Humble Service

Let's start off today talking about Wi-Fi connections. With a good signal, we feel like the world is at our fingertips. We can digitally go anywhere. Unfortunately, we don't always have that good connection. It is frustrating to say the least.

We might feel like a Wi-Fi connection is important, but a connection to Jesus is critical. Thankfully, Jesus makes that connection possible, and He makes the connection strong.

On Wednesday nights we have started a study on the Gospel of John. As I was reading through the book of John, I found that in chapters 13 through 16, Jesus shared a last meal with His disciples before His arrest and crucifixion. In that setting, Jesus gave them, and us, a gold mine of truth about humility, faithfulness, power, love, and victory. All of these are things that we can experience as we look to Jesus and choose to live our lives fully connected to Him. That is the direction I plan on going in the next few weeks.

Several of the ladies here have formed somewhat of a book club where they pass books back and forth between one another. They become connected as they share the stories that they read.

I'm not sure that men would get involved in something like this. If they did, they would probably read books about war and battles and things like that. There are a lot of books written about medieval times and battles. King Arthur and the knights of the round table and other books about kings, swords, and medieval battles. In most of these stories, strong kings crush the weak ones. The fastest blade wins. The frail ends up serving the stronger.

Even though we don't live in a time of swords and kings, our world is still one in which those with strength many times oppress the weaker instead of supporting them. In the real world, many in positions of power abuse it, but the strongest person in history set a different example. Jesus walked this Earth with the power of God Himself, but He didn't crush, kill, or overwhelm. He had power the world had never seen, but He used that power to serve.

We should be the same way. Since being connected to Christ gives us an opportunity for abundance, and since being like Jesus means becoming the person God wants us to be, then we should treasure humility. Jesus came down here to earth from the beautiful realms of heaven and put on flesh and served the world. He set that example for us to follow. If we are going to be more like Jesus, then we should reflect Christ powerfully. One of the ways we do that is when we serve with humility.

Being humble. That is sometimes a hard thing to be. It was Mac Davis that sang the song that said, "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way." Even though Jesus was perfect in every way, He still humbled himself and served with humility.

John 13:3 – “Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God.”

Jesus knew the power He had. He knew the miracles He was capable of performing. His disciples knew it as well. Throughout John's Gospel of Jesus's life, we see evidence of the fact that the father had given everything into His hands.

-In John's gospel alone, we see that Jesus healed an official's son. Jesus simply said, your son will live, and the dying boy was healed.

-Jesus fed over 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. After telling His disciples, “have the people sit down”, Jesus proceeded to multiply the food.

-Jesus walked on water. His power over nature was so unsettling He had to encourage His followers, “don't be afraid.”

-Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It didn't matter that Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. When Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out”, Lazarus wasn't dead anymore.

That's what the power of God looks like. Everything had been given into Jesus's hands. He knew it, and He demonstrated it, but He also demonstrated humility.

This passage in John 13 gives us a glimpse into this unusual exchange between Jesus and His disciples. The apostle John helps us appreciate Christ's act of service by reminding us of where Jesus came from and where he was going.

As we read this passage, let's not be so focused on what Jesus did on this occasion that we forget who He is. Jesus certainly didn't forget. Yes, Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into His hands, that He had come from God, and that He was going back to God.