Loving Your Family Part Two: How to Serve with Humility

Introduction

Welcome students, 5th graders, and parents.

For those who may not know me, my name is Kent Hinrichsen, and I am the youth and college pastor here at Crosspoint Community Church.

Tonight is our last night in our teaching series, “Gospel Based Family”. For those who have missed any lessons in our series I encourage you to go back and listen to past lessons on our podcast which can be found on Crosspoint’s website or find the link on Hype’s Weekly Update email.

At the beginning of this series we talked about Child-Parent relationships and how and why we should obey our parents and then we talked about how to receive gospel parenting in our student workshop. This last part of our series was targeted toward child-child relationships in how we can love our family in a gospel way. This brings us to tonight as we look how to love our family while serving with humility.

To start off tonight’s lesson I want to tell two stories of serving and I want you to tell me which one shows serving with humility.

First story: I am asked to serve my grandma by going and mowing her lawn. I know that my grandma will pay me and give me some of her fresh cookies so when asked, I am eager to go and serve my grandma because of what I know I will get in return.

Second story: When growing up my siblings and I were assigned to do cleaning chores and sometimes it felt like some chores were easier than others. Well once I was given a quick chore to do and my little brother was given a larger and longer chore to complete. Well I got done with my chore and Kurt still had half of his chore to finish so out of my love for my brother I serve him and help him finish his chore.

Which story showed service with humility?

Raise your hand if you think it was Story #1 or #2

What was the difference between the two stories.

Service with humility is serving while expecting nothing in return.

We see an example of what this looks like in the person of Jesus Christ in John 13.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 13

13 Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

2 Now when it was time for supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray him. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. 4 So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. 5 Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.”

8 “You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.

Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”

9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”

10 “One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

THE MEANING OF FOOT WASHING

12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.

16 “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master,, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

18 “I’m not speaking about all of you; I know those I have chosen. But the Scripture must be fulfilled: The one who eats my bread has raised his heel against me., 19 I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am he. 20 Truly I tell you, whoever receives anyone I send receives me, and the one who receives me receives him who sent me.”

Explain these verses.

Share story of washing Amber’s feet.

The tendency that I see in not only students but in people in general, is that instead of serving with humility, I see students and people become entitled with pride.

Instead of serving others, the temptation is to look out for ways how others can serve us.

Instead of considering the needs of others, we so often lookout for what can benefit us.

Instead of viewing others as important as ourselves, it can be easy to want to prove ourselves as greater than others around us.

This happens when we try to use something that we are good at to use as an advantage over others. We try to use our strength for status.

But we just read about Jesus, the person that we try to glorify in our lives, we read how instead of using strength for status in society, He uses His strength for service. Here is the truth that we see in Jesus.

Strength is for service not for status.

We as Christians are called to follow Christ’s example.

Read Phil. 2:1-11

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 2

2 If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 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.

CHRIST’S HUMILITY AND EXALTATION

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.

9 For this reason God highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow—

in heaven and on earth

and under the earth—

11 and every tongue will confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

What are some practical ways we can serve our families with humility?

Helping out with your parents with younger siblings

Playing with younger siblings when they ask you

Doing chores around the house without being told to do them