HERE TO SERVE

0:00Today we're going to talk about what it looks like for us to serve one another. Now let me ask you this, when you picture someone who serves, someone like a servant, what do you picture? What do you picture when you think of someone who serves others, someone who's in the role of a servant? For me, when I was a teenager, I was actually a server at a restaurant. So I think of that when I think of someone who serves, I think of getting people their food and their drinks and forgetting their ranch every single time. And so that always affected my tips. But anyways, so that's what I think of. So maybe you think of that, maybe you think of someone else when you think of what it means to serve. But the Bible makes it clear that all of us are called to serve. So really, when we think of someone who serves, we should really be able to picture ourselves. And there's so many times in the New Testament that that is made clear to us. And there's this one time where Peter was writing to the churches. And I just love what he said to them about what it looks like to serve one another in the

1:01church. So in 1 Peter 4, verse 10, it says, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. So if anyone speaks, they should use so as one who speaks to the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should use so with the strength God provides so that in how many things, what things? All things, it says. God may be praised through Jesus Christ, to him be the glory and the power forever and ever and everyone said, amen, amen. I love this passage for multiple reasons. And one reason is that it tells us that it's clear that the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us the gifts. Now we're talking about spiritual gifts that God gives us for the purpose of his mission. So he gives us each of these gifts. So I remember in high school, I really wanted to be on the worship team and I wanted to play guitar. Yeah, let's give it up for our guitar players. They just kill it and you should be thinking, God, I'm not one of them.

2:04Because when I play guitar, I have to look at my fingers every time to get to the next chord. And I'm like, okay, everybody, stop for a second. Let me get to the next one. And so it wasn't my gift. God didn't gift me with that. So you learn what it looks like to find your gifts and just trust the Holy Spirit knows who you are. He knows how he's created you and he knows what it looks like for you to step into the gifts that he wants you to have. And so that's okay. It's good for us to find out what are the things Holy Spirit that you've gifted me with. But then he says those gifts have been given for a particular reason. Those gifts have been given so that we can serve others. So the gifts aren't for ourselves, they're for other people, for us to use for them. And he says that these are various forms of God's grace that we are meant to steward. Now word steward means that you're taking care of something that doesn't belong to you. So the gift doesn't even belong to you. It's like the Holy Spirit's loaning it to you for a while so that you can figure out what it looks like to serve others well for the sake of His kingdom. And so even the gifts that we've been given, they're not ours.

3:07They're actually something that belongs to the Holy Spirit and we are to steward them by serving others regularly. And developing those gifts. So he says if you speak, speak like one who remembers that they're preaching the very words of God. If you serve, serve like somebody who's serving with the strength of the Holy Spirit. So he's saying whatever your gift is, whatever that thing is, when you do that step into it like it's God Himself wanting to work in and through you, no matter what the gift is, no matter how small or big you think that is, it's an opportunity to serve someone else and allow the Lord to move through you in that action of serving somebody with your gifts. Essentially what Peter is saying is this, we are here to serve. See that with me. We are here to serve. That's what he's saying. He goes wherever you show up, have this mentality that hey, I'm here to serve. When you show up somewhere, hey, I am here to serve. This should be the mentality of every follower of Christ.

4:07I once had a pastor challenge just to say, hey, when you come to church, do you come thinking, hey, you're here to serve me. The church is here to serve me. Or are you like, hey, we're here to serve one another in love. What kind of mentality do you come with? Because those are two very different ways to approach a church service. So if you come and you just show up, you're like, all right, what you got to preach your man, like, while me today. Or do you come with, I'm actually just here to serve. So God, show me, is there anybody that I can serve today? Is there anybody that I can encourage today? Is there something that I can do for someone else to just bless them? That's a completely different way to approach what it means to come and be a part of the church. But why? Why do we serve? We can see that Peter is saying, hey, you should serve, but why? What's the reasoning behind all of that? Now, help us think through why we serve as part of the church. I want us to watch this video together. Why do we serve?

5:07We serve because we just might be the answer to someone else's prayers. Because serving others is actually serving Christ. We serve others because it teaches us humility and sacrifice. In serving, we are the hands and feet of Jesus. And bless others, encourages others, helps others, and honors others. We serve because it is precisely what we were created to do. So I love this video because it's very short, but it's right to the point. Is that we are, we serve because we've actually been created to serve. That's part of God's purpose for us. Even before the fall, humanity was called to serve one another. It's always been a part of the DNA of what it means to be human, to find ways to serve others. And listen, the sooner we figure that out, and the sooner we embrace that, the more fun

6:08life becomes. I'm telling you, when you come in the situations and you're like, hey, what's in it for me? It's really easy to get frustrated. When you walk into a situation, you're like, hey, no matter what happens, I'm here to serve. It completely changes the way you enter every situation. And I'm not saying I bowed a thousand on this, but I'm telling you that when you walk into a situation with the mentality of, I'm here to serve, you know, where can I serve today? It completely changes the way you interact with every situation you find yourself in. And in a moment, I want to invite someone up to share their story of how they've been learning this in their workplace. But I want to tell you a little bit about him before I bring him up. We have a pastoral residency program here at Pathways. And what that means is that somebody who's kind of passed that college age, they've already established a career. And then later on, they just felt like God kind of tapped them on the shoulder and said, hey, time to become a pastor. And they go, what God, that wasn't part of the plan. And so we have this program called our pastoral residency to help someone who's in that kind

