Christ-Centered Service

Today I'm going to start a series of sermons I've been thinking and praying about for quite a few months now. It's one of those things that kind of, for the pastors and elders within a church, we sometimes are pre-thinking. I have ideas and things, but we're waiting for God to bring it all together at a time when it will serve His people best. It's been one that's kind of been on the back burner simmering for a while, so I'm hoping that at this time God is going to inspire it.

I believe He will. But we each are part of an active and caring congregation made up of people with vast backgrounds and experiences. My goal, and I believe God's goal as well, is for each of us to consider how we are serving in our congregation and the communities that we live in. Based on the gifts and the life experiences God has granted us. Topics I plan to dive into over the next couple months are Christ-centered service, congregational development, mentoring, and congregational leadership.

All of these topics are relevant to us today because each one of us are here because of someone else's service to us in order to make it possible for us to remain alive and ultimately to be sitting here today. If we go all the way back to our beginning of life, someone, your parents, or someone close to you, a relative, someone cared for you, nurtured you, provided for you so that you would have a safe environment to live. They fed you and they looked after you in all these different ways. Then when we became school age and started to go to public school or different schooling, we had teachers that cared for us.

Granted, the teachers are often paid for their services, but anybody who knows a teacher knows that they often serve much more than what their paychecks provide. They put in extra hours, weekend work, after school time with the kids and in other ways, after school programs, some coach soccer, some coach sports, or participate in the clubs to help continue to support.

In another way, teachers have been one of those who go way out of their way to serve outside the normal hours and to provide stability for those that cross their path. But then a moment occurred in our lives when we started learning God's way of life. This may have occurred when you were a child who grew up in the church or as an adult when God started calling each of us to this way of life.

Either way, there were people who diligently gave of their time and efforts to serve us in the congregations that we would become part of. They helped create an environment of growth for you and me, and God used each one of them for our benefit. When we think back on those who have impacted us when we first started attending services, many of them are no longer here. Many of them have ran their race and are now waiting for the return of Jesus Christ and their resurrection.

But these members, they set up chairs and set up sound. They greeted us at the door, many Sabbath. They prayed for us when we were sick or dealing with other challenges. They cooked food for our potlucks and how we do definitely like to eat. They served in teaching our Sabbath schools.

They sought us out to offer encouragement or just to be friendly. The list goes on and on and on. And let us not forget the most important and critical way that we have been served. Through the love of God, each one of us have been given endless mercy and grace.

And we have a God who gave himself for the entirety of mankind. This service and love is part of the very nature of God. God is love and God is the one who serves all of mankind.

Service is very much of what God is and the way that he thinks. So, as we begin this series of sermons today, in this first message, we will examine Christ-centered service and how we develop the attitude and actions in the example of our Lord and our Savior. Christ-centered service demonstrates the greatest level of spiritual conversion because it directly follows in the footsteps of Christ. You could say, becoming perfect in love would be that pinnacle, and yes, it would.

But isn't that what Christ-centered service is all about? Learning how to love one the way that they need to be loved, the way that God loves them. We try to aspire to that same level. We fall short. But Christ-centered service demonstrates this greatest level of spiritual conversion because it directly follows Christ's example. Often, when we think of service, we think about our name being on a list of those responsible for something within the congregation.

And while this may be a way to serve, it's not the only way, and we can't let our minds be limited by this thought. We learn to think outside the box when it comes to service, to find ways to help our family right here, and those outside of our walls, in the unique ways that they can be served. Does a particular way we serve define us or become part of our identity? No. We should serve... how we should serve...

excuse me... how we serve should not define us or become our identity because service is an event. Let me restate that. How we serve should not define us or become our identity because service is an event. But should we become a servant?

God's Word makes us very clear that, yes, we are to become a servant of God. Servants base their identity on Christ, not in themselves or how they serve. Becoming a servant should be our identity because it reflects who Christ is. It should become one of our goals as a Christian, and we should strive to develop qualities consistent with service.

As we begin to get into the heart of this message, I would like to share with you six qualities or characteristics of Christ that demonstrate how He gave His life to be a servant. When we consider and seek to build more fully these qualities in our life, then the way we think about and the way we apply service to others will change. I hope, in turn, we'll explode into a vast array of ways that we seek to serve others.

