Serving

Introduction

Well, good morning!

If you have a Bible and I hope that you do, open ‘em up with me to Mark chapter 10…Mark chapter 10.

This is our sixth week in our sermon series “Devoted.” We’re looking at spiritual disciplines…things we should devote ourselves to as believers…things that grow us in our walk with Him.

We’ve look at Bible intake…how to read and study the Bible. We’ve looked at prayer, how important it is for us to pray both individually and corporately. We’ve looked at worship…who we worship, how we worship, what it looks like. We’ve looked at evangelism, right? Sharing the gospel with the people around us. And then of course we looked at discipleship…allowing others to pour themselves into us…and then us pouring ourselves into others…which gets us to our sixth discipline, serving.

Now, I know you’ve heard all kinds of sermons on serving…what it looks like to be apart of the body, how to use your gifts within the context of the body…but listen, that’s not what I wanna do this morning. We’ll touch on that…we’ll talk about your gifts and what it means to be apart of the larger body of Christ…But what I wanna this morning, I wanna give you the “why.” Why is it so important to our walk that we serve?…Why are we called to be servants?…What’s it do for me, and what’s it do for the body?

And so, that’s what I really wanna spend our time on this morning.

If you never get the “why,” if you don’t understand “why” you’re supposed to do something…you’ll never be motivated to do that thing, right?

Statistics say that about 10 percent of a normal church body…about 10 percent of its people are the one’s doing a hundred percent of the serving. And listen, that statement, it’s been true of every church I’ve been involved with. And here’s why I think that’s true…Number 1, people just don’t understand the “why”? They don’t get it…they don’t get why’s it’s so important…Number 2, people think they’re just not needed. They see everything being done and they think they’re not needed or they think they have nothing to offer because they don’t know their gifting or because of age or their situation in life or whatever (which is just poor discipleship)…And then number 3, some people, they just haven’t been motivated because they haven’t been transformed.

It really comes back to the “why” and the “how”…which I think this passage explains beautifully. Why are we to serve? How are we to serve? That’s what this passage is gonna show us.

And so, if you’re there with me, let’s stand and read our passage together. It says this, starting in verse 35:

Mark 10:35–45 ESV

…James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him [Jesus] and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Thank you, you can be seated.

Listen, if you’re taking notes…I just want you to underline or star or highlight verse 45…I want you memorize it. Verse 45, “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.” That verse, its really what we’re gonna dive into this morning…it gives us the why…it gives us the how…its the basis for the discipline of serving.

And so, let’s pray and then we’ll dive into it together.

[Prayer]

We’re gonna do things just a little differently this morning…we’re gonna do some exegesis, looking at why we serve…using three points…number 1, Jesus came to suffer like you…number 2, Jesus came to die instead of you…and then number 3, Jesus came to set you free.

And then, after the exegesis, we’ll look at some application, how we serve…using three more points…number 1, Are you motivated by transformation?…Number 2, Are you motivated by humility?…and then finally, number 3, Are you motivated by love?

That’s kind of our roadmap this morning as we discuss the discipline of serving…and so, if you’re there with me, let’s dive into the “why” of serving.

Exegesis - Why?

I. Jesus Came to Suffer Like You

The first thing I want us to see…its that Jesus came to suffer like you and me.

Look at verse 45 with me again…Again, that’s where we’re gonna camp out most of the morning. It says:

Mark 10:45 ESV

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This is Jesus talking to His disciples…and He uses a title for Himself here in this verse. He calls Himself “the Son of Man,” a title that really emphasizes the humanity of Christ. That He was indeed a man, a fully human person like you and me.

Now hopefully, I’m not teaching you anything new here…you know that Jesus is fully man and fully God…but I think a lot of times, we miss this…we overlook it. We have this natural tendency to think that Jesus is very different than us. And obviously He is on one side of the coin.

According to the gospel of John, Jesus is God, whose always existed.

John 1:1–3 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

And so, Jesus, as we know…He was and He is fully God…He was with God in beginning and He was God…all things were made through Him. And listen, He makes that very clear even in our verse here in Mark. He says, “The Son of Man came.”

