Serving Archives - regeneratis

Becoming GREAT!: MT e63

I remember a lecture given by a guy named Tommy Amaker. Most likely you have never heard of him. Currently men’s basketball coach at Harvard. At the time of the Lecture I attended he was playing for Duke University.

Tommy was an exceptional basketball player. He was sharing how he achieved his skill. How did he become great? Time in the gym.

He said, “When everyone was at the Friday night football game in High School, he was in the gym playing basketball: dribbling, shooting, running.”

In his words, “It is what you do when no one is watching.”

How would you define being great? Is it something you think about?

Philosophically Plato defined being a great person as not being driven by personal desires but by a love for what is just and good.

Socrates defined it as the cultivation of virtue through wisdom and self-knowledge.

Descartes, the highest form of human greatness is a virtue he calls generosity

How about more recently, Jordan Peterson said greatness is a combination of disciplined, voluntary sacrifice, pursuing what is meaningful, that looks out for the moral good of self and society.

Even though I would consider only one of these I have quoted is an actual Christ follower, there are bits and pieces of truth in all of these ideas.

Jesus, with authority, said it best. “Whoever wants to be great must be a servant. . .just as I have come not to be served but to serve and give my life for many” Matthew 20

It is the call of the Christ follower to see Christ’s example and copy it.

Many years ago we had these bracelets that were popular that had WWJD What Would Jesus Do. It was a fashion statement but even more, it is the beginning of being great.

This is how you grow into greatness. Stop and consider, what would Jesus do.

S.D.G.

Strength in Him: MT e44

As a Christ follower, there is a passion to be like Christ. Think again of the scene where Jesus was washing feet.

Who cares about dirty feet? Why was this important?

They reclined at the table. There was no sitting in chairs as we do today. Therefore, feet were in close proximity with the head.

Jesus was literally hours from being abandoned, mocked, tortured and crucified and he was having a meal with his disciples. No one washed feet. With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Jesus washed feet. Then says, I have done to you, go and do.

For those who are believers, you have access to accomplish this. How?

How do we imitate Jesus? Do we muster this under our own strength? Are we to buckle down and try hard?

Scripture says no.

I can’t stress this enough. We are not left without strength on which we can call. As believers we are given life in the Spirit. This is our strength! It is from the Lord.

“Be strong . . . in the Lord and the power of His might!” Ephesians 6:10

Our strength is in Him.

You want to grow as a believer? You want strength to serve as Jesus served? Pray! Our Lord is totally able and willing to help you imitate Jesus.

I can tell you this is the ONLY way I have grown. I have had to realize I am weak. I simply ask the Lord help me.

The great thing about this is not only will He grow you in holiness, but it is to His credit alone.

For this is all to His glory alone – S.D.G.

Served Twice: MT e42

“For I have given you an example, that you should do just as I have done to you.” John 13:15

Last time the thought surrounded this passage of Jesus washing feet and how serving can be inconvenient. When considering everything that Jesus was about to face I would have failed here. I would have demanded service. “Come on guys!”

This was a defining moment of the inconvenience of serving.

The reason I would fail is because If I was in Jesus place, my focus would be on me and what I am about to do and what I am about to endure.

There is no doubt what Jesus was about to face was on his mind but he did not allow that to get in the way.

Rather, he looked at the larger picture and saw a teachable moment. He served twice here. Once by washing feet: this was filling an immediate need. The second time by teaching. “I have given you an example, now go and do what I have done for you.”

The reality here is that you and I can be so wrapped up in ourselves, in our lives, that we miss these wonderful opportunities to add to the serving we are already doing.

To be clear, this is not a pastor sharing that we need to dig deeper and try harder. This is a pastor who wants to lead by praying, “Lord, by Your Spirit, open my eyes and soften my heart so I can serve better.”

The Inconvenience of Serving: MT e41

Unusual talent that I have is the ability to look at a chip dip container and take a bag of chips and without pencil and paper, without AI or math, gauge how to eat the proper amount of dip on each chip so that when the bag is empty the container is empty.

