Doing Something for God

Series Review

Worship, Learn, Serve, Care…and Give! (January 5-26)

Scripture Intro: example of Christ like service - compare to ours?

hours before death; selfishness while he awaits suffering (quietly gets a towel and basin)

e.g. Washing feet is uncomfortable, not meaningful - meaning is lost; contemporary examples of washing feet?

Worship, Learn, Serve, Care…and Give! (January 5-26)

John 13:1–17 NIV

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 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. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 13:1-17

Philippians 3:8 NIV

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament C. The New Testament.

The two elements in σκύβαλον, namely, worthlessness and filth, are best expressed by a term like “dung.”

garbage, dung, sewer trash

Barriers to Service:

1. Distractions

Arguing; hours away from cross;

we are busy; worry; pain;

inconvenience

looking at schedule before the need

what if we only did the convenient service?

2. Dirt

no glory in job - some want to be invisible, behind the scenes v. not bragging, but testifying! letting our light shine. others inspired by our lowly service?

no reward - only reward is pain, loss; I’m glad I went or did that v. frustration and failure (nothing in the story indicates immediate success; lasting impression though

embarrassing? awkward? - what if we avoided the dirty jobs; the lowly; who would do them? go where we are needed, regardless of…

what if we only did the fun stuff; stuff we enjoy; knew we were going to succeed? go where we are needed, not where we want to go

e.g. cloth on door knobs?

e.g. Life of Brian

Take our service to the next level? Serve like Jesus? Looking up or down?

most rewarding service comes through serving during the most inconvenient time; distracted time

distractions: serve when it is not a good time to serve (exceptions?) health - overwhelming circumstances - burnout (pray first)

dirt: do the things others won’t - the dirty; no applause; where people would say, “I would never do that!”

What kind of church would we be if did the inconvenient (not at a good time)? If we did the stuff no one else would?