How do we serve each other?
Why is it important that we even consider serving one another in the first place?
Mark 12:29-31 | 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: “Listen, o Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.
It is with these commandments that we need to be obedient. God put you and I here to make an impact in the world. The reason we are on this earth is not so that we can be self-serving. How do we serve God? By serving people.
Philippians 2:2 |The make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and one purpose
God is calling us to serve one another with one mind and one purpose
Why can’t we serve God by ourselves?
- We are family
If you are in Christ and I am in Christ, then guess what? We are connected for eternity.
1 Corinthians 3:9 | We work together as partners who belong to God
We serve God by serving others. We need to understand that we cannot serve God alone. We need one another. The idea that “I don’t need church, I can serve God by myself” is incorrect. You can’t serve God with your “alone time” with God. You just can’t.
- We need one another
This life and mission is not an easy one. So, we need people to lock arms with you and help you move forward.
Romans 12:5-6 | The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of His body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvellously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.
- We get more done
It’s simple, you get more done with other people.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 | It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth.
Deuteronomy 32:30 | How could one have chased a thousand, and two put ten thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had delivered them up?
In the serving of God and serving other people, you find your mission, your purpose, and your identity as the body of Christ. We feel most alive when we’re part of a team that’s doing something. We find our greatest fulfilment on mission for what God is doing. But we find it in the context of doing it with people or in a team.
What it takes to build a TEAM?
1. Trust – It’s the emotional glue that holds a team together.
How to build trust:
1. Be consistent – If we choose to be consistent with something, that builds trust. For example, if you choose to volunteer, be consistent. Don’t be erratic.
2. Be confidential – Be discrete with information that is not intended to be shared.
3. Be close – Be in one another’s vicinity
Proverbs 17:17 | Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kind of trouble
2. Empathy – Put yourself in someone else’s shoes
1 Peter 3:8 | Finally, everyone must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble
3. Accommodation – To make space/ room
How to make space:
- Accommodate each other’s needs
- Accommodate each other’s ideas
- Accommodate each other’s personalities
- Accommodate each other’s faults
Romans 15:2 | Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
Ephesians 4:2 | Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance (room/space) for each other’s faults because of your love.
4. Mission – Successful teams are mission-minded
Your mission in life has to be far beyond yourself.
Philippians 2:2 | Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose
Acts 10:38 | And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
