John
13:34-35
34 “A new command I give you: Love one
another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
To
begin to discuss service, I thought it might be useful to look at some giants
of Christian service so as to see the pattern or model of their service; what
do they teach us in the way they served ?
Mother Teresa said: “Not all of us can do great things. But
we can do small things with great love.”
She also said “I
am not sure exactly what Heaven will be like. But when we die and it comes the
time for God to judge us, He will not ask, "How many good things have you
done in your life?" Rather He will ask, "How much love did you put into what you did?"
When Mother Teresa began her work for the poor in Calcutta,
she was alone. She left the comforts of her life as a teacher in a convent
school and with only a change of clothes proceeded to the slums to live amongst
the poor and suffering, one of the most wretched places on earth. Rejected by
the local hospitals the sick destitute would just lie in the gutters waiting
for death. Her first out-reach, was to an old woman who died in her arms as she
brought her the love of God in her final moments. She accepted the unloved and
uncared for and loved them, giving whatever she had at her disposal and by this
means brought many to God.
Her service or self giving was driven, not by her own
natural goodness, but by the grace of God. And the means of obtaining that is
through prayer of the heart.
As she describes prayer :- “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is
putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our
hearts.”
In this manner the love of God flows into the human heart
and fills it, only to reemerge in loving service of our neighbours.
A less recent example is St Serapion, one of the desert
father’s of the 4th century AD who retreated to the Egyptian desert
to make intercession for the world and do battle for souls in prayer.
Like other
desert monks, he led a life of extreme austerity. Though he traveled into
several countries, he always lived in the same poverty, mortification, and
recollection.
Once in a town in Greece, recognizing the spiritual blindness of an actor, he
sold himself as a slave to the man for a small sum. (in those days if one was
in debt it was a last resort to sell oneself into slavery to repay it and thus
live the rest of one’s life as a slave). His only sustenance in this servitude
was bread and water. He accomplished every duty belonging to his station with
the utmost diligence and fidelity, joining with his labor prayer for the man
and his family. In time his example and holiness of life made a deep impression
on his pagan master and the whole family was converted to Christianity. His
master wanted to give him his freedom out of gratitude for bringing the family
to salvation but he would not hear of it but simply returned the original sum
he had sold himself for, buying back his own freedom, and went off and sold
himself again and again for the rest of his life, to various people but always
with the same end in mind to bring them to God no matter what the personal
cost.
A seemingly
bizarre ministry of service to our modern way of thinking but when we examine
it, we can see just how much the love of God moved St Serapion, his compassion
for the spiritually impoverished was so great that the measure of his service
or sacrifice was without limit. And that’s another component of Christian
service, it is sacrificial, love
leads to service and service is sacrificial.
If we look at
the source of this love which led to the extraordinary service of mother
Teresa, and St Serapion which is of course their savior Jesus Christ.
As
He says in (Mat 20 26-28) …,
whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of
Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many.”
There are
many episodes in His earthly ministry which define service; but in keeping with
those mentioned above I would refer to the story of Zacchaeus.
(Lk 19 1-10)
Jesus entered Jericho and was
passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he
was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see
who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So
he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming
that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he
looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at
your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him
gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to
mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to
the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor,
and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the
amount.”
9 Jesus
said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is
a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to
save the lost.”
I noticed that as with mother Teresa and St Serapion, the
first thing Jesus did was something no one else did for Zaccheaus… he accepted him, and spoke to him. As
the chief tax collector for the Romans he would have been hated by the people
as a traitor to his country and also for being corrupt and living off the backs
of his own people. But Jesus not only spoke to him and befriended him in spite
of knowing all his wrong doings but stopped his journey and gave him his time.
He knew the heart of the man, knew that in spite of his previous crimes that he
was ready for change. And in that very moment he did change, promising to give
half his wealth immediately to the poor (previously he had probably made a lot
of people poor and cared nothing for them) and then going further he was
willing to pay back all he had cheated or stolen as well. An outward expression
of internal repentance, and a knowledge that Jesus had forgiven him and set him
free, with the gift of salvation. He was free to become the man God always
wanted him to be, a good man, a generous man, filed with Joy. Jesus had
unlocked his heart with the key of kindness.
