Ever notice how you pick up little habits from people without even noticing it? When I first became a Christian, the preacher at the University Church was a positive, encouraging gentleman named Harold Jones. He would always speak about the ‘wonderful love of Jesus’ and bob up and down on his tip-toes as he did. Now I do it too. Without even realizing I’ve done it.
I remember two great young men I worked with in Kansas City – Mike and Jeremy. Both guys were exciting teenagers. Anytime they would get fired-up about something they’d shout ‘yea’ and throw their fists in the air in triumph. I didn’t even realize I had picked this up myself until I did it – in a meeting with the elders.
Often you’ll see me sitting down with people, sitting with my hands behind my head, clasping one wrist. Know where that comes from? My father. I just picked it up without thinking about it.
And nothing changes your vocabulary and lifestyle like having children. Without ever planning it, the word ‘potty’ became a part of our everyday language. I no longer excuse myself from the table to visit the restroom; I have to ‘go potty.’ The other day we’re driving down 71st street looking for a restaurant. Without even noticing I’m doing it, I started singing “We are looking for Tony Roma’s; wonder where it is.” Those of you with toddlers will recognize the tune as being from Nickelodeon’s hit show, “Blue’s Clues.” I’ve never wanted to pick up that tune, it just rubbed off on me.
These things happen. We pick up things from people without even noticing it has happened. Of course, this can happen in a positive way, on purpose as well. We start spending time with someone who we respect as a leader to learn from them. We study with a teacher to discover their study habits. You pray with a prayer warrior to strengthen your prayer lives.
Today, I want to invite you to approach the Master Servant – the Minister of all ministers – to hear his life-call to ministry for any who would follow him.
God has called us to act as agents of Grace who live in ministry to one another. One of the foundational purposes of this church is to equip and empower people to be ministers. We believe all believers all called to a lifestyle of servant ministry. We believe that God calls us and uniquely positions each of us to minister on His behalf. We are to act towards one another out of the love that has been poured so freely on us by our Heavenly Father.
“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:39
“Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” Matthew 20: 25-28
We know we are to follow Christ’s example and give our lives away in service and ministry. Yet this is so hard for us to do. We struggle with being a servant, with ministering to others.
We struggle with complacency. We have this strange tendency to be consumers and spectators. We walk around treating every situation like we’re food critics in a new restaurant. We expect everything and everyone to cater to us. We act as if breaking a sweat would be as painful as breaking our legs. Reminds me of how someone described a college football game in the fourth quarter: “22 guys in need of a break, 70,000 people badly in need of exercise.”
We struggle with duplicity. We have a struggle with compartmentalizing our faith with other rigors of our life. Put our faith into one area of our life and don’t know how to bring it to bear on personal decisions in our own life, not to mention in the lives of others. We act as if we are two (or more) different people depending on which situation we’re in.
We struggle with timidity. We either have a severe problem with our confidence or an absence of any initiative. We’re afraid to step out and serve others. We’re afraid that we can’t provide the help someone needs. We believe little good exists within ourselves or our ability to serve.
Some statements you might hear about why someone hasn’t given themselves to ministry:
1. I’m not good enough.
2. I don’t know enough about God.
3. I don’t know what to do.
4. I don’t have enough time.
5. What difference could I make?
All of these have at the center – ‘me’ – my fear, my doubt, my needs, my thoughts, my mind. And to some degree there is truth in the inability within me to make any real difference in the lives of others by myself. I am a weakened vessel; I struggle to do anything right. But that self-centered theology isn’t what Christ has called us to or promised to commit his body to. Christ invites us to join Him in ministry. Ministering to others isn’t about what I can do… Its about what Christ can do through me.
Being a minister is about God’s people using God’s gifts to display God’s grace.
If Christianity is going to make a real impact on your life – you have to get involved in ministry to others. You have to pick a side if you’re going to see what its really about. No one ever checks out the win/loss record of the referee. Luke-warm Christianity leads to a lack-luster life with no purpose and no promise.
