Over the years, I’ve learned the secret to loving serving.
See, I haven’t always thought of it as something essential. In the church where I grew up, it was an obligation. Something other people did.
So, what changed?
How I see myself, really. As I talked about last weekend, as your relationship with God grows, you begin to see serving as a part of who God made you to be. It’s an appropriate response.
We’re all going to serve something. The question is whether what we serve gives life or death. Serving God gives life, in part, because it is a part of our identity in Christ. In fact, it’s how Jesus defined Himself. Look at Matthew 20 and John 13. He says He didn’t come to be served but to serve. He showed us how to live by how He lived — washing His disciples’ feet.
As a matter of fact, you see it all through the Bible: Moses, my servant. My servant Abraham. Even in heaven, as described in Revelation, God’s people are called His servants (Rev. 22:3).
One day God is coming back and will ask, “What did you do with what I gave you?”
It’s not about feeling guilty and serving to help out. It’s about seeing yourself as God’s servant. Servanthood becomes effective when it becomes part of our identity.
We’ve been bought with a price. God bought us from the slave market of sin and gave us new life. That’s why we call Him Lord. He is our master. A master with our best interest at heart, rather than the master of sin, who is bent on our destruction.
We serve out of our gratitude. Out of our love.
You’ll sometimes see me serving on the Parking Team when I’m not teaching. I really enjoy it, helping people get in, interacting with them. When you get a chance to live out what you deeply believe, it’s fun.
This series, “You’ll Be Glad You Did,” came about because we knew we had a Connect weekend coming up and wanted to provide some context for that. But serving is such an important topic, we didn’t want to just give it one weekend. In fact, as our elders have been examining our core values in starting our Bedford campus, serving is one of those values.
Our Connect weekend on August 20-21 provides an opportunity to learn more about serving opportunities at Blue Ridge. Check it out. Choose to serve. You’ll be glad you did.
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. — John 13:14-15