7:10of a situation to develop those skills and ministry to learn what it means to be a pastor so that when they do have that moment where God calls them into that full-time vocational ministry role that they are more prepared to step into that. And so our current resident is Matt Gibbs, who stepped into that role. And I want him to come share his story today. So will you help me welcome Matt today? Thanks, everyone. Although I did notice that all the clapping stopped as soon as I got up here and you realized that wasn't the well-known lawyer whose face is on the billboards everywhere, it's not me. So, as Pastor Ben said, my name is Matt. I'm a pastor or resident here at Pathways. What's unique about this position that I'm in is that that means that I do work for the church for Pathways. And our goal here is really straightforward to lead people into a growing relationship with

8:12Jesus. It's on the wall out there if you have any questions or if you want to take pictures to remember it. But I also have a full-time job. And it's in the marketplace. And like most of you, my goal there at that job is to make money for my company because that's why they hired me. And just like everybody else, if I wasn't accomplishing that every day, I wouldn't have that job. But as a Christian, I have another goal there. And that is also to lead people into that growing relationship with Jesus. And let's take a look now at how the Apostle Paul tells us to do that. That'll be in first Thessalonians 4 verses 11 through 12. Paul writes, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, you should mind your own business and work with your hands just as we told you so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

9:13As Christians, we need to set ourselves apart from the rest by working hard every day, staying out of workplace gossip or as Paul puts it, mind your own business. That's easier said than done, right? I mean, I know firsthand, you work with your coworkers, you spend more time with them throughout the week than you do your own family. And we usually don't get to choose those coworkers or the things that we talk about or the drama that comes up or our situations. But don't ever forget that as a Christian, you are setting the example of what Christ followers look like. A few years ago, one of our board members actually invited me on a hunting trip and this was a work event. There were 12 people that went, 10 were from his job and a couple of us from pathways got to kind of fill out that party. And one night at dinner, he was sharing his faith with a coworker and honestly, I was surprised. I was a little confused and afterwards I asked him, what makes you feel comfortable doing

10:17this? I mean, this is your coworker, you have to go back to work with them next week. Are you going to get in trouble for that? What got you to that point where you feel comfortable sharing your faith with people that you work with? And his answer changed the way I think about how I go to work and I think about it every day. He said, I might be the only representative for Jesus that they have. So what would it look like if we all acted like we are the only Christian our coworkers will talk to today or might ever talk to? You see my ambitions as Paul puts it used to look a lot like everybody else's used to look a lot like the world's ambitions. I wanted the next race. I wanted the next promotion. But my ambition now has changed. After that conversation, my ambition aligns with what Paul says in this verse to lead a quiet life, to work hard. Now don't confuse leading a quiet life with not sharing the gospel because it's actually

11:19the opposite. See God will use our quiet example of hard work in Christians to lead people to him. God knows that often just like our board member in this story, people will be drawn to the person who works hard and focuses on their work at work and not on the noise and not on the gossip, not on the drama. They don't get sucked into that and that's what we're called to do as Christians. So to break it down as Paul writes it, mind your own business. Don't be sucked into the drama or the gossip at work. Work hard. Lead people by example through those difficult days and those tough situations and earn the respect of your coworkers. People will begin to wonder and even ask you what's different about you. You see people don't care. People often don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care. So keep looking for those gospel opportunities because if you follow Paul's instructions, God will open those opportunities for you.

12:21And as we start to think about what those opportunities might look like for us, let's take a look at this video. So each day from the moment we wake up, we have choices to make. Some choices are simple, basic, trivial, while others require more thought and consideration. Some choices can change the course of your day while others are nearly meaningless. But as we walk through the next 24 hours, there is one choice we'll make over and over again. Who will we serve? It's a choice of priorities, dedication, faithfulness. It's about choosing to live out the call God has placed on all of our lives to take each step and live each moment for His glory. Today there are never ending opportunities for us to make an eternal difference in the

13:26world around us. We simply need to decide to do so. The choice is ours. So the question we ask every day isn't will I serve or should I serve? It should be who will I serve today? Who will I serve Lord? Who are you going to put across my path that I can serve them? Whether it's at school or it's in your neighborhood or it's friends or family or maybe it's in your workplace like Matt was sharing. Can we give it up for Matt? That was really encouraging. Yeah. Thank you, Matt. I'm going to give it up for you. Because hopefully we're encouraged to think about where ever God has put you, that is a place where He's put you as His representative to use your gifts to serve others. But listen, we're not just supposed to be like, okay fine.

