Serve Others

Pat Steeves · Tidal Church Moncton · September 24, 2023 · Is Your Faith Growing? series

Pat Steeves looks at the disciples arguing over who is greatest in Mark 9 and Paul's call in Galatians 5 to use our freedom to serve. Serving and giving, trusting God with what we have, grows our faith and frees us from selfishness.

More from Pat Steeves · The Is Your Faith Growing? series

Topics: Money & Generosity, Mission & Outreach, Discipleship

Transcript

[0:00] Well, give yourselves a big hand. You guys are incredible. We get to be part of an amazing church. Well, I just realized again, just yesterday, how selfish I can be. My wife is thinking, "He's just realizing this now," but isn't it true? And you know what? This situation came up that brought me right back to, to where the first days, first weeks and first months of where I met who would be my future wife in it. And it brought back some reminders of just how selfish we can be. And so here's how the story goes. It was a summer Sunday night.

[0:45] I was in church. I don't know why people would go to church on a Sunday night in the summer, but there I was in a small local church right here in our community of Moncton. And if you've ever gone to a small church, you know that if you are single, anytime there is someone new that's single, it's like you have a small window of opportunity, don't you? Right. You can't waste time. And so I can remember so clearly this Sunday night, this, this tall blonde-haired girl walks in on Sunday night and I'm thinking, "God, is this an angel? Like, what is happening here?" And so I found out I had to get to work really quick. And so I discovered some quick details on this person. First of all, she had just moved here from out west.

[1:34] She was gonna be going to university over at Crandall. That was, you know, some pretty good news, right? So, you know, okay, she's gonna be here for a bit. Then came the bad news. She had a boyfriend. Alright? But no, no big deal. All right, we can work through this. All right? But I knew I had some time, and a little bit maybe good news was that it turns out that he lived out of town. Alright? And so I'm kind of putting all this together, and as I was thinking about it even more this morning, I'm thinking, this is where my community, my connections ministry, I think, really launched because I thought, you know what? I need to welcome this person to the church. I need to introduce her to the city. I need to take her for walks in the park, show her the best restaurants, take her to the sites of the town.

[2:26] And so that's what I did. And it kinda was like she was at school during the week, and then on the weekends I would, you know, play the connections role, alright? And it kind of reminded me of just how selfish we can be. And to just take it just a little bit farther, I'll neither confirm nor deny, but this guy lived in Nova Scotia. And so for some of you guys, this is a really important, how many of, have you ever gone to Halifax? Let me ask this question. Alright? A few of you have gone to Halifax. If you're ever gonna go to Halifax, you need to know this one important piece of directions, okay? As you approach Truro, okay? You have to make an all-important right-hand turn in order to get to Halifax, the destination.

[3:13] If you don't make that turn, you end up a long ways in a small place called Cape Breton, okay? Right at the end. Alright? Now, one weekend, my wife, my future wife, may have been planning a trip to go see her boyfriend at that time. And she asked me for directions. I cannot confirm or deny, but I may have told her to stay straight and head towards Cape Breton. But the reality is, there is something in us that we don't have to work very hard to be selfish. And so we are in this series entitled Is Your Faith Growing?

[4:00] And week one we talked about being together in community. Is your faith growing? If we're gonna do it, we have to do it together. And week two was changing our perspective often changes our circumstances. When we change our perspective and put it on God, it changes our circumstances. Today, I want us to talk about serving and giving, serving and giving today, and how it can help grow our faith. And here's the reality: there may be some here today that maybe you feel so distant from God. Maybe you're not sure where things have changed. You're not sure if you even believe in God.

[4:47] But there are times and moments, if we were to be really honest. Sometimes some life happens and we really doubt our faith in God. My prayer this morning is that as we talk about something completely different in terms of serving and giving, it can actually kickstart, reengage our faith in God. And so my prayer is for some of you today that actually as we unpack this, this conversation around serving and giving, that as we begin to act and walk that out, that our faith, our passion, our joy, that life that we were supposed to live would be sparked and reignited. Are you guys with me this morning?

