Christlike Service

Well again, good afternoon, everyone. It is delightful to see everyone. Ken Welburn and I had a fun trip over to the Fulton area, to be able to see everyone over there. It was a beautiful day, far nicer than I've had prior to this time. This is just delightful to be able to have such pleasant weather starting here in the first part of spring-like weather.

As I mentioned in the announcements, we do have a few weeks before we will be getting to the Passover and beginning the Days of Unleavened Bread.

I want to go over something that in some ways is connected to the Passover, but then in other ways is really just connected to each of us and our service to one another.

Even moving here to this new location where we're going to need a certain amount of help to be able to make everything function well here for the congregation.

Again, each of us should feel a responsibility in being able to make that possible. I want to focus on that. I'd like for us to start in John 13. We had a delightful Bible study over in Topeka the other night. I started going through the book of John, and I was telling everyone there that the book of John is always a book that I want to read through before the time of the spring holy days.

I might read one of the other Gospels as well, Matthew or Mark or Luke, but I always am going to read through the book of John because you've got some extraordinary things there in this book that are just really delightful. Not only delightful, but they're uplifting and inspiring and, of course, I think very directive to all of us.

Here in John 13, we've got an example of Jesus that we're certainly aware of, that we rehearse every year, and yet it is one that is extremely important. It should never be overlooked. It should always be a focus of our lives. Because here in John 13, you see revealed an example that Jesus set, actually a pattern of something that He wants us to do. If we are committed, if we are dedicated to the Christian lives that we've been called to, then we're going to follow His example. We're going to follow in His footsteps. Of course, we also know that at this time that is described about here in John, He was working with His disciples. He was actually instituting the wine and the bread that would be a part of the new Passover service that they would then be able to observe, and that we observe, of course, today. But in addition to that, as we start here in John 13, we find Him doing something else. We find Him doing what might be characterized as a little unusual, because here He is, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Redeemer, the Savior of the universe, the King who later is going to return to the earth and who is going to restore order out of the chaos. I even fail to mention, as all of you are aware of, the chaos that this world is in right now with the earthquake over in Japan, and certainly so many people displaced with their nuclear reactors. That's very strange to me.

Strange to me that in a location where some of the most, I guess, varied seismic activity on earth occur right over there around the area where Japan is, and yet on the island of Japan they have 54 nuclear reactors.

And of course, at least one of those, I think actually several of them, are having an extreme problem right now with a certain amount of explosion. I haven't heard what the latest is. And yet, they're having to cause people to be dispersed from their homes. We're causing people to, I don't know what exactly the radiation possibilities are. But it is something that we really, I think, should pray for mercy. And certainly for anyone that might be affected, I don't know that we have any direct members that are in Japan. We may have a few that are traveling there or who visit there or work there. But I'm sure we also have people down into the Malaysian areas, into Indonesia, into the Philippines, into the Australian area. We have people that could have been affected by these waves and the tsunami. It appeared to me that as that happened, and as it pretty well did hit Japan extensively, and then the other areas that are a little closer, and then as it went out into the Pacific, I didn't hear, although maybe there was a good amount of damage in Hawaii, I didn't hear about so much damage there. And certainly as it went out in the Pacific, it seemed to dissipate some, in my view of it. It didn't, of course, hit the United States very strongly at all. But nonetheless, I was talking about Jesus and the fact that he is going to rescue this world, and thankfully, he has rescued us already. He has rescued us, and that he has given us a way of life. He has given us a recognition of himself and of his Father that we celebrate. That we celebrate every year, that we celebrate in the spring holy days, but that we celebrate throughout the year because he is. He is the one that we worship, the one that we praise, and the one that we are deeply appreciative for. And here he is with his disciples. Verse 5, he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet. He began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that he tied around himself. What an amazing act! Now, what makes that so amazing? Well, in some ways, this was something that might normally have been done by some other type of servant. It might normally have been done by the disciples themselves. Maybe that should have been a responsibility that they would have taken.

