. Let's say you accidentally ran a stop sign on your camel and ran over someone's goat. You would be responsible for paying back the owner of the goat for the damage. Let's say you didn't have the means to pay back the owner. In their culture, you would temporarily put your life on hold and go work for the owner of the goat until you had paid the owner back for the damage. So, you enslaved yourself to the owner for a season, then you went back to your own life.

So, Jesus is saying to them that in order to be great in God's Kingdom, you need to adopt the role of putting your own priorities aside in order to put someone else's priorities first (Doulos). In order to be great in God's Kingdom, your role should be that of someone who serves someone else (Diakanos). And Jesus backed that up by telling them that He didn't come to be served, but to serve.

CHALLENGE:

• Read Matthew 20:20-28
• What are your thoughts on this encounter with Jesus?
• Who would you have been in this story? The mom? James or John? The other indignant ten?
• How do the words "servant" and "slave" make you feel about the importance of the role of serving as a follower of Jesus?
• How specifically does the world's economy differ from God's economy when it comes to being the greatest?
• How does Jesus' life of serving and ultimate sacrificial act of serving make you feel about your own attitude and actions toward serving others?

Change of Heart

The encounter with Jesus recorded in Matthew 20:20-28 paints a very clear picture of two things:

1. Jesus perspective on who will be considered great in God's Kingdom and God's Economy.
2. Just how misguilded the disciples hearts and attitudes were about what's important.

This story was a good ways into the time the disciples were traveling around with Jesus. Jesus was starting to be recognized more for the things he was doing and saying. And the disciples did leave their lives behind to follow Jesus. Maybe they were starting to feel like they had "arrived". Like they were a big deal. Like their position with Jesus meant they could look down on those who weren't following Jesus. Furthermore, maybe they had started thinking there was going to be a big reward for the sacrifices they had made to follow Jesus. There were going to be some important positions of prominence where they would be seated next to Jesus and everyone would oooooh and aaaaah over how great they were.

It certainly seems that for the disciples, the idea of serving was the furthest from their minds. They seemed to be thinking that the goal was to scratch and claw their way to the top of the list of "Best Disciples". And Jesus was like, sure you can do that. But you're going about it all wrong. You need to be prioritizing serving others. You need to be prioritizing putting your own wants and needs aside for the benefit of others.

Sit with that for a minute. Then really take some time to answer the challenge questions.

CHALLENGE:

1. Do you want Jesus to ultimately acknowledge your life and your contributions to God's Kingdom as great?
2. Looking at your life right now, would you say serving others and putting others first is a priority in your life?
3. Would you say your life is more about you and what you want, or more about helping others with their wants and needs?
4. What is your repsonse to the statement, "I have the heart of a servant?"
5. Let's get specific. Think back to the last few days or last couple of weeks. Can you specifically name any opportunities you had where you put someone else ahead of yourself?
6. What are some specific examples of where and how you served others during those days?
7. What upcoming opportunities do you have to serve the Lord by serving others?
8. If you think you may need a heart change about serving, think about what that might look like and how that might change your life, and spend some time with the Lord asking Him to guide you to change your heart, and then your actions, about serving.

Finding Your Groove

This series of devotional challenges is designed to show you ways to boost your Spiritual momentum--to become an "unstoppable force" for the Lord. Changing your mindset, changing your heart, changing your approach to serving the Lord can be a huge momentum shift in your faith journey. Here are some ways that can help you find your groove when it comes to serving.

