Example and Highest End

We must be careful not to teach people that the ultimate goal of Christianity is serving. Jesus is the ultimate goal, the highest end. Our serving must ultimately be grounded in Him, and for Him, our hearts deeply tuned toward Him. We are incapable of serving for the right reasons, incapable of making any impact […]

Motivation for Service

The gospel is not only the foundation for our service; it also radically purifies our motivation for service. In fact, serving others for reasons other than the gospel actually doesn’t make a lot of sense because of the philosophical contradictions beneath the surface. Take, for example, the predominant worldview of Western culture today—the worldview of […]

Foundation for Service

The essence of Christian faith is not that we serve Christ but that He served us. In Matthew 20, the mother of James and John came to Jesus, requesting that her sons be allowed to sit at His side in the kingdom—one on His right, the other on His left. So Jesus turned and asked […]

Gospel and Serving

Jesus motivated His disciples to serve people by connecting His challenge for them to serve with the reality that He served them first. At the Last Supper, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and said to them: So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one […]

Serve the Master’s Family

The bond servant chose to stay with his master because he loved him. He wanted to express his love continually through his service because service is the full extent of love. When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, He was “show[ing] them the full extent of his love” (John 13:1 NIV). The servant’s service to the […]

The Serving High

Jesus told His disciples that they would be blessed if they served. And you will be blessed if you serve, both eternally and presently. Eternally you will receive rewards because of your faithful service. Presently, a supernatural high comes with serving. Experiencing God overflow out of your life to serve others trumps anything the world […]

Serving Is Greatness

One of the reasons bondservants chose to stay with their master was because life was so much better in the master’s care. Perhaps sometimes bondservants would reflect on how life was before. They could remember how miserable the nights were hoping someone would let them stay in their home. They could recall how painful it […]