GIVE | SERVE | GROW
It is a wonder that is never satisfied. Jesus still is the most compelling person in the world. My theology says (with a deep, serious voice), “Of course, He is God. Therefore, he should top the list.” Yet, it wasn’t my theology that fell in love with Jesus – it was my heart. It was how He diagnosed my greed, my lust, my covetousness, and my anger and still found a way to love me and show it to me. It is the way he spoke up for the vulnerable, confronted those with power, and remained compassionate to the wealthy, the troubled, and the poor.
Cynicism and skepticism can push this love aside over time and replace it with stagnant expressions of faith that are supposed to look like maturity. I can subtly think to myself, ‘A love for Jesus is how someone starts in the faith; mature people may start that way, but they grow up and leave that (childish love) behind.’
The more I experience Jesus, the more I realize that all I imagine to be maturity is often just hardness. The maturity in faith I long for is not a diminishing of love but a fuller experience of God’s love–realizing His love for me and expressing my love for Him.
There was a church in the New Testament that got many things right. The Apostle Paul and his protégé Timothy spent many years of ministry in Ephesus. They suffered hardships, overcame heresy and persecution, and served faithfully–yet Jesus specifically spoke to the Ephesian church about one essential thing:
“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” – Revelation 2:4
In their commitment to faithfulness and service, they lost track of the one to whom they served. As their faith “matured,” they lost their first love.
Give-Serve-Grow is a moment for us as a church to rekindle our love and relationship with Jesus. Nothing is better than an intimate, growing relationship – even friendship – with the Lord Jesus himself. The theme verse for Give-Serve-Grow is Matthew 20:28:
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
We want a life like Jesus'. We want to become like the one we love, who gave and served and encouraged a growing faith in the Father. May we give, serve, and grow together!
GIVE
“For the Son of Man came … to GIVE …”
I have always loved the tradition of giving gifts on Christmas morning. As a kid, I was convinced that the best part was receiving gifts. But as an adult, I realize I have more fun giving them. Spending time thinking about each person and finding the right gift is even better than receiving just the right one. Now, as a parent, I get the privilege of seeing my kids more excited about what they give than what they receive on Christmas morning.
This is because they are made in the image of God. To be like God will mean that we give. But it is not just that. For us to have a relationship with God and with each other, God knew that we would need the opportunity to give to Him to experience our relationship with him entirely. Yes, he gives us everything, but he called his children to give 10% of their income to express their love. This 10% would fund the worship of God and the mission of God in this world, first in Israel and then more fully in the church. I wasn’t so sure about tithing at first, but there are a few things I treasure more than the opportunity to give to the One who has given everything to me. God doesn’t need to receive that money. He knows that we need to give it.
Research says that when two people go out for a meal, and one person pays, it is the person who pays who leaves with a greater emotional attachment than the one who enjoyed the meal without paying. What does that mean about God’s attachment to you? He would give you life, all things, and even his Son as a ransom for your sins. That means He is fully attached to you with an unbreakable bond because He gave His Son, the one who He had been bound to for eternity.
How will a new habit of giving or increasing your giving help your attachment to God and 938 Church? Over the weeks of Give-Serve-Grow, will you pray about how God calls you to trust Him with your money? Consider how you may want to offer a one-time gift or begin or increase a recurring gift.
2 Corinthians 8:1-5- “And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.”
SERVE
“For the Son of Man came to SERVE …
Pastor Gordon McDonald once described two channels through which our motivations run. The first channel is drivenness—the need to achieve, prove ourselves, and see its rewards in external factors. When you are driven, busyness and hurry seem inevitable, for there is always another step to take. Drivenness is never satisfied.
The other channel is calling. When you are called, your motivations run through God's vision for your life. The called person does not need to control outcomes, nor do they need the approval of others or the validation of outward virtue/success symbols. Knowing that God is in control helps us rest and motivates us to serve. The Christian calling starts with coming to Jesus for rest and learning to serve Him.
We serve because we are called to serve. The Old Testament word for worship is “Abad,” the same word for serve. Deep down, worship is fundamentally about who we serve.
Do the forces of this world drive you? Do you serve out of the gracious calling of God? How does serving others help you feel closer to God?
As a part of Give-Serve-Grow, consider how God has called you to serve His church. Reach out to a ministry leader who can help you take the next steps.
Joshua 24:15- “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
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GROW
What would you strive for if you knew that you could accomplish it? As a fan of icebreaker questions, I put that question in my top ten.
What if I told you that you could be like God? Not how the first humans sinned in the garden, but in a way that your character could become increasingly like God’s.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
All of these are lists and characteristics of the person who is becoming more like God. And you don’t have to do it on your own. Ephesians 4 teaches us that God himself, by His Spirit inside of us, is at work already to form our lives to the character of God.
What is left for us to do? We have to put off the part of us that God knows he wants us to leave behind. That habit, that attachment, that addiction, that resentment, that fear, that obsession. It is a bad habit that is only a distraction for a moment, but that is only one part of it. We fail to recognize that every sin produces not just guilt but also corruption. Sin’s corruption forms us in its image rather than the image of God. As a church, we are here to help one another take off our old self and the endless layers of corrupted identity and to put on the new self, which is like God in true righteousness and holiness.
You can do this. As a part of Give–Serve–Grow, what is one thing you want to put off in your life? What aspects of your new self are you ready to put on?
Ephesians 4:22-24: “ You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”