"ME FOR YOU" CHRISTIANS
Several years ago, I heard a Christian friend, Fred Thompson, speak to a group of Christian men about discipleship. He reminded them that the Great Commission exhorts God’s children to make "disciples" not merely converts. He also reminded them that the greatest commandment is love. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul and all our strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Finally, Fred summarized his talk by saying Jesus’ ministry came down to three words: ME FOR YOU. That phrase, ME FOR YOU, he said is what God’s children are to be about. Thus, ME FOR YOU CHRISTIANS is what I’d like to write to you about. Listen to this passage of Scripture in John 13:12-17:
"12. So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? 13. You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14. If I then, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them."
Certainly this passage of Scripture is an example of Jesus’ ME FOR YOU ministry and shows how He won the hearts of others. John 13 tells us "...having loved His own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." Later, during the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus would say, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." “Me for you" Christians represent this greater love. It is a Christian that understands the sacrifice of time, energy and self. Being a "me for you" Christian involves an outpouring of your life into the lives of others--and that life is poured out into others four ways:
First, a "me for you" Christian pours out his life in HUMILITY. Matthew 11:29 says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." "Me for you" Christians must walk with all lowliness; think more highly of others than themselves, respect the brethren, and deem nothing below them but sin. Philippians 2:3 says, "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than themselves." Think of Jesus’ example, He came not to be served but to serve. To wash one another’s feet is to stoop to the lowliest offices of love, for the real good and benefit of another. It reminds me of the great Apostle Paul, who, though free from all, made himself servant of all that he might win some. Listen to his words in First Corinthians 9:22: "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."
"Me for you" Christians must not resent to take care and pains, and to spend time, and to diminish themselves for the good of those to whom they are not under any particular obligations. Even if those they serve are inferior, and such as are not in a capacity of making any type of repayment, they willingly serve them.
The coin is also two-sided. Me for you Christians must both accept help from their brethren as well as provide help to their brethren for man’s humility does not begin with the giving of service; it begins with the readiness to receive. For there can be much pride and condescension in our giving of service and the Lord knows our hearts.
Second, a "me for you" Christian pours out his life in LOVE. The Scripture says, Jesus loves us "unto the uttermost." Nothing we do or fail to do, in foolish ignorance, will stop Jesus from loving us unto the end. Paul reminds us in Romans that nothing "...shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:39) and the Apostle John says, "no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand." (Jn. 10:28).
It is important you remember this truth if you are going to be a "me for you" Christian. Jude, one of Jesus’ half brothers, writes, "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." God loves you, and out of that love everything He does with you will flow. Jesus promised "...but the water that I shall give him (the disciple of Christ) shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (Jn. 4:14) Even when facing the Cross, Jesus did not think of Himself but only of those whom He loved--He was "me for you" to the end. Thus, the Apostle John says, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another (1 Jn. 4:11)."
Third, a "me for you" Christian pours out his life in SERVICE. The theory of service alone is of no use to those in need; it is the practice of service that meets the need, pleases God and fulfills the Christian’s calling. And it is “lifestyle serving” which creates "followship" in the people you serve. Why did the disciples follow Jesus? Because he had served them and invested his life in them! In turn, they voluntarily obeyed him because he had humbly and lovingly taken care of them, delivered them, comforted them, encouraged them, taught them, given Himself to them, taken time to be with them--He served them by His lifestyle. Because of that the disciples found themselves eager to follow the Lord, willing to obey him, even when they could not understand Him--they became "me for you" Christians.
Fourth, a "me for you" Christian pours out his life in EXAMPLE. Jesus says, "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you." Jesus teaches by example as well as doctrine, and for this end came He into this world, and dwelt among us. Christ is a commander like Gideon, who said to his soldiers, "Look on me, and do likewise" (Jdg. 7:17); like Abimelech, who said, "What you have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done" (Jdg. 9:48); or the Apostle Paul who said, "Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample." (Phil. 3:17) First John 2:6 says we should walk as He (Jesus) walked.
Jesus lays out for you an example in John 13:14-15 of how "me for you" Christians are to relate to others. This means two things. One, it clearly means "me for you" in humility, love and service. As Paul puts it in Galatians, "By love, serve one another." This is to be true of all "me for you" Christians, but especially those in positions of teaching and authority. Your authority, as leaders, will be directly related to your willingness to pour out your lives in humility, love and service for others.
Second, Jesus means "me for you" Christians have a obligation to one another to keep their spiritual feet clean. You are accountable to one another in the body of Christ. The book of James tells us, "Confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed." Galatians 6:1 says, "Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." The Lord says "me for you" Christian are to demonstrate a different type of power and authority. We are to "...bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2) Being "me for you" is how to truly win the hearts of others, especially, the lost.
Notice the disciples obeyed Jesus, calling Him Teacher and Lord, because in humility He loved them and served them and washed their dirty feet--that is true power and authority. That is why Jesus insists: "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him." If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." The emphasis for the "me for you" Christian is on "doing" these things. It is not enough to teach it, to hold it as a mental principle, but "me for you" Christians do it--in humility, love and service and, therefore, provide an example to others. Their life is poured out as a living sacrifice for the Kingdom. Indeed, Jesus said, you will know my disciples by their love for one another.
