LET’S PRAY
Father we ask for Your anointing on us today. Place Your anointing on me as Your messenger today. God move in our lives. Rip open the heavens and visit Your people today.
Open our eyes so that we may see Your Word. Open our ears so that we may hear Your Word. Open our minds so that we may understand Your Word. Open our hearts so that we may receive Your Word today. AMEN
“The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” Romans 13:11
We are just about finished looking at our updated mission statement for our church and our plan to carry it out. A plan that can be summed up in just a few words; Transformation, Healing, Equipping. Once we understand the mission we need a plan to carry it out. That plan is based upon focusing on five areas; Invest and Invite, Word of God and Prayer, Meaningful Relationships, Serving Each Other, and Praise and Worship.
Last week we looked at having meaningful relationships within the church.
In other words we need to be developing close, intimate, Godly relationships with other Christians. When we do that we can have people in our lives that we can build up and they can build us up. We have people of like faith to worship with and learn the Word of God with. And we have people with whom we can minister with.
The benefits of developing meaningful relationships within the church are far reaching.
It brings strength to the relationship.
It brings accountability to the relationship.
It allows the supernatural to take place.
It reflects who God is in us.
It gives us a better return for our work.
Meaningful relationships produce fruitfulness.
We were created by God to be involved in meaningful relationships.
It is so much easier to go through life with friends. People with whom you can count on and they can count on you. People with who you can have fun with and people with whom you can work with toward a common goal.
Investing and inviting others to Christ and to church is so much easier when you have a friend to help you. Getting into the Word of God and spending time in prayer is so much more beneficial to the individual believer when they have relationships with others within the body of Christ because we can learn more and accomplish more.
And when those meaningful relationships are done correctly, according to the Word of God, and there is integrity and honesty and love and unity, the Word of God promises us that God will bestow His blessing upon His children.
“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mt. Zion. For there the Lord bestows His blessing, even life forevermore.” Psalm 133
There are two awesome pictures painted in this Psalm that show us how much God desires for us to build meaningful, Godly relationships within the body of Christ.
The first is the picture of the precious oil being poured upon Aaron. He was the first high priest of Israel. The oil poured on the head of the high priest signified the anointing of that person for the office that God had placed them in. It was the covering of the Holy Spirit upon that person.
The second is the dew of Hermon falling on Mt. Zion.
Mt. Zion is the location of Jerusalem, which sits below Mt. Hermon. Each year Mt. Hermon, which is also known as the sacred mountain receives a fair amount of snow. In the summer the snow condenses into vapor and makes it’s way into the area of Jerusalem bring life to the area.
We can clearly see by these word pictures that the blessing of God through His Holy Spirit will be upon the people of God who are involved in meaningful, unified relationships with each other.
Let God bless you by Investing and Inviting others to Christ and to church. Let God bless you by His Word and through Prayer and let God bless you by developing meaningful relationships with others in the church.
As we continue to focus on these things we find ourselves at the fourth focus point. It is the point that builds off of the last point.
Today we look at Serving Each Other.
This goes deeper than love. This is helping others so that we can make a difference in their life. We need to make a habit of serving others so that we can demonstrate God’s way of loving.
There is no better example of serving each other in God’s Word than the example in John 13:1-17
READ John 13:1-17
The earthly ministry of Jesus Christ was nearing its end. Jesus had gathered with His disciples to eat the Passover meal. The Passover meal was the celebration commemorating the time when the death angel passed over every house in Egypt that had the blood of a lamb sprinkled on the door post when the Israelites where getting ready to be rescued from slavery during the time of Moses.
This is a pivotal time in the lives of the disciples. It is a defining moment that changes their outlook on life.
Jesus had chosen these men to be His disciples. He had set upon them His love in a very special degree and now He was about to take that love a step further and demonstrate it not only in word but in action.
Of course later on He would take that love to even a higher level, as He would lay His life down for mankind.
This was a new concept for the disciples. Jesus had spoke of this kind of love but they had never seen it demonstrated in such a way.
Jesus was very aware of who He was. He understood His universal sovereignty that was give to Him by God the Father. He was aware of His heavenly origin and the destiny that awaited Him. And still, Jesus the Son of God dressed Himself as a servant to perform the task of a servant.
Any of the disciples would have gladly stepped down to wash the feet of Jesus but there was no way that they would wash each other’s feet for if the did they would come across as inferior.
After all they were all competing for a place in the coming kingdom of God. They wanted to know who was going to be the greatest when it came.
READ Matthew 20:20-28
The words of Christ in this portion of Scripture are as true today for us as they were for those twelve disciples some 2000 years ago.
Every child of God is called by God to be a servant. We are called to serve God and have no other gods before us and we are called to serve each other.
No matter what God has called you to do in life, we need to understand this concept of Serving Each Other.
God so greatly desires a church that will serve Him with wholeheartedness and as we are serving Him that we would also be serving each other.
God is looking for people with willing hearts to serve Him no matter the cost. God is looking for people who are going to love Him, love each other, and work along side of each other and for each other.
