The catastrophic images coming out of New Orleans are beyond comprehension. I have a grandmother and several uncles who lived in the heart of New Orleans. My uncle Mark heeded the warnings and left town immediately with his family. He first went to Tallahassee, Florida, but they kicked him out of the hotel. Now he is renting a condo in Destin, Florida overlooking the beach. His place in New Orleans was heavily damaged by the storm and has been overrun by looters.
My uncle Bruce and my grandmother decided to stay behind and weather the storm, just as they have done with other storms. By the grace of God, they had second thoughts, and left town at the last moment on Sunday afternoon. My grandma didn’t even have time to grab her wedding rings, which were sitting on the table. They drove east along the coast on Interstate 10, which has been largely destroyed. The wind and rain was so fierce that they didn’t think they would get out of the storm alive. Through text messaging, my uncles were finally able to reunite. My grandma’s apartment is currently under water. She too has lost everything.
Now my uncle Todd lives in Maine. He hates New Orleans. He moved as far away from there as possible, precisely because of hurricanes and storms. All of my family are going to be okay. They are with family members and don’t have immediate needs. One survivor summed it up well when he said, "Everything you knew, everything you thought was important, is completely gone."
I found out that tomorrow one hundred ten people are being relocated here to Springfield. Sixty people will be located at McFarland Zone Center, which is right at our back door. Fifty people will be located downtown at Contact Ministries. They are going to be housing people for several months. They need volunteers 24 hours a day for as long as they house the evacuees. Their goal is to provide hot meals for them throughout the day. They want to provide new undergarments, socks, sweat-suits, towels, baby formula, bottles, diapers, phone cards, and toiletries, among other things.
They are looking for professionally-trained case workers to help assess needs. They are looking for people who can provide temporary housing. They are looking for people who can be called upon on a moment's notice to volunteer downtown. One of the greatest needs is finances. At the end of the service we are going to take a special offering. If you want to help the general hurricane relief, you can make a check out directly to IDES, which is the International Disaster Emergency Services. They are a Christian Church based agency and work with local Christian churches in the areas that are impacted. Or if you want to help with the local efforts to support the one hundred ten people arriving in Springfield tomorrow, you can make a check out to Contact Ministries. If you are not prepared to make a check out this morning, you can do it next week.
In the past, we have reserved the month of October for our ServeFest, and we are certainly going to continue with the normal things we do, like the Hauling Off Hunger Drive. Hurricane Katrina will be an early opportunity for us to begin serving some very real needs.
Jesus served his disciples and gave us the example of selfless service.
During communion we saw some verses flash on the screen from John 13. These verses are all about serving one another. Let’s take a look at them. John 13:1-17 (NIV) says, "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."
"He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, are you going to wash my feet?' Jesus replied, 'You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.' 'No,' said Peter, 'you shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.'' Then, Lord,' Simon Peter replied, 'not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!' Jesus answered, 'A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you .'For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean."
"When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. 'Do you understand what I have done for you?' he asked them. 'You call me 'Teacher’' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."
The time had come for Jesus to leave the world and go to the Father. Jesus’ desire was to show his disciples the full extent of his love. And so Jesus did one of the most humbling, self-effacing acts known in the first century. He took a basin of water and a towel, and he washed each of his disciple’s feet. Such things were typically the responsibility of slaves and servants. It was beneath the dignity of the average person to stoop to such a level. But Jesus was leaving the world and going to his Father, and in that moment he wanted to make the boldest statement possible about the value God places on us serving our fellow man. In stooping to the most undignified levels of service, Jesus was setting an example for us so that we might follow in his footsteps. He was promising a blessing to all who might have the courage to embrace his servant nature.
Serving one another is the essence of being a follower of Christ.
If we want to have any part in Christ, or if we want Christ to have any part in us, then we need to all be about serving one another. Serving one another is the essence of living out Christ’s life. It is the essence of being a Christ-follower.
The thing I want you to notice is the connection between service and our heavenly destiny. John 13:3-5 (NIV) says, "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him." The fact that Jesus was leaving the world, the fact that he had come from God and was now returning to God, revolutionized Jesus’ attitude about serving others.
