Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

A little boy was overheard talking to himself as he strutted through the backyard, wearing his baseball cap and toting a ball and bat. “I’m the greatest hitter in the world,” he announced. Then he tossed the ball in the air, swung at it and missed. “Strike one!” he yelled. Undaunted, he picked up the ball and said again, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” He tossed the ball into the air. When it came down, he swung again and missed. “Strike two!” he cried. The boy then paused a moment to examine his bat and ball carefully. He spit on his hands and rubbed them together. He straightened his cap and said once more, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” Again he tossed the ball up in the air and swung at it. He missed. “Strike three! Wow!” the boy exclaimed. “I’m the greatest pitcher in the world!”

Well, it’s human nature to want to be “great” at something, isn’t it? Career, sport, hobby or even in a relationship. If I were to take hands, how many would like to be a “great” golfer? How about a great musician? With the economy what it is…how about a great investor? Great husband? Greatest grandparents...?

Let’s look at the question from a different angle: What does it mean to be “great” in the eyes of God?

Colonel James B. Irwin, a former astronaut who walked on the face of the moon, commented on watching the “earth rise” from space…and thinking how privileged he was to be a member of that unique crew. And then he began to realize en route back home that many would consider him a “superstar – someone great” – for sure an international celebrity. Humbled by the awesome goodness of God, Colonel Irwin shared his true feelings when he said, “As I was returning to earth, I realized that I was a servant – not a great celebrity. So I am here as God’s servant on planet Earth to share what I have experienced that others might know the glory of God.”

How do I become “great” in the eyes of God? Develop the heart of a servant.

Scripture says, “…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant… For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:43, 45

The greatness of Jesus’ character: He wasn’t self-focused, but others-focused. Not demanding, but gracious. Not proud, but humble. Not selfish, but self-less. Not out for what He could get, but for what He could give…that’s the heart of a servant…and consider the lives He touched! Now, being a servant isn’t easy. It can be tough. There are definitely times when I am demanding, selfish and prideful…just ask my wife! And maybe you’ve struggled too?

So how do we become servants? How can we improve our serve? I’d like to share several steps with you so we can experience the transformation God has for each one of us as we grow in servant hood.

Steps To Improve My Serve

1. Remind myself of what God has done for me.

This step motivates me to live with an “attitude of gratitude”…and it leads to serving others. But there’s a problem, If I’m honest, it can be easy to forget about God’s many blessings in my life and take Him for granted. And I know what it feels like to be taken for granted now and then…I’m the parent of three teenagers!

Please note: The following story will be told with permission from one of my teenage daughters, who wishes her name to be kept anonymous. When my daughter turned 13 it was a big deal…to her! She was a very popular young lady at her school and wanted to invite 100 middle schoolers to her birthday party in my backyard! I could just picture my well manicured lawn flower beds and beautiful landscaping ruined! But, anything for my daughter. We helped her make personalized invitations, got a D.J. and a mega-balloon bouncer with a giant slide and a climbing wall! I put up lights and tiki torches – the works. My wife and I silently prayed only 30 would show up…didn’t happen.

All 100 of her “best friends in the whole world” showed up for the party!

It was out of control! The balloon bouncer had too many kids in it and it tipped over…the DJ was too loud and the police showed up…and a food fight broke out and we had to wash the kids down with a hose in the backyard. But a great time was had by all!

After the major clean-up, around midnight I asked my daughter if she had a good birthday. She nonchalantly said, “yeah” and went back to enjoying her birthday presents. I felt taken for granted. I said, “Honey”! She responded, “Oh yeah, thanks a lot Dad”. Well, needless to say, she has some room to grow in the area of gratitude.

What about our own gratefulness to God? To be a servant of Christ means: I am reminded of all God had done for me and I respond in gratefulness and service.

Scripture says, “Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20

“10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” I John 4:10-11

Because God has given His only Son for our salvation…and everything else, we are to respond in love toward one another…serving others in the love of God. Several years ago, a group of us went on a two week mission trip to Uruguay from the high school ministry. On returning, I asked our students to comment on their experience. Bryan noted, “You never realize the impact you can make for the cause of Christ. God used us to encourage very poor and needy children in a crime-ridden, trash-filled neighborhood. It made me grateful for what we have here in the States and motivates me to share with our own homeless and needy here in San Diego.

Bryan got it.

2. Recognize my value for God’s service.

God can use each one of us to make a difference in the world; to help transform it, yet too many of us hesitate. Perhaps we don’t feel valued, needed, gifted, talented, or trained. We feel inadequate somehow. So we become content “attending church”, rather than choosing to “be” the church in our daily lives. As a result, we don’t step out of our “comfort zones” or discover our gifts or volunteer to serve.

But here’s the good news, we are all created in God’s image and created to serve Him! And He’s gifted us to do it! Think of it this way: God’s got a wallet with your picture in it! He brags on you and your potential just like a grandparent brags on their grandkids! He loves to see us do what we were created to do!