As we begin looking at these qualities of Christ, for each one, I'm going to add a practical application as well. Now, if we sat down and started to examine all of the qualities of Christ that made Him a servant, we'd be here until the cows came home, wouldn't we? If we tried to figure out all the practical applications of this, that will take a whole other life, maybe into eternity with God, to fully examine. Please know that this is just a six-point, not the thousands it could be, but I believe these will help us as we continue to shape our idea of service to one another. So, the first quality of Christ, I think one that we always have to start with, of course, is humility. Christ was always humble, and humility was a main point of His service to mankind. When we consider humility and the humility that Christ has, we have to turn to Philippians 2 starting in verse 5. Some of these passages we're going to go today are extremely familiar with us, but they're familiar with us because we've turned so many times and the value that they give us on the insight of who Jesus Christ was and continues to be still today. I'm sorry, Philippians 2 and verse 5.

Here the Apostle Paul shares. Actually, let's back up. I'd like to back up, I think, to the beginning. Philippians 2 and verse 1.

Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, and if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. He's encouraging the gathering, the likeness, the one-mindedness of all those who are listening to his letter and turn us today. He says in verse 3, Isn't that the direction our human nature wants to go so many times? We stand behind our own thoughts, our own pride, our own selfishness too many times, more times than I can count in my own life, where we do things, we serve, we help others, or we just go through life according to our own desires. But he's saying, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Really gets down to the crux of service right here. And then he turns it and points to Christ in verse 4. Let each of you look out not for his own interest, excuse me, in verse 5 he does, but let each of you not look out for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. And let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. That what robbery can also be translated or used as something to cling onto, something to grasp and hold tight, to not let go. So Christ did not consider it something that he had to hold onto and wrap his arms around, but he released it for the overall benefit of mankind and to fulfill the will of the Father. We see this in the next verse 7, but he made himself of no reputation. That's humbling for you and me to read, right? That he made himself like us, of no reputation. Taking the form of a bondservant, one who came to serve, one who's connected and tied to someone else to serve, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance of man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

We could go on and on through passages representing and showing the humility that Christ had in all aspects of everything that he ever did. But let's look at the practical application for you and me today. That is awareness. Awareness. You and I are to be aware of who we truly are before God. To be able to look at ourselves, to realize that, you know what? I'm not as big as I think I am. I'm not as good, smart, handsome, beautiful, young, old. I'm not everything that I think I am so often in life. That comes with an awareness of who we really are. Christ, there was an awareness in Christ of who he was and what his mission was. And while Christ was without sin, you and I are not able to speak of ourselves in the same sense. Our awareness must come from a sense of who we are, mortal human beings in which our own nature often reigns.

With this awareness, because you remember, Christ was humble always. He didn't need a reminder of who he was. He didn't need a reminder of his humility, need for humility. But you and I, we have that need. So as we examine our lives and as we realize where we measure up before the stature of Christ, this awareness should turn us to be humble, to have a spirit that's willing to see others, not for their faults, not for their flaws, but as fellow brothers and sisters. As those who are challenged with their own challenges, just like we are. That awareness, that insight that we can have in our own lives, keeps us from feeling too good about ourselves. And so when we have a proper awareness, then humility can reign and grow in strength in our lives.

With this awareness, what should our mission be? It must be to allow Christ to live in us and to change us from the inside out. There should be an awareness of just where we stand before God, which in turn should allow us to put on the quality of humility as Christ was humble.