I mean listen, I don’t know about you…but I certainly didn’t just decide one day I’d “come” into the world, right? I mean, did any of you guys? Were you just sitting around one day and thought to yourself, “Hmm…I think I’ll go into the world now.”…NO! We don’t talk like that…We don’t have that kind of power…because listen, we didn’t exist before we entered the world…But Jesus did, because Jesus is God. He decided to come. And listen, He came as a human just like us.

Listen, you guys, you know…I love Christmas…I love the carols…I just love that time of the year where we get to really focus on God coming to us, right? But even in some of those songs that we sing to celebrate the birth of Jesus, some of ‘em kind of mask the reality of what’s really going on.

Silent Night, for example…I love that song. I love the way it sounds…But let’s be honest…Anyone that’s ever had a baby, you know, that’s not the way it works. Babies don’t come out silent and they certainly don’t stay silent…Holy, absolutely! Silent, there ain’t no way! But “Screaming night, holy night,” that just doesn’t have the same kind of ring, does it?

What about “Away in the Manger”? “The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes. But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.” Like, are we serious when we sing that? When’s the last time you saw a newborn baby wake up next to a cow and them not be a bit bothered by that? You think they’d stay silent?

Listen, my point here…it’s not to ruin Christmas for you…my wife gets on to me all the time because I criticize every Christian song out there…she says I ruin the music for her…that’s not what I’m trying to do here. We should sing those songs…we will sing those songs at the end of the year. But don’t let those things give you a false reality of what happened that night…Jesus was a baby. He was a real baby, just like we were real babies…which means He cried, He wanted food, He needed sleep…just like you and I.

Guys, this is so important on so many different levels…This isn’t just about serving…Jesus when he came, He experienced all the same things we do…emotional hurt, relational hurt, fatigue, hunger, thirst. I would even argue that He experienced those things in a greater way than we could possibly imagine.

Listen, this is important, because while it’s right for us to think of Jesus as different from us, that can also easily cause us to think that Jesus is distant from us…and He’s not.

And listen, that applies to us, again, in so many different ways…But as a servant, the God of the universe…the One in which all things were created, He took on flesh and He dwelt with us (John 1:14).

The eternal God, no one’s greater…no one’s more worthy of our praise…all powerful…all knowing…omnipresent…He willingly took on fatigue and grief and pain and hunger and thirst and ultimately flesh, to provide us a pathway back to Him.

Listen, I know we know these things…but without us constantly seeing our lives through that set of lens…without remembering who we are and who God is…its just easy for us to sit back and neglect the purpose God’s placed on our lives.

Jesus identified Himself as the Son of Man, showing us that He suffered just like us…which in itself should be enough to motivate us to service…but listen this verse, it doesn’t stop with just that.

II. Jesus Came to Die Instead of You

The second thing we see here, its that Jesus came to die instead of you and me.

Verse 45 again:

Mark 10:45 ESV

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Son of Man, He came with the purpose of giving His life.

That’s really an interesting phrase here when you think about it. When Jesus is talking about giving His life, He’s talking about His death. What He’s saying here, its that He came to die. He was born with the intentions or the purpose of dying.

Turn back with me a couple of chapters to Mark chapter 8…look at verse 31.

Mark 8:31 ESV

And he [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Now just a little context, the first half of Mark’s gospel, its spent on following Jesus’s ministry in Galilee, and then it transitions in chapter 8. From chapter 8 to chapter 10, Jesus travels to Jerusalem, where of course we know He’s crucified. But listen, I want you to hear what He says, not once, not twice, but three times on His way to Jerusalem.

The first one, its here in Mark 8:31…and then the second one, its Mark 9:30 and 31:

Mark 9:30–31 ESV

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

Now turn back with me to Mark chapter 10…look at verse 32 with me:

Mark 10:32–34 ESV

And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”

Jesus knew exactly what was going on here. Guys, He knew he was going to His death…because that was the very reason He came in the first place…which is just very different for us. Think about it…for us, death, its an unavoidable outcome that we dread…we fear it. But for Jesus, death was His unshakable purpose in coming to us. It was something He anticipated.

