Whose Name?

Spiritual Service: whose name?
John 13

I. Friend from High School – it’s just the right thing to do to serve (a selfish friend who put himself first in most of his relationships, and worked toward his own end). But when it came to serving he got a high: there’s something about serving.
a. Campuses across the country are expected to contribute over 17 million hours of community service this year. Most schools have community service requirements. Some companies mandate that you support a charity with your paycheck, and even give paid time away to perform community service. What’s so good about serving?
i. It feels good
ii. Good things happen
iii. People are made happy.
iv. We get respect: you never spit on the peace corp or Americorp. If someone is doing community service you pay attention.
II. Why Should we serve: Biblically
III. Read John 13:1-17
a. Set the scene: Jesus healed Lazarus, entered Jerusalem, and has been in hiding because the religious types are after Him
b. 2 Attitudes toward Service:
IV. Pharisees’ Attitudes
a. Read John 11:46-48
b. Service From Position
i. Ruling Council: it’s their professional duty to serve the people and lead and instruct in religious matters (Jesus was unschooled and unpaid, provided for by gifts, not pay).
ii. Positions can hold us accountable to serve but cannot control our attitudes in serving. In fact, they can become sources of grumbling: all of a sudden we find ourselves having to serve, or having to do something but not really wanting too. This can happen in ministry, in work (you no longer like your job or the reasons for doing it). Ministry is to be a place of joy and desire, not guilt and constraint.
1. The worst sort of serving is that out of guilt or fear. The Pharisees were afraid they would lose their people, and their positions.
c. Serving your Own Name:
i. The Pharisees were religious leaders: they took their income from Gifts to God in the temple – not much unlike how most churches pay a pastor or staff: You give (We’ll talk about giving soon, but not today) and then from the money the church pays its workers (the Bible says that a worker deserves their wages) as well as supporting the spread of the Gospel through mission, ministry, and church planting. Grace Harbor is blessed to not have much overhead and that frees us to use our resources for the spread of the Gospel. But the Pharisees weren’t trying to spread the Gospel. In fact, they were trying to stop it.
1. They were the ones in charge of religious instruction and missed the point, why? They served to serve themselves.
a. Yesterday’s paper: J&J materials; Providence Public Library – head librarian. People like themselves: you like you, I like me, and that can really mess things up.
ii. Don’t let a position define you. Jesus, the Bible tells us in the letter to the Philippians, did not regard His equality with God as something to be grasped, but humbled himself, taking the very nature of a servant. That’s our example. The position is not what is important. But what is important?
V. Serving His name (13:1-17)
a. The bible gives no mention that anyone washed anybody’s feet that night, so Jesus does it. The master serves. But in serving He paints a picture of the motivation and mentality to serve.
i. Motivation
b. Read v.6-10.
i. Jesus served to save: to call people to Himself. He is painting a picture of salvation: Justification and Salvation. You are justified: completely saved when you come to Christ, but daily we experience what is called sanctification: the process of becoming more like Christ. It is our everyday need for Jesus. Not tomorrow, not yesterday, but today I need Jesus. I am not like Him, I would rather serve myself and make my name great… I need Jesus. This picture of salvation is not the end of motivation: we often do acts of service, whether serving at the rescue mission, serving breakfast at Crossroads, handing out goodies at Kennedy, whatever and we can easily let the desire to see someone saved or come to Christ the motivating issue. But it’s not. Let’s back up and little and look at Jesus’ service over the past several weeks.
c. Just Raised Lazarus Read John 11:41-42. Our serving testifies to the Father that He has sent Jesus
d. John 12: 27: Jesus facing the end, Greeks are coming to him, the seed is planted to go throughout the world.
e. We serve for His Name: His Name is our motivation. Jesus is the one honored: he is honored in our serving, in our attitude, in our testimony. It’s not a desire to see people come to Christ (though that is awesome and we pray for it every time) but it is a desire to Honor, glorify, Jesus.
i. Mentality
f. Jesus also gives the Mentality to serve: 13:13-17
i. By mentality I mean the attitude: the motivation gives us the goal, the mentality keeps us focused. Jesus did not come to be served but to serve: Are you following His example. He did not demand His disciples to wash his feet, but He washed theirs (not too long, incidentally, that he told the disciples that the greatest among them would be servant of all – yet none of them leaped to wash feet). He did not demand His father save Him from the Cross, but served Him: But for this purpose I came to this hour, Father, glorify Your name he said in 12:27. Our master, the Lord of heaven and creator of all humbled himself and became a man that we might have life in Him, beginning now.
1. The mentality requires humility. We must sacrifice and put our name down and His name up. Now if you sacrifice, don’t go around boasting in it but go around boasting about Christ. It totally ruins it when someone tries to show off with all their trophies of service. We’ve won community service awards, big woop. How many did Jesus win? Who cares, what’s important about Jesus is that we serve Him. And with that motivation, and that humble mentality we have an awesome promise in John 11:28:
“If anyone serves Me; he must follow Me; and where I am there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”

To serve Jesus, His Name, follow Him: that’s a moral, ethical, spiritual, lifestyle statement: do acts of good, live purely, and speak boldly for Him. If you follow Him you will be with Him. If you are asking, what is God’s will for me? The better question is probably: am I following Him? He’s given plenty in His word to guide us and wants you to follow. I’ll point you there, but, as Paul said, only follow me as I follow Christ. And if you serve Him, the Father will honor you.
Worship is something that is regardless of culture and circumstances. Paul and Silas in the book of Acts worshipped in Prison, and we complain that we don’t like the music or the preaching or whatever. Paul and Silas had their motivation and mentality right: they were serving, and the Father honored them. If you seek power, lay it down. If you seek Honor lay it down to Jesus. If you seek life, lay it down to Jesus. In doing that you’ll find a richer reward: The Father’s honor. If you know these things, Jesus said in John 13:17, you are blessed if you do them. Church rise up and do the good things: do these things. You know them, now do them. There’s a world that is waiting on it and wants to see it and will be rocked when it is seen! Let’s go and do!
Pray.