Humility is such a vital aspect of service that if we don't have it, service is not going to work the way that God has intended it. And just thinking here with you right now, I'm not even sure if true service can be acquired or be accomplished if humility is not part of it, because then something else is going on. Something else is interfering with our ability to truly reap all that God wants us to have as we serve one another. The second quality of Christ was that he was a teacher and a mentor. Let's turn to Matthew 23 in verse 8. Matthew 23 in verse 8. Here we're going to see one of the names, or a couple of the names actually, that Christ had as a human being on this earth. Matthew 23 in verse 8. The King James version uses the word master here instead of teacher. So, do not be called master. It refers to those who claim the right to direct and control people's lives. This is a title that was often conferred on Jewish teachers. Now, for you and me today, teacher has a different word. It's okay for teachers to be called teachers. There's nothing wrong with that. But it does prohibit Christians from seeking or receiving distinctions among themselves in order to control the conduct of others, or in order to be superior to others. In the time when this was written, and Christ said this, and it was captured in the Gospel account, sometimes the teachers of them all would raise themselves up as superior. They would carry themselves as better than everyone else. And so, Christ is saying here to disciples, be careful being called a master or a teacher, because there comes with a heavy requirement of service along with this title and this distinction. Not just that you're better and you know more, that you know God's Word, you've got it memorized, you know the application, you can share it. But if you carry yourself in order to be superior to others, Christ is saying you're not to be that way, you're not to be called a teacher. Again, example after example of Christ being a teacher and mentors throughout the Gospel accounts. But what is the practical application for us today? There's a word that I felt that fit with this, and that word is persuasion, or to be one who can persuade others. Now often that's used in a negative way today to make someone think or believe the same thoughts you do so that you can get this little rallying of a group. But the ability to persuade another person to see something that they can't see can actually be a gift. A good teacher or a good mentor, I know we have some teachers in the room, a good teacher or a good mentor can persuade or motivate others to develop attributes that lead to success. There's an account in Acts 2, verse 36 that we see the Apostle Peter doing just this, to persuade others to change their lives. Acts 2, verse 36.

Breaking into thought here, this passage is captured from the day of Pentecost, the first time that God's Spirit was freely given to all who would believe, to anyone who would become baptized to receive His Spirit. Many people received His Spirit this day, including Peter. What's amazingly powerful is the message, the sermon that he was able to share with those who were listening this day. After going through this powerful sermon that moved people, that persuaded people, we see this captured in Acts 2, verse 36. Peter says, Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, to all who are far off, as many as the Lord or God will call. And with many other words he testified, notice that he continued to speak, he continued to expound, and continued to persuade them this day. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation, then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day about three thousand souls were added to them. Whenever Christ traveled and interacted with others, he was always teaching, always motivating others to action. We see the same example with the disciples in their work throughout the New Testament. They were able to persuade people to walk away from their past lives, to see that there was a new direction they could go, a better direction, a more fulfilling direction. And through persuasive words and God's Spirit and his word working, they were able to do these types of things. Think back to your schooling or early on in your work experience. A good teacher can persuade you to consider things differently than you had before. They can cause you to open your eyes a bit more broadly and allow you to have a deeper understanding about yourself. In the same way, we should serve others by showing and explaining the truth that God has revealed to us in his word. And in doing so, we should be able to expound and draw out on the application of Scripture to help others in their time of need. Again, we see this example of teaching and persuasion and all that Jesus did while living the fleshly life that you and I still do today. It's another act of service that when we look at God's word, that we can use it in a powerful way to help broaden people's mindset on certain aspects. Maybe of their life, maybe of how they're living or how they're applying Scripture to their life, things that maybe they didn't understand as deeply before. We can teach and we can use persuasion as a tool as we continue to serve one another. A third quality of Christ-centered service, or third quality of Christ, is that Christ put other needs before his own. Christ put other needs before his own. Let's look at Romans 15 in verse 1.

Romans 15 in verse 1.

The Apostle Paul again shines, gives insight to this mindset that Christ had of putting others' needs before his own here in Romans chapter 15. And we'll start reading in verse 1.

Paul says, Or leading to building up, a strengthening. Verse 3.

Let me read that again. I kind of pause funny. The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me, he's saying. These reproaches that he bore for you and me. Verse 4. Whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded towards one another according to Christ Jesus. That service, that attitude, that humility that we are to put on and have like-minded towards one another according to Christ Jesus is what he's talking about here. Verse 6.

There's an interesting phrase in the middle of this passage that deserves a deeper view. The passage where it says, The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. From the New Living Translation, Romans 15 verse 3 reads this way. It's a little more clear. It says, This passage comes from Psalm 69 and verse 9, which we can start to turn to now. Many of the commentaries here in Psalm 69 link this passage that we're reading in Romans to this psalm as Paul did himself. Psalm 69. And we'll start reading to verse 4. Psalm 69.

