I have been recently reminded that when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was he didn't mention serving. He didn't say, "Serve the Lord God with everything you are, and serve your neighbor as you serve yourself." Saying that phrase out loud makes me feel weird. Instead Jesus statement had to do with loving. Specifically, loving God with all that you are and in close second place, loving your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 (my translation)
Serving can be a natural outpouring of love, but a great many of my experiences have revealed that serving within the "church" context is not an outpouring of love. Rather, serving has been mistaken for love, or worse, serving has taken the place of love in many families and in church gatherings. Serving can be the very antithesis of love if we aren't careful of attitudes and motives. I will give a few examples to illustrate.
Love is not arrogant, proud or boastful. 1 Corinthians 13:4
Serving can and does, in some, come from a prideful or arrogant place in the heart. Let's be honest, there is a lot of prestige put on certain areas of service in the Christian community. Have you ever heard the reverent speak of a person informing you how long they have been a member of a local church, or how long they have been on the missions board? Have you ever seen the bronzed plaques in the church hallways giving credit to the person that purchased that vase or donated the money for that door during the addition to the church building? How about the pastor and the 3 founding family's names that are embolden on the cornerstone of a freshly built church building? I thought Jesus was the cornerstone...Service can, in our hearts become an area of pride and arrogance or service can be sought out because of pride or arrogance . An obvious way we see that manifest itself is through boasting, but it can become evident also through a sense of entitlement because of a family name, money given to the church, degrees earned or time spent.
In my opinion, one of the ways to combat this arrogance, pride and sense of entitlement among life long Christians or professional Christians is to go somewhere that no one knows you. I invite those strong of heart to the "Northern Mission Field" for a while. People where I live could care less if you are a pastor, on the missions board, or a Christian for that matter. There are no red carpets or high pedestals in the community's mind that you can stand on, or people watching what they say just because you are around. In fact you are the bringer of what most despise, the truth. What I have realized over the last few years is, if a person wants to let a real love for God and for others shine, you gotta turn off all the other lights in the room. That includes the artificial man made light of recognition that is on us because of what we do.
Love does not envy and is not easily angered. 1 Corinthians 13:4
Dictionary.com gives this summary for the definition of envy.
"a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions, etc."
I can remember going to a work day with my father and mother at a church that was doing a remodel. When we arrived I was sent to play and my father went to join the work detail. Through out this summer day, he was given the worst jobs, assignments that no one else wanted to do. The dirtiest and hottest job seemed to be finding their way to my father's hands.
I can remember the ride home from this work day as well. My father spent the ride explaining to my mother that they never would have given the jobs he had to "so and so" or "what's his face" because of their status in the church and that he was singled out as the grunt because of who they were.
My father was discontent with his own service, and angry about it, because of his opinions on the "success and advantages" the others had.
I have personally seen small church pastors oozing with envy over the Mega church pastor's crowd and budget. I have seen the WMU at churches become a battlefield because the women were envious of a chairwomen being selected over them for the same position. I have personally experienced backlash and backstabbing from other pastors I worked with because of jealousy and envy of the position that God had put me in.
I think God wants us to know that love does not envy, and does not anger, because love is content. It is content to do and be whatever is best for the one being loved. That is why one of God's ideas for loving you and me was to kill His Son for our transgressions against Him. Talk about not taking into account wrongs suffered (1 Cor 13:5). God is the perfect lover.
Service can, and often does, breed envy and anger. Especially as we place higher prestige on certain positions and stations in the "church". From love flows contentment and satisfaction, not from a circumstance or what we are doing at that moment, but just in loving.
Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8
This is going to be a tough one because while love never fails, we do. We can fail at love and we can fail at service. I think by now I can reveal that the title of this was just to grab your attention. The title reads "I Serve Therefore I Love". I think most Christians honestly believe that their service to God is an indication of their love for Him, even though when that service manifests itself it looks nothing like love at all.
If you have been around "church" for long enough you have seen more than one scenario get ugly when it comes to service. Rudeness, arrogance, boasting, envy, resentfulness, rejoicing when someone does evil and gets caught for it, irritability, people that are inpatient and unkind. But why? If our service flows from love, why does it so often show itself in unloving ways?
I would submit to you that it is because our service, most often, does not flow from love, but the very antithesis of love, selfishness. We serve where we want, how we want and when we want and then ask God to bless us for having served. Maybe we love like we serve, instead of serving like we love.
The real title of this should be "I Love Therefore I Serve." A heart change has to happen for this title to take place in us. Our hearts, dare I say our entire being, should be bent on loving God and our neighbor. That is the first and greatest service to God.
