Serving in the Love of Christ

Last night Billie Jean and I watched Hope Rising, an online time of worship designed to raise funds for Samaritan’s Purse. I enjoyed the music, and appreciated the fact that all the artists involved were giving their time for a good purpose. It was fun to see bands creatively performing from their homes. But the thing that was most moving was to see and hear from those serving in Samaritan’s Purse temporary hospitals in Central Park. This is the church in action.

I have heard some say that we need to serve our communities in order to share the gospel with them. Certainly we want to share the gospel. It was expressed in the program last night, but we must be careful that serving does not become a manipulation. If we will only serve as long as people allow us to preach to them or share the gospel with them, then we have turned service into manipulation. So why do we serve?

There are at least 3 good reasons why we serve whether we are allowed to share the gospel or not. First, every person is created in God’s image and therefore has value whether they trust God or not. It is hypocritical to call ourselves pro-life and not care for people. Pro-life means not only that we care for the unborn, but that we care for the mother carrying the unborn. We care for the father who doesn’t know how to deal with the fact that his girlfriend is pregnant. We care for the prisoner sitting on death row. We care for the immigrant camped at our borders. We care for the unbeliever overtaken with a virus in New York. We are either pro-life or we are not. We cannot be selectively pro-life. Every person is created in the image of God and therefore has value.

Second, Romans 5:5 says that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” John 3:16 reminds us that God loved the world so much that he gave his only son. The love of God that caused him to send Jesus to the cross is the same love that is shed abroad in our hearts. Mark 6:34 says that when Jesus saw the crowds, “he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” His compassion led him to both teach them and feed them. But notice, Jesus did not feed them in order to teach them. In fact, he taught first. He fed them not because they had an agreement that if they listened to him teach then he would feed them, but because they were hungry and tired. The disciples argued that because it was getting late, they should send the people away. Jesus insisted that they feed them. That is the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts. We do not serve in order to preach, we serve because we genuinely love people. I fear that sometimes in the midst of “ministry” we actually forget to love those to whom we are ministering.

Third, We serve because it is what Jesus did. He went everywhere teaching and preaching. He also healed people, wept over people, and cared for people. Reading the gospels, you see him naturally speaking truth into the lives of those he touches, but nowhere do you see Jesus manipulate people into listening. Nowhere do you find Jesus healing on the condition that people sit through a teaching session. When we make sitting through a gospel presentation a prerequisite to service, we have moved from ministry to manipulation. Jesus never made listening to his teaching a prerequisite to healing or ministry. Just one example is the man Jesus healed in John 5.

John 5:5-9 (ESV)

[5] One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. [6] When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” [7] The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” [8] Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” [9] And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Notice that Jesus approached the man, the man did not approach Jesus or call out to him. Secondly, Jesus’ words were simple, “Do you want to be healed?” and “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” That’s it. No gospel presentation. No teaching connected to the act. No, “Go and sin no more.” No requirement to sit and listen to him. Jesus simply healed the man.

As believers in Jesus Christ we are called to serve and minister to others. Certainly an important part of our ministry is sharing the gospel with people. If we heal them only to let them go to Hell, we have done them no favor. I get that. Still, we must be careful not to turn ministry into manipulation. We serve because every life is of value. We serve because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We serve because that is what Jesus did. When we serve like that we have become the hands and feet of Jesus in a broken world. We are the church in action. Service without manipulation is what actually draws people to the God we serve. Brothers and sisters, let us serve with the love of God.