Follow Jesus: Sustainable Servanthood Series

Follow JESUS: Sustainable Servanthood

Mark 1:21-39

How many people remember our church's annual theme? Two words: Follow Jesus. Jesus invites us to follow him. He starts with, "Come and see." And then, "Believe."

Have you thought recently how unbelievable it is what we believe? We believe that the Creator of the universe descended from Heaven and took on the form of a helpless baby. Here's what else: We believe that the Creator of the universe came to serve rather than to be served.

Jesus said of himself in Mark 10:45, "For even the Son of Man (Jesus referring to himself) did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Some of you may remember the praise song from the 1980s by Graham Kendrick, titled, "The Servant King"? The chorus was:

From heaven You came, helpless babe

Entered our world, Your glory veiled

Not to be served but to serve

And give Your life that we might live

This is our God, the SERVANT KING;

He calls us now to follow Him

To bring our lives as a daily offering

Of worship to the SERVANT KING.

The Bible recorded the tireless service of Jesus' public ministry. Jesus taught, healed, cast out demonic spirits. He also taught and trained his disciples privately.

Toward the end of his earthly life, Jesus washed his disciple's feet. He set an example of servanthood for his disciples to follow. Since that time, servanthood has been a mark of Christian maturity.

When understood correctly, Christian serve as a lifestyle, not just in the church and through church programs. Christians serve in the home and in the marketplace. And the unique Christian motive to serve is recorded in Ephesians 6:7, "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people...."

But servanthood has been warped, manipulated and abused. Some serve in the church for the praise of people and neglect family responsibilities. Some work 60 to 80 hours on the job and neglect personal and spiritual health. Some care for their elderly parents, while they raise our young children, and neglect their spouse.

Some reason, "If serving is good, then serving more must be better." Being busy can be equated with being important or godly. Burnout, broken relationship and busyness can easily replace servanthood that glorifies God and blesses people.

Our text this morning is Mark 1:21-39. (READ)

This text records the early ministries of Jesus. This is a dangerous season when service results in success. Pride and people pleasing could turn serving others into being self-serving. Instead we see sincere sustained servanthood in Jesus' life to the very end.

I want to suggest three disciplines in the life of Jesus that enabled him to sustain true servanthood that glorified God and blessed people. These are simple choices that will sustain us physically, emotionally and spiritually as we serve others. Let's look together.

First is the choice to be served. We see this in verse 31.

After an exhausting day of serving, Jesus went to the home of Simon and Andrew. Instead of resting, he found Simon's mother-in-law sick with fever. As expected, Jesus healed her fever. Here was what was not expected: Jesus allowed her to immediately serve him and the disciples.

Yes, Jesus said that he came to serve and not to be served. That meant everything he did was not self-serving but motivated by his want to serve others. So even the choice to be served by Simon's mother-in-law was motivated by his want to serve others.

Some call this self-care. Caregivers know that they need to receive care for themselves if they are to provide care for others long-term. The choice to be served by other is the choice to be refreshed, re-energized, refueled.

One obstacle to being served is cultural. In the Chinese culture, to be served by another is interpreted as troubling others or owing others. In the Christian culture, to be served is often wrongly interpreted as being weak.

The truth is, when we let others serve us, we are allowing them to mature, to express their care and concern. And we mature in humility, and experience their love and encouragement. Let others serve you. Both, they and you will grow

I had a conversation with Pastor Steve this week about our people serving in 2, 3, 4 ministries. He said ideally each person should wear 2 1/2 hats. One hat is the "servant leader" hat, such as a worship team leader. The 1/2 hat is the "team member" hat, such as a worship team member, serving but not as the leader. The second hat is the "being served" hat, such as a Sunday school student, where you are receiving or being served. The 2 1/2 hat model makes serving sustainable.