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Well, a few years
ago, a man visited a fast-growing church in Minnesota, actually, and
while he was there he learned about the high quality ministry that was
done in Jesus’ name at this church, and the passion that surrounded
their ministry. And as the man left that church, he walked away with
new insights and, also, a phrase that continued to stick in his mind.
It was a phrase that the church leaders used frequently. It was, “We
want our members to wear aprons, not bibs.” He found out that what they
were talking about is that people who wear bibs only want to feed
themselves. People who wear bibs are not ready or willing to feed
themselves. People who wear bibs are more interested in being served
than in serving. Bibs are for people who insist the church is for
themselves and their needs. Bibs are for those who are babes in the
faith; who haven’t caught on to what God’s purpose is for them, or for
the church as whole…or, perhaps, they are not even of faith yet. By way
of contrast, he also learned that aprons are for people who have a heart
to serve others in Jesus’ name. Aprons are for those who know that they
are the church. Aprons are for those who don’t mind getting their hands
dirty or doing a little work with shovels. Aprons are for people who
take time daily to feed themselves. Aprons are for those who are
growing in the faith and who are hungry to help others grow as well.
As I was thinking
about that, I got to thinking about Jesus and I thought, you know, Jesus
is kind of an apron wearing kind of guy, isn’t he? I mean, he came to
serve; he came to get his hands dirty in the lives of the people that
were around him…in fact, he took the role of a slave and he disrobed,
picked up the bowl, and he washed his disciples’ feet, and then he said,
“Go, and do likewise.” Jesus lived the life of a servant. A life that
took him to the cross to die for you and me. Not only so that we would
live forever, but that we would also be able to live a life of worth,
here and now in this world.
Rick Warren asks the
question, “When was the last time you emptied yourself for someone’s
benefit?” That is what Jesus did, that is how he lived his life…he
lived the fourth purpose of a purpose driven life…serve God, by serving
others. Christ’s heart is the heart of a servant. It defines who he
is, and it describes how he lives. It was, in fact, his nature and that
is an important starting point for use today as we begin to look at this
area of service. The important thing that we need to begin with is that
the heart of God is the heart of a servant. There is no greater love
than to lay down your life for another; it is the ultimate act of
service. We see that kind of serving love coming out from God
throughout the Old Testament and throughout the New Testament, but most
clearly in the person of Jesus Christ.
The heart of a
servant is to be our heart as well. Philippians 2:5 is our call to
become like Jesus; to have the heart of a servant and to live as Jesus
lived. So to that end, what I would like us to do this day is to look
at the heart of a servant, to discover what it looks like, and then
maybe begin to talk about how we begin to build a heart of service. To
do that, I want to start with a phrase that we are going to use
throughout this day, and that is, “A heart of servant, first and
foremost, is focused on others.” We see that in our text this day.
Jesus came to give his life for others. Jesus wasn’t focused on what he
needed, he was focused at going beyond himself to help others…whether it
was feeding the 5,000; healing the lame or the sick or the
demon-possessed…he did those things, not because he had to, but because
it reflected his heart. It was who he is; that is who our God is.
Jesus spent three years with his disciples in a small group, living with
them the life of a servant so that they would understand the heart of
God.
For many of us, when
our eyes are on ourselves and our needs, it is very hard to serve, isn’t
it? When me, myself, and I become first in our minds, we are falling in
line with the world because that is what the world tells us. It tells
us, “If you are going to succeed you are going to have to step on a few
toes to get ahead.” But that kind of self-centeredness is antithetical
to the heart of God. That kind of self-centeredness is shattered when
we serve.
I have had an
opportunity to go on a few short-term mission trips, and one that stands
out for me is a trip that I took to build home for some people in Tecaté,
Mexico. At the end of the week we had an opportunity to come together
with the families and actually dedicate the homes and hand them off to
these new families. These homes were really nothing more than another
room. But when we came together and we had a chance to pray a prayer of
blessing on these families, their thankfulness knew no bounds. Their
thankfulness and their gratefulness just kind of overflowed to all of us
who had done the work that week. All of us were able to comprehend,
first and foremost, that we didn’t realize this gift that we were giving
to these people. How much they needed it, and how much they
appreciated. It was not something that we had thought about as we began
that week; we were focused on the building, rather than the hearts of
the people we were giving these homes to. The heart of a servant is
focused on others.
Just as the heart of
a servant is focused on others, it also knows its shape. As we have
been reading the Purpose Driven book, you know that SHAPE is an acronym
for spiritual gifts, heart, ability, personality, and experiences. All
of these things together help determine where and how we will serve.
They help us because we know then what we were created to do, so we can
step into that kind of service.
I like to play golf.
I am always looking for a way to improve my game and I am looking for a
golf ball that will help me do that…that is one of the things that I
kind of do. Golf balls are not round, smooth balls as some people might
think. The dimples that are on them actually help the ball fly farther
than if it was smooth. Some people think that these dimples are flaws,
but they actually minimize the air resistance so that the ball can go
farther. Dimples on a golf ball serve a purpose. Our spiritual gifts,
our heart, our ability, personality, our experiences, all shape us.