1. Get Over Yourself - Okay, that was a little harsh, but stick with me. Whenever a student voices that they are having a bad day or are mad at the world or are feeling sorry for themselves, I will often encourage them to go do something for somebody else. Most of the time they look at me like I'm crazy. Kind of like, wait, I'm having a bad day and you want me to go do something for somebody else? Yes, exactly. Going and doing something for someone else is a great way to take your mind off your own struggles. But it will also help put into perspective how bad your bad day really is. I'm not critizing how you might feel, just giving you an outlet to potentially make things a lot better.
2. You Are Not the Center of the Universe - Ouch. Listen, that only hurts your feelings if you live like you are the center of the universe, right? It's amazing how serving the Lord gets your perspective off of yourself and your own deal, and onto those that the Lord is working to minister to, support and encourage. When you get focused on the things that the Lord is focused on, you become more focused on the Lord Himself, who in fact IS the center of the universe!
3. Find Some Small Things to Do - I think one of the things Jesus was trying to tell his disciples in that Matthew 20 encounter is that being a servant and a slave is a lifestyle. It's one of those "as you go" things. As you go throughout your day, be mindful of others around you. Look for seemingly small things you can do that can potentially have a big impact. I've had students where I teach come back to me a year or more after I've had them in class and share an experience where I helped them or encouraged them at a time when they really needed it. Most of the time, I don't even remember what they are talking about. At the time, it must have seemed like a small thing to me, but it turned out to be something significant for them that they still remember a year or years down the road. Don't let those moments where you can do something "small", because can be more significant than you could even imagine.
4. Discover Your Gifts and Talents - Literally anything you are gifted to do, any talent you have, any heartfelt thing that gets you excited about life can be used to serve the Lord and serve others. There may be things you are really good at that you've never thought about using to help other people. Did you know that nursing homes and retirement facilities are full of people who love old hymns and almost without fail have a piano sitting in their common area or dining hall. If you play the piano, boom! There's an opportunity to serve. Did you know that there are kids in your community who would love to kick around a soccer ball with someone they can look up to and admire. If you're even a little bit good at soccer, boom! There's an opportunity to serve. Whatever you can do or whatever you have can be positioned to help somebody else. It's just a matter of looking at what you have and putting it into action!
5. Dream Big - In our event-driven culture, we often think that serving the Lord means moving halfway around the world to be a missionary, or leaving your dreams behind to become a full-time minister. Serving the Lord is for sure a day-to-day thing, but sometimes small things can lead to big things. Maybe God is planting in you a dream or a vision to do something big--like being a full-time missionary or miniter. Or is it an opportunity to work or serve at a camp? To get involved into a service project at your school or church? To do something to make a difference in your family, school, community? Doing something that could literally change the world? We hear more and more these days about teenagers whose heart for serving others has turned into something amazing that glorified the Lord. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul told Timothy not to let anyone look down on him because of his youth. Adults don't always give teenagers a lot of credit. But I can tell you that a teenager on fire for serving the Lord can indeed be an unstoppable force!
6. Make Servant-Centered Decisions - As you move on through high school, you'll be making more and more decisions that will impact your future--where you want to go to college, what you want to do for a career, what you want your life to look like 10 or 20 years down the road. As you make decisions, take the time to consider how those decisions may impact how you serve the Lord. Your future may be a careeer position that provides you more wealth than you can imagine. Instead of just dreaming of big houses and nice cars, think about what you could do with extra wealth to serve the Kingdom. If your dream is to be a stay-at-home mom some day, don't let anybody look down on you for that. That's a prime-time position to not only be able to serve your children, but to do things to serve others that people with jobs in an office could never do. Thinking about and planning for your future shouldn't be all about "what's in it for me." Ask: "What could God do with me if I decided to go down this road?" These don't have to be life-altering decisions. Even the decisions you make each days as to what you'll do with your free time could benefit from thinking about how that time could be used to serve others.
7. Not All Serving Looks the Same - How you serve the Lord may look completely different from how others serve the Lord. Here's an exmample: I can tell you that for me, personally, the Lord has never called me to go the mission field. Sometimes I find myself comparing what I do to what people around me do to server the Lord--those who either permanently serve as missionaries, or who go on eternity-changing mission trips around the world. But, as I said, the Lord hasn't called me to do that. What the Lord has called me to do is to use the resources I have to support those who do mission work. You may not have thought about that before. But if God calls one to be a missionary, he's going to need to call more to support that missionary. There are lots of examples like that. God calls people to serve others by being a prayer warrior--not glamorous, but significantly important. I see examples on social media where, for example, landscaping companies go and clean up yards for people who don't have the means or the health to do that themselves. The Kingdom of God doesn't just run on one single type or act of serving. But when God's people bring all of their gifts, talent, money, time and resources together with a heart of serving the Lord, amazing things can happen! Unstoppable things can happen. Glorifying the Lord can happen.

CHALLENGE:

1. Go back through the list above about finding your groove when it comes to serving. Take some time to see where you can turn time and resources into opporunities to serve. Spend some time with the Lord asking for heart change. Then get busy serving!