The Ministry of Serving

Next week is Palm Sunday, which means we are nearing the end of our series through lent considering the servant nature of Jesus. So far, I will admit, it has been rather individual. What I mean by that is this: our considerations of what it means to be a servant of Jesus is meant to be considered personally. And this is not a bad thing. In fact, I think it is a necessary part of the process. Each one of us must at some point consider and make personal commitments to serve God.

However, the act of serving God as a follower of Jesus must also necessarily be seen in a wider context of God’s people together. There is absolutely something to say about the way in which our acts of service combine together with other acts of service going on around us. The Holy Spirit uses this concert of actions as a larger whole within the people of God.

On Fridays nights Laura and I love to attend the Grand Rapids symphony. And on certain occasions the symphony will feature an outstanding soloist who can stand alone and fill the DeVos Hall performance center with astounding music. But even then, there is almost always accompaniment with the rest of the symphony orchestra in the background. And most of the performances do not feature a soloist, but rather bring together all the instruments of the orchestra playing together under the direction of the conductor. Each instrumentalist is wonderful in their ability to play music, but the music piece only reaches its intended purpose when all the parts are put together.

When Laura and I first walk into the concert hall before the performance begins, it is typical for the members of the orchestra to be getting set up on the stage warming up just a bit by playing little snippets of their parts and tuning their instruments. It is not under any kind of direction. Rather, it is just random individual musicians playing little sections of a piece as a way to warm up. From the seats this all just sounds like chaotic noise coming from the stage as the audience makes their way into the rows. It does not diminish in any way the fact that these are still wonderfully talented musicians. It is just that—at that moment during the warm ups—they are just playing individually all on top of each other. At that moment, the concert hall is filled with noise rather than music. It is only after the conductor walks out and begins the performance that all these individual instruments come together to make something even more astounding than any one of them could ever do by themselves on their own.

Today I want us to begin thinking about our acts of service like that. We most certainly do all have individual actions of service that we each perform personally. But let’s consider today how it is that our individual actions of service combine with others to become something far greater than any one individual act would ever be all by itself.

Isaiah 43:16–21 NIV

16 This is what the Lord says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17 who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: 18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

John 12:1–8 NIV

1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Alright. I set this up by pushing our attention towards the collective acts of service performed among and within a community of people. This story from John 12 does not appear to be a collective act of service. It is an action attributed by the gospel writer John to Mary alone. More than that, it is an action which draws immediate condemnation from one of the other disciples. John wastes no words in telling us what he really thinks about Judas—a thief and the betrayer of Jesus. But in both Matthew and Mark’s version of this story, it is the disciples collectively who disapprove of Mary’s action. It may seem for the moment like an odd way to set up a sermon about the collective acts of service together among God’s people when the story we are reading in scripture suggests just the opposite.

our collective acts of service are not always uniform

There is a reason. I want us to make an important distinction about these collective acts of service. And let me make that distinction by pointing out what I am NOT talking about. I am not talking about uniformity or conformity. Years ago while living in Denver, my youngest child, Jacquelyn, expressed interest in playing soccer at a very young age. So, we found a beginner soccer league in the area and signed her up. This was soccer 101 kind of level. It had to teach kids the very basic fundamentals of the game from step one. So there were basic skills like kicking the ball, trapping the ball and passing the ball. There were also basics like dribbling the ball and playing positions on the field. This took a while for kids to learn. I think many of those first games I went to see just consisted of a large clump of six-year-olds smushed together out on the field. One of the kids would randomly kick the ball in a direction; and then the entire clump of six-year-olds all collectively moved together chasing the ball around. It took a while to learn that teamwork consisted of more than just a bunch of people all out there doing the exact same thing in the exact same way.

moments when collective service might be individuals working apart

Sometimes our acts of service are like that—and not in a bad way. When we send a group of people out to do fall cleanup in the community, it helps the job to go faster if there are ten people with rakes picking up leaves rather than one person with a rake. There are certainly moments in which the act of serving goes better when there are multiple people all pitching in to do the same thing. But we should not think of collective service in only those terms. What about acts of service in which it seems as though we are each working individually? Is there a collective component to that kind of service as well.

