We Serve Because He Served Us
Last night we had our 5th Family Gathering for our MC Leader’s Training. Being with this group has been very encouraging and a lot of fun. Our relationships have deepened, and we have already learned so much. It’s exciting to think about the leadership this group will bring to new and existing Missional Communities at New City!
We have been learning about the new identity that we have through the gospel. Because we have been baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we have been given a new identity as a family of missionary servants.
This week we focused on the servant aspect of our identity. We discussed what our initial reactions are when we hear the word, “servant”. Regardless of what our initial reaction may be to the word servant, we look to Jesus for what it means to truly serve. Jeff Vanderstelt and Ben Connelly say, “Jesus came as a King, but his posture is that of a servant. He did not come to be served, for he needed nothing. He came to serve, because we needed everything he had! And he provided us with everything we need as a servant who laid down his life so we could have life.” Jesus himself declared that He was the Servant King, “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mt. 20:28)”.
Because we have been united by faith to the One who came to serve, we who are in Christ are called to serve. Vanderstelt and Connelly tie this fact back to our baptism, “Baptized into the name of the Son, we are his servants. Therefore, we serve the least of these of the people of the world just as he served us”. This is our new identity! Because Jesus came low and served us by offering his own life, we out of the security of our identity as children of God are free to take the posture of a servant. The Apostle John reminds us that “we love because he first loved us (I Jn. 4:19)”.
What does it look like to embrace our new identity? Does it only happen on a Sunday morning? No, it happens in all of life! Again, Vanderstelt and Connelly remind us, “If we are servants of Jesus, we are in the place where he has put us in order to serve others as he served us. He wants people to experience what life can be like in his kingdom through his body, the church. As his body, we give tangible expression to what Jesus is like”. This means in our homes, in our workplace, in our neighborhoods, and in our hobbies we serve. As followers of Jesus we are free to serve. We have been given the spiritual eyes to see every aspect of life as an opportunity to serve and point others to Jesus.
Jeff Vanderstelt & Ben Connelly, Saturate Field Guide (Bellvue, WA: Saturate Publishing, 2015), 107.
Vanderstelt & Connelly, Saturate Field Guide, 107.
Vanderstelt & Connelly, Saturate Field Guide, 107.