His whole life, he had, unknowingly, been moving towards
this moment of encountering Jesus, a divine appointment. All the while he was
plundering and grabbing as much money and power as he could to ‘save himself’
and now suddenly he gave it away, he acquired a true appreciation of its value as
compared with the far greater treasure he had just discovered in Jesus. Now the
only purpose for his wealth could be to bless others, the ones he had
previously hurt. A true repentance. Interestingly the name Zaccheaus means
‘pure and righteous one’. Perhaps in due course he began to live up to his
name.
I’ll give one last example of a somewhat lesser stature now,
if I may, which highlights another aspect of service, particularly within a
larger group or organization. I am referring to our ‘motive’ for serving or
purity of intention.
More than 20 years ago, myself and a few friends started a
small charity in the UK to help refugees in Bosnia during the war. We took aid
convoys over from England, drove across Europe to the suffering people. The
food was all donated by church congregations and individuals in Manchester,
some vehicles were donated too, even a few ambulances which we later left
behind at hospitals. Later large truck loads or containers were sent too in
partnership with other groups around the country.
It was a massive undertaking, became much bigger than any of
us could imagine and the group is still operating today in a small way in
fundraising for various projects in different countries.
There were many volunteers over the years, hundreds, maybe
thousands of givers and participants in one way or another rendering wonderful
service although it must be said that there were also a variety of ‘motives’.
People are seldom single minded and generally our motives or
intentions are at best mixed. Whilst everyone had a measure of love and
compassion for the refugees some had other reasons too, some came forward who
originated in the region and had a sense of patriotism for their countrymen,
others a desire to be part of something – part of the group or community,
others may have sought to be seen to be doing some good deed, perhaps for some even
an element of self upliftment or the prospect of glory; danger and adventure
may have motivated some. Other motives can include gratitude to God for all He
has given and a desire to thank Him by giving a little back, for others even guilt
can be a driving force too.
A mixed bag of intentions and motives. But the wonderful
thing about giving one’s service; particularly in the beginning, is that
service changes the person and ultimately the service given purifies the motive
or intention. Where there was a little love, it becomes magnified and other
lesser reasons or motives melt away over time.
Many of our team experienced this after our first visit to
Bosnia, we arrived in one camp (an old school building) where the day before
400 people arrived who had fled the fighting, having just lost their homes,
livelihoods and often family members. They were given 1 hour by the invading
soldiers to pack and leave their town or burn with it. They had nothing to eat,
and no visible hope or future before them. And there were many such incidents
that brought home to us their dilemma much more than the pictures on TV that
had inspired us to go in the first place. It became more personal, even though
we would never meet them again.
On returning to England the zeal for the work was far
greater than before. Our team became more single minded, focused and hard
working. The service transformed or purified the intention or motive.
Some service becomes high profile like Mother Teresa’s,
others are hidden from view entirely like St Serapion. Sometimes the service
rendered is great, a special skill perhaps that no one else has or a lot of
time commitment and at other times it may be very simple service or very
quickly accomplished.
The medical missions conducted by
this team are of great value to those served by them and a joy to those
involved. On the one I was privileged to be a part of I could see the joy and gratitude of the
people for all that was given to them and I am sure there will be a lasting
effect above and beyond the medical treatments, because your love and care for
them was also communicated, however poor they may be , however difficult their
lot in life is, there is the knowledge that they are not forgotten or alone,
that they are loved, respected and cared for.
I know too that the Lord appreciates all the service
rendered to his children on His behalf and in His name and it will be a means
of our sanctification, a step on the road to holiness which we all must travel
together.
As a final quote, (also one of Mother
Teresa’s )
“There is a thing you can do but I can not and there is
thing I can but you can not; so let us - together - make something beautiful
for God.”