But see, Christ was directly doing something that was going to teach them not only something to do, but far more so. He was teaching them an attitude to have. Because as we go on, when he came to Simon Peter, he said, Lord, you're not going to wash my feet, or are you going to do that? And he said, you don't even know what I'm doing, but later you're going to understand.

He said, you're not fully aware of the importance of what I am teaching you, the example that I'm setting for you right now. But he says, you'll eventually understand. And Peter said, well, you'll never wash my feet. And Jesus said, well, unless I do, then you have no share with me. And in verse 9, Peter said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus said, well, one who is washed needs not to, or one who is bathed needs not to wash except for his feet, but is entirely clean. And yet you are clean, though not all of you. For he knew who it was that would betray him. And for this reason, he said, not all of you are clean. Now, I get from reading this that, you know, Judas Iscariot is there. He is among the group. He certainly is mentioned earlier, having a supreme attitude problem, having, you know, Satan start controlling his mind, his thinking, his actions, what he's going to do in a very short time, as far as rejecting Jesus Christ and pointing out who he is to those who want to kill him. And yet, in this unique setting, Jesus is washing the disciples' feet, and he's washing the feet of Judas Iscariot. He knew who he was. He knew what he was going to do. He knew that that was the case. You know, most of us would have a problem with that. Most of us would have difficulty. We have difficulty, you know, maybe washing our own feet, maybe washing the feet of someone that we are love or are concerned about. We come together, and as a part of our service, we have a section of that service where we're washing the feet of another Christian. And we are to willingly do that. We are to learn from that pattern and learn from that example. And yet, it says in verse 12, after he had washed their feet and put on his robe and returned to the table, he said, Do you know what I've done? Do you know what I'm really wanting to teach you? Do you really know what it is to be a Christian? That's what he was saying. He didn't use the word Christian, and we don't see the word Christian written until later in the book of Acts, where the disciples were called Christians, first at Antioch. And yet, he was really saying, do you know what you're getting into? Do you know the extent of what it is that I'm going to be asking you to do as a Christian? He said, do you know what I've done to you? Well, you call me in verse 13, teacher, and you call me Lord, and you are right for that I am, so that if I, your Lord and your teacher, have washed your feet, then you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example that you should do as I have done to you. And, barely, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master. And in verse 17, he says, if you know these things, then you are blessed if you do them. So he was really pointing out to them not only just something to do, and something that we do, to a degree, in a symbolic sense. We are doing what he directly said to do. But far more importantly, far more significantly, is the attitude that Jesus had. The attitude of serving other people. The attitude of serving these disciples that he was going to uplift. That he was going to inspire. That he was going to work through in order to do the work of the body of Christ.

That was what the Church's mission was. To do the work that the Church has to do. And, of course, to do that with an attitude of serving one another. Now, we've mentioned here in the last few weeks kind of the phrase Christ-like service. Christ-like service is described here in what Jesus was doing with his disciples. It's described as an attitude. It's described as an outlook toward other people. And also a perception about ourselves. That we're not above the type of service, the type of giving, the type of caring, the type of sharing, the type of loving that Jesus was extending to his disciples.

And that really is the goal that we have in the Church. It's a goal that every individual Christian ought to have. It's something that we have to exemplify. And not just on Passover Eve or Passover evening as we come together for a service. And we have a service where we involve ourselves in that. But that should carry along with us throughout the entirety of the year. It should be something that affects our thinking the entirety of the time. I'd like to point out a few things that I think directly are involved in Christ-like service. And I hope that we can each take this to heart because it does. It does directly affect each of us on an individual basis. Over in Matthew 20, we have a well-known Scripture here. Matthew 20. And yet it talks about how it is that we can be great. How it is that we can have greatness. Now in this context, the disciples, in a sense, were conflicted over this. And actually, James and John's mother brings this to Jesus and asks about it. In chapter 20, verse 20, the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons and knew him before him and said, Ask a favor of him, he said, what do you want? And she said, Well, declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at the right hand, one at the left, in your kingdom. So she was asking something that Christ could not give her. This is not something that I am able to do. He goes on to say, you don't even know what you're asking. And yet down in verse 24, when the other ten of the disciples realized what was happening, realized that the mother of James and John was trying to get some favor for her sons.