ministry — collective action given on behalf of a larger group

I want to suggest the word ministry to frame these individual acts of service. Let’s talk about service as a ministry. Perhaps the word ministry just brings to mind church stuff. We label activities of the church by using the word ministry. We have a worship ministry, and a student ministry, and a discipleship ministry, etc. we just use the word as a generic reference to church activity. But the word ministry does have a meaning. Parliamentary governments around the world do not have a president; they have what is called a Prime Minister. It is the same root word we have in a work like administrator. It is someone who organizes and oversees and gives on behalf of a larger group. There is—by definition—a recognition of the greater collective assembly whenever we use the word ministry. After all, you cannot have a minister unless you also those who are being ministered to.

we do not exactly know Mary’s intentions

In this, service is an act of ministry. It assumes a larger collective gathering and context. Let’s take it back to the story in John’s gospel and see how this plays out. Mary performs an individual act of service. She pours perfume on Jesus. John’s account of the story does not give us any clues towards Mary’s intentions or reasons for doing this. It may be an act of devotion; it may be an offering; we do not know. It could have been that someone like Mary was tasked with washing people’s feet as guests come into the house. That would be significant because it is only a few chapters later in John’s gospel when Jesus does the same and washes the feet of his disciples.

Mary acts with reckless abandon

Mary also shows complete reckless abandon in this act of service. It does not appear as though she asked anyone’s permission or sought anyone’s advice prior to this act. John tells us that Mary wiped the feet of Jesus with her hair. This too is an act of complete recklessness. During the time of Jesus women were not permitted to have their hair down or even showing while in the presence of other men. The only man allowed to see a woman’s hair was her husband. This action by Mary violates cultural expectations and customs. But Jesus uses the occasion to point us beyond the moment of this single action towards its ultimate ministry.

John 12:7 NIV

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

Jesus would have still carried the scent of this perfume on him when he goes to the cross

Jesus notes that this act of Mary fits into a larger piece of the story beyond even what Mary herself could have known at that moment. Remember, this is before the time of indoor plumbing or showers or bathtubs. People did not bathe as regularly as we do in our world today. This action of Mary coming just days before his betrayal and execution on the cross is significant. Jesus would have still carried the scent of this perfume on him when he goes to the cross. It was also customary to use spices and perfumes such as this for embalming a body before burial. Jesus is pointing forward to this in his response to Judas and the others. Mary’s act of service is an act of ministry. It is an act that will hold a higher and more collective meaning by the time Jesus gets to the end of the week.

Mary responds with an act of ministry that contributes what she can give

even when nobody else in the room can see it

While there does not seem to be an indication in John’s telling of this story that Mary sees what is coming, it isn’t as though Jesus has been keeping it a secret either. There are plenty of passages in the gospel leading up to Good Friday in which Jesus tells his disciples that he must suffer and die. While Mary would not have known any of the details of what is coming, I suppose it is possible that she has heard Jesus speak in this way about his own death. And even if she did not fully understand—or even accept—what Jesus is saying about his sacrifice, she responds with an act of ministry that contributes what she can give towards that end. Perhaps she sees it even when nobody else in the room can.

God kind of said as much through the prophet Isaiah many centuries earlier. 

Isaiah 43:19 NIV

19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

a ministry of service requires awareness to what God is already doing

When we think of service and what it means for us to be servants of God, there is something to say about the importance of awareness. Awareness of how and where God is already at work. Awareness of how and where we see spiritual fruit taking shape in our world around us. Awareness of how and where we have each been individually gifted and blessed by God. Awareness of how how and where my one action of service—my one contribution individually given—can be used by God in conjunction with what God is already doing, and in conjunction with acts of service from others.

ministry of service needs to look beyond just the one act I perform

God seems to be suggesting to Isaiah in the time of the prophet that people were missing this awareness. And the story in John 12 certainly also seems to suggest that most of the other people in the room are missing this awareness. In order for service to be a ministry, it needs to be service that looks beyond just the one act I perform. A ministry of service is like playing in a symphony orchestra. It is not much of a symphony if we all show up with just cellos and nothing else. It is not much of a symphony if we all play our own tunes our own way apart from one another. It is not much of a symphony if we all play the exact same notes in the exact same way. It is only when each of our individual parts are brought together under the direction of the conductor that the greater music of the symphony takes place. The Holy Spirit is the conductor of this great orchestral work. See, God is doing a new thing! Now it springs up! May we be people who serve Jesus in ways that join together with him in ministry.

the Holy Spirit is the conductor of this great orchestral work