Serving | Spiritual Practicesਨਮੂਨਾ

“Jesus got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet.”
– John 13:4-5 (NIV) –

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.”
– Romans 12:3 (NIV) –

Serving has become all the rage, especially in the Christian sub-culture. Mission trips replace vacations. Christian conferences, concerts, and conventions that have nothing to do with service directly incorporate service projects and service appeals. Many people want to help with service projects or be a part of a serving team more than they want to join a small group or participate in a church social activity.

God has wired us to want to make a difference. It’s fulfilling. And it makes us feel good.

Praise God!

But an unfortunate trend can start to develop. Unwittingly, serving can start to become about me. What I experience, what I get out of it, and how it fills my soul. Before we know it, we begin to serve based on how it makes me feel and evaluate the value of our service based on how positive an experience I had in the process.

Knowing this, churches and non-profits have mastered the art of elaborate thank-yous, volunteer celebrations and recognition events, serving incentives and gifts, and everything else in an attempt to fuel our sense of self-satisfaction. They know it gets people to give a precious few moments by convincing them their sacrifice of time will be fulfilling, convenient, and that they’ll have the time of their life in the process. Even corporations have followed suit by using compassion initiatives as a way of attracting customers and brand loyalty.

Invite people on a mission trip to an exciting location and you’ll fill every seat. Invite people to clean the toilets after church on Sunday and you’ll get crickets.

It’s just like our sinful selves to take a good thing of God and twist the motives. Service can easily devolve into self-service.

Serving is not about me. It does not matter if it’s fulfilling. It does not matter if it is fun. If that happens, count it a bonus. But too often the cart is put before the horse, and we start serving on the basis of how it makes us feel over meeting actual needs.

The personal satisfaction or joy we derive from serving is utterly secondary. Serving is about helping someone. It’s about doing what needs to be done for the greater good. It’s about pitching in, despite the personal cost or inconvenience, despite whether we think we’re too good, too talented, or too important for certain tasks.

In a passage we’ll read today, Jesus wraps a towel around his waist and starts to wash his disciples’ feet. He was certainly overqualified and it’s safe to assume he had better things to do. One disciple, Peter, objects to it. But here’s what Jesus says:

“Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 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.Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:12-17, NIV).

Paul picks up on the spirit of this in Romans 12 when he says:

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought… Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position” (Rom 12:3, 16 – NIV). The footnote on verse 16 is especially pertinent. Another way to read that last phrase is “Do not be proud, but be willing to do menial work.”

Shane Claiborne, a Christian author and speaker who sought to impact the world for Jesus by living as a modern-day monastic in the inner-city and by following Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount in its fullest and most literal way, once talked about a sign he and his communal house kept on their kitchen wall. It read: “Everybody wants to change the world. Nobody wants to do the dishes.”

Martin Luther famously quipped that changing diapers is holier than all the monastic vows.

Gandhi used to advocate that everyone should be in the business of cleaning toilets, especially those in leadership and public service. Gandhi caught the spirit of Jesus here.

The spiritual exercise of serving means choosing to do the dishes. To change the diapers. To do the things nobody else wants to do. To serve someone, regardless of how dirty or demeaning we think it might be.

Serving reminds us of who we are. We are sinners, invited to be servants of God. Nothing is beneath us. Serving reminds us that if God lowers himself for the sake of others, we should too.

That’s Jesus’s attitude. Others first. Be willing to do the lousy work. Don’t worry what you get out of it. Be willing, no matter what reward is waiting.

Question
Serving is about putting others ahead of yourself. When do you fall into the trap of serving for yourself instead of for others? What are one or two ways you can serve in some capacity to counter that?