They became angry with the two brothers. They became angry with James and John. So there's a conflict already. There's a dispute. And yet Jesus went ahead in verse 25 to say, He called them to him, and He said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them, and it is not to be so among you.

I don't want that to be the case. He says, people in this world, and certainly we can take a look at many, many examples around the world, in almost every country. You could find an example to where the leadership or the politicians or the dictators or the even organized parties that are running a country, they are lording over the people. They are not doing that with the right outlook. And as it says here, the Gentiles lorded over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.

Now, that's one way to rule. In this world, that's pretty much what you get almost everywhere in multiple different forms. You get different forms, different formats of that type of ruling over others. And actually, usually for the benefit of whoever is being ruled, or not being ruled, whoever the ruler is, that's the benefit that the people are seeing. But he says, it is not to be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant.

Whoever wishes to be great. So he equates greatness or being elevated in the eyes of God, being able to be shaped in the form that God would like us to be shaped in, he equates that to learning to be a servant. And of course, that's what Jesus said that he was doing whenever he was washing the feet of the disciples. He was saying, you know, I am willing. Of course, he ultimately is when I am willing to die for you and for your life and for your eternity. But I'm certainly able and willing to wash your feet. In order to show you an example, one toward the other, of being able to love and serve one another. He went on to say in verse 27, whoever wishes to be first among you must 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. See, this is his description. This is what Jesus described as, what is it that Christ-like service is involving? Well, it's involving each of us being committed to God, being committed to our Savior Jesus Christ, to the degree to where we are wishing, we are wishing to serve other people. That is our outlook, that is our attitude. And he said, in so doing, then you are achieving greatness. You are achieving a high quality of acceptance as far as God is concerned. Now, that might not be recognized here on earth. It might not be recognized. Have we thought about that? I know within the structure that we have within the Church of God, you have different individuals who serve in roles of the ministry. You have different individuals who are ordained as deacons, or some as elders, some as deacons, some as deaconesses. You know, is that some type of reward? Well, it isn't. It is a responsibility. I can tell you that. It is a responsibility that we are being asked to fulfill. But see, that doesn't necessarily make any one of us great. That doesn't make any one of us first.

The ones who are going to be considered by Jesus Christ great and first are the ones who are serving other people. And yes, the ministry and ordained people in the Church should be serving other people. But see, it doesn't automatically just fit that description. We have to be doing that. We have to actually be serving other people. And I know Mr. Rhodes brought this out, as you know. We have here in the United Church of God a certain governance that is set up where the ordained ministry has a conference. And among those elders who are a part of that conference, they select a group, a council, usually twelve, who are asked to be kind of in a board of director role, and who are asked to study and think about things and make decisions that, in essence, guide what the administration, the president, and the treasurer, and ministerial services, what they actually do in serving the congregations and in preaching the Gospel. That is a form of structure, a form of government that we have agreed to use, and one that we use even looking beyond that structure to the one who's really the head of the Church, Jesus Christ, the one who is to be looked at as the one who has all the answers. So do we have all the answers? Does the ministry? Does the council? No. We don't have all the answers. Jesus has all the answers. He knows what He wants us to do. And I would certainly be happy to have Him helping us know. That's, of course, what I pray, and I hope that all of you pray, that Christ will guide and direct us to come to see and come to understand how we can do His work and how we can share with one another in His way of life, which is a way of service. It's Christlike service. And so I view the governance that we have here in the United Church of God as a shared, very broad governance that requires the individuals in the Church, that requires the ministry, that requires the Council of Elders, who are selected to serve in that role, to yield to the lead of the Holy Spirit, and actually to do that in a cooperative, harmonious, unified way. That's what we, each and every one of us, have as a responsibility. And I know it struck me, as Mr. Melvin Rhodes was talking to us at the conference this past month or so, he is, at this point, selected to be a member of the Council of Elders and selected to be the chairman of the Council. And so if you were to make some kind of a structure, then he would be high up there, maybe almost on the top of it.

