When you walk in the door on a Sunday, you are instantly welcomed by the smiles of greeters holding the doors as you enter. When you take your child to kids’ programming on Sunday morning, there are volunteers awaiting your kids to teach them about God’s Truth. Every Sunday worship service requires teams of staff and volunteers who work to remove obstacles so that you can seek the Lord’s presence during worship. Volunteers constantly serve us in some way when we come to church or participate in a church-related event. But are we serving others just as much as we are served?
When we serve, we are serving to give glory and praise to the Lord. We are seeking His presence through becoming a servant like Him. Our service should be a display of the Lord’s presence in our lives.
Jesus shows us how to be a servant to others no matter who you are, what your social status is, how much money you have, or what age you are. In John 13:3-9, Jesus gets up from the Passover dinner table to exemplify how serving requires humility.
Jesus is the Son of God, fully God, and fully man. He knelt to wash the feet of His followers who looked to Him for guidance and leadership. It is an image of serving, not for recognition or praise, but selflessly serving to love your neighbor and put your love for Christ on display through your actions.
We honor and glorify the King in how we put our faith into action. But let’s clarify this thought; we are not “better Christians” or “more saved” by what we do. Our actions are just an overflow of our love, respect, and desire to testify about God. We put our faith on display; we are not earning our salvation through our serving (Ephesians 2:8-9). We serve out of humility and the desire to pour out Christ’s love through our actions.
God honors those who are saturated in humility and meekness (Matthew 5:5, James 4:6). Serving others humbly asks us to rid ourselves of what we think we ought to be doing with our time and effort. Humble serving allows us to love our neighbors and put someone else’s needs above our own. There is a selflessness in servanthood, but there are, at times, unexpected blessings from the Lord along the way.
In Mark 8, Jesus fed 4,000 people with seven loaves and a few fish. With the help of his disciples, every single one of the 4,000 ate until they were full. Jesus and the disciples eventually left on a boat, and they brought with them what was leftover from the 4,000. The disciples complained that they didn’t have any bread, completely missing how Jesus had provided for them all the same. Jesus asks them why they don’t understand and explains how, while they were serving and taking up the bread from the crowd of people, He was blessing them with all that they needed.
We may see new blessings arise from serving such as gaining new friendships, realizing that life isn’t about us, learning how to do a new skill, gaining life advice from someone we serve with, or taking care of sweet children who remind us to be childlike. Sometimes, God blesses us by simply growing our faith as we serve alongside our biblical community. We do not serve to gain these blessings, nor are we deserving of these blessings. But the Lord is kind in all his works and righteous in all that He does as He satisfies our souls, even as we serve others (Psalm 145:13-17). Our serving should reflect that of the Lord. We are providing help to our brothers and sisters in Christ when we serve. We are providing and satisfying needs in that moment, just as the Lord satisfies our needs when we don’t deserve it. Our serving should reflect the humble, kind, and gracious heart of the Lord.
Maybe you are in a place where you can’t serve because you don’t have time to give, but what are other ways you can serve your neighbor? If you do have the time to give, where will you start serving? If you already serve, is your motivation to glorify the Lord or to glorify yourself? Maybe you don’t know where to start or even where to look. There are many serving opportunities from being part of the connections team, kids, students, worship, and missions. Consider serving in one of the ministries at your specific campus. Click the link to your campus below:
