This morning I’d like to talk about an activity which is part of our daily lives, one which occupies much of our time. It applies to us in our roles as parents, as husbands and wives, as friends, and as church members. It involves our occupations, whether we are employees, or homemakers, or business owners. The activity I’m talking about is serving others. Now, when you hear sermons on servanthood, it’s usually presented as something pertaining specifically to the church, something which should characterize our relationships with one another as followers of Christ. And that’s true. As believers, we are part of a body, a community. And we are called to serve one another, following the example of Christ. The most dramatic example of this occurs in the gospel of Matthew, where the Lord humbled himself and washed the feet of his disciples. Afterward, he told them this:
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." -- Matthew 13:14-15
Later, Christ again emphasized the importance of mutual servanthood among his people:
"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
But when you think about it, most of us spend a large part of every day serving all kinds of people.
A mother preparing supper isn’t just cooking spaghetti; she’s serving her family. A father helping with homework is serving his children. Shoveling your neighbor’s driveway is serving. Helping someone in the church to paint their garage is serving. A doctor treating patients is serving them. Even occupations which involve little direct contact with people are really service occupations. I used to be a computer programmer for a company that sold medical systems to hospitals. And even though I wasn’t personally caring for sick people, I knew that my work was serving them, because the programs I wrote supported the doctors, and nurses, and hospital administrators who did treat them. And then there are the little things we do every day for other people, the courtesies and small favors. Holding the door for someone who’s carrying an armload of packages. Watching someone’s children for a couple of hours. I could go on giving examples, but you get the point. There is really very little of our time that doesn’t involve serving someone, somehow. Think about it for a moment. Think about your routine, the work you do, the people you encounter as you go through the week. Whom have you been serving, just as a regular part of your daily life? Isn’t most of your time taken up in doing things that benefit other people?
Why emphasize this point? Because usually, when the topic of serving is addressed, it’s in the form of a command. The minister is trying to convince people that serving is something we ought to do. And that’s certainly true. We need to be challenged. We need to be exhorted to serve as Christ did, by willingly making sacrifices, and suffering inconveniences, and relinquishing our rights. But we’ll have a deeper understanding of the issue if we recognize that we are already serving other people a great deal of the time, either directly or indirectly. And so, when we talk about servanthood, we’re not just dealing with one narrow slice of the Christian life. We’re talking about something that affects almost everything we do. Then the question becomes, not just whether we’re serving, but how, and why.
The difficulty we face is that much of the service we perform, we find unrewarding. Whether we’re talking about work, or family, or church life; when we try to serve others, we often end up becoming frustrated and discouraged. But why? Didn’t Jesus command us to do this? And didn’t He say that his purpose in coming was to give us abundant life? So wouldn’t we naturally expect that by obeying his commands (such as the command to serve), we would experience satisfaction and fulfillment? Why then, does serving others frequently prove unsatisfactory and unfulfilling?
