Transformed by Service
- Dr. Bruce Humphrey
- Jul 25, 2010
- Series: Spiritual Apps
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Matthew 25:31-46 and James 2:14-17 |
My first call out of seminary was to a small mission church in an Indian village on a secluded island in Alaska. During the plane ride to the island, I recall thinking back on the mission biographies I had read. Livingstone in Africa, Judson in
Two years into the ministry I was so frustrated that I wrote one of my most depressing letters to my parents in Arizona. Instead of opening minds to the gospel, I complained, I was spending most of my time heating our home, fixing the church’s furnace, and simply surviving the cold winter months. Many Saturday nights and Sunday mornings, instead of reviewing my notes and refining my thoughts for the sermon, I was crawling around the old oil furnace in the church basement trying to simply heat the building for the services. There were some Sundays when the furnace failed entirely and we worshiped in a freezing sanctuary. I recall watching the wisps of condensation as we shivered and tried to sing our hymns on such days.
The second year in that church, a toilet in the church basement began to leak. As the leak developed into a puddle not only in the bathroom but also running into the hallway, I knew it needed to be fixed. I ordered the necessary parts and then discovered that no main shut off valve had ever been installed at the church. The water department refused to turn off the water to the entire village, so I was forced to replace the toilet with the water spraying at full pressure. By the time I was done, the entire basement had four inches of standing water.
In my frustration I wondered, “What do fixing toilets and furnaces have to do with following Jesus?” It was not until years later, when I learned about the spiritual app of service, that I grew to appreciate that God was training me through the “ministry of the mundane.”[1]
The little girl was devastated at the death of her pet cat. The mother tried to comfort her. “Honey, look at it this way. Fluffy is in heaven with God.” The child thought about this for a moment and then asked, “What would God want with a dead cat?”
James asked a similar question. If our faith is just words, he argued, then it is dead faith. What would God want with dead faith? What good does it do to say nice words to a needy person if we have no intention of actually helping? Faith without works is dead. As someone has said, some people are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good. So how do we avoid dead faith?
The Dead Sea in Israel is nearly the opposite of the Sea of Galilee. The Jordan River feeds both. Yet the Dead Sea is so heavy with chemicals that it is impossible to dive under water. People float on the Dead Sea while reading their newspapers. At times the sulfur smells can become so strong they nearly cause a person to gag. It is called the Dead Sea because nothing grows in that body of water. By contrast, the Sea of Galilee is teeming with fish and plant life. Why?
The Dead Sea is the end of the line for the Jordan River. The river water empties into the Dead Sea. This lowest point on earth receives but does not give. The Sea of Galilee, on the other hand, is at the foothills near the source of the river. It receives the mountain stream at one end and then releases the fresh water on the other end. It is both a receptor and a donor. Thus, it is constantly receiving the renewing nutrients and also passing on the blessings. Are we more like the Sea of Galilee or the Dead Sea?
Some years ago I performed the memorial service for a very active member of our Arizona congregation. Dee was not only involved in the church, but she was deeply appreciated in the community for her many charitable activities. When in her mid-nineties, Dee knew she was dying and she asked to see me so she could plan her service. At her memorial I had the joy of reviewing for those gathered the many ways Dee had blessed our community.
More important than reviewing what she had accomplished, I told the crowd what motivated Dee’s acts of service. When she was a girl, she developed a serious illness that required emergency surgery. After she recovered, she went to negotiate a way to repay the doctor. Since she had very little, she offered to pay a small portion each month. The doctor forgave the entire debt with one condition. Instead of paying it back to the doctor, she must pay it forward to others. She was instructed by the doctor to look for occasions where someone was less fortunate and then help those people as she had been helped. This became a transformational moment in her young life.
Dee’s second transformational experience would cement the direction of her life toward service. Near the end of college, she served as the chapel accompanist. She recalled the chapel service when the college hosted the famous radio preacher, Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick. At the close of that college chapel service the famous preacher approached Dee and told her one sentence that would guide her entire life. He said, “Happiness is the by-product of a meaningful life of service.” Dee insisted that I instruct all those gathered at her memorial that happiness is not an end in itself but a result of a life of service.
Jesus set the example of service. Jesus once told his disciples that he came not to be served, but to serve and give his life for others. At the Last Supper, while the disciples worried about who should get the best seat, Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist, knelt down, and began to wash their feet. His whole life was a lesson in service. Followers of Jesus are called to love as he loved and serve as he served.
A while ago I came across an exciting interpretation of Philippians 2:6. This passage describes Jesus as the person who, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.” (NIV)
The passage hinges on the first verb, “being.” This can be interpreted in two very different ways. The word “being” can either mean although or it can mean because. So we could interpret the passage as either, “Although he was in very nature God… he took the very nature of a servant,” or “Because he was in very nature God… he took the very nature of a servant.” How can the word “being” be taken in such opposite ways?
