Connecting the dots: service First UMC Carroll 11/16-17/2019

Connecting the dots: service

First UMC Carroll

11/16-17/2019

 Here we are in tournament season High school Football and volleyball; before long the NCAA season will be talking about bowl games. And what do they all want:  to be #1

We all dream of being number one. Most people would like a promotion and the extra pay that comes with it that in our culture equals success.

We would all love our kids to be #1; have a perfect 36 on the ACT, or be the valedictorian, AND homecoming king or queen.

It may (or may not) surprise you that it happens among pastors too. “My church is bigger than your church, nana-nana, boo-boo”

I’m not saying that any of us really think “I am better than everyone else, but the lure of being #1 is always in the background of our lives; sometimes quietly… sometime not so quietly.

Now make sure your seatbacks are in the full upright position because we are about to make a dangerous landing.

 You just heard the story, now imagine Jesus kneeling on the floor washing the disciple’s feet. OK? Now the voice-over starts.

at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9 -10)

Isn’t it like a sour chord in a song? Do you know how you feel sick when your inner ear and vision get different messages on the amusement park ride? This is the same thing. You hear that Christ is, Lord, Savior, God in the flesh, worthy of worship. At exactly the same time you see him demonstrating that the greatest greatness of all, is being the servant of all. You hear Peter calling Jesus, “The Christ the son of the living God” but you see him kneeling at his feet ready to wash off the day’s grime and we feel a little dizzy.

The truth is our heads tell us it is best to be number one. But Jesus is teaching that whether we are number 1 of 15, or 3 billion; the call of Christian discipleship is a call to serve.

This is the last of our connect the dots sermons for now… however, you will continue to see the discipleship wheel and we will encourage you to use it.

 We have been talking about our mission statement which is what? <<<Connecting people with God>>>

 The discipleship wheel helps us envision how we grow as disciples. Walkthrough it with me. We connect… <<<UP WITH GOD>>>

 We Connect …<<<IN WITH EACH OTHER>>>>

 We Connect … <<< DEEPER IN OURSELVES WITH GOD>>>

 And do you know the last one yet…. <<<OUT WITH OTHERS>>>

 These are 4 main ways we connect people with God and there are lots of programs, ministries, and individual practices in each slice of the pie.

Today we talk about CONNECTING OUT TO OTHERS by serving.

Several years ago, Psychology Today published an article about the powerful impact that serving has on our mental and emotional health. Those who helped, volunteering in nursing homes, in poor areas of the city, or in churches, were found to be happier and healthier in emotional and physical ways than those who did not.

I can tell you my personal experience (and I have heard this from others); when I am depressed, sometimes getting out of my own head and helping someone else does make me feel some better. It does not take away the chemical imbalance, but it soothes the pain at least for a while.

 Psychology today credited neurotransmitters and hormones affecting the brain when we serve. Even on the surface, we can see that serving others breaks down stereotypes and prejudices, creates strong bonds among those serving and brings hope to the person being served.

I think this also happens, in part, because in serving we draw nearer to the very image of God in which we were created. Humans were created to love and serve God and neighbor. When we don’t serve God and others, we experience spiritual pain. We need to serve God and people in order to be the whole people God created us to be.

Just like the disciples, however, we find serving to be hard. Our created nature and our cultural teachings put us in a real bind. So, if we are to become the servants God needs let’s take a lesson from the master himself.

 First, check your ego at the door. In our story today, “during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God…” That is some pretty heavy stuff. It says Jesus knew who he was, knew his mission, and heard God say something like, “It’s all yours.” How scary is that? This is serious stuff.

  “He got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.” Jesus, the host of the meal, was not too important to wash the guests’ feet. Jesus, the teacher, is seen bowing before the students. Jesus didn’t think of relationships as a hierarchy. Later he said, “ but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.” Jesus effectively turns any idea of one person being better than another on its head.