[5:33] I believe that that can happen. Now, in preparation for this morning, I was looking at a recent research that was done, okay, at a university in the States. And these students got together and the research was they wanted to determine who was more selfish, men or women. I was asking a few of the band earlier on this topic, and we created a little bit of a stir. And so, does anybody wanna know the results of the survey? Or, you know, 'cause some of them back there, they were already, they knew the answer.

[6:18] And I won't name names, but I wanna read some of the results of this survey here. Men, I don't have any good news, just so you're wondering, okay? So the results of the survey say that men are more selfish than women. All right? So here's what they say here. Alright? Again, you can't trust anything on the internet these days. Can we? Studies have proven that men are more selfish. It's not a feminist conspiracy, it's just science. Men are more self-centered. A recent study has found that the male neurological reward systems are more stimulated by self-centeredness.

[7:04] This is because men are hardwired to be hunters and gatherers and providers, okay? Trying to justify it a little bit. So they tend to be more selfish, okay? Well, women are more likely to get a dopamine rush when helping others. Now, where are my single ladies at? I have a tip for you that I also found as a researcher, just as a side note, just to help some of you, some of you single ladies, here's a tip, okay? You need to know about men. A Harvard University discovered that men who spent more time in the gym were more selfish than those who didn't.

[7:52] So all the single men, you can justify this, saying, "You know what, I'm just gonna stop by that pizza shop today because I just don't wanna be, you know, so selfish. And so I'm not going to the gym, I'm not working out because, baby, I just wanna be all for you," right? So just a fun fact. But women, you're not off the hook. Here we go. Women, you're not off the hook when it comes to chocolate, I thought. So when it comes to chocolate, women are more selfish than men. Oh my gosh, the women are giving themselves a round of applause for that one. And it says, now when it comes to chocolate, every woman is for herself.

[8:39] When sharing chocolate with a friend, women tend to take the bigger piece. Alright? So the reality is, folks, selfishness is a real thing. And even if we want to talk about, when it comes to teenagers and kids, a recent survey asked kids, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And I don't know about you when you were asked that question, but for a long time, little Jimmy, okay? As an example, little Jimmy, when asked, "What do you wanna be when you grow up?" His often answer would be, "I wanna be a fireman, a police officer, a doctor, a plumber," right? A prime minister. Like, "I wanna do something and help people."

[9:27] Um, recent research suggests that when kids and teenagers are asked this question today, guess what they wanna be? They wanna be rich. Yes, 54% say they want to be a celebrity, or get this, you're gonna have a hard time to believe this, but a YouTube star, right? And so society and culture is changing where we are becoming more selfish and more individualized, and we can see that shift changing. There's something hardwired in us that we all want attention, right? We all want to be the best. We wanna have the most, we wanna be the entrepreneur of the year.

[10:16] We want to be the best. The good news is this is nothing new. And so I wanna take us to a verse in Scripture found in Mark chapter 9. We're gonna have so much fun here, okay? In Mark 9 today, alright, I, this was, um, this was a great time as I kind of dug into this this week. And so I wanna read to you guys this verse in Mark 9: 31. And just a snippet of the story is it says that they came to Capernaum, and when He was in the house, He asked them, "What are you arguing about? What were you arguing about on the road?" So just help us get into the story a little bit.

[11:06] Who is asking the question in this story? Some of you guys that have been to Bible school and you've read your Bible, who is asking the disciples? Jesus. Jesus is asking the disciples. Now, for some of you that really finished top of the class in Bible school, how many disciples were there? 12 disciples. Okay, so when He came in the room, Jesus asked them, "What were you guys arguing about on the road?" But it says here, they didn't answer Him because they were arguing about which one of them was the greatest. Now I know none of us have ever done that before, right?