This is important because if you have ever purchased a thing of chip dip and there is dip left over after the bad is empty, most often it sits in the fridge until it becomes a science experiment.

Back in college there was a fellow dorm resident that was just a little off socially. He came to talk to me one night and I was in the process of eating a bag of chips and dip. A spirit of serving over came me so I offered some to him. He said, “sure thing,” and then proceeded to dip his chip and use a massive amount of my dip.

In my head I was like WHOA! He was throwing off everything, now I am going to have left over chips because the dip is going to run out. He continued to sit there and eat the dip for the next 20 minutes and then back to his room.

Recently, I was considering this true and insignificant moment in life in relation to serving. Serving is not always easy. Most often, serving is inconvenient.

We could spend hours discussing the examples of Jesus in serving. They were inconvenient but let us consider one passage:

“As I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:14-15

Jesus is literal hours away from the cross yet he is serving. Of all the people that have ever lived in the all of the world, Jesus was the last person anyone would expect to wash feet here. This is one golden example of the inconvenience of serving.

I would like to hang out in this passage for a while but until our next time together, be looking out for opportunities to serve.

Until then S.D.G.

Suffering Servant: MT episode 30

John 13:1-20 is a passage upon which I encourage you to read and meditate this week. This will be a passage we will observe today and this coming Thursday.

We find Jesus on the night that he was betrayed and abandoned sharing a meal with the disciples who were the very people that would betray and abandon him. Ordinarily there was a designated servant who would wash the feet.

They did not sit at tables in chairs as we do in our culture, they reclined at table. In this position, someone’s feet would inevitably be in the face of someone else.

Very common was open toe sandal type shoes combined with dirt streets the feet would get filthy. With that explanation, maybe you can understand better why the washing of feet at mealtimes was so important.

Yet, there was no one to wash feet. There was no servant. . . until Jesus became one.

He rose from the table, removed his outer garment, wrapped a towel around his waist and began washing the disciples’ feet.

No outer garment and a towel wrapped around the waist was identifying act of a servant. If you were to walk into a room the servant would be easily identified for, he would not have an outer garment and have a towel wrapped around his waist.

Jesus knows what is coming in the next few hours. He knows He will be abandoned by all, even, ultimately, by the Father.

He knows the scourging that will take place. He knows the betrayal and the denials. Of all the people in that room, he should have been at the top of the list of being served, not doing the serving.

But Jesus came into this world and Isaiah described him as the suffering servant. He came to serve. Dressed in human likeness he became obedient, to death, even death on a cross. Serving those who believe.

We will return to this passage Thursday and see yet one other significant thing that happened in this setting.

Until then, S.D.G.

Addition by Subtraction: MT episode 8

I have a question for you. What does success look like? Does it look like better cars, better house or better clothes? Better friends?

There was a television comedy in the 1980’s about a hard-working middle class family in NYC that had made it. Through their hard work, they had become wealthy and, in this wealth, moved to a better part of town and in a much better home. The theme song, as the show opened went, “we are moving on up, to the east side, in a deluxe apartment in the sky” and concluded with, “we finally got a piece of the pie”

There is nothing wrong with improving your station in life. A better place to live or even being able to hire people to clean your house is a blessing from God and not morally wrong in anyway. It can even be argued this would fall under common grace in that God provides this blessing to all regardless if they believe or not.

But rarely do we see success as “emptying”, going backwards or DEMOTING. But this is what the believer is called to do because it is what Jesus did.

Philippians 2, “Have this mind,” means think like this. View life this way. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ. That although he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to hold on to but made himself nothing.” (GR: Kenosis – to empty)

This passage is on the incarnation of Christ and it is a very rich section of Scripture. Too much for just 2 to 3 minutes. Maybe we will revisit this in December during Advent.

Today, the focus is on serving. The writer of Philippians here is not ONLY documenting that God became man but is giving us an example of how we are to replicate it. Simply stated, being humble. Serving. Have this MIND in you. Think this way.

While it is not wrong for a believer to improve their lot and enjoy blessings God gives, it is worth noting that we should always serve and have the heart of serving. Because Jesus did.

SDG