SELFLESS LOVE

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 NIV)

On this Veteran’s Day, we honor the men and women who have embodied the spirit of sacrificial love through their service. John 15:13 reminds us that the greatest expression of love is found in laying down one’s life for others. Veterans have stood in the gap, willing to risk everything so that others might live in freedom and safety. Their courage points us to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for the salvation of the world. As we give thanks for our veterans, let us also be challenged to live lives of selfless love -- serving our families, our neighbors, and our communities with humility and grace, and serving in everyday ways through kindness, forgiveness, and standing up for those in need. True freedom is found not only in the liberties we enjoy but in the love we demonstrate. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™

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INSTRUMENTS IN GOD’S HEALING

“Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  (Philippians 2:4 ESV)

There comes a time, if we are to be healed, that we turn our attention away from our wounds and focus on something greater than ourselves. Many wounds do not heal because we continuously irritate them by constant examination. If we want to be healed, it helps to forget about ourselves and our wounds for a while and lose ourselves in helping, serving, and caring for others…

We all have the opportunity to be what Henri Nouwen calls “wounded healers.” Because we know what it is like to be wounded, we can understand, help, and be an instrument in God’s healing. 

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!” 

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VIEWING WORK AS SERVICE TO GOD

I have a friend who used to work at Disneyland, and he said that when he was trained, there was one value emphasized above all others: What puts the magic in the Magic Kingdom is servanthood. They are told that when you are in the kingdom, when you walk through those gates, you serve. Whatever your job is, you are a servant.

You treat every encounter with people as if they were your personal guest. If they need directions, escort them. If they ask a question and you have heard it a hundred times, answer it as if you have never heard it before…

Jesus said that what puts the magic into His kingdom is serving, because “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mathew 20:28). His is not a kingdom about status and climbing ladders and getting attention. The best you is built by serving, and God’s kingdom is one of those kingdoms where if you don’t want to serve, you won’t really want to be there. Sometimes God will interrupt us in our work, not to give us a chance to show off our giftedness, but simply to give us a chance to serve…

The day is coming when God will look at His faithful servants and say, “Well done.” He will say it to faithful employees who give themselves diligently to work that never earns much human recognition. He will say it to workers who know they could have climbed higher if they had cut corners or manipulated others. He will say it to single parents who cared for kids – bathing them, feeding them, cleaning up after them – when they were tired and thought nobody was looking.

Somebody is looking. Someone is keeping track. It is worth it.

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”

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YOUR CHURCH NEEDS YOU – Part 1 of 3

“No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”  (1 Corinthians 10:24 NIV)

Being a member of the church is a selfless act! The church does not merely exist for what you get out of it. It is your opportunity to invest in the lives of God’s people and to join God’s activity through His people. God knew that your church needed you. That’s why God added you to that body (see 1 Corinthians 12:18). Your involvement is part of the equipping of your church to carry out God’s purposes….

When I served as a pastor, one of the most important things I did was to help my people recognize when God was at work in our midst. At small or informal meetings, I often asked what the members had witnessed of God’s activity that week. University students would tell how God had opened opportunities to share their faith with fellow students. Business people told about God’s activity in the work place. Mothers would relate how God led them to establish a group of Christian mothers to pray for the schools. Seniors recounted how God led them to intercede for someone during the week. These informal times of sharing became wonderful opportunities to celebrate together God’s activity in our midst. 

-- Excerpted from “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God” by Henry and Richard Blackaby and Claude King

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A RADICAL APPROACH

Although Jesus was not a revolutionary in the political sense, many of His teachings were startling and revolutionary, and none more so than leadership. In the contemporary world, the term servant has a very lowly connotation, but that was not so as Jesus used it. He elevated it, equating it with greatness, and that was certainly a revolutionary concept. Most of us would have no objection to being masters, but servanthood holds little attraction.

Christ’s view of His Kingdom was that of a community of members serving one another -- mutual service. Paul advocates the same idea. “Through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13) And of course our loving service is to spread to the needy world around us. But in the life of the church today, it is usually the few who serve the many.

Jesus well knew that such an other-worldly concept would not be welcomed by a self-pleasing world… But nothing less than that was what He required of those who desired to rise to leadership in His Kingdom.

The contrast between the world’s idea of leadership and that of Christ is brought into sharp focus in Mark 10:42-43: “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not [to be] this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.” 