[11:53] I don't know if any of you guys have had kids, but I mean, no one ever argues about who's the best, right? But here is the disciples. How many disciples were there? 12. Alright, here's what's really interesting. So we are in Mark 9 and we just read in 9 verse 33, this little section here of them arguing about who is the greatest. Now, I want us to go back up to the top here, and I want us to look in Mark 9, verse 2. So we're gonna get a little bit of context on what's happening in and maybe learn as to maybe what they're actually arguing about. Like this is gonna get really good. Okay? So Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

[12:49] Now, some quick math. How many people went up on the mountain? Okay, how many of the disciples went up on the mountain? Three. Alright, how many disciples did we start out with? 12. And we took three. Okay, this is fascinating. Could you imagine being one of the 12 disciples and Jesus pulling up, walking in, and saying, "You know what, Peter, James, John, come with me. We're going hiking for the day." The rest of you guys, you guys do your work, you know, help out in the community, tell people about God, but the rest of us, we're going for a hike. Could you imagine? But here He is, Peter, James, and John, they go mountain climbing for the day.

[13:34] They're on an adventure together with Jesus, alright? And this is exciting. And so here they are. And then as they're out there, some of you guys would know, this is called the Mount of Transfiguration. So they're up there together and all of a sudden something glorious happens. Something like just out of this world takes place in front of them. And there was this intense presence of God shows up. And the story says that Elijah and Moses showed up, up on this mountain, alright? Like the patriarchs, like the legends, the people that the disciples would've read about in the Old Testament up here, right? Like these three disciples, they would think they were tripping, right about now, wouldn't they? Like, these people just came back to life. This is incredible.

[14:27] And to top it all off, the story says that there came a voice from heaven, a voice from heaven. Like, can you just put yourself in the story? The disciples are freaking out. They're like, "What is happening?" They hear this voice from heaven and it's God saying, "This is My beloved Son. Listen to what He has to say." And as quick as all of that happens, everything just returns back to normal. And so as they're coming back down from the mountain, verse 9 says, and as they were coming back down from the mountain, Jesus ordered them.

[15:15] Parents, have you ever done something with your kids and you treated them and you're just like, "Now, don't tell the other kids," right? Don't do that. But here Jesus says, "Don't tell anyone what has happened." Alright? And so this is what the story starts to get kind of interesting here. So here they come down off the mountain, incredible experience, right? They've seen some incredible things. They've experienced the presence of God. There was a camaraderie with these three disciples and Jesus. Like they just can't wait to tell who the other nine of what just happened, and how many know, they don't want to hear it.

[16:00] And so the story goes right here. It says, they show back up into the community that they were in. And I love this. It says, when they came back to the other nine, alright, when they came back to the other nine, they saw a large crowd around them. And so Jesus immediately is like, "What is going on? There seems to be a big stir happening." And so immediately they find out that there was, there was someone from the community that brought their son, that was, the Bible says here, he was possessed with a spirit. So just kind of some crazy stuff happened. He was convulsing and Jesus is like, "Whoa. Like, what is going on here?"

[16:47] And so He's trying to find the details. And so this man tells them, "I brought my son to Your disciples to be healed." And they couldn't. How many, you know, that would be kind of embarrassing and kind of like, you know, kind of just putting you like down right there in front of, and Jesus, kind of rips a strip off him right there in front of everybody. He's like, "Oh, you unbelieving people. When will you learn?" Now again, I can't help but think, if I was one of the other three disciples, I didn't do anything wrong. I've been just with Jesus. Things are good. Are you guys with me? The nine over here?

[17:32] They must have been just like so frustrated and upset, right? They couldn't pull it off while the others were around, we were just working. And then now we're getting called out. Like, I can just see the tension building here with the disciples. And so you can see, Jesus, then of course, so many of you know the story, Jesus steps in and, and asks him if he believes that he can be healed. And, and Jesus does an amazing miracle here. Okay? And so now we start to come back to verse 33. And I don't know about you, but it helps give me a little bit of context as verse 33 says, that when they walked into the, when Jesus walked into the room, the disciples are arguing.

[18:24] Now they had lots to be arguing about, right? Like, there could have been three of the disciples being like, "Man, guys, you guys missed the greatest time," like just giving it to them. Or they may be like, "What's the deal? You guys couldn't heal this guy?" And Jesus ripped a strip. Like, who knows what was happening? But there was an argument going on and they were all jockeying for position on what, who is the greatest, right? That's kind of the tension that we all live in. That selfishness of who is the greatest. And here's what Jesus does in this moment. If we go to verse 34, Jesus sits them down, He sits them down to teach them.

