JESUS GETS US: GOT SERVICE?

Happy Mother’s Day!  We hope you will celebrate the gift of your mother or motherhood in your life as we come this Lord’s Day.    Mothers are a wonderful example of sacrifice and service in our world.  God compares his devotion to a mother’s care of her children by saying, Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! (Isaiah 49:15 NIV)  The care of a mother is a witness to the Creator who understands deep devotion, even to wayward children.  Jesus gets us because he was born of a human mother and understands our lives in the most intimate terms.  He came into this world because of God’s deep devotion to save us and to share a relationship with us.  In the series Jesus Gets Us our sermon is Got Service? In order to understand the power of sacrificial service we turn to Philippians 2:12-21.  In our entitled world we expect good service and are resentful of having to serve others.  We may even come to believe that our true happiness is found in being served. Paul is writing to these early believers to help them find the joy and purpose of service.  Serving others is always a choice and this simple choice impacts all of our relationships.  Jesus gets us because he understands the deep and abiding joy can only be found in service rather than self-centeredness.  Paul shares with the Philippians Jesus’s example and encourages them to choose the road that will lead them beyond self-centeredness and the resentment it brings.  This is our prayer for you as you read Philippians 2:12-21 that you be filled with the joy of Jesus Christ and find the deep meaning of offering your life to him.   Philippians 2:12-21:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed– not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence– continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. ¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸ So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. ¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. ²⁰ I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. ²¹ For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. (NIV)