DiscipleShift Part 12: Disciples Serve

INTRO

Illustration of D.L. Moody, The Greatest Evangelist of the 1800s.

A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.

Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s only famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.

When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never know by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant’s heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.

Matthew 23:11–12 ESV

The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Being a disciple means that we mirror and shape our hearts and our ways after our Master.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss is credited with saying, “We are never more like Jesus than when we are serving Him or serving others. There is no higher calling than to be a servant.”

John 12:20–26 ESV

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

John 13:3–17 ESV

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

1) Serving is Dying to Self (Jn 12:20-26)

As people, we are generally much more geared towards be served, rather than to serve.

This is evident in the fact that the service sector of our economy was $16.6 Trillion in 2020 according to the US Dept. of Commerce

We like to have things our way and most of the time we wanted it yesterday.

For many in our society, the dream life is to retire early with great wealth and spend the rest of our days in luxury or living the high life.

But, is that the vision that God has for us? Is that a life that is even worthwhile?

The way of the world is to build your personal Kingdom, but the way of God is to tear down your own kingdom and give everything over to true King who holds the name above all names!

Jesus laid down His life so that we might live and live a life that matters eternally.

Serving helps us to understand that He is Lord of our lives and not us.

Serving helps us to understand a new , meaningful purpose and satisfaction for our lives in Jesus.

Serving helps the lost world to see there is more to this life than ourselves.

When we serve, do not merely serve for servings sake, but serve with purpose and intentionality as if serving the Lord Himself!

Colossians 3:23–24 ESV

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

The goal and the purpose of serving is to honor the Lord Christ!

This is why serving helps us to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23).

2) Serving is a Sign of Jesus in our Lives (Jn 13:6-10)

Not only does serving help us to die to ourselves, but serving to honor Jesus, exalts Him as Lord in our lives.

There are times when we serve others that we will feel like we are being taken advantage of…that probably because we are.

But it is in these times that we think back to our Lord and how we was mistreated Him, yet persevered, loved us, and served us. In these moments we continue to serve with joyful humility as He is exalted in our hearts.

When we serve others, His heart of life takes over our sinful heart of death.

It is hard to stay calloused in our hearts when we are broke-hearted for the people we are serving.

When we think of all that Jesus has done for us, how can we not serve others?

Serving exalts Jesus in our lives when He is motivation for serving.

Donald S. Whitney, in his book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life highlights that serving selflessly is motivated by...

…obedience to our Master

…gratitude for our salvation from sin and death

…gladness to freely honor the Lord

…forgiveness we have recieved

…humility displayed by Jesus leaving the glory of heaven to come to our rescue

…love that Jesus has for us and others.

Serving Jesus by serving others is not a job or a duty…it is an opportunity to express our love and gratitude for Him.

We don’t serve to be saved…we serve because we are saved!

3) Serving is the Expectation, not the Exception (John 13:12-17)

For too long, churches have operated under the assumption that serving in the church is reserved for the exceptional members.

This should not be the case. 10% of the membership should not be doing all that work! 100% of the membership should be sharing in the blessing of serving.

If you are not serving in the church, you are missing out on the blessing Jesus intends for you (vs. 17)

Why is the American Church regressing and shrinking? Could it be that we have become too focused on what the crowd wants rather than what Jesus wants?

Could it be that we are not seeing the blessings of Jesus because we are focused on the crown instead of the cross?

While it seems that people are flocking to newer, seeker sensitive churches, the reality is that for the first time in American history, more than 53% of the population has no affiliation with a Christian Church at all, according to the latest Gallup polls.

Unfortunately, we have become more focused on consuming our religious preferences, than humbling ourselves and serving in the local church.

The expectation Jesus has for His followers, is to serve Him by serving one another!

Let us not be the status quo church!

Let us not be the church where the staff and 10% of the membership do all the work.

Let us serve with gladness and joy.

May we be the church that has to create new ways for people to serve regularly because we have so many people willing to jump in wherever so they can be a part of the joyful blessing of serving!

Where do we start?

We will begin relaunching our ministry teams starting next month at 5:00 on Sundays.

I will be putting out a schedule of when those team leaders will meet. The purpose of those team leaders are to capture a vision for that specific ministry, then recruit, organize, and mobilize the church as a whole.

In addition, you can get a jump start in serving for our church outreach on Feb. 20th at 6:00pm. There we will be launching G.R.O.W.

God Rewards Our Work.

A leaping off point in serving is to take the opportunity to serve once a month in Community Outreach.

Through G.R.O.W. we will be praying, writing letters, making phone calls, and visiting people in our community who need Jesus and/or a church home.

CLOSING