SERVING LIKE CHRIST

John 12:1-19

Joshua 2

Service, as well as repentance, sacrifice, humility, faith and commitment, is important in the life of the follower of Christ.  Last week we talked about commitment in the terms of availability of God.  This week, with the help of Rahab from the book of Joshua and Mary of Bethany, Martha’s sister and their stories of service along with singer, Meat Loaf, we’re going to explore another dimension of commitment.

In 1993, the rock and roll star, still known as Meat Loaf, had a hit song, I’d Do Anything for Love.  Anyone else besides me remember it?

There’s only one line from the song that has stuck with me for 25 years, and that’s “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that.”

People are still wondering what Meat Loaf won’t do, but that mystery isn’t what makes it so memorable for me.  No, it’s what it says about us as human beings, that we often make our commitments to those we love conditional.

I’ve done that with my husband:

·       “Dear, you are the love of my life, but I won’t listen to anything composed by Philip Glass with you.”

·       “Honey, I love you, but you will not eat sardines around me.  Either take them out to the garage or wait until I’m gone to a conference or something.”

We even do that with God.

·       I would do anything for You, Lord, but I won’t be a missionary.

·       I would do anything for You, Lord, but I won’t get up and talk in front of people.

·       I would do anything for You, Lord, but I won’t teach a youth Bible study.

At one point in my life, I said to God, “I’m willing to tap dance on the altar table if that’s what you want me to do.”  But when He called me to go into ministry, I said, “but I won’t do that.”  I wasn’t ready to surrender my life to that.

Serving Christ and the will of God means going all in.

Serving God and God’s plan for the Israelites meant Rahab put her life on the line when she hid the Hebrew spies.  If her betrayal of the city of Jericho had been discovered, she would have been taken outside of the city walls and executed.

When Mary of Bethany is called by God to anoint Christ in preparation of his sacrifice, she doesn’t use ordinary olive oil to do it.  She uses the most expensive perfume she has.  Mary puts her whole self into it.  In humility and love, she prostrates herself before Jesus and with her own hair, not just any old towel, but with her own hair, she wipes the excess from his feet.

In service to God and for our sake, Jesus humbly arrives in Jerusalem, not in the guise of a mighty king but humbly, in our humanity, and in unconditional love, becomes the sacrifice for our selfishness and arrogant ways.

When we serve, we risk being vulnerable and looking foolish.  We find ourselves walking into the dwelling places of our fears and putting more on the line than we feel comfortable doing.

Following Christ is an all-out commitment.   In the Gospel reading from last week, Luke 9:57-62, Jesus reminds us that if we want to follow him, we need to be all in.

There’s a reason we call our life with Christ a journey.  Being on a journey implies that we’ve begun but we haven’t reached our final destination yet.  We’re all works in progress including developing unconditional commitment to serving God. 

Everyday of our life, God’s transformational love at work in our lives through the Holy Spirit, helping us grow in our faith and our relationship with Christ.  Part of that work is helping us recognize areas of our lives we need to give over to God as well as whatever is blocking us from going all in for Jesus. 

On our spiritual journey, God is not concerned about our personal perfection.  What is important is our willingness, even our willingness to be made willing to cooperate with the action of God’s love in our lives.

Growing in Christ can be hard work, and here’s the good news.  Jesus is always ready all in when it comes to us and ready to go all out in helping us, any time, any where.  It is with Christ’s power that we can say, “I’d do anything for you, Lord, and with you, I can do this.”

Let take a few minutes with God to listen what God is saying to us today?  What is God asking us to do?