Monday, Nov. 10

Monday

In the summer between my Junior and Senior year of college, I worked as a camp counselor at a Christian camp in the Ozark mountains of Missouri.  One of the traditions at the camp was that we ate every meal together “family style” and nobody was allowed to serve himself during the meal, we had to serve others.  One young man in my cabin was from the inner city of Houston.  He was a little rough around the edges, and he didn’t quite grasp the concept of serving others.  I remember when we sat down to our first dinner as a cabin.  He grabbed the bowl of chicken and started heaping it onto his plate.  I told him that we do not serve ourselves here.  He looked at me with a kind of confused expression, then he shrugged, handed the bowl to me and said, “Okay then, you serve me.”

The truth is that there is something unnatural about serving others.  The human instinct is not usually to put others ahead of ourselves.  It often surprises us when we see someone who sacrifices for the good of others.  Our society seems to operate on the opposite premise; that other people exist to meet our needs.

We talk about people working in the “service industry” as if serving is a way to make money.  We say things like, “I am never going back to that restaurant, they have terrible service.”  We think of service as something that you have to pay for, or something that you provide as a part of a business.  But the Bible has a totally different view of what it means to serve.  Serving others is a central part of the Christian life.  In God’s view, serving is not an activity or a program, it is an attitude of our heart, and a lifestyle for those who would follow Jesus.

Listen to the description of the attitude of the early church regarding serving others in Acts 4… All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.  – Acts 4:32-35

One of the key distinguishing marks (or ripple effects) of the early church was its attitude toward those in need.  From the very beginning, the church has had the most significant impact in the world when it has been most compassionate toward the poor and committed to serving those in need.  In fact, scholars and historians agree that this was one of the things that caused Christianity to have such a broad appeal across the Roman Empire.  The following quote is an excerpt from a letter written by Roman emperor Julian in the mid second century.
“These hated Galileans (this is the nickname Julian had for Christians) not only feed and care for their own poor, but ours as well…they welcome them into their community.  Whilst our pagan priests neglect the poor, they devote themselves to works of charity, causing contempt for our Gods.”

It is amazing to think that Christianity conquered the Roman world, not by might or military force, but largely through compassion and service!  While Christianity had many opponents in the Roman Empire, nobody could deny the fact that the Christians practiced what they preached.  These early Christians simply believed in Jesus, spread the gospel of Jesus, and lived lives that reflected the love and mercy of Jesus.  

There are many who believe that the Christian church in our day has lost, or is losing much of its influence and credibility in the world.  I cannot help but think that the way to recover the reputation and influence of Jesus Christ in the world may be through service more than through argument or debate.  The ripple effect of service is a powerful force in people’s lives, and it begins one drop, one act of compassion at a time.

Jeff Frazier