Chances are when most of us see the word “serve” we imagine one of two things.  We may think of a tennis player or anyone else playing a racquet game putting the ball in play.  Or we may think of someone who waits tables at a restaurant. 

Yet Jesus made a big deal out of the word.  In fact, He went so far as to say that He came not to BE served, but TO serve. (Mark 10:45)  Moreover, He taught that His followers should devote their lives to serving.  I’ve thought a lot about the word serve the last couple of weeks since we adopted the word as the theme for our mission trip this year.  I hope it become more than a mission trip slogan. In fact, I pray that it becomes the word that most identifies my life and my church.

I’ve come to the conclusion that ALL of us serve in one way or another.  Either like a tennis player or like a table waiter.  But which one reflects the work of Jesus in our life, the tennis serve or the table serve?

Tennis Serve

The object of the serve in a racquet sport is to give the server an advantage over the receiver.  The best serves are well placed in hard-to-reach places.  They come at the receiver with speed and spin that make it nearly impossible to manage.

We are tennis servers when we focus on ourselves and seek to put ourselves at an advantage over others. You’ve heard the expression, “I don’t get even, I get ahead.”  Sadly, that is a life motto of many.

But we also more subtly act as tennis servers.  We guard our time and resources so carefully and use them predominately on our own pursuits.  We make sure we get our “cut” first and get what we think is our “fair share.”   We expect others to comply with our requests, move out of our way, or do what we think they ought to do.

Ultimately, we are like tennis servers when we are self-servers.  We put our wants and needs ahead of others’.

Table Serve

The object of serving tables is to meet the needs of those who sit at the table. Some of the best examples of service I have ever seen were from table waiters at restaurants.  Those servers made me feel as though the people at our table were the most important people in the world.  

Have you stopped to consider that table servers are not growers, cooks, or restaurant owners?  They do not bear the responsibility of producing what they bring.  They are only responsible to get from someone else something that we need.

The table server works through the time when others customarily eat.  She or he also works through sore feet, aching backs, and tired hands.   I can’t imagine what it must be like to deliver delicious looking food to tables without being able to eat some of it.  But that’s what a table server does. She or he gives so that others can get.

Ultimately, we are like table servers when we serve others first and sacrificially.

How Is Your Serve?

So, how is your serve?  What can you do today to be more like the kind of server Jesus calls us to be? How can you put others’ needs ahead of yours?  Will you take what Jesus has provided to those around you who need it most? Will you be a tennis server or a table server?

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

1 Peter 4:10

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In sports that feature a halftime break, teams have the opportunity to adjust their game plan. The first half of the game may have provided unforeseen obstacles to which they will be able to adapt. Halftime is so much more than just a few minutes to rest and sip your favorite electrolyte-replacing beverage. The best teams and best players use halftime to prepare themselves for the second half.

Halftime Adjustments to Start the Second Half

As June closes out and July looms, we enter the second half of 2021. Here are some personal adjustments you might consider at this year’s halftime.

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One of the primary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the constant question of what is or will be normal.  No doubt, the pandemic has changed the fabric of life for all of us.  It has introduced new vocabulary, established new habits, and created new anxieties. Many people are asking, “when will be go back to normal?”

That may be the wrong question, however, or at least the wrong perspective.  What if we view “normal” not as a thing of the past but something future to which we aspire?  

On January 3, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO) opened the US House of Representative’s first session of 2021 with prayer.  In addition to being a member of the House, Rep. Cleaver is also a United Methodist Minister. The last line of his prayer created a firestorm of controversy.  His prayer, however, revealed a bigger problem for Christians today.

Rather than concluding with the traditional “amen,” Rep. Cleaver ended with “a man and a woman.” Almost immediately, users filled social media with a backlash of protest. Protesters argued that Rep. Cleaver had gone to far, and he had desecrated sacred tradition.

In a later statement, Rep. Cleaver explained that he meant the statement as a light-hearted reference to the record number of women recently elected to serve in Congress.

“I concluded with a lighthearted pun in recognition of the record number of women who will be representing the American people in Congress during this term as well as in recognition of the first female Chaplain of the House of Representatives whose service commenced this week,” he said.

I give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. It was, nonetheless, an ill-timed and unwise time to make such comment.

The Bigger Problem

The bigger problem, however, is in the statement Rep. Cleaver made before the ending of the prayer.

In 2 Chronicles 15, only about 50 years after Solomon dedicated the Temple to Yahweh, Judah was in a mess.  You can read about the situation in 2 Chronicles 15:1-7. In verse 6, the Chronicler attributed the hardship that had fallen on them as coming from God.

They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress.  (Emphasis added)

God troubled them.  He didn’t just allow it, He ordained it.  Sent it.  Purposed it for His glory.  

The last 13 months have been some of the most difficult times many of us have experienced in our lives.  I am convinced more than ever, however, the difficulty has come our way at the hand of God.  And sadly, we seem to have failed to learn the lessons He intended.  

The year 2020 has added a new dynamic to Thanksgiving Day. Some will not be able to gather with family and celebrate the occasion in the usual manner.  Moreover, COVID, politics, and social unrest have presented difficult challenges for most of us.

While some give thanks for health and healing, still others will deal with the anxiety of an unresolved or incurable diagnosis. Some will give thanks for material possessions while others will spend the day wondering how they will avoid losing what little they have. Yes, Thanksgiving Day can be a challenge.

Thanksgiving “In”

In Monday’s blog, I challenged you to be thankful TO while being thankful for. Today, I want to encourage you to be thankful IN in addition to being thankful for. What a difference a preposition can make. Consider the words of Paul:

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Let me offer a few “whys.”