[19:13] He calls all 12 together. Can you picture it? And He says, "If anyone wants to be the first, he must be the last and be the servant of all." And I, don't know about you, but we can laugh about the story of what happens to other people. But in 2023, in September, what if Jesus came in here and sat down with us today? I think that our culture really promotes us to, again, want to be the best, want to be able to achieve, have the most money, be the smartest. Like, that's what our culture promotes.

[20:01] Does it not? Have the biggest, And I think if Jesus was to walk in the room right now, he might say, I want you guys to come have a seat here. We wanna talk about a few things. And I, and I wanna, I wanna just share with you that in really in order to become the greatest, to become the best, we have to learn to what serve, learn to be the last. Now I, I'll be really honest with you, that message doesn't really inspire and motivate me, does it? You, I, I don't know. But it's completely counter-cultural to how we are wired.

[20:46] But if I look at, at what is culture? What is the cost to living at such a high pace and trying to be the greatest and outsmart and outwit, what is the cost? I think we all know that we are seeing staggering statistics of, of anxiety and depression and stress and, and people are burned out on life. Does, does anybody know that story or experiencing that for themself? I wonder if what the culture is telling us and showing us and putting out in front of us if it's a higher price than maybe we wanna pay. Maybe it's a higher price than what it's worth. And maybe what Jesus is telling us has a whole lot of value.

[21:35] Really something to consider, isn't it? In a recent study with the, with the Mayo Clinic published a recent report on the benefits of volunteering, and it states this, it says volunteering leads to lower rates of depression and anxiety. Volunteering reduces stress, reduced stress decreases the risk of physical and mental health. And so even statistically here, we see the value of serving and giving to others. And you know what? I think that sometimes we struggle with this reality of if I'm gonna be a servant, I can't have anything, right?

[22:25] I have to maybe give it all. Sometimes we get confused with that, but I really do think that God has blessed us as, you know, where we live with some tremendous things. And I think that really, we just need to be good stewards of what He has entrusted us with. You know, I think when it comes to generosity, generosity is not about how much we give. Sometimes we put a lot of focus on how much someone gives, but I really believe it's about how much we trust God. Generosity is not about how much we give, but it's how much do we trust God with what we have?

[23:10] How many of you guys remember the first purchase that you ever made? As maybe a young teenager, like, you saved your money, maybe you mowed some lawns, you worked for the neighbor. How many of you remember that first purchase that you ever gotten? All right, anybody care or share what you got? What was it? Levi's? What pair? Levi's. A pair of Levi's. Amazing. Well, listen, it wasn't that long ago. We're one of my boys. If you have kids, like, you don't know until you have them, but like, when they want something, like, you hear about it, don't you? Like, over and over and over again. We have four kids, so we hear it four times over anyway. Uh, I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole. I love my kids, they're absolutely incredible.

[23:57] But I remember one of them in particular was saving their money for Apple AirPods. Okay? Game changer. They're really great, you know, but here he is, you know, maybe 12 to 13 years old and he's saving everything he can. He's working hard for these AirPods, right? And as a parent, we're encouraged, and then we're like, you know, alongside, we're like, really? I don't know if that's a good idea, but if you're gonna save your money, go for it. Right? So I can remember he got these AirPods, most amazing things ever. He's using them all the time. And one night we were out at the Fun Zone up in Magnetic Hill and we were doing some rides and carnival games and just having an amazing time, you know, fall night, it's beautiful.

[24:45] And my son had his AirPods with him. And the most random thing, he comes to me and he's like, "Dad, you know those AirPods?" And I'm like, "Uh-huh," I'm thinking, waiting for the story here. He goes, "Dad, I feel like I'm supposed to give them to the person who's working at the counter." And I'm like, do you know how long you've worked for those, like, you've been talking about? Well, like, what do you, I don't know, Dad. I just feel like God told me I'm supposed to give those to this person. And so I'm like, okay, well, let's, let's just kind of think through this. Let's pray about it seriously.