Listen, I want you to grasp this. Our verse here, it shows us that Jesus’s death, it wasn’t a tragic end. Don’t just think about the difference between Jesus and us. I want you to think about the difference between Jesus here and every other religious leader…their deaths were the tragic end of their lives. The focus in every other world religion, its on a leader’s life and their teachings, right? Whoever that might’ve been! Mohammed, he died at 62…Confucius died at 72…Buddha died at 80. Even Moses, He died at 120. The death of each of these leaders, it marked the end of their mission. But guys, that’s not the case with Jesus.

With Jesus, it’s the total opposite. Jesus was constantly talking about His death, He anticipated it. And today, His death, its the centerpiece of Christianity. The central symbol of the church, its a cross. A place of death. And the cross, that’s the point…it’s why He came to begin with. Jesus came to die instead of us.

And so, what’s that mean? When you look at the end of verse 45, you see the word “for.” Jesus came to give His life as a ransom “for” many. That word “for” in the original language, it literally means “instead of” or “in place of.”

Now we know, the reason for death, its our sin, right? Paul says the wages of sin, it’s death (Romans 3:23). We die because of sin…we’re separated from God because of sin.

But listen, hear this incredible news, especially if you’re not a follower of Jesus today…We all may fall short of God’s glory…and we all may sin against a good and righteous God…which has separated us…which has ensured our physical death. But the good news of the Bible, its that Jesus came to die for you…or instead of you. You deserve to experience an eternal spiritual death, but Jesus came to pay the price of death for you.

Serving each other, here at FBC…or serving people around us…its not about giving them something they deserve. It’s actually quite the opposite. We’re to serve them in the same ways Jesus has served us…which again, this verse here, in describing Jesus’s servanthood, it says that He died instead of us. What an amazing example.

III. Jesus Came to Set You Free

But listen, without the why to Him coming, I think it’s still very hard for us to apply all this to our own lives.

Verse 45, again…we see that word “ransom.”…which simply refers to a payment given, a payment given to release someone from slavery, to buy their freedom…which is the third thing we see here…Jesus came to set you and I free.

Here’s the picture…You and I…each one of us, we’re slaves to sin. Each of us, we’re prone to sin…which means you’re prone to choose your way over God’s. It’s something you can’t help…You’re a slave to yourself in that sense…wanting what you want over what God wants. And listen, even when you realize that what God wants for you is better and even when sin can prove so costly in your life at times, you’re still a slave to sin and it’s effects.

But listen, Jesus came to change that for you. He came to set you free from slavery to sin…that’s why He came to suffer like you…that’s why He came to die instead of you. Do you realize that?

I think many of us don’t. I talk to so many self-professing Christians who basically see themselves functionally as slaves to sin. They see themselves as slaves to anger, and slaves to worry, and slaves to lust and desire for all kinds of things in this world apart from God. They’re slaves to selfishness, the list goes on and on. And without question, as long as we’re in this world, we’re gonna struggle with sin.

But guys, here’s the good news of the Bible…Jesus didn’t just die so that you could be forgiven of sin’s penalty. Jesus died so that you could be set free from the power of sin…He died so that you could live a life God created you to live. Jesus came to conquer sin in His life, to conquer sin in His death, to conquer sin in His resurrection. And then He put the power of His Spirit inside you. Jesus came to set you free from the slavery of sin.

Guys, Jesus, He says right here in this verse…He didn’t come to be served…he came to serve. And the why to that, its so important…Jesus came to serve because our lives depended on His service.

Guys, when you see our mission or our purpose through this set of lens…what Jesus did for you by stepping into this world…by taking on your death…by enabling you to be set free…how dare us sit back and chose to do nothing with the great privilege He’s given us as we live this earthly life. How dare us sit back and do nothing while millions and billions of people die and go hell without ever knowing Jesus. How dare us sit back and refuse to serve each other, in this church, because its just inconvenient or because you just don’t feel like it.