14:28I guess they told me a church was supposed to serve. So I'm just going to do it. The attitude in how we serve matters just as much as serving. And so in Galatians 5, 13 Paul wrote this to the church. He said, you, my brothers and sisters, we're called to be what? Free. But listen, don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather serve one another humbly in love. Serve one another humbly in love, he says. And so listen, you know, we're Americans. We love freedom. We don't want people to tell us what to do. And so he's saying, hey, yeah, you've got freedom. But the freedom Paul is talking about is even bigger than any political freedom we can find. He said, no, you have a spiritual freedom that comes with knowing that Jesus paid the price. That Jesus died for your sins. He rose from the dead. And so you have a freedom that comes because the greatest question that anyone could ever have to solve has been solved for you. Where are you going to spend eternity? What are you going to do when you face God on judgment day?

15:29Jesus has already covered all of that. There's an incredible freedom that comes from that because we receive His grace and His mercy. We take what Jesus did on the cross for us and there's this freedom that comes. But He's saying, listen, it's really easy. He's saying this to first century Christians who sometimes we think man, they had it all together. No, they had all the same sin issues that we have. It just looked different. And so He's saying, listen, it's so easy once you receive that freedom to be like, I'm good. And then just go live life for yourself. It is so easy to do that. And He's saying, don't do that. Don't use your freedom to indulge yourself in your flesh. Rather, use that freedom to serve one another humbly in love. And so He's saying that the freedom that He's given you, the grace that He's given you, the gift that He's given you, you're supposed to use all of that for a very particular reason, to serve others and to serve them humbly in love. So it's kind of a crazy concept. He's saying, hey, and some of these people that He's talking to, they came out of a life

16:32of servitude. And He turns around and He says, yes, so now go serve people. And they're like, I've been doing that the whole time. And maybe some of you feel that way sometimes. You're like, listen, I paid my dues. Someone else can serve now. I'm not going to do that. Or maybe you're like, no, I only want to serve if I really feel like it. I want to be authentic about it. So I'll serve one. Or maybe you're like, you know what? I'm sure there's plenty of other people who can do all of these things. I don't need to try to jump into that. There might be a lot of reasons why we say, I don't know if I should serve. But again, the question isn't, should we, but who will we serve? But where did Paul get an idea like that? I mean, I know it says it in the Bible, but where would he get that kind of an idea? And the thing is, is that Paul and everybody else who is part of the early church, I'm sure they talked about this all the time because some of them were there that night. Some of them were there that night that Jesus was the best example of what it means to

17:32serve others humbly and love because Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took on the role of his servant. He took on the lolliest job, the job of a literal servant that they could have said, hey, let's go get a servant to do this. No, Jesus himself bent down and he started to wash the grimy, gross dust off the feet of his own disciples. He took on the literal job of a servant and he says, guys, let me do this. Let me serve you. And of course, they were uncomfortable with it, but Jesus said, no, no, you have to let me do this. Jesus humbled himself. Took on the lolliest job and he did it all out of love. His motivation was love. And so he gave us that example and then he said, hey, now that I've done this for you, I want you to go and do this for others.

18:33We're going to take some time and wash each other's feet. So just talk to your neighbor and no, I'm just kidding. We're not doing that. But no, listen, we have our own examples of what that looks like in our society where we can take on a moment where we say, hey, let me bless you. Let me serve you. Let me help you right now. And I always think of this as the litmus test. If somewhere in your brain you go, I don't know, that seems like it's maybe beneath me. That's probably the exact thing that you should go, hey, you know what, I'll do that. I'll do that. Let me take care of that. Because we take on the lowest role. We'll take on the lowest job. We'll do whatever it looks like so that we can serve others humbly in love. And maybe sometimes you don't want to serve. Maybe sometimes you're sick of serving. You know, whether it's here at church or at home or at your workplace or at school, maybe you're like, I'm always the one who does this. I'm always the one who steps up and does that. But listen, does I get that? Well, listen, if the King of Kings, if the Maker of the universe, if the Lord of all can

19:37humble himself to take on the lowest position and serve others humbly in love. Who are we to not do the same? If our great rabbi, if our Lord, if our Messiah, serves people in this way, then why would we do anything different? Because we are here to serve. We are here to serve every single one of us. So again, the question isn't, will I serve? It is who will you serve? Every situation you show up in, it's God. Do you have somebody here for me to serve today? To use my gifts and my freedom and the grace you've given me to turn around and bless somebody else? Who will I serve today, Lord? And here's why this matters for me, as we think about being a church that grows in our relationship with Jesus, every time we serve someone else, every time we find that opportunity to say, hey, let me do that. Let me serve.

20:38Let me do that. We become more like Jesus because that's what Jesus did. Every time we say, hey, you know what, I'm here to serve. And so whatever you need done, I'll just jump into that. We become more like Jesus. And every time that we become more like Jesus, every time we step into those moments, we are stepping more into the calling that he's put on our lives. We're stepping more into who we are created to be because the more that we act like Jesus, the more that we live into the purpose that he has created us for. So every single day, every single moment, we want to find more and more ways to become more like Jesus. Amen.