Pastor's Blog: The Life of a Servant
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Jesus gave no clearer teaching to His disciples than the importance of their seeing themselves first and foremost as servants. In His own life Jesus had come to this self-identification. How was it that He explained His own awareness? “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). It stands to reason, therefore, that we who call ourselves Jesus followers cannot see ourselves in any other way. We all know this to be true, but do we know as well the motivation that led Jesus to assume such an awareness? I’m not so sure.
Listen to how many people describe their discipleship and you get the impression that their service is somehow tied to their efforts at earning eternal life, which is little more than going down the path of “works righteousness,” or meriting one’s salvation, which is a dead end. Look instead at how Jesus had come to commit Himself to a life of service, even one that would require Him to die on the cross, and see how Jesus did so because God had already awakened divine life within Him. That’s why when the time came for Jesus to yield His earthly life, He knew that God would work to give Him life forevermore, and why Jesus could also say to His disciples, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35). You do not lose your life when you serve others; instead, you serve others because you have found life in Jesus and you want others to do the same. You serve out of joy, not obligation. You serve not in order to find anything, but because you have discovered in the way of Jesus everything.
Consider that thought as we gear up for this fall’s Service Day effort at MBBC. I’ll be honest; there was candid conversation over whether we should attempt anything this year, especially in light of how our church is still very much in “coronavirus awareness mode.” But because as Jesus followers we are always in “Christ-honoring awareness mode,” we determined that to be faithful to Jesus’ mission, we needed to do something to serve others in His name, even and especially at this time.
Because we haven’t been able to promote this ministry opportunity through in-person worship and small group Bible Study gatherings as we have in the past, we have sensed the need to talk things up as we near this fall’s Service Day date, which is next Saturday, October 3. Granted, we’ve had to adjust our portfolio of opportunities in order to be responsible in bringing people together to serve, and we have also decided not to come back to the church afterwards for lunch and fellowship. But we will have enough ample fellowship time within each of the groups and, most importantly, we have targeted a short list of projects that will allow us to have the greatest impact for the day.
You can register your participation by visiting mbbc.org/serviceday. There you can learn more about the plans for the day and how you can be a part.
There is something for everyone. No, let me rephrase that; there is something for you. There is something that will enable you to show your joy over how Jesus has awakened life in you and something that will show others the difference between a person who serves to earn a life and one who does so because in faith he or she has received one.
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).