We were called to Him to serve. Jesus says to the Father in John 17:18, “As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” That’s our purpose…we’re to be Jesus for the people around us. We’re called to give up our inconveniences…we’re called to give up our resources…we’re called to give up our lives if necessary, so that people might be freed from the power of sin.

And listen, we do that within the context of our local church. It’s why church membership matters. It’s why accountability and commitment to each other matters. It’s why discipleship matters.

At the foundations of the world, God planned us for good works (Ephesians 2:10)…and listen, at salvation, God gifted us, with spiritual gifts, to accomplish those good works.

We spur each other up together to serve, because ultimately we know Jesus served us…we do it because we know the implications of what might happen if we don’t serve in the lives of people we love…we do it because we trust in the gifts that God’s given us.

And so, that’s the “why”…let’s look at the application for us…let’s look at the “how.”

Application - How?

I. Are You Motivated by Transformation?

Now again…I could give you a sermon about spiritual gifts…and all the things God might’ve called you to…the things He might’ve gifted you with…why He might’ve called you to FBC…and listen, those things are important (and I’ve even placed spiritual gift assessments at our info table if you’d like to take one of those)…but guys, understanding your gifts and how you’d use them in the context of this church, that’s goes back to things we’ve already talked about…its takes you digging into the Bible…it takes you praying…its takes you being discipled by another person, calling out the gifts in you and placing you in areas where God’ll use you.

Guys, you were called to serve…and you are needed here at FBC…your gifts are needed at FBC. But there’s nothing that I can say this morning that’ll give you clarity in what you might be gifted in. That takes discipleship…When I meet with my guys, I’m looking for spiritual gifts…I’m calling those things out in them…I’m finding opportunities for them to serve. Trust me, just ask my guys. I’ve asked them to take some huge steps of faith…Understanding your gifts and where God’s called you to serve…it takes Bible intake and discipleship.

And so, instead of trying to show you what your gift may be…I wanna show you how we serve regardless of our gifts.

Remember we serve because Jesus first served us…and we serve because we trust God’s set us apart and that He’s specifically gifted us…but regardless of our gifts…we’re motivated by transformation, we’re motivated by humility…and we’re motivated by love.

Look at verse 42 again:

Mark 10:42 ESV

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

And so, remember John and James, they had asked Jesus to let them sit at His right and left side, in His glory.

Of course, Jesus says, “You really don’t know what you’re asking…You’re asking to drink my cup and you’re asking to be baptized in the same way as me.” Which He says, “You’re gonna experience those things…you’re gonna drink my cup and be baptized with me because you’re my followers.” And then He goes on and He says, “It’s not my place to determine who sits beside me because it’s only for those who’s been prepared.”

And then He gives us a picture of what it looks like to be one of the ones prepared…its to be a servant like Him.

I mean, just look at this verse again…He’s saying, “His followers, they’re not like the rulers of this world…we don’t exercise authority over other people…we’re servants. We were set apart, transformed to serve.

This world, its dark…its lost…its driven by selfish ambition and a lust for raw power and position. They “dominate” and “exercise power over” them. In the world, the more important you are, the more are the people who serve you.

Jesus says in verse 43, “But it must not be so among you.” In His world, the more important you are, the more people you serve. Jesus opposes, in every way, the mind-set of the world…And listen, so should we (Romans 12:2).

And so, how should we serve? We should serve motivated by transformation. Our service, it should look different than the world. It should be completed differently than the world. It should be motivated differently than the world.

I said this last week…But as followers of Jesus, we trust He’ll transform us…He’ll make us into fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). And so, our first motivation in serving here at FBC, its because we’ve been transformed. We’re not the same as we were and we’re not the same as others in the world. Our service looks so different.

II. Are You Motivated By Humility?

But look at the next couple of verses, 43 and 44:

Mark 10:43–44 ESV

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

The second application for us…it’s that we’re motivated by humility. We serve because we’ve been humbled.

Listen to Jesus’s words here…if you wanna be great, if you wanna do something great for God…if you wanna please and honor Jesus with your life…it’s gonna take you becoming a servant…a doulos (a slave). He says a slave of all. We’re to become table waiters, household servants, slaves. That’s our position as we follow and wait for Jesus.