And yet, I've never gotten the perception from him in talking to him or in working with him in any way, or in listening to what he has to say, that he feels like he's looking down on me or you or anyone else. He actually comes across in what I think is a very humble way. And he made the statement that I'm going to keep in my mind. He said, just being at the top of a church structure does not make you any more righteous than anybody else. That's a very good thing to remember. Even though that might be something that some might seek, some might want to be in that type of role. He said, if you achieve that, or if you ever are asked to or assigned to do that, which is in essence kind of what happens because you're selected to be on the council and then they select among themselves who the chairman is, he said, just being at that type of a role, having that type of responsibility clearly does not make you more righteous than others. And it should not be going to your head. That was the type of thing that he was conveying. And of course what he said at that same time was just an example with his grandkids. Because he had been at home and he had his grandkids there with him and they had the TV on and the World Beyond Today program came on. And it happened to be the one where Darris McNeely was interviewing Melvin Rhodes. And so he has rarely been on any kind of a television program. I don't recall another one, maybe there are, but I've seen that particular one. I saw it, I think, when it initially aired and I thought, well, that's pretty neat. That's very nice. And of course he thought that was interesting. It just happened to be on and he was there and had his grandkids there. They were kind of like, oh, looky here. Grand is on TV. Fabulous, I think he even mentioned. Look, here's the program that our church is supporting and that we are a part of this and that it's something that's exciting. Or he was kind of saying, well, look, here's granddad on TV. And the little girl said, after watching it for just a little bit, can we turn it to SpongeBob?

You know, it really wasn't terribly impressive to her. And of course he told that to kind of help us realize that he realizes that, you know, we're not any more righteous than somebody else. We may have some responsibility. We may have an awesome responsibility. We may have a high level of responsibility. But that responsibility is to serve other people. It's not to think that I'm more righteous than anyone else.

And so that's, I think, a good way of viewing how it is that Jesus said that greatness or service should be looked at. The next thing I want to take a look at is over here in 1 Corinthians 14 because it involves every one of us here.

In 1 Corinthians 14, we've got a section here that is talking about spiritual gifts. And actually, in this case, it's talking about the gift of tongues or languages. But I want to focus on a couple of verses over here in the latter part of this chapter because it really does talk about orderly worship. It talks about how it is that as we come together, we need to do things in order. We need to do things with a certain decency. That's kind of a description that is given here. But in verse 26, he says, What should be done then, my friends?

When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation, which he's already talked about here in the first part of the chapter. And he said, what you want to keep in mind is you should let all things be done for building up. Let everything, whatever we do, help us to ensure that we are building up. That we are encouraging others. That we are lifting others up. That we are helping one another.

And that we are doing things for the purpose of building up. And as he goes ahead and describes several other situations here, the very last part of this section, right before he concludes this chapter, he says, So, in verse 39, my friends, be eager to prophesy, do not forbid speaking in tongues. And so he was telling them, this has to just be guided in a right way. It has to be utilized in service to one another. And in verse 40, But let all things, or let them, they should be done decently and in order. And so here we've got a kind of a directive from the Apostle Paul, as far as how it is that we want to be serving one another.

How is it that we want to be living our lives and involving ourselves in the work that the Church is doing? And I want to just point out to all of you, I think most of you realize, we had a kind of an organizational meeting last week.

I met with the elders and the deacons and was able to go over to a degree some plans for a new hall, some plans for our Holy Days, some plans for other things that are responsibilities that have to be achieved with any congregation. And I was delighted to be able to have that group to talk to and be able to discuss with them about the things that we need to achieve as a congregation.

