Serve Like Jesus
Why do we serve?
Why do 80+ men and women show up hours before services, whether it’s raining or dry, hot or cold to unload a trailer, set up kids space, set up projectors and speakers? The simple answer: Jesus. Jesus has served us. Jesus has changed us.In John 13, Jesus begins doing something that startles his disciples. He begins washing their feet. In that culture, this was a task reserved the lowest of the low. This was a task that was typically carried out by non Jewish slaves. Today, that would be like cleaning toilet. But Jesus was flipping an entire culture on it’s head. This culture, not too different from our own, said that the more powerful, influential, and wealthy you are, the more you are to be served. But Jesus, believed to be the very son of God by these disciples, began washing their feet. He began serving them. And they didn’t know what to do with this. Jesus was setting an example of what a humble servant looks like to a bunch of men who consistently asked him who was the greatest among them (Matt 18, Mark 9-10, Luke 9, Luke 22). But more than setting an example, he was pointing to the greatest act of service anyone could ever experience.On the cross, Jesus served you and me by dying in our place for our sins. Jesus, our King, did not come “to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)So we serve because Jesus served us. We do it as a response to his grace and love towards us. When we serve, we should be joyful worshipers. In Romans 12:1, Paul articulates this in appealing to the mercy of God, saying that when we serve, it is worship. This is the fuel for serving.To what end do we serve, though? In serving, we participate in God’s mission. We serve to be a blessing. Throughout history, God establishes a pattern of blessing someone so that they might be a blessing to others. In Genesis, God blessed Abraham so that through him all the world might be blessed.We have been so blessed and so served, that part of our response in imitating Christ is to be a blessing. We need to connect this to the mission of God of making his name and glory known through saving sinners.It is vital that we remember this when we serve. If we do not remember the “why” when serving others, then we can get caught up serving for the wrong reasons whether it be for approval (God or man’s), or some false sense of righteousness (self righteous pride, or works righteousness). So whether you are unloading the trailer, serving with the children in PRDX Kids, or ushering people to a seat on Sundays, God is changing you and using you for his glory. We must serve as an overflow of the gospel.Join a Serve Team here.