I read this quote this week from someone else and I think it really hit the nail on the head, “God called us to wait…and so, we do what waiters do, we serve.”

This is what a follower of Christ looks like…we have the mind of Christ, we elevate others above ourselves…we don’t give attention to our own interests, we give it to others.

Guys, Jesus reverses all the ideas of what greatness looks like…He turns the world’s philosophy of greatness on it’s head. You wanna be great? Be humbled…consider yourself lower than you are…become a servant…become a slave to all. It starts in this body, us serving each other…elevating each other…and then it pours out of us into our community.

That’s what we’re called to become. Will it be hard? Will it be a battle? Yes! To many, it’s not gonna make much sense. But to follow Jesus, its to serve alongside Jesus, and its to model Jesus.

Paul says this about Jesus’s service in Philippians chapter 2:

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

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. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

That’s our model…The God of Creation, taking on flesh, taking on the form of a servant…being born in the likeness of men…and dying a criminal’s death on a cross for us…How dare us turn our nose up to service! How dare us refuse to use our time and our energy and resources, our giftings within this church to advance His kingdom.

For some of us, its okay for God to step down and do these things for us because our mindset says we’re above God in some way…He’s beneath us. For some of us, we’re the god of our own lives and we don’t serve because we expect to be served. And that’s all Jesus really is for you. It’s almost like James and John in verse 35…, “Jesus, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Jesus says, “Fine, I’ll give you the world…I’ll give you everything you could possibly want but you first have to become a slave to all. The least among you will be the greatest…or the greatest among you, they’ll be your servant.”

Listen, for us to experience a joyful and fulfilling life…for us to grow more fully into the presence of Christ…we have to motivated by humility. Our goal should be to out serve one another…in our marriages…as parents, as kids…as brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re slaves to one another…because of the one we follow. I’m not just your pastor, I’m your slave…I’m your servant. And I’m here to serve you…Why are you here? What’s your motivation?

III. Are You Motivated by Love?

And then finally…verse 45 again…are you motivated by love? This is our last point.

Mark 10:45 ESV

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Again, Jesus told His disciples He was gonna die, right? And this verse, it’s the why to His dying.

Listen, Jesus made a promise that no other religious leader in the world has ever made or could make. He says, “The Son of Man, He came not to be served but to serve,” and not just as our example…but He says as our ransom.

William Lane, He said this, “The reversal of all human ideas of greatness and rank was achieved when Jesus came, not to be served, but to serve.” John Piper, he says, “Mark 10:45 is what turns Christianity into gospel” (“The Son of Man”).

Listen, we’ve already walked through this verse…but let me make a few more theological observations and then we’ll apply it and then we’ll close.

The idea of ransom, Jesus didn’t pay a ransom to Satan. It’s not that Satan is owed some kind of payment because of our sin…Honestly, it doesn’t have anything to do with Satan. Mankind is responsible for sin, we’re to blame…And the punishment is owed to God because our sin, its rebellion against Him, a good and holy God. The only thing that Satan received at the cross, it was his defeat and ruin.

The second thing about this ransom, the price Jesus paid, it wasn’t taken from Him. Jesus, according to Hebrews 12:2…Jesus willingly and joyfully paid our price. He’s a great giver and not some pitiful victim.

John 10:18 says it perfectly:

John 10:18 ESV

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Guys, Jesus came not to be served, but to serve…and He did all of it out of love. Jesus laid everything down…out of love for the Father…and out of love for you and me.

And so, how do we respond to this great picture of love?…We follow Christ in service…and we follow Christ in sacrifice.

To be a follower of Christ…its to lay down everything about yourself…it’s to laid down your wants…its to laid down your desires…its to lay down your relationships…your ambitions…your interests…everything…what you think you deserve…the privileges…the things you think you’re owed…It’s to lay all that down, and its to pick up a cross…its to become a servant…a slave to all. And the motivation for that, it comes from a deep love for people. We love because we were first loved (1 John 4:19).