But of course, that was only a certain part of the congregation. And what I want to point out to you, that as I ask them to help with different things, different assignments, different responsibilities, I actually ask them to volunteer to do that. Because instead of me just telling them directly what I want them to do, what would make more sense, is to see what people are interested in, see what people would like to do, see how they would like to fit together.

And of course, that goes for each of us seated here. It goes for every single one of us. Where can you contribute? Where can you exemplify Christlike service? See, this is something that I think is important. We have numerous serving opportunities that are just totally internal. Things that we just have to do here in order to have our services function well. And we have some marvelous examples of people who are fully engaged and who are very much involved in serving one another here in the congregation.

I think all of us should feel, in a sense, a responsibility to do that. And so I'm appealing to all of you. In some ways, this might be asking us to kind of move out of our comfort zone. We can have a comfort zone where we come to church and we know where we sit, and we know what kind of chair we want, and we know kind of how it's going to be set up, and we hope we're going to be able to hear all right.

And I think that we can, and believe, at least it looks like most of you are still awake. You're still listening to what I have to say, so I know you can hear fairly well out there.

And yet we can get into a comfort zone to where we don't really go out of our way to serve others. But we should. We should be willing to do that. And as I mentioned to the Deacons and Elders last week, we've got a plethora of service opportunities. We need people to be willing to be greeters, people to be willing to be ushers, or to work with the music, as Mr. Keener is encouraging as many of you as would like to be.

Maybe we should just have him get all of you in the choir. Everybody should be in the choir. Maybe that was what we would have to do. But we need everyone who would like to help in those areas to let us know what you wish to do, what you would like to do, how you would like to serve. Now there may be a certain way we need to do that, but that's something that I certainly want to encourage. We have potluck meals, we have snacks after services almost every week. Somebody brings those.

I don't really fully know how all that happens. But I do know that many of you have been pitching in in order to make that happen and to cause it to happen. And just because we assigned somebody to work with a potluck, or to work with ushering, or to work with greeting, that doesn't mean that we expect them to do all of it.

We are hoping to just have them help organize whatever group of people are willing to help with those assignments. And so I know that that's certainly something that I want to mention to you as far as just internally, how we can work together in having an attitude like Christ had of serving one another and being able to make services.

I don't want to, please ask. If you would like to help out in a certain way, please ask. Because I don't want to leave you out. I don't want to overlook you because all of us have our part to play. All of us have a role to play. And I not only mentioned internally, but as I mentioned in the announcements, externally, if you would like to help distribute Good News magazine, that's great.

That's something that maybe in whatever town you live in, wherever you are, maybe that setting is right for that. And maybe there are other areas that you go to that you'd like to be involved in. Whatever we could do externally in reaching out, that's what we also want to have you thinking about and have you concerned about. And just because I didn't think of it and somebody else didn't do it, doesn't mean we can't do it. I certainly don't have all the good ideas.

I rarely have any ideas, actually. I'm not very good at ideas. I can tell you there are a few things I am good at, and I'm not good at a lot of stuff. But all of us together, all of us collectively, we can be good at a lot of things. We can achieve a great deal. And of course, I think we need to realize that the key to our producing fruit, the key to us working together and being Christ-like servants, is found here in John 15.

John 15 is a favorite chapter of mine. Actually, the book of John is a favorite book of mine. Because in John 15, he is very clear where he says, I'm the vine, I'm the true vine, my father is the vine grower, the husbandman. And he says down in verse 4, Abide in me as I abide in you, just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. Verse 5, I'm the vine, you're the branches, those who abide in me and I abide in them bear much fruit because apart from me, you can do nothing.

John 15, 5 is a good memory verse. It's a good verse to have in our minds because the way we're going to be able to achieve the job that God has given us to do, the way that we can interact with each other in a positive and beneficial and productive and cooperative way, is by allowing Jesus Christ to live in us.

And he actually then follows this up down in verse 14 by saying, you are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, but the servant doesn't know what the master does, but I'm calling you my friends.

