Spiritual Disciplines: Service
John 13:1-5, 12-17
Sermon Number 3
January 20, 2008
Jesus gathered with His disciples in an upper room to celebrate one final meal together before He would die on the cross. The disciples still had no clue as to what was going to happen next. They simply thought they were headed to an upper room to have the Passover meal.
As they walked into the room that night, there was something strange, something, rather, someone was missing. But first you need to understand the history and the customs of that era. The host was supposed to provide a servant at the door of any dinner party to wash the feet of the guests. Remember, in those days people walked with sandals down dusty roads and when they sat down to eat, they were not sitting at table like we do, they reclined at tables which were about one foot to 18 inches off of the ground. That is how they would eat. That meant their feet would be dangerously near the next person’s face and food. Having a foot washer greet guests at the door was standard practice, much like if you came into my home in the winter, you would expect me to take you jacket and hang it up.
Imagine that you are in the upper room that evening and you watch the events as they are unfolding. You stand with excitement as you hear Jesus talking and the disciples laughing and talking as they make their way up the stairs and into the room.
The first disciple walks in the door, looks for the foot-washing servant and notices he’s not there. Does he wash his own feet? Does he take off his garment and become a servant and wash everyone else’s feet? You can see the look in his eyes, he’s disgusted that the host has not provided a foot washing servant. So, instead of becoming that servant, he thinks to himself, “Not me. I’m a disciple of the great teacher Jesus. I’m not a lowly servant.” So he hurries to the table to get a good spot, one near the center of the table.
The second disciple comes in and he too, realizes that there is no foot washer, and he also notices that the first disciple in the room did not take it upon himself to serve, so he goes and finds a great spot at the table and complains about the fact that there is no foot washer. Each disciple does the same thing. They all file in. They all go right past the water basin and recline at the table, making themselves comfortable as they stick their dirty feet in each other’s faces.
Finally, they are all at the table, sitting down. Now Jesus suddenly gets up from the table and walks over to the water basin and takes off His outer garment. He looks at the disciples as they sit at the table, waiting to be served, and they stare back at Jesus. You wonder what Jesus was thinking, ‘Unbelievable! Father, don’t these guys get it? I’ve talked to them until I’m blue in the face and they still don’t get it. What more do I need to do?’ Three years of sermon after sermon, illustration after illustration, confrontation after confrontation, and not one of them is willing to serve his brothers. And even more heartbreaking, not one of them was humble enough to serve Jesus.
After giving every chance for one of them to take the role of a servant, Jesus picks up the servant’s towel and pours water into the basin and begins the process of kneeling at each of the 12 disciples and washing their dirty, smelly feet.
After washing all of their feet, including Judas’, Jesus returned to the table and said,
13"You call me ’Teacher’ and ’Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
The call from Jesus to the disciples and to each one of us is to become a servant. And if we were really to speak the truth about serving many of us are not really thrilled with the prospect of becoming a servant. You see the call of Jesus is not just to serve, but to become a servant.
In his book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster wrote,
In some ways we would prefer to hear Jesus’ call to deny father and mother, houses and land for the sake of the gospel than his word to wash feet. Radical self-denial gives the feel of adventure. If we forsake all, we even have the chance of glorious martyrdom. But in service we must experience the many little deaths of going beyond ourselves. Service banishes us to the mundane, the ordinary, the trivial. (126)
Those are tough words, words that fly in our faces, words which step on our toes. And when we think about it, there are many who just don’t like to serve. There are a myriad of reasons why.
We think if we are quick to serve, then people will take advantage of us.
We think if we are serving, why aren’t other serving along with us.
We wonder if anyone will see me serve, so they will think more of me.
We think the work we have to do is beneath us.
We stand in judgement of the person or people we are supposed to serve.
We just don’t have the love within us.
We simply just don’t want to do it.