In a strange sort of way, I have been thinking a lot about what I have seen this week. As I noted earlier, one survivor summed up everything when he said, "Everything you knew, everything you thought was important, is completely gone." What if we were to strip away everything from our lives that we think is important. Strip away this church building. Strip awaythese seats, these instruments, our classrooms, and the office. Strip away your home, all your furniture, your jewelry, your tools, your scrapbooks, your toys, your knickknacks, your vehicles, your garden, the landscaping, and your keepsakes. Strip away your culture, including all the sports, the restaurants, the historical landmarks, the museum, the stores, the mall, the theatres, the government buildings, your workplace, the schools, the football fields, and the baseball diamonds.
Strip away everything you know, everything you think is important. Everything, gone! That isn’t just how the people in the Gulf coast region feel. That is how all of us will feel at the end of the age, when we return to God the Father. Everything that is important today, everything that we have worked so hard for, that we have spent our lives building, will be gone. This world and all its trappings will be destroyed. And when that day comes, what will matter most? What will remain?
What will remain when all our possessions are stripped away?
One thing that will endure forever when we pass from this life into the next is our service to one another and to God. In 1 Corinthians 3:8-15 (NIV) Paul says, "...each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
Are you being careful how you build your life? What foundation are you building on? Are you building your life on the servant example of Jesus Christ? Or are you building on some other foundation? What materials are you building with? Are you building with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw? With things that will ultimately perish? Or are you building with something that will stand in the day of Christ Jesus? I heard one of the most requested items in New Orleans, beyond food and water, was a Bible. With everything stripped away, people were returning to God’s word to find something that would last. They were searching for a foundation to rebuild their lives upon.
One of the Christian churches directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina was the Journey Christian Church, located in New Orleans. In the midst of all the devastation, they discerned God’s call to serve their community andto do something of lasting significance. (Note to reader- a video was shown here.)
One question we must wrestle with is, how do we see value in serving one another? Jesus chose to melt his disciples' hearts by showing them the full extent of his love. The image of him stooping down to wash their feet was forever etched in their minds. It was something they would keep returning to, time and again, to draw inspiration. Let me take a few moments, and I will share what I think is the cost of serving one another.
The cost of service is humility.
It always requires humility to serve one another. It takes a recognition that all of us are created equal in God’s sight, and that none of us is in a higher position than another. We have this hierarchy established in our thinking. we think that those of title, of power, of authority, of prestige, of economic position, of a particular race or ethnicity, of tremendous accomplishment, or of education are more highly esteemed than others. Those higher on the totem pole are called to be served. Those lower on the totem pole are called to be servants. Jesus upset that whole hierarchy of serving by washing his disciples' feet. In that act, the king of the universe, Jesus, became the lowly servant of all. He humbled himself. To be a servant, we must humble ourselves, just as Christ humbled himself. We must give up our privileged positions and take up the servant towel.
The cost of service is faith and hope.
Jesus tells his disciples that in serving, they will receive rewards in heaven. As Americans, we tend toward instant gratification. We want immediate rewards. Sometimes our service can bring immediate rewards. But most of the time our service to Christ does not produce any tangible rewards, at least not from earthy perspective. Jesus left his disciples with a simple promise, "You will be blessed if you do these things." You will be blessed if you serve one another. Is it enough for us to trust in God’s promise? Is it enough for us to wait on God? The key to being a servant is trusting in God when no immediate benefit is evident.
The cost of service is anonymity.
Very few people recognize the servant. In some ways, the servant is always forgotten. This is one of the hardest aspects of being a servant. It is doing things when no one else is watching except God himself. It is learning to delight in pleasing God when no one else is paying attention. God doesn’t call us into the limelight. He doesn’t use us to produce glory for ourselves. He uses us to bring glory to himself, to be his anonymous instruments.
The cost of service is time.
It used to be that money was everything, but now time is everything. Time is the new currency. We show others what we value by how we spend our time, not by how we spend our money. Being a servant takes time. Being a servant requires being inconvenienced. It would have been so much easier for Jesus to get down to business, but instead he whipped out a basin of water and began washing his disciples' feet. It is easier for us to take care of business than it is to take care of people.
It is easier to say, "Here is what I want you to do" than it is to ask, "How are you doing? How can I help you? How can I serve you?" Are we really so rushed and so preoccupied with life that we cannot take the time to serve one another just as Christ served his disciples? The things that keep you from service today won’t even matter tomorrow. In serving, we are giving away time that doesn’t last in exchange for time that is eternal.
Do you have the humility to serve? Do you have the the faith and hope to serve? Do you have the anonymity to serve? Do you have the time to serve? Do you have the courage to follow Christ’s example? These things are just the beginning.