Scripture says, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

If I were to sum this passage up it would be this, we are saved to serve! Notice, we don’t work our way to heaven; that’s all about God’s grace. But once we experience salvation, our mission is to do good works, to serve others…to transform the world! “Good works are not the root of our salvation, but the fruit of our salvation!”

Grace, Connie and Valerie worked as volunteers in my high school ministry back in the 80’s (yes, I’m that old). And they all had something in common, they were beautiful, young hairdressers; beauticians with style! It was funny, they would come to youth meetings with their hair and makeup always done up to perfection and they were always dressed in the latest styles. And they talked like “valley girls” remember?

…Anyway, I noticed every time we went to serve a meal to the homeless or visit an orphanage in Mexico, they never came. Or when we cleaned up city parks, where were they? One time I encouraged them to come to a weekend trip to the orphanage. They said they didn’t sign up because they couldn’t do anything… besides, Mexico was real dirty and dusty and it would mess up their hair. They said they weren’t strong, so they couldn’t help with work projects and they didn’t know Spanish, so they couldn’t communicate with the orphans.

I said, “You know girls, those 30 orphan children could really use some hair cuts. What do you think – would you be willing to give them all really nice (and stylish) hair cuts while we are there?” They said with excitement, “We could do that!” So they brought all of their supplies and prepared to give the children hair cuts. We got down to the orphanage and I got all the students organized and off to their various worksites and ministry areas. The girls were all ready to begin cutting hair.

After about 15 minutes, Grace, Connie and Valerie came up to me with tears in their eyes and they were visibly shaken. I asked what was wrong and they said some of the children had lice and they were afraid to continue. We talked about how disappointed the children would be if we cancelled the hair cuts. We prayed about it and the girls felt God wanted them to continue. We even found some special shampoo lying around the orphanage we used for the children with the lice. The girls realized they were valuable for God’s service that day and continued to give haircuts to those orphans and to other less fortunate children in the years that followed.

You know, each one of us is gifted, valuable, needed and necessary for the work of God’s kingdom. As a matter of fact, you’re indispensable! Scripture says, “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many…The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” I Corinthians 12:14, 21-22

You are indispensable to God. You are valuable for His service!

3. Respond to a need and meet it.

This is where we step out of the boat, we take a risk…we move out of our comfort zone and allow transformation to respond! And as we grow closer to Jesus, we find that we become more aware of the needs around us. Years ago I was serving at a church in a poor section of Pasadena. My wife and six year old son came by and we walked to a corner “greasy spoon” called “The Hat” for the world’s greatest pastrami sandwich. As we entered the restaurant, we noticed a homeless man sitting in the gutter with his small bag of belongings. He was dirty and his hair disheveled and he seemed to be talking to himself. There were many homeless people on the streets of Pasadena – it was a common sight.

We went inside, ordered our food and had a nice lunch together as a family. But we found we couldn’t eat all we ordered. As a matter of fact, we had a whole chili-cheese dog and a bag of fries leftover. I was about to clean the table when my young son said, “Dad, why don’t we see if the poor man outside wants it. Maybe he’s hungry? Jesus would want us to.”

My six year old was right. So we gathered up the food and I refilled my drink and we walked out to the homeless man sitting on the curb. He looked up at us and smiled at my boy and he smiled back. I asked him if he had had lunch and he said, “No”. He gladly took the food we offered him and as we were leaving he looked up at me and asked, “Mister, is there a God”? I smiled and said, “You bet. He just told my son to bring you lunch!” After that, my little boy wanted to feed every homeless person he saw as we drove by. When we got home, we filled about 20 zip-lock bags with granola bars, raisins, beef jerky, a juice box and a Christian tract explaining God’s love and hope of salvation. In the months that followed, when we passed a homeless person on the streets begging, we rolled down the window and gave them one of the “Hope Packets.”

Improving my serve means I respond to needs and meet them.

Scripture says, “10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If you speak, you should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If you serve, you should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ…” I Peter 4:10-11 (TNIV)

Service isn’t just for spiritual superstars – it’s for all of us. Underline the word, “faithful.” A good question to ask is, am I faithful in using the gifts God has given me to serve others? Perhaps you’re not sure. Ask God to send you a need you can meet and He promises to provide you with the strength to respond and share His love with others, whether it be in your own home, neighborhood, community or world.

Mother Teresa could be considered a “celebrity servant.” She received the Nobel Prize in 1979 for her work among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. Yet, she certainly didn’t consider herself a “celebrity”, but simply a follower of Jesus – sharing God’s love with those in desperate need.

She said, “Love seeks to serve… but I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the individual. I can love only one person at a time. I can feed only one person at a time. Just one, one, one.

You get closer to Christ by coming closer to each other. As Jesus said, ‘Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me.’

So you begin…I begin.

I picked up one person in need – maybe if I didn’t pick up that one person I wouldn’t have picked up 42,000. The whole work is only a drop in the ocean. But if I didn’t put the drop in, the ocean would be one drop less. Same thing for you… same thing in your family… same thing in the church where you go.

Just begin…”one, one, one.”

As we serve the needs of others, we minister to the very heart of Christ. For Jesus, Himself said, “37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” Matthew 25:37-40

Ready to improve your serve?