I mean let’s be honest, serving comes in all different shapes and sizes and at all different places and times in our lives. I like what John Ortberg said in his book, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, when he spoke about serving taking place at home. He explained when the baby cries in the middle of the night, he could fake being asleep, and then as his wife is leaving the room, say a few words in a supposedly groggy voice, as if he would have gotten up to take care of the child, but too bad, he’s just a heavier sleeper. This way, he gets credit for wanting to help, but being just a little late, and he gets the extra luxury of staying in bed and falling back to sleep.
But what would happen if he just got out of bed and groggily, but joyfully went over to that child and took care of the crying child? Maybe giving thanks that he is alive, that he is God’s gift to he and his wife. Instead of being resentful, he could be blessed. (118-119)
Some may say it’s a matter of perspective, I would say it is a matter of the heart, the heart of a servant.
One thing we need to understand about being a servant is this, ‘we may oftentimes serve another person simply as an act of love and righteousness, without thinking how it may enhance my relationship or ability to follow Christ.
When a loved one is sick, we don’t often consider the toll it will take on us, instead we willingly, wantingly and lovingly begin to care for our loved one. We don’t view it as a service, we don’t call ourselves a servant, we just do it because of love. There are many instances when we take in a parent or older child who has met up with a difficult time in life and we know it is right to take them into our home and care and love them. You are being a servant, but you don’t see it as a spiritual discipline, in fact, it is a natural event in your life, and you don’t think twice about doing it.
On the other hand, we may serve others as an act of obedience to Christ for the purpose of helping ourselves become less arrogant, less prideful, less possessive, less envious, less resentful . . . and so on. In those types of cases, our service is undertaken as a discipline for the spiritual life. (182-Willard)
Let’s step back for a moment and look again at the words of Jesus after washing the disciples feet,
14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
It was unheard of for a person of Jesus’ stature to wash someone else’s feet. It was newsworthy, but Jesus did not do the conventional, He did not follow the ways of the law, He followed the ways of love. It was love that motivated Jesus to wash the feet of the disciples. It was His desire to show the disciples one more time what type of life the Christ-follower must lead. . . a life of humility, a life of servanthood.
Jesus repeatedly told the disciples they were to be servants, but they just didn’t get it, sometimes we don’t either. In Luke 22:24, after the foot washing, and after the dinner, the disciples were arguing over who was the greatest. Do you get it? Folks, they just had one of the most amazing gifts given to them, and it still didn’t compute. This is why Jesus repeated Himself so many times, telling us we are to be servants, telling us we are to be humble.
Paul follows up on humility as he wrote the great Christ hymn in Philippians 2. Paul describes Jesus’ humility when he calls us to follow Jesus’ example, saying,
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
This is a great prescription for being a servant. Consider what Paul says - - -
▸ do nothing out of selfish ambition.
▸ do nothing out of vain conceit.
▸ in humility consider others better than yourself.
▸ don’t only look out for your interests, but look to the interest of others.
▸ Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus.
▸ make yourself nothing, and
▸ take the nature of a servant.
That my friends is the call to servanthood. But let me ask you is servanthood different than serving? Glad you asked.
According to Richard Foster, when we serve, we still have control, we still have the choice about what we will or will not do. We decide whom we will serve and when we will serve. If it fits our schedules, fine, if not, it’s your loss.
However, Foster explains that when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. And when we do this, we find that there is great freedom in this. You see, if we voluntarily choose to be a servant, and even to be taken advantage of, something we fight against, then interestingly enough, we can no longer be manipulated.
Do you get his thinking here? It’s pretty radical. If we choose to be a servant and give up our rights, then who can step all over us? In essence, nobody. When we choose to be a servant we surrender the right to decide who and when we will serve. We become vulnerable and available. Who can hurt someone who has chosen to be stepped on. It’s a different mind frame on this one.
Of course, we could get involved in servanthood for all the wrong reasons, we could end up serving for self-righteous reasons, instead of serving for true and pure reasons. Let me give you a few examples, and I will talk only about the positive examples of true and pure service - - -
True service - - -
- comes from a relationship with Jesus. We serve out of divine urgings.