Well, as usual, the glitch in the process is people. We get discouraged, because the people we are trying to serve often don’t respond as we would hope or expect. They don’t seem to appreciate our hard work and sacrifice. They may ignore what we’ve done for them, or take it for granted, or worse yet, they may even criticize us! "How dare they!" we say to ourselves (and to anyone else who will listen). "After all I’ve done!" It’s discouraging when we do our best to help someone out; perhaps even making a personal sacrifice in order to do it, and instead of gratitude, we hear grumbling, and complaining, and fault-finding. When this happens, we get hurt, and then we get angry, and then if we’re not careful, we get bitter. I expect that most of us here have experienced this. Every parent; every parent of a teen-ager, especially, knows what I’m talking about. As the saying goes, "no good deed ever goes unpunished." The author of Psalm 123 knew this feeling:
"Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant." -- Psalm 123:3-4
The Psalmist was dejected. He and his people felt unappreciated, taken advantage of. People looked down on them; ridiculed them. It’s one thing to serve those who are appreciative and grateful. It’s quite another to serve people who treat you poorly, who behave as if whatever you do for them is simply what they deserve. It’s hard to keep loving, and serving, and sacrificing, for people who don’t smile and say "thank you," but who instead frown and complain. How do we cope with that? How do we find joy and satisfaction in serving others, even when their response to our service is one of indifference, or criticism, or contempt? How can following Christ in this way give us the abundant life he promised? To answer that, let’s first realize that God has the same problem. Jesus said,
"… love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." -- Matthew 6:35
The point of this verse is that we should follow the example of our Father in Heaven, who blesses many ungrateful people; people who don’t worship, or even acknowledge him. He blesses people who don’t give thanks for His blessings, but who arrogantly insist that the good things they receive from God are merely the product of their own labors. Or cleverness, or luck. And God blesses the wicked also, people who curse his name, who reject his authority, whose sins offend him, and disgust him, and anger him. Even Jesus, the most humble, and loving, and self-sacrificing man who ever lived, was hated and rejected. In the end, he was crucified by those he came to save. Yet he continued to love and serve them, even to death. He gave his life for his enemies. As Paul teaches us:
"at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly . . . God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" -- Romans 5:6-10
This is the supreme example of love, and sacrifice, and service. Christ gave his life, not for friends, not for good people, but for those who were "ungodly". "Sinners". "God’s enemies". How many of those standing at the foot of the cross even understood, much less appreciated, what Christ was doing for them? How many of the soldiers, or the spectators, thanked him? Very few. On the contrary, most were taunting and insulting him, jeering, laughing. How painful, how heart-wrenching that must have been! How tempting, knowing that he could simply speak a word, and all of them would have been annihilated. At any time, he could have come down off the cross, and just left them to die in their sins. He had the power to do so. As I saw on a church sign recently, "It wasn’t nails that kept Jesus on the cross. It was love." Yet in spite of all that; in spite of their monstrous ingratitude, he gave his life for them, and for us. Because, lest we forget, every one of us was at one time also an enemy of God. It was only his grace and mercy which brought us to faith and changed us from enemies to friends.
As Paul writes in Colossians:
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation." -- Colossians 1:21-22
And so when we continue to love people, and serve people, and give ourselves to people, even when they respond with indifference or ingratitude, we are following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are doing just what our Master taught us to do; we are doing for others just what he did for us. You say that the people you are serving don’t deserve it? Don’t appreciate it? Probably not. Neither did you. Neither did any of us.
Hopefully, that knowledge will help us to do the right thing; hopefully, it will help us to direct our wills. But what about our hearts? Even if we continue to serve, we still feel disappointment when our service isn’t appreciated. We still feel hurt when people take us for granted, or criticize us, or treat us badly. What can we do about our emotions? I think the answer for that is also in Psalm 123:
"I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy." -- Psalm 123:1-2
Here’s the key: we have to look up, to God. And what that means, first of all, is that the reason for our service must be to please and honor God. Our focus can’t be on ourselves; our goal can’t be to make ourselves feel good, or to receive thanks and recognition from men. We can’t be worrying about what we’re going to receive from people in return for our service. We can’t be keeping score, tallying up what we’re owed. No matter what it is we’re seeking; whether we’re expecting other people to do favors for us in return, or whether we’re expecting payback in the form of a thank-you card, or a kind word, if our motives in serving have to do with self, then they are sub-Christian. Our works of service shouldn’t even be done primarily for the benefit of the person we are serving. Yes, we’re trying to help them. Yes, we care about them. But our goal in doing so is to please God, no matter how they respond. As Paul writes,
"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free."
