SERVE LIKE JESUS

 

Keith had played basketball most of his life and worked in more basketball camps than he could count. He knew the game. Watching the high school team practice, he got excited about how he could help. He knew just what their coach needed to do to get players motivated and improve their skills. So, Keith found an opportunity to speak to the coach, introduced himself, and proceeded to work his basketball credentials and expertise into the conversation. He even gave the coach a few suggestions and offered his services if the coach ever wanted some help. 

            

Not surprisingly, the coach didn’t implement any of Keith’s ideas, and he hardly acknowledged Keith’s presence at the next practice. His “in” with those students closed, and he remained “out.” 

            

Meanwhile, the wrestling team coach told Keith and Bill, a fellow youth worker, that they needed help. Keith’s mind raced with all kinds of possibilities—coaching, teaching, advice. As it turned out, they wanted Keith and Bill to make sure no one brought soft drinks into the gym during the upcoming state tournament and that no one sneaked in without paying. Keith was indignant. A guy who knows so much about students, basketball, and God, and my big opening on campus is to keep cokes and freeloaders out? This didn’t quite fit Keith’s vision of campus ministry.

            

we think it means to follow Jesus and what Jesus thinks it means to follow Him often come from two different worlds. Jesus had to continually reorient His disciples’ thinking on this point:

 

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28)

 

What happens once you have your foot in the door of the campus? You serve. 

            

From a purely pragmatic standpoint, serving gives an entrance into the places where we want to minister, like school campuses. The old saying is true: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Administrators, teachers, and students don’t care about our impressive resumes, but they will respond to someone who is great enough to serve. They don’t want know-it-alls. They want help.

            

Manning the ticket table for hours, cleaning up trash, washing sweat off of wrestling mats . . . these are ways to serve as the Son of Man served. When we do that, the Lord often swings the doors to schools wide open. Faculty and administration love the help. 

 

When the basketball coach who didn’t want Keith’s advice saw him humbly serving, his attitude toward him changed, and he eventually asked him to help with the team. When we serve, God moves.

 

What we think about serving in a campus context shapes how we go about it, so here are some important principles to keep in mind.

 

Servant-Heartedness Is Powerful

It’s the way of God’s kingdom, and even the way of the King. When the Lord of all creation, who has power and expertise beyond our imagination, clothed Himself in flesh and stepped into this world, He did it in a stable in an out-of-the-way town and lived among us as a servant—to the point of eventually dying on our behalf. And He calls us to serve others in that same spirit.

 

Serving Does Not Come Naturally

We would rather impress people with our authority and expertise and have other people serve us. We want to feel significant and influence others with our unique skills and assets. We at least want to be valued and respected. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be significant, valued, and respected. Jesus didn’t rebuke His disciples for wanting to be great. But He did redefine greatness for them. It begins with having the heart of a servant—doing what’s needed rather than what makes us feel important. He will gladly use our skills and expertise when He wants to, but our heart has to be focused on serving.

 

Servant-Heartedness Identifies Us with Jesus

Why did Jesus say, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant”? Because humanly speaking, everyone wants to be great and first. But to become “great” and “first” in other people’s eyes, we must serve them, not use them. We might see serving as demeaning, but Jesus highly valued it. When we sacrificially offer ourselves for whatever people need, we are demonstrating the nature of God. 

            

Serving is how we build relationships. We demonstrate to administrators, faculty, and students that we are friends, not local youth leaders who have only come to prey on helpless, unsuspecting kids, or manipulators trying to score a few victories in the culture wars. We have to show that we aren’t there to make the principal’s job harder. Instead, we really are there to make the entire school better.

            

When we make a conscious choice to serve on campus, we express the heart and nature of Jesus’ character. Even if serving has never fit our vision of greatness, when we serve, we open the door for God to use us however He chooses!

 

Your Next Steps

We encourage you to keep a notebook or journal of ideas, action steps, and resources that will help you advance your ministry. You can use the following questions and suggestions for brainstorming and developing your goals and plans. 

 

• Write down some times when you have found servant-heartedness difficult to do, and identify some of the reasons why you did not want to serve. What attitudes or perspectives do you think made serving so challenging for you?

 

• Write down some times when you did choose to serve others. What motivated you to do that? How did those you served respond to your acts of service?

 

• Identify a specific area on your local campus where you sense God is leading you to serve. If that somehow does not work out, what alternative would you consider pursuing? 

 

Resources

• John Piper, “Served in Serving Others,” www.desiringgod.org/articles/served-in-serving-others