Now, Mr. Armstrong used to use that on the telecast, if you recall. Those of you who recall his speaking on the radio or on the television, he did always introduce what he was going to cover. My friends. Good evening, my friends. He was always reaching out to people and wanting to include them in a friendship, in a dialogue, if they were wishing to be engaged in what he was discussing about the Bible. And, of course, it's interesting to see that Christ says, I'm calling you my friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go into bare fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

And I'm giving you these commands so that you may love one another. See, loving one another and bearing the fruit that Jesus has asked us to give or to bear, that's why he wants us to be in the Church. That's why we're here.

And so I hope that each of us can feel a responsibility in being able to achieve the highest level of cooperation and service simply by the fact that we are connected to Jesus Christ. Here in 1 Corinthians 11.

1 Corinthians 11 is a...it actually gives us a direction here.

In verse 2, Paul is saying to the Church here in Corinth, I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions that I handed on to you.

But he says in verse 3, I want you to understand something. I want you to understand a certain connectedness and in a sense a responsibility that each of us have. He says, I want you to understand that Jesus Christ is the head of every man.

Now, I think what he means by that is every person.

Not only every man as far as a man or husband, but every person, every man, every woman, every individual has a connection to Jesus Christ as their head. He does go on and mention the husband. He's in a marriage state as the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ. So he does point out a couple of other things, but one of the things he said is that Christ is to be the head of every single one of us. So if we're going to allow him to live in us, if we're going to allow him to guide and direct us, if we're going to produce the fruit that he wants us to produce, well then we're going to do that connected to our head, connected to the one who's able to make that possible. The last thing I want to mention, and this is here in 1 Corinthians 11 and 12, is just that our congregation needs to be a loving and humble place that nurtures one another and other people. Right now we don't have a lot of new people. Ultimately we will. Ultimately we will have new people. But we need to be a congregation who nurtures those people, who nurtures one another in our service to one another, but also in nurturing of others. Let's take a look down in verse 17, because here in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 17, Paul gives some instruction to the church. Now we normally read this section, or actually we normally don't read this section, we normally read the section below this, down in verse 23 and 24, about the Passover. But I want us to see what Paul is saying here, because he says, now in the following instruction in verse 17, I do not commend you. And so he's actually telling the church in Corinth, who, as we know from reading the rest of the book, had miscellaneous problems with all kinds of difficulties, a great deal of struggle was going on in Corinth.

But he says in the following instructions, I don't commend you, because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse. And so he was clearly telling them, you know, you've got a problem here, you need to be able to figure this out, you need to be able to do better than that. For to begin with, in verse 18, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And to some extent, I believe it! See, he was telling them, and of course he already told them over and over again in the first part of 1 Corinthians and 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 4, he already told them, you know, your divisions, your lack of ability to be cooperative and work together, are just completely wrong. But here he points this out, too. I hear there are division among you, and indeed, in verse 19, there have to be factions among you, for only so it will become clear who among you are genuine. He says, if you're going to be genuine, if you're going to be authentic Christians, then you're going to be cooperative. And if people are not going to agree with that, then they probably will be divided if they're not going to be cooperative with that. And so he goes on to say, indeed, there have to be, or in verse 20, when you come together, it's not really to eat the Lord's Supper. For when the time comes to eat, each of you does or goes ahead with your own Supper, and one is hungry and another becomes drunk.

Why don't you have homes to eat and drink in, or do you show contempt for the Church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?

See, here he describes actions that are completely selfish, completely oriented toward me and myself and what I want, and not being able to come together in a group, being able to come together in a setting, being able to come together in peace. That's what he wants. He goes on in verse 22, Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Do you not show contempt for the Church and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? Well, certainly in this matter, I do not commend you. He said, this is pathetic. This is ridiculous. This should never occur among Christians. And so he actually then leads into, of course, a discussion of the Passover service. And of course, in chapter 12, he talks about spiritual gifts.