We see right from this get-go this is at the beginning of the psalm. This is a psalm of David as the author of the one who initiated these thoughts. But look for the connections. We're going to review the connections that tie to Jesus Christ and just describe the life that he lived and the way that he bore the reproaches on himself because of the sins of the world and because of those who wanted to critique him and critique God's word. Psalm 69 and verse 4. As we consider that Christ put others' needs before his own. Keep that in your mind as we read through these passages. Psalm 69 verse 4.

I've become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my mother's children because zeal for your house has eaten me up and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. Verse 9 is that direct connection to Romans 15. Let's continue reading in verse 19. You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart and I'm full of heaviness. I look for someone to take pity, but there was none.

And for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst. They gave me vinegar to drink. Verse 29. But I am poor and sorrowful. Let your salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bull which has horns and hooves. The humble shall see this and be glad, and you who seek God, your hearts shall live.

It's a beautiful and touching passage that we have here of the way that Christ bore the reproaches of humankind. The way that he was accused of things that he did not do any wrong for. He was despised, he was critiqued, and yet he continued to put others' needs before himself. He bore all this in a happy, content way, knowing that this was the will of the Father for him. What is the practical application for you and me today? One word. Sacrifice. Ask any parent what it means to sacrifice, and they will provide example after example of how they have made sacrifices for their children.

If you ask the same to a schoolteacher, that will give you a very similar answer. Sacrifice, helping, going above and beyond, continually pouring yourself out for others who have need of you. In Matthew 20, verse 20, we read an account of some who, at first here in the Gospel account, sacrifice was not first and foremost on their mind. This is Matthew 20, verse 20. Even though later God would require it of them. It's another passage that we must turn to if we're considering service within our midst.

How do we serve? How do we care? How do we encourage? How do we provide for others in our midst? And outside of these walls, this is another passage we must read and consider what Christ says at the very end. Matthew 20, verse 20. Keep sacrifice. Keep putting on how Christ put others' needs ahead of him as we read through this passage.

Matthew 20, verse 20. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from him. And he said to her, What do you wish? And she said to him, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and the other on your left, in your kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said to him, We are able.

Talk about sacrifice or the lack thereof. God would require sacrifice of them in time, but here they present themselves as wanting to acquire something, wanting to achieve a role and a position in the family of God and in service. And yet they had no idea what sacrifice truly meant. Verse 23. So he said to them, You will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand on my left is not mine to give, but is for those for whom it is prepared by my father.

And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. I think this is one of those great understatements of the Bible that we just can't fully envision what it was like, but imagine when the ten heard it. Are you kidding me? You brought your mom here and this is what's going on? But Jesus called them to himself and said, Calm down, guys.

He says, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them. Heavy handedness, better than you, superiority. This is the way that others would view the Jews, those in leadership positions.

And yet he says, Yet it shall not be so among you, but let whoever desires to be great among you let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you let him be your slave.

Just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. This is that mindset that Christ always had about serving others, putting himself out there. And ultimately for you and me, that means us applying sacrifice to our life. It's not for us to dictate what positions of authority or power that we will have in either this life or in the kingdom of God.

This is up to God to decide in how to place each one of us. The Gentiles sought out leadership and service positions to lord it over them. This lord it over them is not a word that we use a lot in our common English. From Merriam Webster's dictionary that says, To act in a way that shows one thinks one is better or more important than someone. To lord it over them. You puff yourself up and say, you know what?

You're down here. I'm up here. And I'm going to use it to my advantage to control you, to impact your life, to rule you, to provide my authority over you. All of these ways that the Gentiles sought out leadership, and at times even the Pharisees, they did this as well.

But the key as we consider that is again in verse 27 and 28. And the example we have in Jesus, Whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. He came to sacrifice his own life. He came to sacrifice his time, his energy, his emotions. Every aspect of his being was in complete submission to the Father in order to give of himself.