[25:35] And I'm like, okay, let's do this. So I can remember walking up to the counter and it was obviously like complete stranger, awkward exchange, but, and I can remember my son again being like 12, 13 years old, being like, "I feel like I'm supposed to give you my AirPods." The guy's like, "Excuse me?" Again, it's like hard to put words to all this stuff, right? But he's like, "I feel like I'm supposed to give these to you." And he's just like, "Oh no, I'm sorry. I can't take those, I can't take those, but thank you." And I can remember us turning and walking away thinking, God, what was that all about? But as I'm reminded of this right here, generosity is not about how much you give, but it's about being our, how much you trust God with what you have.

[26:34] It's about how much do you trust God with what you have. And as we're talking about serving and giving what we have, can we be trusted with it and say, if God asked for it, are we able to say, you know what? I am going to give that if that's what He's asking me to do. It's all about obedience. It's all about obedience. It's not about how much we give, it's about how much are we trusting God. It's fascinating as we're gonna move to Galatians, which was written by a guy named Paul. And next to Jesus, Paul was, he's like my favorite Bible character because, Paul has, like, you read the chapters and the books that he wrote and it's just so profound. But here's why I love Paul so much.

[27:31] It's because he has been through anything and everything that you can possibly imagine. If you have read the New Testament, have you read about Paul? This guy has been imprisoned for his faith. He has faced abuse, you know, he's been ridiculed by religious leaders. Christians have stabbed him in the back. Come on, somebody, like, he's been through some life. And when you read his stories, he just talks about rejoicing in those situations and learning from them. And so when I read Paul's teachings, I'm like, oh, I can listen to this guy, right? See, one of the things that really frustrates me is when you get, when you hear somebody getting dating advice from somebody who's been in a relationship for a month, right?

[28:28] And they're just like, it's so great. Like, he's just like, does everything for me? And you're like, really? You've been together a month? Like, I'm not going to listen a whole lot to what your advice is on dating, right? But Paul, he's been through some stuff. And so I want us to quickly look at Galatians here and if he's gonna be talking a little bit about serving. And again, when you've been through some pain, when you've been through some life and people have stabbed you in the back, and you are continually talking about loving people, it's like, oh, I can listen to you, right? Are you guys with me? So when we read Paul's words, they carry some weight. Galatians 5:13, it says, "For my brothers, we are called to freedom only.

[29:19] Do not let your freedom become an opportunity to satisfy your sinful nature, selfishness, but through love, serve and seek the best for everyone." And so we can see here that the Galatians who he's talking about, they lived with a lot of rituals, routines and things that they had to do in order to be in good standing with God. And so it was very much based off of their own works. And Paul comes back in and he totally blows that up. And he's like, our right being right.

[30:04] Our righteousness with God is not based on what we do, but it's based on Jesus and this complete freedom revolutionizes how they are to live their life. But what happens is, the Galatians begin kind of becoming selfish and they begin to use their freedom to just do what they want to do. And so Paul is cautioning them. Now, I know that we don't struggle with that, right? We don't struggle with getting caught up in things that, you know, feeding into our selfish nature, but that's what they were doing. And so Paul is warning them, don't do, don't let your freedom become an opportunity to satisfy your sinful nature.

[30:57] Freedom is not for us just to serve ourselves free. Our freedom that we have in Christ is just not for self-promotion and doing what we want to do. But here's the key, he says, "but through love, seek the best for everyone." So what he's saying is, use this new freedom that you have to seek out people and to serve people. This love that you come to realize on how much God loves you. Take that love and give and serve and love others is the message that Paul is communicating to the Galatians. And I believe that as we, as Christians, as followers of Jesus, we need to be reminded to lean into this freedom that we found in Jesus, but not to just live our lives all for us. Are you guys with me today?