And I'd like for us to drop down to verse 18 because here in chapter 12, verse 18, he talks about how the body is put together and how all of us need to function together, one with another. Ken gave a great sermonette this morning about this, about how your right hand and left hand have to actually be all connected to the head and all do function. They can't be in arguing, one against the other. You know, all got to be directed and controlled by the head in order to get anything done. Maybe I should have him give that right now. That'd be good as whatever I'm going to say. And yet, this is what God says. Verse 18, as it is, God has arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he is chosen. Now, that encourages me. That encourages me that I have the blessed opportunity to be a part of the Church of God, and that God actually was a part of that, and that he wishes for me to function in a way of service, in a way of love, in a way of caring, and of teaching others that same way. He goes ahead in verse 19, if all were a single member, then where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. And so, all of us have an opportunity to work together and to cooperate and to be inspired, to be lifted up, in whatever activities we may be doing, if we drop on down to the latter part of this, that there be, in verse 25, that there be no dissension within the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, then all suffer together. If one member is honored, then all rejoice together with him. This is the way in which God expects the body, the way in which He expects a given congregation, the way He expects the whole church, but I think, again, we have to direct it back to us in our own setting. The way that He wants us to thrive with one another and for one another, and not just simply looking out for ourselves. And actually, we have some wonderful examples of this in our congregation, and we all should aspire to do this, to look out for one another, to look out for those who need help, to look out for those whose health is not great, not strong. We can look out throughout our audience. We have some folks who are older than others. We have some folks who need help, who need...we ought to be alert to that. I ought to be alert to that. But if I didn't think of that, then surely somebody else ought to think of that in order to, how can people be helped?

Over in Psalm 68, Psalm 68 is just a pretty direct statement about how God views those who might need help.

Psalm 68, in verse 1, it talks about God rising up and taking care of His people. Verse 4, Sing to God, sing praises to His name, lift up a song to Him. His name is the Lord, be exultant before Him.

Now why? Verse 5 says, because God is the Father of the Fatherless. He's the Father of orphans. He's the Father of protectors of widows. He is, in His holy habitation, the one who is concerned about, the one who is interested in, the one who desires to nurture and care for those who would need help. And of course, you find the same thing back in James 1, where it talks about pure religion. It talks about the religion that we ought to be seeking. Here in James 1, verse 27. James 1, verse 27. Now, He's mentioned several things that people should do in this section.

But finally, He kind of concludes the first chapter of James by saying, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this. And so here He says, true Christian service, true Christ-like service, is this. To care for the Fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep yourself unstained or unspotted by the world. How am I doing that? How are you doing that? How do we fulfill what He tells us that we should do? Well, the way we do that is by nurturing and caring for and helping those who need help. That's what we are expected to do here in a congregation of the Church of God. And so, you know, it's fabulous to see this happening and going on. I just want to put this out here today and help all of us to realize, well, that's my job. That's my responsibility. I don't have to have a name on the list. I don't have to be, as Mr. Rhodes said, up on the top of some kind of list to realize that, well, I'm no righteous, more righteous than others. I'm simply to be a servant. I'm simply to be someone who is trying to figure out how I can best serve other people. And so I hope, as we are preparing now for the Passover, we're preparing for the Spring Holy Days, that you'll review the example that Jesus set here in John 13.

That example of foot washing is more than just something to do one day and night a year as we go to a Passover service. It's an attitude that's to be reflected in us throughout the entirety of the year. And it's an attitude that really, He says, if you do this, then you will be joyously happy. That you will be thrilled to be the servant of God in serving other people. And so I hope we can think about that. I also encourage you to read the book of John. It explains Christ's character. It explains what He is thinking about and what He does in an extraordinarily fabulous way. And so, again, I commend all of you for the service you do provide to one another. I encourage you to continue to do so. And I know, as I mentioned, we've got set up and take down every day as we come here to services. There's ample opportunity to be able to help out. And so I simply just implore everyone to understand more deeply, understand more fully what it is to be a Christlike servant.