Shape us for the purpose that God has in mind for each one of you. That
is one of the wonderful things, when I heard that I got to speak on
service and I heard that this was going to be the Sunday of the Ministry
Fair…I was excited. Because this is a wonderful opportunity for you to
take advantage of that this weekend. To go out and check out the
wonderful opportunities there are for you to serve and to compare your
SHAPE with the SHAPEs that are required for those ministries, to see if
there might be a fit. The heart of a servant knows its SHAPE.
The heart of a
servant is also focused on the mission from God. Whenever I hear that
term, “a mission from God,” my mind automatically goes to the Blues
Brothers movie, where one of the Blues Brothers gets pulled over and he
says, “We’re on a mission from God.” You know the truth is, in fact, we
are on a mission from God. We are on a mission from God! Our mission
is to do the will of the Father. Jesus said, “I came not to do my will,
but the will of my Father.” And the will of the Father is that His
Kingdom; His ways of doing things will have more influence in our world
today than it did yesterday. And so that means that our serving must be
done in the context of God’s larger plan. We need to ask ourselves, “Is
the service that we are providing advancing God’s kingdom, or is it
serving ourselves or something else?”
More than twenty
years ago now, (I put twenty years ago, but I know it is actually more
than twenty years ago), I was a part of a ministry team that was
reaching out to students in high school that were not a part of any
ministry or church. We typically had about 200 hundred students that
met at a local high school that met at a local high school on a weekly
basis. As I look back on my experience of ministry, this is probably
one of the best ministry experiences I have ever had. As I have had a
chance to reflect on it, the reason I put it at the top, is because of
our staff…the staff that I worked with. For each one of us was fully
committed to the vision of that ministry, and we knew that each week we
were making a difference for God. Out of that commitment to the
ministry, there was also a community that was built...a tight knit
connection between all of us that were on staff then. It is something
that you long for, once you have experienced that kind of ministry
setting. For it is always easier to serve when we clearly understand
what we are trying to accomplish; when we know how our piece in the Big
Plan fits into it. How everyone is moving toward that same goal. The
heart of a servant is focused on the mission from God.
The heart of a
servant also has an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is about being
thankful, or grateful, for something. Jesus’ gratefulness showed
throughout his ministry. When Jesus was at his friend Lazarus’ tomb,
before he called him out and raised him from the dead, he prayed a
prayer thanking God that He heard him. It was Jesus’ nature to be
grateful, to be thankful, for what he was doing…that is how he viewed
his work on earth. He knew he was making an eternal difference in the
lives of the people that he served. Have you thought about your service
in that kind of a light? When you serve, you are making an eternal
difference in someone’s life. Your service may just make a difference
in where that person spends eternity. God is not only allowing you to
play that kind of a significant role in someone else’s life, but in
fact, he wants you to spend and to play that kind of role in another
person’s life. It is your purpose! It is a source of great joy when
you involve yourself in someone else’s life like that. As you serve and
that joy begins to swell up in your heart, you will find that your heart
is filling with thankfulness. Thankfulness that God is letting you be a
part of a very supernatural process. A supernatural process of changing
another human heart.
I have had the
opportunity to experience that with a couple of people. One that I
think of was a guy that was in high school and he was a part of our
youth group. I was sitting on a bench overlooking a lake at a camp with
him, and I knew how God had gifted him, and I knew that God had placed a
calling in his heart to do great things for God. As we were sitting on
the bench and doing some small talk, I turned to him and asked him if he
knew how God had gifted, had given him skills to do great things. His
eyes kind of perked up, and at that point I began to tell him how I saw
these gifts that were within him and the talents that he could use for
God in great ways. I told him then that if he was willing I would help
him grow and go to the next step to develop his gifts, or what we would
call now, his SHAPE. Over the next four years, I watched this guy grow
and mature and learn how to make a difference in other peoples’ lives.
I watched him as he spent two years working with YWAM… if you’re not
familiar with that, it is Youth With a Mission…as he traveled around the
world and learning how to do ministry and become a disciple of Christ.
He is now back here in the cities and he is leading an outreach ministry
to students, and he is using his abilities and his experience in wake
boarding…if you can believe that. It is a perfect fit for who this guy
is, and it is a perfect fit for God and for His kingdom, because he is
in a place where he is making a difference for God. Through that, our
experience and our life shared together, God has birthed within both our
hearts a gratefulness that knows no end. We both have an attitude of
gratitude as we see how God is working in his life.
God has called us to
be like Jesus Christ. Jesus is a servant, that is his heart. That is
one of the reasons that we are here on earth, to serve like Jesus.
Because in doing that, we are serving God. At our Ministry Fair, where
you have a chance right after the service to go and check out….I want to
encourage you to do that…..is the first step. It is the first step to
building a heart of service. It will open the door to the possibilities
of service for all of us. Everyone can, and should, serve. No matter
how long you have been here at Faith; no matter how much you have served
in the past; all of us are called to serve. Now, where we serve and how
we serve may change as we go through our years, but all of us are called
to serve….I think until the day that Christ calls us home. The heart of
Christ doesn’t come through just wanting to serve; it comes by taking
that first step into a service opportunity. I want to invite you to go
to the Ministry Fair and to try out your SHAPE. Try it out maybe in a
new ministry, maybe as a continuing presence in an existing ministry
that you have been serving in but are serving now with more vigor and
more purpose. Use the Ministry Fair. Use the Ministry Fair to find
your place to serve, for as you do that, you are not only fulfilling one
of God’s purposes for your life, but you will find that your heart will
become more like Christ. Amen.
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