As it finishes up, as he gave his life a ransom for many, as we seek to serve more fully, this will often take sacrifice in our part. It will take sacrifice of time. Time is usually one of the greatest sacrifices that we can give, but also one that we often hold very tightly to. We may sacrifice money. We may sacrifice prayer time, personal prayer time with God. We may sacrifice conversations as far as letting the other person talk about more than we talk, allowing ourselves to listen better than maybe we often do.

Whether it be time, money, prayers, or conversations, these are all aspects of our service that we can provide to one another. That sacrifice that we make for the benefit of others.

In the same way that Christ put other needs ahead of his own, we must also be willing to make sacrifices of things that are ours to control as we seek ways to serve one another. The fourth quality of Christ is that he was approachable and that he initiated contact. He was approachable and he initiated contact. Let's look at John 4 in verse 1 next.

John 4 in verse 1. John 4, chapter 1, says, Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there.

Jesus therefore, being weary from his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. Notice the way that he made himself approachable, even being weary and tired, the way that he initiated contact. Verse 7, Now a woman of Samaria came and drew water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?

For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. This woman was a Samaritan, a member of the hated mixed race.

She was, as some have said before, she was like on the dog level. She was not even worthy of being interacted with, of being viewed, talked to, anything. Not only that, but she was known most likely by those in her community to be living in sin, which is another reason to be avoided. Yet Jesus took the opportunity to initiate contact with her and made himself approachable. Christ knew his message was for every person, no matter their background or problems in life.

This is just one of those instances again. We could go through countless of times that Christ made himself available, that he opened up his life and shared it with others. Of course, he had his private prayer time. He had times where he needed his alone time, as we all do, in order to draw closer to God. But even that had a purpose. He wasn't one that was just sitting back watching TV and being lazy.

He was always about his father's business. Part of that was that private time to connect. But when it wasn't in private, or when others came up to him to garner his need to absorb... I'm missing the word I'm trying to find right now. When others would come up with a need and they wanted Christ's attention, he often would sacrifice of his time to be approachable to initiate this contact. For you and me, the practical application of this fourth point is building community. Just as Jesus shared his Good News message with the Samaritan by the well, we must be ready to share the same Good News at any time and at any place.

What is your community where you may have an opportunity to share God's truth? Is it with your neighbors? Is it with your school peers? Whether you're in public school or in college or another education program? Is it your co-workers at work? Is it with your local mom's group or your local community group?

Now, this doesn't mean that every moment that we're interacting with others in our community, that we have to be preaching and God to them, that we have to always be telling them about the Bible and things. So often, our actions speak so much louder than words. People see what we do and what we don't do. People notice our speech and our attitude. People see the way our family interacts with one another.

All of these mostly nonverbal ways that people notice, something's different. Something's unique, and I can't quite place my finger on it, but I can see that they are striving to raise their family, to carry themselves in a way that's different. And we can be, as we see in Scripture, that light to a world. God has given us the opportunity to build community wherever we go. Just as Christ was approachable and initiated contact when people came to Him, we have an opportunity to build community around us. Often, this opens a door for people to want to understand you better and why it is that you do the things that you do.

As Christ was approachable and initiated contact with others, we too have the same ability to build community and then find the ways to serve them more fully as our lives continue to intersect. It's another opportunity for you and me to serve those around us. The fifth way that Christ, the fifth quality of Christ, He was one who encouraged. He was one who encouraged. Let's turn to Luke 22 and verse 28. Actually, Luke 22 and verse 24. Luke 22 and verse 24. We're breaking in to the passage where Christ is about to keep the Passover with His disciples, but in the midst of this event, a dispute breaks out.

I feel like the disciples must have been having a bad day. Here it is that they're about to observe Passover with their Lord and Savior, and a dispute breaks out. And let me just say thank you for never having a dispute on Passover when I've been around. I appreciate that. I sometimes try to rack my mind, like, are you kidding me? But yet they're human, right?

There's issues going on, things that we can't see. That's not described. Like I said, they must have been having a bad day for this to happen. But in the midst of this dispute, Christ did not cast them all aside, but in turn used it as an opportunity to teach and to encourage. Notice how He encouraged them towards the end of this passage here in Luke 22 verse 24. Now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Seriously? And He said to them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise gourdship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors.