My son is a wrestler and he's actually starting to get pretty good. I was having a conversation with him just a few nights ago. He wants to learn some of the "fancy moves" in wrestling so he can be impressive on the mat and distract his opponent for an easy win. I explained first that he has to remember Who he is wrestling for. As disciples, we are to do all things to the Glory of God, not our glory on the medal podium afterward. (I think he actually got that one figured out this year and recently qualified for the Jaycees State Tournament after a severe attitude change on his part.) But I also told him that all the good athletes, in any sport, that I have ever known did the same 2 things to be successful. They perfected the basics and they never gave up.
The key to service -- the basics -- in this Christian life are: Love God with everything you are. And love everyone you encounter as you love yourself. I mean really loving, everything else in the realm of service is tertiary. If you think you have a decent grasp on those I would take a second look at 1 Corinthians 13 to see what love looks like, you may be surprised. I am learning how to love right now. I am learning how to love Jesus, and my family. I am learning how to love those who hate me, and who I thought were my enemies, and those who have made me their enemy. I had to stop worrying about the "fancy moves" and get back to the basics. I had to stop loving like I serve and start serving like I love. -BR
I can remember the ride home from this work day as well. My father spent the ride explaining to my mother that they never would have given the jobs he had to "so and so" or "what's his face" because of their status in the church and that he was singled out as the grunt because of who they were.
My father was discontent with his own service, and angry about it, because of his opinions on the "success and advantages" the others had.
I have personally seen small church pastors oozing with envy over the Mega church pastor's crowd and budget. I have seen the WMU at churches become a battlefield because the women were envious of a chairwomen being selected over them for the same position. I have personally experienced backlash and backstabbing from other pastors I worked with because of jealousy and envy of the position that God had put me in.
I think God wants us to know that love does not envy, and does not anger, because love is content. It is content to do and be whatever is best for the one being loved. That is why one of God's ideas for loving you and me was to kill His Son for our transgressions against Him. Talk about not taking into account wrongs suffered (1 Cor 13:5). God is the perfect lover.
Service can, and often does, breed envy and anger. Especially as we place higher prestige on certain positions and stations in the "church". From love flows contentment and satisfaction, not from a circumstance or what we are doing at that moment, but just in loving.
Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8
This is going to be a tough one because while love never fails, we do. We can fail at love and we can fail at service. I think by now I can reveal that the title of this was just to grab your attention. The title reads "I Serve Therefore I Love". I think most Christians honestly believe that their service to God is an indication of their love for Him, even though when that service manifests itself it looks nothing like love at all.
If you have been around "church" for long enough you have seen more than one scenario get ugly when it comes to service. Rudeness, arrogance, boasting, envy, resentfulness, rejoicing when someone does evil and gets caught for it, irritability, people that are inpatient and unkind. But why? If our service flows from love, why does it so often show itself in unloving ways?
I would submit to you that it is because our service, most often, does not flow from love, but the very antithesis of love, selfishness. We serve where we want, how we want and when we want and then ask God to bless us for having served. Maybe we love like we serve, instead of serving like we love.
The real title of this should be "I Love Therefore I Serve." A heart change has to happen for this title to take place in us. Our hearts, dare I say our entire being, should be bent on loving God and our neighbor. That is the first and greatest service to God.
My son is a wrestler and he's actually starting to get pretty good. I was having a conversation with him just a few nights ago. He wants to learn some of the "fancy moves" in wrestling so he can be impressive on the mat and distract his opponent for an easy win. I explained first that he has to remember Who he is wrestling for. As disciples, we are to do all things to the Glory of God, not our glory on the medal podium afterward. (I think he actually got that one figured out this year and recently qualified for the Jaycees State Tournament after a severe attitude change on his part.) But I also told him that all the good athletes, in any sport, that I have ever known did the same 2 things to be successful. They perfected the basics and they never gave up.
The key to service -- the basics -- in this Christian life are: Love God with everything you are. And love everyone you encounter as you love yourself. I mean really loving, everything else in the realm of service is tertiary. If you think you have a decent grasp on those I would take a second look at 1 Corinthians 13 to see what love looks like, you may be surprised. I am learning how to love right now. I am learning how to love Jesus, and my family. I am learning how to love those who hate me, and who I thought were my enemies, and those who have made me their enemy. I had to stop worrying about the "fancy moves" and get back to the basics. I had to stop loving like I serve and start serving like I love. -BR