[31:57] But to be able to lead our lives out of serving and giving. And here's the key, when we do that, we experience the freedom that we all want. The key to freedom is not found in us. It's found in serving others. And so with that being said, this week we launch a campaign called Love Atlantic, where churches across all denominational lines are coming together to serve their communities. Love Atlantic. And so we wanna challenge ourselves, individually to get out and to do something to love and to care for those in our community. And what a difference can we make.

[32:48] And so I want us to just talk real practically. 'Cause sometimes, I don't know about you, but sometimes we struggle with like, okay, I know we need to serve people. I know we need to be kind, but what does that look like? And so I want us to just practically look at how we can serve people in our community. And number one, I always like to start with the people in our circle. You and I have similar, we have routines that we go through each and every week. We have people that surround us. And so as we think about who can we serve, who can we love this week? I want us to look at the people that are closest. Maybe it's the local school where you drop your kids off.

[33:34] Maybe it's the daycare or the senior's home or coaches, teachers. Where are the people that are surrounded that are investing into your family? And I don't want you to overlook this. I'm gonna ask Rob just to come out now. Don't overlook this simplicity of this, but I want us to really look at how can we invest? Really, some of you guys are like, what is going on? All I'm thinking about is coffee and donuts right now. But don't miss the simplicity of this. What if what if all of us took one hour this week and invested it in our circle somewhere? Maybe it's stopping by to visit a local school that you know, teach or put up with, however you wanna call it, our kids all week long and we just simply show up at the school and we've gone out and bought some snacks and bought some things, and we just show up at our school and say, you know what?

[34:38] I just wanna say thank you, thank you for what you do and what you do matters. What would that look like when you just drop that off at school or drop that off at your home care in your neighborhood? There are places that we can make a difference by just giving and taking one hour to serve. And along with that, and on the way out, we're gonna have our ushers. They're gonna give you one of these cards today, just says, "You matter." And on the back is a QR code. And if people want it, you don't have to tell them. But if people want to know, "Hey, why did you do this? Or what is this all about?"

[35:24] All you can say is just scan this QR code and it's just gonna be a short little video of who we are as a church and we're just here to spread some kindness and some love in our community. But here's how much we as a church really believe in this. 'Cause I truly believe one hour of intentionally giving to others can make a difference in just that relationships that you have each and every week. And maybe you're here today and you say, you know what? I I don't have money to go out and help someone or to buy coffee and donuts. Here's what we wanna do as a church. We have set aside, people have given to this. And you can access $50 of a bursary where you can give this week and go and get whatever it is that God puts on your heart to say, you know what? I wanna do this with $50.

[36:18] All the information is found on the link that we're gonna put up, MWChurch slash love. On that link, you're gonna be able to let us know what you're, what you want to do for a serve. But if you wanna access a $50 partner together with us as a church to go spread some love in our community, you can just hit that link, sign up, we're gonna e-transfer you $50. You gotta just let us know what you're planning to do with it, who the recipient is, but we believe that we can share and spread some love in our community this week. We wanna encourage you to go on there, log your hours, let us know what you're doing, and we're gonna come back next week and celebrate the story. Alright?

[37:04] Love Atlantic this week. I wonder what, yeah. And I wanna end with this. I wanna end with this. You'll be like, yeah, yeah. No, I know that's great. I know I need to do this. Galatians 5, the next verse where Jesus, where Paul talks about spread some love and serve people. This is the next verse. He says, "For the whole law is summed up with this one command." Remember the Galatians were trying to fulfill the law through themselves, but then Paul's like, it's summed up with this one command, and this just like, boom, it hit me this week. Love others like you love yourself. I've read that a lot of times, but it really just hit me this week. It's like, oh, I love myself a whole lot. Anybody with me? We have no problem loving ourselves.

[38:08] Right? Come on, somebody, let's now to that same level that you love yourself, love others. And it just hit me. It's like I wanna use that in my everyday decisions when it comes to putting me first or others first. I'm gonna love them like I love myself. I'm gonna give to them how I am going to wanna give to myself. I pray that that revelation will just kinda become reality to you as we think about God. How can we help our community? In closing, God, I pray, show us opportunities on how we can love our community, God, in small ways, but they could be so powerful.

[39:04] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.