He again is saying, this is the attitude of those who lord it over others, and want to keep people, keep their thumb on others, and exalt themselves. But in verse 26, He says, But not so among you, on the contrary, He who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?

Is it not he who sits at the table, yet I am among you as the one who serves? But you are those who have continued with me in my trials. This is that encouraging part. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as my father bestowed one upon me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

It would have been so easy for Christ just to... All of you out! All of you out! If you can't figure this one out, I've been with you this whole time, you're still arguing over who's the greatest, everyone out. But he didn't. He could see straight through their hearts. He knew where they were at spiritually. He knew what their potential was. And then he used this as an opportunity to teach, to encourage, and saying, You guys can get into this dispute about who's the greatest, but I want you to know that you will all serve in a powerful role in my kingdom.

You will all learn. You'll figure this all out. You may be bickering today, but you're going to figure this out. So many times, you and I can get in a similar mindset where things just are not clicking for us. We're having a bad day. We may have had a bad week. And yet, God is still continually patient with us, encouraging us through His Word. And so, the practical application of this point is that we have an opportunity to offer healing.

So many are hurting from the stresses of their environment. I think this is where the disciples were at this day. The stresses of the environment, other things going on, something happened that made them have this dispute about who would be the greatest. So many times, so many people are hurting from the stresses of their environment. And because of these stresses, many act out in ways we wish they wouldn't. While at winter camp, Laura and I had the opportunity to again be dorm parents.

Dorm parents, and I may have shared this in the past, but maybe not. Dorm parents, we get to come in in the evening. We're kind of like the moms and dads of the dorm each night. We can interact with them through the day, too. But each night, we get to come into the dorms just before bedtime. And we sit on the floor, and we get to talk with the campers about how their day went, about other things, spiritual questions they may have, just things going on.

This year, again, we had the opportunity to be with the 16, 17, and 18-year-olds, so the oldest girl, Storm. And they're a lot of fun, because you could see that they've been absorbing and living and letting God work with them in just really neat ways. And so their questions are deep, and a lot of times are fun. But one of the things that came up, and this is one of our highlights of our week, too, because it's just neat.

It's a highlight because of a story I'll share with you. One of the evenings, one of the girls, we were talking about the stresses and the challenges of living this physical life and of interacting with others and the down, how people want to put people down, how people want to hold them down, how people want to hurt others in such a damaging way. And one of the girls opened up how she's been labeled a try-hard. Never heard that use in that way, but she said, whenever I do something well, whether it's my artwork, whether I get good grades, whether I ask a question in class, a student will say, you're just trying to be a try-hard.

And it really bugged me because so many times we look at life and we elevate musicians and say, man, that was a great concert they gave. That was an amazing song that they sang. We never called them a try-hard, though, do we? In a negative way. What about an athlete? If an athlete goes down, scores a touchdown, it's the winning touchdown of the game, we just won the Super Bowl, they're just a try-hard. We don't use it in that connotation, but yet, when somebody is doing something that is good for them, they're labeled a try-hard.

On that same discussion, some other campers talked about the word canceled being used in a negative way towards people's lives. Somebody makes a mistake, and we've seen this with celebrities, we've seen this with sports figures, they make a major mistake and then they get labeled as canceled, meaning everything they've ever done, their whole book of life, is pretty much thrown in the trash. It's kind of like if you think about your favorite TV show, it got canceled. It's not to be seen. No more energy is poured into it anymore. It's discarded. Imagine discarding someone and canceling their life out.

It's just troubling to realize the struggles that our teens go through.

In our talk, though, I was able to share an axiom that I hope brought them a bit of encouragement. The axiom is hurt people, hurt people. Have you ever heard that axiom before? Hurt people, hurt people.

So many times, the impact that when we interact with somebody and we're hurt, when we see something happen on news or whatever, where somebody's attacking someone else and just to hurt them, that's because something else has been going on in their life for a long time that has led up to that point where they feel like that is the only way that I can have a little bit of peace or contentment in my life is to drag someone else down. Hurt people, hurt people.

