Serving: One Way To Experience More Of God

I hate not getting to swim. Those muscles were used to being worked. It felt good to leave the pool out of breath and spent. Mabel and I walk daily but it’s just not the same. I need a regimen that gets the heart going a bit more.
 
Our current isolation requires some new spiritual muscle regimens, doesn’t it?
 
That’s what Sunday’s sermon was about: Both new regimens (of service) and the reason for them (the vision of Jesus serving us). Our shorter format wisely calls for shorter sermons. But it is frustrating to leave out some things we want to say. So here goes.
 
One reason we want to keep Jesus’ commandment (like serving others) is that, when we do, we experience more of Him. He put it this way in John 15:10:
 
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
 
He isn’t saying that His love is conditional upon our perfect obedience. We’d be doomed if that were the case! What He’s saying is that, if we want to consciously experience His love, to abide constantly in His love, to have His joy in us which will be the most full joy we can experience – if that’s what we want, then we will want to obey Him, including service to others.
 
This cuts two ways.
 
Negatively, we’ll find ourselves not wanting to obey through serving. Don’t be surprised or get depressed over that. Abiding in His love means we go to Him and ask for a fresh desire to obey when we least want to obey. And He graciously grants it through His Spirit. Joy is restored!
 
Positively, we’ll find ourselves experiencing joys in new ways, like new muscles being used. I heard joy in the voices of two friends last week as they responded to opportunities to serve. Let me close with their joy. Names are changed to protect identities
 
Mike’s a salaried guy who is able to work from home. Nothing is changing financially for Mike. So he sends an email suggestion: How about encouraging PCCrs whose financial picture isn’t being changed to consider giving all or some of the Covid-19 government check to the Chapel’s Helping Hand Fund so we can help those who have lost hours or jobs. Who thinks like this? Only people who are finding such joy in obeying Christ that, when extra money comes available, their first thought is What’s Jesus want me to do with it? How does He want me to serve someone with it? Mike is experiencing the joy for which we were created.
 
Bob is a very fit Air Force guy (15 of whom now think I’m talking about them!) with unplanned time on his hands. Last Saturday he had just been praying, asking the Lord to show him how he could use his extra time to serve somebody. I had just gotten off the phone with a friend who was loading logs from just-felled huge trees in his back yard. I (think/hope?) I offered to help. Either way, he told me he didn’t want to be responsible for my back going out. OK, I didn’t argue. But when we hung up I thought of Bob and gave him a call, letting him know of a need to serve. You won’t believe what I was just praying about! was Bob’s reply. Bob’s a guy who is abiding in Christ’s love and it had him primed for service.
 
May such joy be yours as you serve your family and others this week. 

Author

Tom Kenney is the Lead Pastor at Peninsula Community Chapel