There are opportunities for ministry for which we are universally capable. God gives us opportunities that any and all of us can answer. A person walks into our church – any of us can greet them and pray for them as we meet them. A friend goes into the hospital for emergency surgery, any of us can hold them and their family in prayer; any of us can answer a need they’ll face: mow their lawn while their out, take a meal by the house, visit them in the hospital to lift their spirits.
There are opportunities for ministry for which we are uniquely prepared. God gives you specific opportunities to minister for which you are especially experienced.
A lady was leaving her office one evening and was stuck in the parking lot when her car wouldn’t start. Just as she was ready to give up and call a cab, a gentleman walked up and offered to help. He tinkered under the hood for a second and the car started right up.
She was so grateful and offered to compensate the stranger, yet he refused. “You are such a good man,” she remarked. “Lady, if you knew me” he said, “you wouldn’t say that. I was released on parole from prison last week. I was doing time for hot wiring cars.”
The lady looked to heaven, and jubilantly said, “Thank you, Lord for sending me a professional!”
God prepares us for unique opportunities in ministry. There are times when God wants to use you, and perhaps exclusively you, to demonstrate his grace to someone in a personal and powerful way. When the struggles of your life, the leadings of your heart are the exact tools he needs to make his love known.
So how do I ask God to reign in my life in such a way that I am available to be His agent of ministry? Lets answer that my considering a powerful passage from Philippians:
“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2: 1-11
If we are going to be the ministers of grace that God has called us to be we are going to have to become like Jesus. We are going to have to have the heart Jesus had the willing spirit He had.
Here’s how we start. In your daily prayer time, approach God and ask him to give you two things:
Pray this: Open my heart to be like Jesus. Give me the kind of heart Jesus had. Help me be willing to be re-made in the image of a servant – a servant willing to take any form you need; a servant ready to go anywhere you lead.
And then pray: Open my eyes to who I can serve today. Show me who you have put in my life that I can give myself to today. Show me who needs to see your grace.
There as a elderly lady who didn’t get out much anymore who was listening to her Pastor speak on a local radio broadcast one Sunday. The Holy Spirit, through that sermon, convicted her that she needed to find a way to display God’s grace in ministry. But how? She couldn’t safely drive any longer. She rarely was able to get out of her home. Then, after a couple of days of prayer, she got it. She ran an ad in the local paper, saying: “elderly lady will play hymns on the piano over the phone to comfort and encourage anyone who is interested. Call me in my home.”
She ran the ad occasionally and would get a couple phone calls a day from people who needed a lift or encouragement. Some were elderly people such as herself who couldn’t get out much anymore. Others were in different situations.
One afternoon a young girl, 8 or 9 years old called. After a few minutes of conversation our lady surmised that this girl struggled with a health ailment that kept her home from school fairly often and the she lived alone with her mother – who being a single mom – had to work long hours to pay the bills. The girl shared, “I know my mother loves me and cares even though she works. I just want to know that someone else is thinking of me and loving me while she’s busy. Is there anything you could play on your piano that I would recognize?”
The lady walked over to her baby grand piano, set the receiver down and began to play a simple, yet familiar tune. And as she reached the chorus, she could the girl singing along, “Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.”
The piano playing wasn’t the ministry gift. The lady’s heart was. Her heart and hands given over to God to display his grace is the testimony of a life transformed and committed to the purposes and person of Jesus Christ. May we be such a people. This isn’t about how bright you are or how right you are. This isn’t about your strengths or your weak links. This is asking God to show His grace to people through your life. Ask God to use you as a violinist uses a bow. No one praises the bow - but people are touched by the beautiful music they make together. Ask your Father in heaven to Open your heart to be shaped and molded after the heart of Jesus Christ. Then ask your Father in heaven to Open your eyes to who you can serve today.