1. We can be thankful even in difficult circumstances because God has a plan and He is in control. Nothing happens to us that He has not permitted and plans to use for His glory and our good. (Romans 8:28)

2. We can be thankful even in difficult circumstances because in them we have the opportunity to let others see Jesus living in us. How we respond to adversity says a lot about what is in out heart. Keep your focus on Jesus and let Him live through you. (Philippians 2:12-14)

3. We can be thankful even in bad circumstances because God will us them FOR us to make us better and more like Jesus. Circumstances are like sandpaper and grit that buff out our rough edges and make us smoother. The finest pearls are fashioned in the grittiest oysters. (1 Peter 1:6-7)

This year, take time to give God thanks for your circumstances no matter how rosy or rough they may be. God is at work in your life. He is for you, nothing can be against you, and you will come through shining like gold.

This Sunday, November 29th, we would love for you to join us for worship at Bellevue Baptist Church, 5925 Price Road, Macon, GA.  We will  begin our Advent Seasonal Celebration as we focus on the HOPE Jesus brings to the World.  We would love to see YOU at The VUE.  The service starts at 11:00am.

Dr. Johnston was one of my favorite professors when I was in college.  

I grew up in a Christian home with my family attending a Bible teaching church.  I graduated from a Christian school where I was faithfully taught Scriptural truth from the 4^th – 12^th grades.  College was my first personal encounter with people who did not believe the same things I did.

I saw liberalism in every facet of college life – socially, politically, and even theologically.  I was so thankful for the foundation others had laid in my life.  Unfortunately, not being very mature at that point, I constantly stayed on the defensive.  Every class discussion I had, every paper I wrote, every opportunity I could find, I stood for conservatism.  I even spent one week as the “religion editor” for the campus paper.  After one article, they told me they would no longer need my articles.  They admitted that they did not want my conservative approach.

Dr. Johnston taught my very first class in New Testament studies.  I found him to be a fellow conservative, seemingly the only one on the religion faculty.  Over the years I took every class He taught that I possible could.  He was such a man of truth.  In fact, here’s a true and funny anecdote.  We noticed that in his weekly true/false tests, most of the answers were true.  One week, a fellow student did not have time to study, so he planned to just mark every answer TRUE.  He received an 88 grade on the paper!  14 out of 16 answers were TRUE!

Hostile Sources

Comments Dr. Johnston made on several papers I wrote challenged my use of what he called “hostile sources.”  He challenged me to read and deal with views that may not agree with my thesis or personal views.  He taught me the value of listening to all sides and synthesizing information into the best possible result.

Dr. Johnston showed me that allowing other viewpoints to challenge my own only strengthened my stand. Either I learned things I might not have otherwise seen or I became more convinced of my original position.

Intellectual Incest

I see a growing movement in our culture of rejecting other viewpoints and cocooning with like-minded people.  What we call “cancel culture” has trained us to delegitimize anyone with whom we disagree.  We want to only hear the voice of those with whom we agree, whether it be socially, politically, or even theologically.

I call this tragedy intellectual incest.  Science teaches us the genetic dangers of in-breeding.  Such a practice multiplies the genetic faults in a family line and leads to dangerous and unhealthy mutations. 

In like manner, if all we ever do is listen to the voices with whom we agree, we run the risk of growing stale in our thinking.  I am not suggesting that our principles should ever change.  I AM suggesting that we can better articulate and defend our positions by knowing how others think and believe.

A Biblical Example

In Acts 17, we read about Paul’s time in Athens, a culture not much unlike our own today.  Paul interacted with a variety of people while in Athens. He reasoned with the religious in the synagogue, engaged the busy-ness in the marketplace, and conversed with the philosophers.  And the Bible says he did this EVERY DAY.

His willingness to engage all kinds of people earned him the opportunity to address the most influential public forum in Athens.  Mars Hill was the place where the intellectuals discussed philosophy.  The religious discussed religion.  And the politicians discussed politics.  You can read his most effective Gospel presentation in Acts 17:22-31.  

Because he engaged others who thought and believed differently that he did, he had the intellectual foundation to present the Gospel in terms they could understand.  As you might imagine, he received mixed results (Acts 17:32-34).  Many mocked.  Others showed an interest to hear more.  And most importantly believed.

Moving Forward

I guess the point of my article today is to encourage you not to huddle into an intellectual cocoon of people with whom you agree.  Don’t run the risk of intellectual incest. Listen to others, learn how they think and why they think that way.  Engage them kindly and respectfully.  Share what you believe and why, but make sure you listen to them.

Droves of people are abandoning both social media and traditional media sites that display a bias against what they believe.  Please stick around.  The people on those sites need to hear your voice.  But more importantly, you need to hear theirs.

Recently the president of the largest Evangelical university in the USA resigned amid controvery. The response of many saddened me.

What has grieved me most is the response of the Faith Community to all of this.  Most of what I have read in the comments sections of social media (mostly Twitter) has been full of self-righteous finger pointing.  

When Kingdom citizens respond with an “I told you so” attitude or a “well he ought to be (you fill in the blank)” attitude, we sound a lot like the Pharisee in Jesus’ story about the Tax Collector and Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14.  Suffice it to say, Jesus sided with the Tax Collector.

Sometimes it seems that we take great delight in celebrating the downfall of others’ brought on by their sin.  Maybe it’s because the louder we speak about someone else’s public sin, we can’t hear the guilt of our own private sin.

A Proper Response

How should we then respond to failures of a public nature?  Here are some suggestions.