Have you ever seen something in the world that just didn’t seem right? What was it and how did it make you feel? Did you do anything about it?

Why do people serve? What motivates them to serve others?

What motivates you?

We often serve others for the same reason we eat breakfast in the morning.

we wake up hungry so we eat something to satisfy ourselves.

one motive for serving is to feel good about ourselves.

It looks good on a resume.

or it makes us look good.

What if we flipped that around? Changed our perspective on why we serve?

What would it look like to see service, not as a cause, but as an effect? It would stop looking like a tool we can use to get what we want, and it would start looking like a natural response to problems we see in the world.

That's what this weekend is about, talking about how service should be a natural rhythm of our lives and servant a identity we all claim.

That service wouldn’t be a “once-in-a-while thing”, but a “whenever we see a need” kind of thing.

That we would try to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who modeled service better than anyone in all of history.

He offered His whole self to all of humanity, motivated by love.

What is a servant?

how would you answer that?

What images or people come to mind?

Butler or maid?

Mother Theresa or a slave?

Jesus calls us all to be servants. But what exactly does that mean according to the Bible?

At the end of His time with His disciples, Jesus explains to them what it looks like to follow Him and in that He gives us a description of a servant.

Luke 22:24–27 CSB

Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called ‘Benefactors.’ It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving. For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

Notice the last part of that verse: “I am among you as one THE ONE who serves.”

He doesn’t tell His followers that serving others is a good thing to do, that it will make them feel good.

He tells them that if they want to become great, they should be like Him, a lowly servant, not a mighty warrior or a powerful leader.

He really turns things upside down doesn’t He.

Who are the people that make the biggest impact on your life?

Probably parents, coaches, teachers, or church leaders.

And the best ones are not the strongest necessarily, but the ones who serve and love.

I think of my grandma on my dad’s side.

She didn’t get to finish school, never got her driver’s license, and never had a lot of money, but she was profoundly impactful on all 4 of her boys and their children (including me).

When my dad was growing up, my grandma would cook three meals a day for her 4 boys with very little money and not a lot of help from my grandpa.

My dad says she would rarely eat with them because she didn’t want to eat until she knew her boys had all they wanted.

Whenever they were done, she would eat whatever was left over.

When I was growing up I can remember my dad doing the same thing.

He wouldn’t eat the last piece of steak or take the last piece of bread just to make sure my sister and I had all we wanted.

That might not sound like much, but thinking of others before yourself is the definition of servant leadership from Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2:3–4 CSB

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

Jesus called us to do something radical: to give up trying to be first and to choose to be last.

That’s way more involved than taking the occasional opportunity to do something nice for someone else. It’s a whole new way of living!

For Jesus, serving others wasn’t just a good idea or part of his moral code. It was a reflection of God’s own character.

He didn’t just serve when he felt like it or when it was convenient. The whole point of Jesus’ life was to serve us (Matt. 20:28).

Let’s explore what Jesus meant when he said, “I am among you as one who serves.”

Servants are HUMBLE.

In the passage, the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest in the group.

Each of them wanted to be the best, the top guys, and the most important, and they thought physical strength, knowledge, ability, and position were the ways they would become the top.

But that was not Jesus’s way.

He told them their priorities were upside down.

In God’s kingdom, the greatest were not the rulers, but the servants.

By fighting to be the best, they weren’t becoming more like Jesus, they were become more like the world around them.

To be like Jesus, they needed to be humble.

--SHOW UNDERCOVER BOSS CLIP--

True service requires an attitude of humility. In Mark 10:45, Jesus says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus isn’t telling His disciples to “Be more humble.” because that is hard, and maybe even impossible.

He is telling them to “Be like me.”

True humility is a result of following Jesus, as we begin to see ourselves in light of who he is.

Philippians 2:5–8 CSB

5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.

Servants SACRIFICE

A true servant is also willing to sacrifice for others. Whether by giving up time, money, social status, or comfort, serving like Jesus means offering our very selves to others.

Jesus’s whole life on earth was a sacrifice. From becoming a man, to living a humble life, and then dying a death reserved for the worst of criminals.

Following Jesus then means being willing to sacrifice ourselves in order to serve others.

We can all think of people in our lives who have given their time, given up their own resources or comforts in order to serve us.

When my grandma died back in 2020 some what suddenly and I was doing her funeral.

Before the funeral started I looked up and in the back Rosie and Wayne from our church had driven all the way to Lawrenceburg just to support me and love me.

They sacrificed their day and their gas just to love me and it meant SO much to me.

Sacrificial service isn’t done for the applause of others.

We should serve to please God, not people.

That means you might have to give up popularity, credit, and comfort.

Yet serving in the name of Jesus is worth it for the sake of knowing Christ, fulfilling the role God made especially for you, and being a part of God’s kingdom!

Servants DO SOMETHING

It isn’t enough just to talk about serving, we actually have to DO something.

Jesus didn’t just tell people about the benefits of service, he served people in tangible ways.

So if we are going to follow Him, we must be looking for ways to serve and JUST START DOING IT.

We sing about Jesus, read about him, and say that we’re following him. But then our lives don’t look any different from how they were before.

Knowing what Jesus is doing isn’t the same as following him.

Mimicking Him only when we feel like it isn’t the same as following him.

We truly follow him when our lives begin to imitate his, when we put our faith into practice and begin serving others around us like Jesus served.

Jesus wasn’t just a great teacher who taught about service—he actually served, all the way to his death on the cross for you and me.

Putting it all together

Jesus invites us to imitate the way he served others: by becoming the least instead of the greatest.

Following him is a better reward than praise, power, and even comfort.

That means we may have to rethink how we spend our time, choosing to say yes to service opportunities instead of other things that might be more fun.

More than anything, we need to pray to Jesus and ask him to direct and guide us in our service.

Remember, it’s about more than being a good person—it’s about becoming more like Jesus and growing closer to him!

Question 1: What does it take to be a true servant?

Question 2: What is one obstacle that prevents you from serving like Jesus?

Looking Forward: Let the students know that the next lesson will look at who Jesus calls us to serve. .