Day Three: Why Christians Serve

In his book In His Steps, Charles Sheldon tells the fictional story of a church congregation who agree to not do anything for a year, without asking “what would Jesus do?” Though the book was written over one hundred years ago, “WWJD?” was revived by youth groups in the nineties, and showed up on tee shirts and bracelets across America. In all the marketing, the question somewhat lost its power. What would Jesus do?
Though there are four Gospels full of answers, the most succinct is in Matthew 20:28 “The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  That’s the first reason Christians serve others: it’s what Jesus would do.
Additionally, it’s what Jesus commands Christians to do. Again, and again, and again, in generalities and specifics, the Bible commands believers to serve. The greatest commandment is to love God and love others as yourself, Christians are to do all “with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Col 3:23), and the greatest love is laying down your life for a friend (John 15:13). Theologians spend their lifetimes debating the things in Scripture that are unclear, but the call to servanthood is not one of them.
Servanthood is the outward manifestation of an inward change. Everything about our natural world and instincts pull us to self focusedness. Survival of the fittest teaches us that we can only succeed if others fail. The laws of thermodynamics demand that for one thing to gain something, another must loss it.   And the exclusivity principle tells us that two things cannot share the same space in the universe ; one must displace the other.
The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives turns these principles upside down. Success is no longer measured against others’ failures; instead the body of Christ loses and wins together (I Cor. 12). Christians give and receive more (Mark 8). And you maintain your identity, but are filled with the indwelling presence of God—two beings sharing the same space.
These are the realities of fellowship with the Omnipotent Creator. Serving others is the flow of these realities into our daily lives.
Unfortunately, these realities are not what controls and motivates most Christians. On Monday, we will start looking at some of the reasons Christians do not chose to serve others, so stay tuned!

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