Inked By Service
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GAME OF LIMBO
What are examples of the ways you sometimes “bend over backward” to help other people?
If someone asks you to help with a task or stay extra to clean up or offer a few minutes of assistance on a project, how do you typically respond—and why?
As we’ll discover in today’s lesson, God wants us to serve other people. Why do you think God values service?
After the discussion, SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Sometimes we must bend over backward to serve God and others—developing a life of service can be a sacrifice for us, but it’s one we’re called to develop as followers of Christ. Jesus lived a life of service to others—he was like no other man. He did miracles, he was a profound teacher, and most importantly, his resurrection proved he was the Son of God. The Gospels reveal that Jesus lived the life of the ultimate servant. Jesus served God and others and even served us by dying on the cross.
INKED: MARKED FOR LIFE
Week 2: A Life Permanently Marked by Service
Some people seem to serve naturally.
They are the first to volunteer to clean up trash or help out when they see work that needs done. But the Bible’s call to service doesn’t just apply to those who have a pre-disposition; we are all called to serve.
We don’t serve for the approval of people or to win friends. As Christians we serve because Jesus served us and instructed us to follow his example.
When and where do you find it most difficult to be a servant? Why are those settings particularly difficult for you?
Describe a time when you have served someone else.
How did it make you feel?
How did the person or people you were serving feel?
How do you think it made God feel when you chose to serve?
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
1. Service is the key to true greatness
This teaching contradicts everything we see in our culture—just like it contradicted everything in the disciples’ culture. Human wisdom tells us that great people are served by others, but Jesus tells us that the greatest people are servants to others. It can be difficult to grasp this concept and even more difficult to live it out, but Jesus made it clear—those who want to be great in God’s eyes will serve others. That’s what it means to have a life inked by service.
· Imagine being of the other 10 disciples in this story. What might have gone through your mind if you heard what James and John had requested—and why?
Read .
· Imagine being of the other 10 disciples in this story. What might have gone through your mind if you heard what James and John had requested—and why?
· What view of greatness do James and John seem to have in ? How is their view different from Jesus’ perspective?
· Jesus said anyone who wants to become Great must be a servant. What are some of the ways this statement challenges our ordinary, human, natural thinking on leadership and service?
· How might a Christian desire to be great without it becoming a pride issue? What kind of greatness might you or I pursue without it becoming sinful?
2. Service helps us become more like Jesus
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
ASK:
This passage presents one of the most profound examples of serving in the life of Jesus. He is literally doing what only a slave would do. It made the disciples uncomfortable that their Lord would take on such a demeaning task. But his activity had a purpose: Jesus wanted his disciples to remember the importance of serving others, and the foot washing was a powerful sermon illustration.
Jesus chose to wash his disciples’ feet—a task usually left to a slave or servant. Why do you think Jesus selected that particular activity to demonstrate his servant attitude?
Jesus’ actions clearly made his disciples uncomfortable, especially Peter. Why are we sometimes uncomfortable when other people serve us? What can service reveal about our attitudes? What are some of the ways developing a lifestyle of service—where people see it inked on your life—can help you become more like Jesus?
3. Your service becomes an example to others
For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
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Jesus says, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”
It’s clear that Jesus didn’t just give lip service to serving. He practiced what he preached. It is important that if we are going to call ourselves followers of Christ, then we should live by his example. Jesus taught his disciples to serve—and then he modeled it to the point of dying on the cross to pay the price for the sins of humanity.
ASK:
What motivates you to serve?
Are you more likely to serve when someone asks you to, or when you first see that person serving? Why?
When it comes to service, who do you think Jesus wants us to set an example for?
Why is it important to have the right attitude when serving?
Is it possible to do the act of serving without having the heart of a servant?
How can we demonstrate to others that we are servants?
Too often, Christians get labeled “hypocrites” because Christ-like choices or actions aren’t evident in our lives. Service should not only be a value we talk about—it should be something we do and something that can be seen at all times, in all settings. It should be “inked” on our lives.
ng a lifestyle of service—where people see it inked on your life—can help you become more like Jesus?
Describe a time when you have served someone else.
How did it make you feel?
How did the person or people you were serving feel?
How do you think it made God feel when you chose to serve?
What is the difference between serving and being a doormat—allowing people to take advantage of you? ‘
How do you balance between serving others and letting them take advantage of you?