In that session with the older teens, Laura and I, we tried to offer encouragement to them that, you know what, keep doing what you're doing. Don't let somebody else's label on you stick. Don't let somebody else that wants to just throw your work and what you're doing, don't let somebody cancel you because you're different, because you're doing what's right. Continue to let God work in your life. That was one opportunity and just one example of how we could offer healing to someone who needed it. It's a gift that often costs us nothing other than a small piece of our time. Yet to those on the receiving end, it's often a life raft which helps them in their time of need.

Christ was always one who encouraged others when the opportunity presented itself. And through his spirit and through the way that God has given us one another, we can bring healing and offer healing to one another. Now, obviously, God is the true healer. God is the one that offers the complete healing that each of us and everyone needs. But as we see so many times in life, God gives us that opportunity to bring some healing and some help, some encouragement to those who need it. Jesus was the expert in offering encouragement to those around him. We, in turn, must also be willing to share healing words to those who are hurting from the weight and stresses of a world governed by an adversary who hates them and hates the future that God has in store for them. What a service we can bring to a world that desperately needs the healing words of God. The sixth quality, and this will be the last one for today, is that Christ saw the potential in others. Christ saw the potential in others. Let's turn back to John 1 and verse 35. Or turn forward, excuse me. John 1 and verse 35.

Often, I wish I had the clarity to see people exactly as Christ sees each one of us. But this is a spiritual gift that God has that isn't fully to the same extent that Christ and that God has. But here in John 1 and verse 35, we see the potential that Christ saw in someone.

Here, John 1 and verse 35, it says again, the next day, John stood, and this is speaking of John the Baptist, John stood with two of his disciples, and looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, So Christ looks like he was walking by John the Baptist, and John shouts out, The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. So these were disciples of John who said, we're now going to follow Jesus. Verse 40. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, he said, You are Simon, the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated a stone. So from Christ's first interaction with Peter, he saw the potential and knew what Peter would become, and he called him a stone or a rock. But what's interesting is that Peter's action throughout the Gospels does not show someone who was always rock quality. Peter sank when walking on water because of the fears and the overwhelming doubt and things that came into his mind. Peter rebuked Christ after Christ explained that he must die. That was shared in the sermonette today. He rebuked Christ. He pulled him aside and said, Let me tell you something. Really? Peter said that Christ couldn't wash his feet. He lacked understanding, Peter did, of what was going on in the situation. Peter cut the ear off the high priest's servant. Peter denied Christ three times after saying he'd be willing to die for him. But through his time with Christ, the lessons he learned, and through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, we see a completely different person in the book of Acts. Someone who spoke boldly about the good news message of Christ, and through his speech, many became Christians. We read already part of that in Acts, chapter 2. Christ knew all that Peter was and all that Peter would become. But we often have a hard time seeing the full potential in others. So the practical application for you and me is empathy.

Empathy. This is where the ability to have empathy for others is so important. Empathy allows us to see the deeper potential that one has to become a son or daughter of God. We must be willing to see things from another person's perspective and be willing to walk in their shoes. This ability to take our life and temporarily put it into someone else's shoes is empathy. It's not just compassion where we see their need and we feel for them and we want to fix it. This is truly us saying, for the moment, I'm going to try to put myself in your shoes. I'm going to try to experience and imagine what it would be like to be going through the suffering or the challenge you are. To consider your upbringing. To consider your life and what led you up to this moment. I'm going to do my best, even if I haven't experienced before, to put myself in your shoes.

