Serve

The church is to permeate with new life and vitality. Jesus came to bring life and it is through the church that we can continue to bring life to not only our church family, but to our community as well.

There are FIVE FUNCTIONS of the church that we are going to look at during the course of this series that if we put into practice, we will revitalize our church.

Connect

Grow

Serve

Worship

In Acts chapter two we are given a model of how the church is to function.

When the church functions as it was originally designed to function, lives will be changed and the kingdom of God will begin to grow.

Last week we looked at the function of growing (discipleship). Today I want to look at the next step in those connections which is to SERVE.

God Calls us to Serve

God calls every believer and gives every believer gifts and abilities to be used for the Kingdom.

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 (NLT)

4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.

5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

When the those who are part of the body of Christ shift from a consumer mentality to being contributors, we will naturally fulfill this new and biblical function of service.

When we serve, not only does it help meet the needs within the faith community, but also outside of the four walls of the church.

When we serve inside, it will overflow to the outside where you will find yourself serving those you don’t even know.

For my wife and I, we do not believe in just using the gifts and abilities the Lord has given me to just pastor this local faith community. We also want to pastor the community we live in. We want to serve the community we live in. This is why we are involved in our community.

The reason we do this? Because we love our community just as much as we love our faith community and we desire for God to bless our community.

Jeremiah 29:7 (NLT)

7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

As long as the community we live in prospers, so will the church.

This is why I speak blessing and life over the city of Corning. I hear so much cursing over our community. Those that follow Christ should take no part in this. We as the church should continuously pour blessing and life into the city of Corning. It is the right thing to do. It is the biblical thing to do.

It Takes a Team

The other day in the office Carly and Victoria were painting in their office. Before they began I asked Victoria if she would like some coffee. As we were walking to the kitchen we were discussing the progress of the food pantry and how we have so many in our church to help out with projects like the food pantry.

She made the statement “it is nice to have so many in the church who can do different things.”

This is how the church is to function.

The church is to be filled with believers who serve and serve together as a TEAM.

“Teamwork makes the dream work.” - John C. Maxwell

How true this is. While Maxwell said this back in 2002, this concept has been around for thousands of years. In fact, we see it in the Old Testament.

Moses had a wise father in-law named Jethro, who gave him some great advice when it came to ministering to the Children of Israel.

Notice, this is after they left Egypt, the place of bondage and slavery.

Exodus 18:13–18 (NASB95)

13 It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening.

14 Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?”

15 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

16 “When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good.

18 “You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.

Moses would literally sit and listen to each and every person everyday.

According to Exodus 12:37 there were about six hundred thousand men. That did not include the women and children. If each man is married with an average of 5 children, this brings the entire population of Israel to six million!

Jethro, told Moses to build teams in order to serve and meet the needs of the people. Jesus Himself built a team - the twelve disciples - to meet the needs and serve others.

This is the biblical calling of every single church that claims Christ as Lord and Savior. Each and every one that follows Christ is called to serve.

Peter in 1 Peter chapter 2 begins by telling new believers to “crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation”. That full experience is found when we understand who we are as believers.

1 Peter 2:4–5 (NLT)

4 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.

5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

You are a holy priest for Christ. You are Kingdom priests who have been commissioned by Christ to go into the world and share the Good News of Jesus Christ, make disciples, and to serve those around you.

Church, each and everyone of us has a responsibility in the biblical church. It will take each and everyone of us to accomplish what Christ died for.

Ephesians 4:16 (NASB95)

16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Could it be that the reason the Kingdom is not growing, is because we have become consumers rather than contributors?

A team is a group of individuals working together who collaborate on related tasks to achieve their common goal. **Pic of me and Todd kayaking - we worked as a team calling out obstructions in the way**

Todd and I’s common task that day was to get from Los Molinos to Woodson Bridge.

What is our common goal?

Matthew 9:37–38 (NASB95)

37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

38 “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

The harvest that belongs to the Lord. There are people in our community that belong to Christ and we are called to work together to gather them.

Jesus Came to Serve

Jesus is our role model for serving. When we think of why Jesus came to earth, we can make a list that includes saving people from sins, healing the sick, giving hope to the hopeless, forgiveness, and the list can go on and on.

There is one thing that Jesus did that encompasses all of these and more. In everything Jesus said and did, Jesus served others.

One day He will return as the conquering King, but He first came as a humble servant.

Matthew 20:26–28 (NLT)

26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,

27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.

28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

It is so easy to gloss over this aspect of Jesus’ life, but we really need to stop and think about how Jesus lived His life to serve others.

Think about this, the Son of the Living God, the Word made flesh, came down from Heaven as a helpless baby, grew up as the son of a carpenter (Jesus wasn’t boujee), and dedicated Himself to his ministry not seeking any glory for Himself, but all glory and honor went back to the Father by serving sheep with no shepherd.

This is more than just a leadership model, serving is and should be a way of life for the believer. Jesus did more than just talk about it, He lived it.