When I was one helping with flood recovery in Muscatine we occasionally had someone who wanted to help. It didn’t take long to identify those who were in it to impress someone or to feel better about themselves or to fulfill a community service requirement.  If your attitude is other than loving a brother or sister, STOP. If you are about to serve because you feel guilty, or you want someone to recognize you, or someone to be in debt to you, STOP. If you are about to serve because it will look good to the neighbors, STOP

 Serving is reaching out to others and it is reaching up to God… but it has nothing to do with you. Get over yourself. The only good reason to serve is that someone needs help. Someone needs to make a difference. And Jesus would say, “Go be the someone,” So, check your ego at the door.

Second, get your hands dirty.

There are three kinds of people in the world: helpers, helpers who don’t want to get their hands dirty, and non-helpers. Jesus’ instruction is that we should all be helpers whenever we can. Do it unto the least of these, right?

  “Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.”

Jesus didn’t get up and call ServiceMaster to get the grime off his friends' feet. Jesus didn’t go to get one of the household servants to do this nasty job. didn’t even ask one of the disciples to do it (which makes me wonder if they were sitting around saying to one another, “I’m not washing feet… well you don’t think I am going to wash feet do you?)

NO. Jesus took the basin and the towel and started right in.

You know when your kids notice something that has to be done and they do it voluntarily? Yea, you know it is either getting close to Christmas or (at least for the moment) they have a servant heart.

You know when someone is willing to do the thing that no one wants to do… I had a man like that in Reinbeck. If someone needed to crawl through the tiny, nasty tunnels beneath the church Cliff was your man. If someone needed to climb the ladder to change the very highest lightbulb at the peak of the roof, Cliff was your man. He had a servant heart. (It also helped that he had no fear)

Now, let me address the relationship between money and service. Giving money is a great way to serve, but it doesn’t give you a chance to get your fingernails dirty and to eye to eye, heart to heart ministry.

Maybe you honestly cannot do the work. Maybe kids or work get in the way. That’s OK.Money is a fine way to serve. And honestly as one who likes to serve, we are grateful for you because without you we could not do some of the things we do.

However, don’t make that the only way to serve.  Serving others means meeting them heart to heart and getting our fingernails dirty.

 Check your ego at the door, get your fingernails dirty and you will be serving as Christ calls us to serve.

Finally, Serve without any expectation of return.

If we check our egos, we are willing to get a little dirt under our fingernails, the last thing is to serve without expecting anything in return. I can almost guarantee you that you will receive something, but that is not the goal.

 A nursing school graduate took her first job in a long-term care facility. One of her first patients was a woman named Eileen. Eileen’s major health problem was that she had an aneurysm burst in her brain, leaving her apparently totally unconscious. We might call it a coma. Eileen had to be turned every hour to prevent bedsores, and she had to be fed through her stomach tube twice a day. Eileen never had visitors. Apparently, no one cared about her. One of the other nurses said, "When it's this bad you have to detach yourself emotionally from the whole situation…." As a result, Eileen came to be treated as “case.”. But this young nurse decided that as a Christian with a servant attitude, she would treat Eileen differently. She talked to Eileen, sang to her, encouraged her, and even brought her little gifts.

It was truly an act of service offering kindness with no expectation of return.

On Thanksgiving Day, the young nurse came to work reluctantly, wanting to be home on the holiday. As she entered Eileen's room, she knew she would be doing the normal tasks with no thanks whatsoever. So she decided to talk to Eileen and said, "I was in a cruddy mood this morning, Eileen because it was supposed to be a day off. But now that I'm here, I'm glad. I wouldn't have wanted to miss seeing you on Thanksgiving. Do you know this is Thanksgiving?" Just then the telephone rang. She turned away from the bed to answer it. As she was talking, she turned to look back at Eileen. Suddenly, she said, Eileen was "looking at me…crying. Big damp circles stained her pillow and she was shaking all over." That was the only response that Eileen ever showed, or ever would show as she slipped back into her coma.

The nurse didn’t expect anything but see how she was blessed.

 It was also enough, however, to change the attitude of the entire staff toward her. Not much later she died.

 The young nurse closed her story this way: "I keep thinking about her….It occurred to me that I owe her an awful lot. Except for Eileen, I might never have known what it's like to give myself to someone who can't give back." That's catching the spirit of Jesus: serving someone with our egos in check, getting our fingernails dirty, and expecting nothing in return. But look at the blessing!

Go serve for Jesus.