Further Along the Road: Serving Others

The Lay Speakers at Fairview offered the message, "The Road of Discipleship." The first two portions of that message, "Loving God," and "Loving Others," were posted in the previous two Blogs. You may want to start there. Jesus tells us that the "gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few that find it." (Matthew 7:14) The Good News is that there are resting places, way points, dwelling places along the road. We like to picture them as park benches. Please join us as we travel the road that leads to life.


(Laity Voice Four) And the last Park Bench is “Serving Others.” The work of serving others is another form of love.

Scott Peck teaches us that love implies effort. We are to extend ourselves against the normal inertia of laziness and fear. Loving, extending ourselves, overcoming fear is not sedentary, it requires effort. Love requires effort. In fact, Scott Peck emphasizes that if our act is not an act of work or courage, it is not love.
Serving others is an act of work or courage that nurtures the spiritual growth of another and therefore it is an act of love. That understanding may help us bring together what most of us believe are difficult passages. Remember this passage from James? (2:14-17) “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has not works is dead.”

Or how about this one from 1 John? (3:17-18) “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help? Little children, let us love not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”
If our actions involve work or courage, they are love. James could have easily said, “faith without love is dead.” I think we can understand that.

So, how are we doing? How is the love of serving others playing out at Fairview and in the Missouri United Methodist Church? I thought I take a few minutes to follow up Serve2011, the day the church left the building to serve our communities.

(Show Mission Cast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_hcovxgac8 )

We work to change lives, to transform lives, to nurture the spiritual growth of another. For Serve2011, Fairview worked on Jim’s house. Jim suffers from Cerebral Palsy. There is no doubt that as a result of our efforts, Jim was able to see God more clearly and because of his improved circumstance to pursue a relationship with God more easily. What happened that day in Jim’s house was love. Love is a verb! And it takes place during the time we dwell around the park bench of “Serving Others.”

Close (Laity Voice One)

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and road is hard that leads to life, and few will find it.” (Matt 7:13-14)

Most of us are on the interstate, four lanes, limited access as we speed through life without the time, the effort or the courage to love, to develop relationships with God and others, to make a transforming difference in the lives of others through service.

That is the narrow road, the one few will find. It is the road less traveled by, and it is the road that leads to life. To life. That is what being a follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ offers, Life.

It is the road any one of can take if we will choose the rest stop and give God our time through prayer and reading Scripture and listening to him.
Then to give him our time through weekly worship, being here, dwelling on that park bench that focuses our lives on Him, connects to Him, begins that journey of love of Him. We really begin our journey on the Road of Discipleship by “Loving God.”

But it’s not just a solitary walk in the woods, it is a hike we take with others in community where we connect with others, love others in obedience to God’s command. The second park bench where we dwell in “Loving Others.”

Then, we learn to “Serve Others,” changing lives in Jesus Christ.

And through it all, God loves us, we grow spiritually, and we too are changed.

And it’s not just a stroll, but a journey, one where we invite others along, sharing the Good News of the love of God as we learn to Love Him, Love others, serve the world, changing lives in Jesus Christ. It is the journey on the Road of Discipleship. So may it be in all of our lives. Amen.