Do You Know How To Share The Gospel With Humility?
Good Morning Friends,
Mother’s Day is coming and many places of worship this Sunday will acknowledge the role of mothers as one of power in sharing the good news of Christ. It has been said that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. There is merit in this image for missionaries and others who serve. Today’s scripture might well inspire you to understand the concept of servant leaders in a Kingdom mindset, for the whole idea of missionary journeys implies that we have a responsibility to non-believers as well as believers in expanding God’s Kingdom. It requires a person of maturity who seeks God’s heart to expand the family of God. In this work, we learn that the powerful serve and they offer more mercy than judgment. Friends, in God’s Kingdom, as in a family, we discover what to do when work needs to be done. In God’s Kingdom we are not anxious but confident in who and whose we are. We are servants with a purpose. The beauty is that in God’s Kingdom we find the power in sharing the Gospel with an unassuming nature. Do You Know How To Share The Gospel With Humility?
Scripture: Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem; but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.” So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak: “You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. Then they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised; before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.”
Acts 13:13-25 (NRSV)
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And 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, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord–and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am he. Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.”
John 13:1-20 (NRSV)
Message: Today’s message from John is one of the most memorable stories in all the Bible and in some ways, it teaches us how to be missionaries. Here Jesus turns everything upside down so we might be freed up to serve. Here we see swollen heads and smelly feet meet the towel wearer and be changed. In today’s text from John, the public ministry of Jesus has ended and Jesus turns his attention to His disciples so they might be prepared to serve others. The crucifixion is just a day away and what appears at first to be thirteen helpless men hiding in the upper room from the wrath and fury of the religious hierarchy and Roman power is revealed to us in the person of Jesus as a meeting of the power center of the universe. Things are not always as they seem. What we think is failure may not be failure at all. What we think is success may not be success at all. Here we learn that in Him we are not powerless. So, know who you are serving. Seek to serve remembering that the power of Heaven and Earth belong to Jesus. Be humbled but not humiliated. Be gracious and honorable. Encourage others in knowing that Jesus has served us so that we can serve others.
Pray we feel uncomfortable when we are not clean. Pray for mothers and missionaries and others who serve in cleaning up the world one foot at a time…one room at a time…one by one. Pray they as we find the blessing, the joy, the happiness of service. Pray that the Lord open our eyes to the dirt in our lives and give us a heart to clean it up. Pray that no necessary task is beneath us. Pray we have a mindset for ministry like that of a mother caring for her children. Pray we realize that our identity is not found in what we do but in whom we are by the grace of God. Pray we discover what empowers us to serve with joy and passion. Pray we give more than we take. Pray we are not insecure. Pray we know that we too have come from God and as Jesus was sent, we too are sent. Pray we know where we are going. Pray that what we do, we do for Jesus. Pray we have the mind of Christ. Pray we love what God loves. Pray we encourage others in the joy of service.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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