-- J. Oswald Sanders in “Spiritual Leadership”

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FOUR WAYS CHURCH IS LIKE FAMILY

"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”  (Acts 2:42, 46, 47 NIV)

1. We're joined together by something greater than our personal preferences or life circumstances. We don’t get to choose our family, and similarly, we don’t get to choose our church family. We are made God’s children through the Holy Spirit the moment we are saved (Romans 8:15-17). Families are bound by blood, just as Christians are bound by the blood Jesus shed on the cross for us.

2. We have our own traditions and celebrations that are passed down from generation to generation. My family has traditions for every major holiday. Dad always carves the turkey. Grandma makes sweet potato pie, and we always watch "A Christmas Story" on Christmas day. It’s almost a ritual. Likewise, the church has traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. The Lord’s Supper, or communion, is a great example. For thousands of years, the Church has celebrated communion to remember that Jesus died for our sins on the cross (Matthew 26:26-28).

3. We don't always get along, but that doesn't stop us from having each other's back. Brothers and sisters fight. They get mad at each other, especially during the holidays. But if our siblings get hurt by someone else, we get protective. This happens in the church, too. We are going to make mistakes, and we choose to love each other enough to hold each other accountable for our behavior. That’s having each other’s back.

4. We get fed constantly, whether we're hungry or not. Every mom wants to make sure you’ve been fed. It doesn’t matter if you just had your second helping at a holiday dinner or not, they will make sure you got enough. Your church family wants to serve you in the same way at church. From daily devotionals. to serving opportunities. to small groups, to Sunday worship, there are a number of ways to be spiritually fed and grow in your relationship with Jesus.

-- Jason Far, adapted

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WE NEED EACH OTHER

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  (Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV)

Within the body of Christ we need to be intentional about the seeds we sow, about how our behavior with friends should be preparing us for service out in the world. We need each other to draw us out of our self-centeredness. We need others to hold us accountable, to be like a mirror to help us see our lives and our doing of our faith more clearly. We need each other for mutual encouragement, to push further into serving the world than we might if left alone.

-- James C. Howell in “Your Are the Hands of Christ”


#4198

SERVING GOD

Is it really necessary to serve God? What is the purpose of changing our priorities to accomplish tasks that God could honestly do better and more quickly without us? Peter addresses the importance of serving God in 1 Peter 4:10-11: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” Peter makes it clear that we have received our gifts from God for two purposes -- to serve others and to bring praise to God. Serving isn’t about us receiving attention or glory; it is for Him to receive glory.

How does God receive glory when we serve? The transforming power of Jesus Christ is on display in the lives of those who have traded selfishness for selflessness. Peter says believers should recognize that we are speaking and serving directly on behalf of God to others, while He gives the ability and strength for us to do so. And when we direct glory towards Him instead of accepting it for ourselves, we stand out from the crowd of those who glorify only themselves. And that difference in our lives causes people to examine the life-changing nature of a relationship with Jesus Christ. It validates our faith in front of others.

-- From www.gotquestions.org

#3825

THE CROSS-SHAPED ATTITUDE

The cross is the symbol of Jesus’ most radical expression of submission and servanthood. At the center of Good Friday was Jesus’ “obedience unto death -- even on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). This cross-shaped attitude is a pattern for us to implement and imitate. By opening ourselves to the shaping power of the indwelling Christ, we grow into the likeness of Christ. Serving is one of the most important disciplines because we act our way into Christ-likeness.

-- Dr. Maxie Dunnam

#3705

GATHERING AND SENDING

Worship is not only an event of gathering but also of sending. All that we do in daily life culminates in worship. Likewise, all that we do in worship prepares us for life in the world, a life which glorifies God in serving others.

-- Paul Escamilla in Weavings Magazine, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.


#3602

FATHERS AS SERVANT LEADERS

"Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man [Jesus Christ] came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:26b-28 NLT) 

My primary role [as a husband and father] is not to be "the boss" and just look good but to be a servant leader who enables and enhances my family to be their best.

-- Tim Hansel


#3237

WORSHIPPING AT THE WRONG ALTAR

Martyrs teach us many things, and chief among them is the immense worth of our faith and at the same time the worthlessness of much that pretends to have value…

We are cajoled into bowing down every day before the altar of television, in the corridors of the shopping mall, in the intricacies of our minds, in the thousand little decisions we make hourly.  And it is our noble privilege to join the ranks of the martyrs and resolutely declare, "We will not serve your gods and we will not worship the statue you have set up" -- no matter what the cost.

-- James C. Howell in Servants, Misfits, and Martyrs


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