Let me use an illustration from the world of sports. Picture a man confined to a wheel chair in a nursing home. When we stop to visit, he tells us, “Being a baseball fan, I watch the Padres every year.” It would seem an obvious interpretation to understand that living in San Diego with his love of baseball makes him a natural fan of the Padres. Someone could easily explain that because the speaker is a baseball fan he obviously enjoys Padres games. However, it gets more complicated if this same man says he grew up in Chicago. Then he says, “Being a Cubs fan, I watch the World Series every year.” Now the question is open for further consideration. Since the Cubs never make it into the World Series, we might wonder what being a Chicago Cubs fan has to do with watching the World Series every year. A likely interpretation would be, “Although he is a Cubs fan, he still enjoys watching the World Series even though his own team hasn’t played in a World Series in over one hundred years.” In both cases we started the sentence with the same word, “Being a baseball fan,” and “Being a Cubs fan.” Thus, “being” can either mean “although” or “because.”
Most translations choose to translate the verb “being” as meaning “although” for Philippians 2:6. “Although he was in very nature God… he took on the very nature of a servant.” I suspect this translation misses the point. I am coming to the conclusion that the better choice is to interpret the verb as meaning “Because he was in very nature God… he took on the very form of a servant.” Whether we translate it as “although” or “because,” it comes down to this: “Is it God’s nature to serve?”
Jesus’ servant heart comes through the gospels from beginning to end. When Jesus finished washing the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, he said they were to follow his example of service by washing each other’s feet. They were to pay it forward. They were to serve others as he had served them. Jesus taught us that our God is a servant God.
Years ago a conflict flared up in our Arizona congregation between two of the church staff. A department head approached the church receptionist/assistant and told her he needed her to make copies of a document he wanted to distribute. She was already busy with something I had asked her to do. She also had another job pending for another staff member as soon as she finished my task. She explained the situation. “I have a couple other jobs I’m doing right now. So if it isn’t urgent I can get to your copies in an hour or so. If you need it sooner than that, you can use the copy machine to make them yourself.” The program director responded angrily. He leaned across the reception counter and said, “People like me tell people like you what to do, and you do it!”
In my years of pastoring I am aware of some pretty terrible sins. I’ve heard confessions of immorality. I’ve counseled with some very unethical people. I’ve known people who served time in prison. I’ve seen the dregs of society. In all my years of working with people, however, that statement stands out in my memory as one of the worst. “People like me tell people like you what to do, and you do it!” In other words, I’m here to be served. You can get much farther from Jesus than this!
Jesus is looking for followers who will serve. I’m thinking about my friend Merle. I first met Merle when he was a high school freshman working part time for the village school system. Every Friday, the school superintendent watched Merle’s parents take away his paycheck as soon as he walked off school property. Everybody in the village knew they used his money for their weekend drinking binge. I used to wonder why he would work three hours every afternoon when he didn’t get to keep the money. I suspected that it must be better to stay at the school than go home to a dysfunctional family of alcoholics.
Our second year in that village, Merle started hanging out over at our house. He played some computer games on our TV. Our small boys would run through the living room in various costumes to entertain him. Kate would get him something to eat. We’d try to draw him into a conversation. “How you doing Merle?” His single syllable answers barely registered beyond a grunt. It was several months before we heard Merle say an entire sentence. “Thank you Mrs. Humphrey. Can I come back tomorrow and play the computer game again?”
That summer our church offered Merle a scholarship to attend a summer camp. He asked if he could repay the scholarship by helping me do odd jobs around the church. Side by side, mopping the floor or painting a wall with me, he would ask questions about my life and eventually my faith. Merle seemed to enjoy hanging out with me doing odd jobs at the church. I realized slowly that God was opening the door for him to trust me as his friend.
In Merle’s junior year he earned a varsity letter on the wrestling team. I knew there was no way his family would get him a letter jacket, so our church took up a secret offering and bought him his letter jacket. I wasn’t there the night the Superintendent of schools presented the gift jacket to him at the letterman’s banquet, but I heard later that he was amazed that some anonymous friends were giving it to him. He probably figured out that it came from our church.
We moved away from that village as Merle was starting his senior year in high school. A few years later I ran into him in Sitka. He was still wearing that letter jacket. He stepped away from some friends and approached me before I saw him. He had a big smile on his face and wanted to catch me up on what was happening in his life. He was talking and laughing and connecting with me. I got a glimpse of what God was doing in his life. Through his serving, he was taking his first steps on the path to meeting Jesus. I saw the very real possibility that he could be the first one in his family to break the chain of alcoholism and family dysfunction.
Isn’t that just like God? Merle started by serving and got connected. Want to get better connected with God…? Come along side what God is doing and serve.
[1] Thanks for this phrase and the insights on Philippians 2 to John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997) 104-109.
