Serve Like Jesus

Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant…For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” (Mark 10:43, 45)
In worship a few weeks ago, we heard that, as God’s people, we are to be a blessing to the whole earth. The covenant God made with God’s people, beginning with Abraham and Sarah, is that the LORD blesses us in order to bless others; all the families of the earth will be blessed by us (Genesis 12:1-3). Through Jesus we have been grafted on to God’s people. So we are meant to be a blessing to all the people of the earth.
Tom Long, a preaching professor in Atlanta, tells a story about the city where he lives that sounds like 1974 in Cedar Rapids when Interstate 380 was built. “A decision was made to build a new freeway into Atlanta…A swath of houses was condemned, and eventually a whole neighborhood was torn down to make way for the highway. For a short time, though, families were still living in those houses, homes that many of them had lived in for generations, but they knew that soon the bulldozers would come and tear them down. The effects were demoralizing on the neighborhood, of course, and most of the residents stopped doing any maintenance at all. Paint peeled, wood rotted, doors fell off hinges, roofs caved in. There were, however, a few residents who, oddly, continued to care for their homes. They painted porches, planted flowers, and repaired window screens, knowing that their houses were slated for destruction. Somehow, even knowing that they were temporary, that the land on which they lived was not their dwelling place forever, did not destroy their desire to make life good and beautiful where they lived” (Accompany Them with Singing—The Christian Funeral, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, p. 131-132).
God created us in God’s image. Even so, our earthly tents are slated for the bulldozer to make way for something new. In the meantime, though, God calls us to do all we can to care for Creation, because God is renewing the once-good Creation, making it new again. That’s why in the United Methodist Church, our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who will transform the world.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, understood God’s grace as power — the power to live a transformed life, the power to transform the world. He never doubted that we are saved only by God’s grace through faith. But Wesley believed God calls us to participate in the mission to renew the Creation. God saves us by grace so that we can do something. So we can work for God’s will in the world. That’s why one of Wesley’s rules for living is to do all the good you can. “Whoever does good is from God” (3 John 11b).
Following Jesus means doing some good in the church and in the world. Jesus tells us in the gospels that he came not to be served but to serve, and that those of us who want to follow him will serve that way. 
Therefore, at Salem we have a new Participation Ministry Team to help us all get connected and serve like Jesus in some way both within the church and beyond in the community. Furthermore, together as the body of Christ, we are Jesus serving in the world today.
Many opportunities already exist and there will be even more new opportunities, too. The Participation Ministry Team will help you know about those opportunities and help you get connected and serve. After all, that’s what disciples of Jesus do!
You might think for a moment on these questions, though. How is God calling me to serve at Salem and in the community? What am I passionate about and will that bless the whole earth? Where can I serve like Jesus? 
Of course, many are already serving in multiple ways. Thank you!
We do not believe that this world will simply pass away. This is God’s Creation and in the beginning it was good! God is renewing this Creation and invites us to participate. What will you do?

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