We must be willing to feel someone's life experiences as if they were our own. And if we do that, then we can better understand how we can best serve them. We each wear our own glasses, created by our own unique upbringing and experience. You and I, we all have our own glasses that have been shaded by our life. So when we examine somebody else's life through our glasses, often we know what they need to do. We can imagine, oh yeah, that sounds really hard because I remember when I had my own glasses on and I had a hard experience. That's not really getting down to the point. That's not really being able to see into the heart of another person as Christ could see. That's not having the true level of empathy because, again, we are viewing their life through our experiences, not theirs. We have to admit more times than not, this is something that I've come to understand over the past couple years. We have to admit that if we have the same experience as another person, if we grew up in their household, we had their parents, we went to the same school they did, we got a car at the same time they did, we got our first job the exact same place they did, and all through their life, if we had the exact same life experience, there's a very, very high chance we'd be making the same exact decisions that they are. It's just the truth of the matter more times than not. We are products of our upbringing. We are products of our experiences, of everything that has come in to shape us. But when we realize that concept, and we try to put ourselves into their shoes and say, if that part is true, if most likely, if I was in their shoes, I'd be making the same decisions they are, for good or for bad, then I can empathize more deeply with why they're doing what they're doing. Judgment kind of goes to the side. Humility rises up. Our ability to discern and to see into their heart a little bit better becomes more strong. Again, each of us, I think, wishes we could see the full potential in others as Christ could and can still see today. But God hasn't given us that gift, but He has given us the gift of empathy. And through this gift, we can better see how we can best serve one another. So we begin to wrap up today. I have two last passages for us to consider. Everything that Jesus did while alive on this earth was to fulfill the will of the Father. As Christians, we are to become followers and disciples of Christ. Let's turn to 1 Peter 2 in verse 21. 1 Peter 2 in verse 21. What does it mean to become a follower and a disciple of Christ in the ultimate example that we have in Scripture? 1 Peter 2 verse 21 shines a lot of light on that.

The Apostle Peter captures, Okay, so what do we have here after verse 22?

What does Jesus say? Our older brother gave his own physical life to us, for each of us and for our behalf. He did this through actions and through his attitude while he was alive, and he did this through the sacrifice of his physical body unto death. We have each been served in a way that cannot be compared to any other type of service because we have been served by God. God gave of himself fully, completely, without limitations, both while alive and in service to fellow humans that we have captured in God's Word for us today, and also for everyone in that he gave of his whole life. Through the example we have reviewed today, Jesus served in many ways. The six that we reviewed today was that Jesus served with humility. He served as a teacher and a mentor. Keep these in mind because so many times I think we think about service again. Our name is on a list. We set up chairs. We do these things for our congregation here, and all of them are needed. Don't think I'm minimizing any of these aspects. But look at the way that Christ served. Look at the heart behind his service. Again, he served through humility. He served as a teacher and a mentor. He served by putting others' needs before his own. He served by being approachable. He served by offering encouragement. And he served by seeing the potential in others, as God sees, as he saw. So what must we do with this example that we have in Christ? Let's turn to our last passage in Matthew 25 and verse 31.

I didn't feel inspired with this message to list out all the different ways that we can serve, all the different attributes, all the things that we have. Because all those things come from a heart that is tuned in with God. I felt God inspired me to focus on the qualities of Christ, focus on the practical application that we can put into our lives. Because then, everything else falls into the right places. Everything happens in the way that God then inspires in once. And there are countless ways to serve. We could be here all day listening to him out again. But here in Matthew 25, we get into a passage that speaks about the heart, that speaks completely about the heart. Matthew 25 in verse 31. It says, When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another. He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me, and I was in prison. And you came to me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger, and take you in, or naked and clothed you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you? And the King will answer and say to them, Assuredly, I say to you, and as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Then He will say to those on His left hand, Depart from me, you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And then He goes through all those times when they didn't do these things unto the least of His. He goes through this. And then verse 45, He says, And then He will answer them, saying, Assuredly, I say to you, and as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. There's so much that we can draw out of this passage, and I'll leave most of it for another time. But for today, I want to point out that these items here in Matthew 25 have nothing to do with our names being on a service list here in the congregation. Our area of service is here. Again, I'm not minimizing. They are needed, and they are helpful to every single one of us sitting here. But these items in Matthew 25 are matters of the heart when we see the need and we are willing to fill it to the best of our ability. As we have covered today, these items in Matthew 25 are matters of awareness. They're matters of being able to persuade others to walk a better path. They're matters of sacrifice. These are matters of building up your community. They're matters of offering healing. And they're matters of empathy, putting yourself in another person's shoes and imagining what you would need in this time of need. It is an absolutely beautiful passage that we have here in Matthew 25. It's also a very high calling. Let us continue to put on Christ more fully as we seek ways to serve one another.