Guys, if you don’t love the people around you…you’ll never find the motivation to serve…and listen to me, you’ll never be a follower of Jesus. It’s not just about affirmation…its not just about believing and saying all the right things…it’s about repentance…its about turning to Jesus and allowing Him to transform you. Part of that transformation, its giving you a heart of flesh that now loves…and so we follow Christ in service.

It’s the same in our marriages…in our relationships…in our parenting…Listen, a lot of us, we have conflict in those areas…we’re struggling in our marriages because we’re not serving each other. We’ve made it about us. Marriage its a picture of the relationship the church has with Christ. If you’d serve one another…you’d see that conflict be resolved. It’s the same in other relationships we have. We are to follow Christ in service.

And as a result, we follow Christ in sacrifice. Guys, you can’t serve, if you’re not willing to sacrifice. Sacrifice, its the ultimate picture of love. And when you were called to this Christian life…you weren’t called to some cozy, comfortable life…you were called to forsake all of it…you were called to lay it all down, if necessary, for the glory of Christ. You were called to give your time…you were called to give your resources…you were called to give your giftings…you were called to give your comforts…Guys, you were called to give your life, all for the kingdom of God!

Some of us, we refuse to sacrifice any of those things, because we don’t have love…which means you’re not a follower of Jesus. You can’t follow Jesus without sacrifice. You have to put all that stuff to death.

We follow Christ in sacrifice. And that’s manifested in the way we serve one another inside the church.

Are you motivated by the love of Christ? And how does that love pour out of you?

Are you serving? Are you using the gifts that God’s given you? Are you giving financially to the church…that’s service? Are you giving your time? Are you making things about the mission of Christ…what He called you too…or is all about you?

Closing

Listen, as we close…I’ll keep it short…Serving, like all of the other spiritual disciplines we’ve talked about…it’s not optional. We’re called to a life of service! Will it be uncomfortable? Will we have to give some things up? Will we have to sacrifice? Absolutely! But that’s what Christianity’s all about. It’s about serving one another, in the same ways Christ served us. He’s given us the “why” and the “how.” And so, now we’re called to act it out. To be His body to a watching world.

And so, where do you need to start? Just start somewhere…pick up a broom and start serving! Begin to talk to someone that’s discipling you (hence why discipleship’s so important)…talk to them about what kind of gifts they see in you…what kind of opportunities we have here for you to be apart of.

Take a spiritual assessment…I have some for you at the info table. Talk to one of our ministry leaders about getting involved somewhere.

Join us in membership…we have a new membership class this afternoon, you’re welcome to join us.

Start to build relationships with the people here…figure out what they need and just serve them. Be Jesus to each other. Come not to be served…come to serve…be ready to serve.

And listen, as you do that…as you learn how to be a servant…how to be a slave to all…Jesus is gonna use that to grow you in ways you could never imagine.

And so, what do you need to start doing today to follow Jesus in service and to follow Him sacrifice? What do you need to change or what do you need to reprioritize in your life?

Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me?

Thats what I want you to think about this morning? Does your service here at FBC, how you serve your brothers and sisters here…does it reflect the same kind of love Jesus has shown you? That’s the question I want you to reflect on as you prepare your hearts for communion this morning.

But listen, if you’re here today, I feel like this whole message, its been about the gospel…if you’re here today and you’ve never been changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m calling with you to repent and believe in the truth of God’s Word.

Following Jesus, its easy…there’s really nothing that’s up to us. We turn to Him, we place our security in Him…in His sacifice, we trust Him. He does all the work. He changes us. He works through us. He does it all just like He did on the cross. It was our sins that was deserving of punishment, but Jesus willingly and joyfully took all that on for us so that some of us, who would repent and believe might experience His mercy and grace. He came not to be served, but to serve.

And so maybe that’s you this morning…Listen, all you have to do is turn to Him…believe in Him. Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. It’s that simple…you do that, and you will be saved.

And so listen, Wendy’s gonna play…I’m gonna be down front. Whoever you are, whatever’s on your heart, you to take this time…and we’ll gather around the Lord’s table in just a moment!

[Prayer]      

Matthew 26:26 (ESV)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Matthew 26:27–29 (ESV)

And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”