John 13 gives to us probably the greatest example of what a servants heart looks like.

John 13:3–5 (NASB95)

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God,

4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

Let’s not gloss over what took place here at the Last Supper. Too often we focus on the Last Supper itself or the fact that Judas is about to betray Jesus.

Jesus, the Creator of the Universe, put aside His glory, wrapped Himself in a towel, and took the position of the lowest servant.

Not only is this an example of what Jesus’ heart and attitude was, but it also displayed the heart of the disciples.

Just before this took place they were arguing who was greater among them. Notice that not one of them stepped in or even thought of washing their own feet let alone the feet of the others before the meal.

It was common practice to wash feet before eating. This was so because they sat at low tables where feet were very evident.

They didn’t wear shoes like we have today and some may have even gone barefoot. Think about that for a moment. The streets were covered in dust and they didn’t have sewer system and not to mention the animals that traveled the roads.

So this is what Jesus washed off their feet - animal dung, human waste, dust, dirt, sweat, and grime. It would have quickly turned any bowl of water a revolting brown color and not to mention the smell. And yet our Lord and Savior served.

Then Jesus tells His disciples this.

John 13:12–15 (NASB95)

12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?

13 “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.

14 “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

15 “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.

Jesus uses this moment of foot washing as an illustration for His Disciples. He tells them you call me your Teacher and you are right in this. Now, if I truly am your teacher, then you must do this to one another.

Jesus gave them a pattern on how to serve one another.

Not only did Jesus come to this earth to die for our sins church, but He also came to this earth to think, live, and lead differently than the rest of the world.

Jesus is calling you and I to the same level of commitment in service.

Service Leads to Grace Leads to Repentance

Lastly, what the Lord showed me in this particular act of service of Jesus. Not only was service being modeled, but grace.

Remember Judas was there. The one whom would sell Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver just moments later had his feet washed by Jesus.

When we serve one another, even those who may betray us, not only does it show humility, but it leads to grace. That grace can lead to repentance.

Not too long after the Last Supper, we read this account of Judas.

Matthew 27:3–4 (NASB95)

3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!”

Not only is service an important to understand, the grace of God is a crucial theological concept to understand.

Grace is at the heart of salvation.

Ephesians 2:8 (NASB95)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Grace is the motivation for serving God.

Paul says:

1 Corinthians 15:10 (NASB95)

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Because of the grace that God has shown me, I will show towards others as I serve them.

Grace is the motivation for serving God because it can lead to someone’s salvation.

No matter who they are, where they are from, what political stance they have, I will show grace.

Why? Because if the grace of God can cause Judas to repent, then God can use that same grace to lead our community to repentance and into a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Closing/Altar

If the praise team would come up.

The Acts 2 church served one another and daily God was meeting needs and adding to the Kingdom of God.

But what does that look like today in 2022?

While foot washing does still happen in the church and should happen in the church, although be it a more intimate setting and not a corporate one, what would modern day footwashing look like?

What does it mean to serve?

There are many ways to serve in the church and in our communities. There are a lot of opportunities you can serve right here at New Life in this local body, from hospitality, greeting people as they walk in, serve in a specific ministry, help clean the church.

Not everyone will do the same thing, but is something we can all do. It is simple. Yet so profound.

One way we can serve in 2022 is listen to one another and others.

I want to read to you an excerpt of an article on foot washing in 2022.

“Today, we don’t worry about dirty feet too much. Still, our lives get messy. And sometimes, the only way to wash off the dirt in our lives is to vent to a friend who listens, as we try to make sense of it all.

Our modern dirt is often found in a metaphorical desert, where our spiritual life converges with the challenge of trying to live out our faith in a mixed-up world. When the wind and rain of circumstances hits us from all directions as we try to walk out this faith, our spiritual feet get dirty.

Our dirt may not be a sin with which we are struggling, and it may not be a situation which demands fixing. In fact, because social media and first-world standards almost force us to hide our grime, it’s difficult for anyone to see the muck and mire which clutters our lives.

And, we try to ignore our messes as we rush to keep up with the frenetic pace at which we live.

Still, we need someone around who will listen. Because for all of us, that moment comes when we look down at our feet—trying to walk forward in this path of faith—and see they are covered with the cares of life. They need washing.

Jesus, on his final night with his disciples, stopped. He took the time needed to thoroughly wash each man’s feet. He listened as Peter asked, mistakenly, for more. And we can be sure He listened to others as He carefully cleaned those feet which had taken the journey with Him over three years.

Sometimes, the best example of servanthood we can offer to another is the gift of listening. No judgment, no quick fixes, no pat answers. Just. Listening.

If we offer this gift, perhaps our friend will experience a refreshing rain as the overwhelming circumstances of life wash away. And the feet our friend needs to walk this journey are once again clean, ready for another next step toward the One who loves us.” - https://www.heartbeatinternational.org/modern-day-foot-washing

Let’s put it into practice.

**Have others come and listen to peoples issues and have them pray with them, not offering a fix, but to simply pray with them**

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