- finds it almost impossible to distinguish between the small and the large service.
- rests contented in hiddenness. It does not seek the lights and attention.
- seeks the approval of God.
- is free of the need to calculate results. It delights only in the service.
- is indiscriminate in its ministry. It seeks to be servant of all.
- ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need.
- is a life-style. It acts from ingrained patterns of living. It is spontaneous.
- can listen with tenderness and patience before acting.
- does not need to act.
- builds community.
- it draws, binds, heals and builds. (Foster 128-130)
Last year I spoke about spiritual gifts in some messages, then we had about 7 weeks of classes helping us to learn what our spiritual gifts were. It was a great time for us, and I am still sifting through the many different gifts I am learning that you have. But you see, spiritual gifts do us no good if we keep them hidden. The very purpose of receiving spiritual gifts is to use them for the glory of God, as we serve Him. That is exactly what Peter said. We are commanded to serve. Note what Peter says in 1 Peter 4:8-11 –
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 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.
That gift we have received are the spiritual gifts. So, you see, we take our spiritual gifts and we use them at home, in the church, at work, in the community, we use them as a way to serve God. These gifts were not given to us to lie dormant, they were given to us, really, they were entrusted to us, to build the kingdom of Jesus on earth.
I’ve done a lot of talking about this spiritual discipline and I want to conclude by giving us some practical ways that we could put the Spiritual Discipline of Service into action.
I want to start with the most basic ways to serve, firstly, Psalm 100:2 tells us “serve the Lord with gladness.” We are not to serve begrudgingly, but joyfully and willingly. When we know someone has a need, we are to help in whatever ways we can. When I am doing premarital counseling, I always tell the couple their goal in their marriage is to outserve the other person. Can you imagine a marriage in which you argue about who will have the joy of washing the dishes, changing the dirty diapers, taking out the trash?
On top of that we can look beyond the walls of our homes and into the church. Who in the church has a need in which you can provide some type of service. Maybe there is a family who needs free child care for a night; or maybe it’s a neighbor who learns about Christ centered service because you cared to serve them; is there a family who needs a meal because of difficult times; does someone need a ride somewhere; maybe there is a need to clean someone’s home. None of it is glamorous, but it is necessary.
As I said, we often resist the hidden and inconspicuous jobs, which is exactly why we need the spiritual discipline of servanthood.
There are a multitude of opportunities available within our church, as well as in our community. Those needs are met when you use your spiritual gifts in the act of being a servant.
In Mark 10:42-45, Jesus told us,
42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Jesus calls us to a life of servanthood. It’s a life where we don’t exercise the possible authority we can over others, instead we practice a term which has become popular in church leadership literature, it’s called “servant leadership.” One book I have is titled, They Smell Like Sheep.” Meaning, the leadership is not separate from the people of the church, instead they are part of the body, and because you work with the people and are not in a separate class, you all smell the same, because you are working together.
So greatness becomes radically redefined, and as we seek to ascend to Christ, in all actuality we end up DESCENDING into GREATNESS. We seek to serve others, because if we want to be great in the kingdom of God, we must become a servant, to have that servant mentality.
Verse 45 is a sobering statement from Jesus. He makes two very important points for us to hold onto. First, Jesus reminds us that He came not to sit on His throne which as a king, He was entitled to, instead He took off the royal crown, put the royal scepter down and joined the people and lived with the people, and in essence smelled like the sheep.
Secondly, and what we must recognize as the ultimate example of servanthood comes in the final part of the verse when Jesus explained He not only came to serve, but His greatest act of servanthood comes in Him giving His life as a ransom for you and I. His death on the cross is the ultimate gift of servanthood from Jesus to us.
Our call is to serve God, not out of guilt, but out of joyful obedience to the One who gave His life for us. As we serve God, we serve one another. We do this because of our faithfulness to God,
“We serve not to receive any type of gain, rather we serve with humility because it leads to Christlikeness” (Whiteny 116).
