1Another :: Serve

At the Summit, we’re currently going through the book of Acts of Sunday morning.  Our Cannonball series is walking us through the “why” of church life.  Because of that, I’m teaming up with the Small Groups Guy over the next few days as we take a team approach to the “one another” passages in scripture.  Make sure and check out Spence’s post for the day here.  

Galatians 5:13: For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (ESV)

A couple of days a week I get to take my three sons to school.  It’s your typical academic day transportation: reviewing spelling words, dodging kamikaze deer, etc.  

One of the things that I do each day is pray out loud for the kids before they get out of the car.  Just like the ride, it’s a typical prayer: safety…tests…safety from tests…but one of the things that I always pray is that my boys will be servants: servants to their teachers and their friends.

That’s what I want my kids to understand that the Christian life consists of: loving other people enough to humble yourself and serve them.  If one of my boys grows up to be a Wall Street financier, fine.  As long as he serves people while doing so.  If my eleven year old reaches his goal of playing basketball for Roy Williams, that’s great.  But what I really want him to do is find a way to serve others.

Service is what sets the believer apart.  And love is what should motivate service.  Notice Paul’s mandate: “through love, serve one another.”

As I often tell people in our Starting Point class, you should serve because you get to, not because you’re guilted to.  If you are serving in an area where you’re miserable…hey folks, it ain’t rocket science…you should find another area to serve.  And if you aren’t serving, well…you’re disobeying God by just sitting in that fuzzy chair on Sunday mornings.  You’re soaking up but not giving back, and it’s causing you to die inside.  

So here’s the drill: find out what your spiritual gift might be (you can take a great online survey here), check out our upcoming volunteer training event, and then…serve one another out of love.

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