How to Serve Jesus by Serving Others

Blog Series

Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble

It is said that you cannot break the laws of God. You can only break yourself against them when you violate them. In this series we are looking at some of the simple and clear “laws of God” – that is to say, “biblical principles” – that we must follow if we do not want to bring very negative cause-effect consequences into our lives.

We cannot meet everyone’s needs, but…

We can demonstrate servanthood today by giving what we can to help meet the needs of others.

Even Jesus admitted that the poor would always be with us. Even Jesus ate while others were hungry. If we gave away all our money, we would not make a dent in poverty, and our own families would starve. If we spent 100% of our time serving others, we would soon dry up. Even Jesus rested. Nevertheless, we are to help others in need when it lies within our power to do so.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, we learn four principles for deciding when to help others.

1. When someone comes across our path.
2. They have a true need (not just a desire) that they cannot meet by themselves.
3. Meeting the need would not enable dysfunction.
4. We have the resources to meet the need (time, talent, and treasure).

If someone meets those criteria, we meet their needs. If not, we don’t. So, in this context, how do we serve others? There are many ways. The following stories are all true, though names and some details of circumstances have been changed to protect anonymity (* = not their real names).

Serving John

Susan* and John* were married under pretty ordinary circumstances and began living a pretty ordinary life. Their relationship was neither a blessing nor a curse. It was somewhere in the middle. As time passed, they both began to change, but in opposite directions. Susan began to feel a stirring, a hunger in her heart for something more than this world was offering. John, on the other hand, began to “dull out.” He worked too hard, watched too much television, and drank too much beer. He lost interest in most everything around him, including Susan.

The pain of the boredom and rejection in the marriage finally got to Susan, and she began to “let herself go.” An attractive woman, she no longer kept herself looking attractive, began to nag and criticize John, quit cooking meals, and began spending a lot of time with other ladies who had similar marriages.

However, in the course of events, Susan became a Christian, and while her fundamental desires changed, she stumbled a little in her approach. Now, instead of nagging John about not mowing the lawn or about watching too much television, she nagged him about not going to church with her. Things got worse instead of better.

When she learned the Scriptures better, and understood that her role was to respect her husband even if she did not respect his lifestyle, she made a fundamental change. Instead of trying to change John, she decided to change herself. She chose just to love him as best she could, and give her life to Jesus as completely as a missionary or a nun would. She gave up her expectations to get what she wanted out of this life, dedicated herself to serving Jesus, and put her hope in the next life.

She quit nagging John, started taking better care of herself, quit running around, began cooking again, and took on an air of peace about her that was new to John.

Obviously, John noticed. He tested her severely. He reacted negatively to nearly everything she had done. He questioned her motives about why she was looking better, criticized her new healthy cooking, and mercilessly ridiculed her about going to church.

But, since Susan had not made those changes in order to change John, but to serve Jesus, she stuck to her guns. Finally, the weight of the change broke John. At first, he simply quit attacking her. Then, he began to be nice to her. Finally, John himself became a Christian, and while much of the change in his life came more slowly than Susan’s, he did change, and their marriage became an example of spiritual unity.

Susan’s attitude of servanthood was very costly and painful for her. She had no guarantees that John would change, nor is it an indication that if another woman acts the way Susan did that her husband will change. But her desire was to serve Jesus by serving her husband. How her husband responded was not the determining issue in her faithfulness. It was the affirmation of God.

That is one way of being a servant in today’s world.

Serving Billy

Billy* was a six-year-old terror. He made Dennis the Menace look like a choir boy. His primary goal in life appeared to be to make his neighbor, Jim’s, life miserable.  Jim* drove home one day to find his prized apple tree stripped of fruit, which was scattered all over the ground. Another day, it was his peaches. Another day, Billy repeatedly ran his three-wheeler trike into Jim’s garage door, leaving black marks on the white paint. Still another time, Billy turned on the water sprinkling system while Jim was working in the yard, soaking him.

Jim’s response to all these infractions was always the same. First, he glared at Billy and growled viscous threats. Then, he went to Billy’s mother and lodged his complaints through gritted teeth. Billy’s mother forced an insincere apology from Billy, and the curtain was closed on that event, only to open on another soon after.

One day, after being away on vacation, Jim and his wife pulled back into their driveway only to see Billy sitting on the top bar of the chain-link fence, looking as though he had spent the entire time plotting his next disaster. For some reason, Jim saw Billy in new light. When he got out of the car, Jim said, “Hi, Billy. Did you have a nice Christmas?”

Billy looked stunned.

“What did you get for Christmas?”

Cautiously, Billy began to describe his gifts, warming up quickly in the process. Then, in a tone of voice never heard before said, “What did you get for Christmas, Mr. Johnson?

Billy’s stare wasn’t blank anymore. His eyes had come alive. There was interest there… an appeal for friendship. He smiled. Jim smiled. The war was over. They chatted for a while, and Jim showed Billy some tools he got for Christmas. In the months that followed, a friendship blossomed. Billy was no longer Jim’s tormentor. He became a curious, generous, lovable next-door neighbor.

That’s yet another way we can serve others.

Serving the homeless

He couldn’t believe it. Fred* had often driven past the homeless shelter on his way to work and wondered how those people ended up like that. Then, through a series of unfortunate coincidences, Fred found himself out of a job. Their home burned as a result of faulty wiring. All their possessions were destroyed, their rented home was destroyed, and because he did not have a job, they could not get another home. Suddenly he was “one of them.” Homeless.

He and his family moved into the homeless shelter, but Fred was consumed with bitterness and humiliation. He was a stick of human dynamite with a short fuse. He finally got another job, but it would be months before they could save enough money to get back into a house. Fred realized that his attitude was affecting the happiness of his wife, his children, and everyone around him. He prayed for God’s help to cope with his circumstances.

The shame began to melt away, and he decided that while he was in the shelter, he would try to help others deal with the humiliation and shame they were feeling. One day, he spoke to an elderly gentleman with an angry countenance. The conversation broke the ice, and the elderly gentleman grew less angry over the following weeks.

In the remaining months, Fred talked to as many people as he could, and if they let him, he prayed with them. The cold freeze which seemed to inhabit the shelter began to thaw as people became more friendly toward each other. Eventually, Fred and his family were able to move out of the shelter, but Fred still went down to the shelter and talked with the people, helping them adjust to being there, and helping them get back on their feet.

That’s still another way we can serve others.

Conclusion

We could go on with story after story, but you get the picture. Of course, as I said, there is no guarantee that if we act in those ways toward others that they will change as the people in these true examples did. But it makes the point that if we serve Jesus by serving others, it creates opportunities for miracles to happen, in us as well as others.

This is not hard to understand. It is just hard to do.

To be a servant, we give up our agenda to gain personal success and advancement at the expense of others. Instead, we commit ourselves to the welfare of others, and wait for God to lead us as we give what we can to the needs of others.

It is a cold and lonely world when everyone is looking out for himself. It is a warmer and friendlier one when we look out for each other, at home, at work, in our neighborhood and in our church. As we follow Jesus’ teaching and choose to serve Him by serving others, we demonstrate Christian servanthood.

In case you’re new here

The entire “Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble” series is in the archives, beginning with the first post on July 26, 2022. As the series continues, each succeeding post will be added to and available in the blog archives.

In addition, I’m creating a new online membership site, The Change Zone, that will provide information, strategies and resources to help motivated Christians renew their mind and transform their lives. If you would like to learn more about this and get updates to know when The Change Zone will be available, click here.

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