-- Ephesians 6:7-8
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." -- Colossians 3:23-24
"Whatever you do" -- whether you’re sitting at a computer terminal, or teaching a Sunday School class, or making beds, or taking dinner to a sick friend, or sharing the gospel, or singing on the worship team, or driving the kids to school, or spending time with someone who’s lonely -- remember that the true object of your service is God. You’re not just serving them, you’re serving God. We are always performing for an audience of one. He’s the one we’re trying to please. And if He is pleased, that’s all the reward we need. It doesn’t matter how people respond; whether they thank us, or curse us, or ignore us. It doesn’t matter whether I receive credit, or thanks, or honor, or recognition. The one whose opinion really matters; the one whose commendation we really care about, is God’s. Yes, we all enjoy affirmation and positive feedback; we all prefer praise and thanks. But we don’t need them. They’re not necessary. The goal is to please Christ, to honor Him, and if we succeed in that, then we’re satisfied.
Let’s bring this home. Does your husband or your wife criticize you more than they praise you? Does he, or does she, take you for granted? Do your children not appreciate all that you do for them? Do they grumble and complain? Then remember that the most important thing isn’t to please your husband, or wife, or children, but to please God. And He will be pleased, if you serve them faithfully in humility and love, because in serving them, you are serving Him. Don’t lose heart. Don’t give up. The Lord values your service, even if they don’t, and he will reward you at the proper time.
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." -- Galatians 6:9-10
Are you undervalued at work? Does your service to your employer go unrewarded? God sees your faithful labors, and He will reward. Does it seem as if your service to other believers is unnoticed or unappreciated? Is your service to the church not recognized? As I prepared this message, I was convicted of my failure to adequately express my own appreciation to all of you for your faithful service, to me and to the church. If that’s the case, then look to God. Because Christ does see, and he does appreciate, your service to Him. Nothing you do in his name, not even the smallest act of mercy or compassion, will ever go unrewarded. The pastor may not notice, but God will.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ . . . ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ " -- Matthew 25:34-36, 40
Every act of service, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, is an act of service to Christ.
So whether or not people notice, whether or not they thank you; God will notice, and He will reward.
But what if I accept all this; what if I make it my primary goal, even as I serve others, to serve and please God, and yet I still feel discouraged? What if the criticism, and the negativity, and the lack of appreciation still makes it difficult for me to serve others wholeheartedly? Isn’t it a bit unrealistic to think that I can just continue, day after day, serving and sacrificing and meeting others’ needs, when my own needs aren’t being met? How can I keep giving without receiving? The answer is that you can’t. And God doesn’t expect you to. This brings us to the second way in which we "look up" to God. Remember again Psalm 123:
"I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy." -- Psalm 123:1-2
As we’ve seen, we are to look to the Lord as the object of our service. Our primary goal is to serve and please Him. But we also look to him in another way, as the strength for our service. He is the source of our power. It’s great to get praise and appreciation from people; lots of "attaboys," lots of thanks and gratitude. But even if those are available to you, if you depend on them to fill up your emotional and spiritual bucket, then someday you’ll run out. Because people are fickle. One day you’re the hero, the next day, you’re the goat. And when that happens, you will have no resources, no strength, to continue serving. If your energy to serve comes from the positive responses of the people you’re serving, then you’ll become more and more dependent on that affirmation. And then some day the well is going to run dry, and you won’t have anything left to give.
Some of you may feel that way already. You’re looking to your wife, or husband, or boss, or friends to supply what you need, but it’s not coming in. What little positive feedback you’re getting isn’t enough to keep you going. And so you have little strength to serve, and even less desire. What do you do? Look to God. People will fail you; God won’t. Your own inner resources will eventually give out; God’s resources won’t. He promises us a limitless supply of life, and strength, and power.
"Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." -- Isaiah 40:28-31
"Jesus answered, ’Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’" -- John 4:13-14
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -- John 15:5
Spend time in prayer. Read the Bible. Abide in Christ. Draw your life and strength from him. Drink deeply of the Spirit. Trust in the renewing power of God your Creator; look to Him to restore your strength. His grace is always sufficient, and far more than sufficient. By his power, you will be able to love, and serve, and sacrifice.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
