Matthew, Mark, Mission | Serving Is Part of Discipleship
Matthew, Mark, Mission | Serving is Part
of Discipleship
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest
commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew
22:37-40
45 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 10:45
PUSH FORWARD
Last November, wow that seems like a long time
ago even though it was only a year ago (shops were open, we did not wear masks,
and people could move around freely), my son had a birthday. For his birthday I built push carts. I took furniture dollies, attached a couple
of 2x4 as handles, and built a cardboard frame around it. We pretended they were Mario Karts. Actually, they turned out surprisingly good. What I did not anticipate was how the wheels,
being small, would catch on the road pavement when we pushed them. A kid would sit inside and then a parent
would push from behind. My road has a few holes in it so as you are racing down
the street your Kart comes to a halt.
One could stop where they are at and give up, but what is the fun in
that. Every parent found it within them
to push harder when they got stuck and every kid made it across the finish
line. Seriously, who is going to be that
parent that makes their kid cry because they gave up (Not Me)! It is the same
with life. Sometimes we are going to run
into a pothole aka a pandemic. Are you
going to give up or are you going to push forward? Pushing forward looks like
serving others! Here are a couple ways to push forward in the midst of a
pandemic.
MATTHEW
One of my favorite scriptures in the who bible
is obviously the greatest commandment to Love God and to Love others. What I often miss is that second part of
Loving your neighbor where it says as yourself.
What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? As we are going through this pandemic, I
realized that I need people in my life whom I can connect with. I cannot do this alone. My family cannot do this alone either. Early on in this pandemic we decided to meet
regularly with a few families in person.
These were families we knew we could trust that our kids could play
with, and that we could have real conversations with. We initially did this out of a personal need,
but soon realized this fulfilled a need in those families as well. The Washington post recently had an article titled
“Let us call it what it is. We’re in a Pandemic Depression.” Many people are struggling with isolation,
the loss of sports/school/work, the separation from friends and family, and all
the social distancing. We are social beings;
this does not feel normal. So, I began
to think what if loving our neighbor as yourself meant reaching out to people
who are homebound, isolated, have no family, and are without human
interaction. The need that I have for
human connection I bet my neighbor on either side of me does too.
MARK
Jesus was relentless in serving those around
him. Jesus did not let an angry mob or
even being hung on a cross stop him from blessing those within his sphere of
influence. Jesus fed the hungry, gave
sight to the blind, blessed a robber on the cross, showed mercy to his enemies,
helped the poor, and redeemed a woman at the well. The scriptures talk about how Jesus did not
allow his circumstances to determine his character. He did not limit his servants’ heart because
of unfortunate situations. Jesus intervened
on the behalf of others when things seemed most grim. What if loving your neighbor as yourself
means to continue to serve those around you even though the circumstance is
less than ideal? Some days I feel stuck
in a perpetual ground hog day. It is not
easy to push through potholes, but someone is counting on you, are you really
going to let them down.
MISSION
As followers of Christ, I think it is
part of our mission to serve those around us.
I also think that serving is an essential part of discipleship. The Christian post in a recent article
defined discipleship like this, “Discipleship is a fancy word meaning how you
mature in Christ, how Christ is formed in you — in your thoughts, your actions,
your life.” If I deem Christ as my Lord
and Savior, then I should mirror the behaviors of the one I follow. Serving others is not just what God asks of
us, it is actually part of our who we are as followers of Christ. Serving others is part of our discipleship
and the discipleship of others. This
pandemic has cause each of us to get stuck, but it is time to push
forward. I do not want to be the parent
or disciple who does not cross that finish line.
Practically Speaking | How Might We Make
Serving Part of Discipleship?
Ø Began by praying for God to open up your heart to those in
need. Write down those people that God
places upon your heart. I did this by creating a FRANC list. Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances, Neighbors,
and Coworkers. I wrote down everyone I could think of, literally everyone, it
was a long list. Then I prayed over them by name every day. The weird thing was I started having deeper
conversations and connections with some of them.
Ø Write a letter, call, zoom, or heck even knock on the door of
someone God has placed upon your heart.
The great thing about technology is that we have lots of ways to
facilitate personal connection.
Ø Go a step further and invite someone to have a meal with you or you
drop a meal off at there door. We did
our gathering outside, with social distance, and had everyone bring their own
food.
Ø Do not worry about trying to make a connection with everybody.