God is looking for people who are willing to look past each other’s differences and focus their energy on the kingdom of God.
He has called you and I to be servants.
The night before I graduated Bible College, the President of the College, Jeff Farmer looked at me and said, “The highest call in all the universal domain of God is to serve in lowliness, humility, and meekness. Not to be served, but to serve. Not to be ministered unto, but to minister…”
I have never forgotten those words, as a matter of fact they are framed in my office and I look at them almost every day.
We are all called to Serve Each Other.
Since we are talking about serving each other I should remind you that this means we are going to need to be involved in some meaningful relationships within the church se we can serve each other.
There is a certain attitude that we need to carry if we are going to be serious about God’s call for us to serve each other.
There are ten parts to this attitude. It is an attitude that is Christ-like in nature.
10 things a servant does.
1. A Servant loves.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
If we claim to be a child of God and we claim to love God and we do not show love to each other then our love for God is meaningless.
The Apostle Paul tells us that having love for each other is the most excellent way to live our lives.
Think about it. God loves us, we love God, we should love each other.
2. A servant fellowships.
What is fellowship? It is more than getting together to eat.
Fellowship with each other is building meaningful relationships. If we are going to claim to be a child of God then we need to get this one right.
“But if we claim to be in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
The meaningful relationships that we build with in the body of Christ are based upon the one thing we all share in common and that is our eternal life that comes from God through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Our eternal life in God means that we have fellowship with God and if we have fellowship with God then we must have fellowship with God’s people.
3. A servant has affection for others.
“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10
Regardless of our heritage, our social status, or our financial status the servant must have the love of a brother or sister for others in the church. This kind of love is called in the Greek, phildelphia, and it means that we are not to count ourselves better than our brother or sister in the Lord.
4. A servant glorifies God with others.
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5-6
This takes us back to the words of David in Psalm 133 when he discusses how good and pleasant it is when we dwell together in unity.
Our God is the God of unity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, three parts with different jobs to do all working in perfect harmony.
So much more is accomplished when we worship God in unity. With one heart and mouth we lift our God up.
5. A servant edifies and comforts.
The Greek words for edification are construction terms. They refer to the building of an object. For us that object happens to be each other.
The author of Hebrews urges us to “encourage one another daily, so long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13
We are to encourage, comfort and build each other up in the Lord.
It is interesting to note that this is also one of the jobs that the Holy Spirit was given to fulfill in our lives. Along with the Holy Spirit we are called to bring peace into the lives of others.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9
6. A servant is kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving; not harsh, hard hearted, and unforgiving.
The Apostle Paul is almost blunt when he states, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
This really sums up the Christian character. This is the outward expression of the love in the heart of a child of God that should be applied to every person with whom we have contact and every situation that we experience with those people.
I especially like the reminder Paul tags on the end of this verse. We are to treat others as we want to be treated. Isn’t that the Golden Rule?
If we want to be pardoned from our sins then we should pardon others when they sin against us. At times this isn’t easy but it is necessary. When we forgive we restore fellowship that was lost. This is what the life of Christ exhibited and this is what our lives should exhibit.
7. A servant submits.
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21
This is how the church achieves harmony. When we submit to each other mutually, voluntarily, and personally we shut the door on rudeness, haughtiness, and selfishness.
8. A servant is compassionate.
The Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:8 to “love as brothers and be compassionate and humble.”
Compassion is a deep love because it is loving when one is in a state of suffering and need. In our society we have become cold hearted to the suffering of others.
We see starving children in third world nations and we just turn the channel and go on with our life.
When a person is in need we should be the first to reach out to them. This is the same kind of love that motivated God to send Christ to die for our sins. We were in need of salvation so “God showed His love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
9. A servant shows hospitality
“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
1 Peter4:9
It doesn’t get much clearer than that. Hospitality without grumbling.
10. A servant is forbearing.
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2
Do people in the church ever get on your nerves?
Do people in your family ever get on your nerves?
No one ever said that being a Christian would be easy for everyone. We all have our crosses to bear.
We are called to get over each other’s faults and failures, to look past those things and put up with one another.
Paul said that serving in such a manner is a humbling thing to do. Jesus said the same thing when He washed His disciple’s feet. He humbled Himself and took that position of a servant and washed dirty feet.
And then He told us to do the same thing, to humble ourselves and serve. He set an example for us to serve one another. In doing this, others will know that our love for God and our love for each other is genuine and from the heart.
Today, in following the example of my Lord and Savior, I am going to wash my wife’s feet. This is something that I have never done before. It is humbling for me, but if I will not humble myself before my God, my wife, and this congregation, I cannot ask you to do the same.
(Wash your spouses feet or an elder’s)
I am not asking you to wash each other’s feet. I am asking you to serve each other as the opportunities arise and as God leads.
Serving Each Other. This goes deeper than love. This is helping others so that we can make a difference in their life. We need to make a habit of serving others so that we can demonstrate God’s way of loving.
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