The Servant Identity

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Good morning, CCW.

Amen.

You can get your Bibles and turn them to Acts chapter 6.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

You should have a paper towel somewhere near you.

And I'll give you the background on that in just a moment as you're turning your Bibles.

Acts chapter 6.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

As you are, this week's study took me back to a place, Chattanooga.

Heather and I did our undergraduate studies at Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga.

And I worked at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

Affectionately known by those who work there as the Chuch.

And as I worked, there was a banquet server.

And I learned more about towels than ever before in my life.

And as a banquet server, Heather can attest, I had to wear almost all the parts of a tuxedo as my job.

I had to wear a cumber bun, and I had that ruffly weird shirt.

I don't know what that thing is with the things in the middle.

And I had to traverse this campus.

You've got a picture up here of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo.

But as you came in, the old station, it's an old train station, and um they moved that to a banquets hall in a big facility.

I lost my towel.

My wife's pointing at me.

You can't do that, all right?

Y'all keep your towel.

Let me do better.

Anyhow, so as you came in to the left, there was a grand ballroom, and there could fit 700 to 1,000 people in that grand ballroom, and we would serve there, and then you would go to the back of the property, as you can see, and there was a great big uh place back there.

And I don't even know how many people you could serve, but everybody had a table setting, and usually tables would fit eight to ten, and we had every single banquet, we had to fold towels.

People would pay extra money for certain versions of how their towel sat at their table.

I could show you after church how to do a fan fold real quick.

I could still do that.

We would do uh what looks like the Olympics fire, and you can just stuff that in a cup.

That was my favorite.

Because you just open it up, boom, put it in.

But when you put ten of the same thing, doesn't matter how crumpled or weird it looks, it looks great as long as there's ten.

It's kind of like when people dance.

If there's ten of people doing the same thing, pretty cool.

If it's just your dad, not so good.

So we folded and folded, and I'm telling you, it'd be hours of folding towels.

And I remember that experience and how important the towel became because I had to clean up and I was constantly cleaning a mess.

Anybody here ever served?

You've got to have a towel because there's always a mess that comes with it.

In fact, one day I was carrying the food out, and you had 10, sometimes to 15 trays based on your table, and we never knew exactly what somebody was gonna get until we got there.

But this particular dish was full of gravy, and they had tops on them.

But as I was coming in, pulling my dishes down, 10 to 15 plates on a tray that I was going down.

As I was going down, gravy started pouring into a lady's dress.

And she said, Ha!

Ha!

And I had my towel.

He was looking at me like, boy, I'm about to hurt you.

But I learned a lot about towels in that season of life.

The world says that identity is in titles.

And I believe Jesus says identity today is in the towels.

Will you pray with me?

Father, we love you and we are thankful today to be in your house.

We're thankful for the service that's already happened.

And people were here, God, at six o'clock this morning.

Uh Lord, there's been people that have prepared over the weekend.

There's been many hands all week long that have served at your house, God, with the thought and the heart and the attention, God, that it would honor you.

So, God, I pray that you would receive our hearts as we're quieted, Lord, as a service.

Lord, as the word of God goes forth, Lord, let it serve you.

Let it do your work.

And God, may it honor you this morning in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The first point this morning, as you're there in Acts chapter 6, is servants prioritize the mission.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

Let me read verse 1 and 2.

Now, in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.

Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, It is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables.

We live in a time in America where there is a famine in the land of the Word of God.

One of the most difficult things to do today is to get a preacher to get behind a pulpit and give an expository message of the text of the Word of God.

Digging through the text, not just three catchy ideas or three cliche ideas that you should go home and be motivated about, or three psychological speeches that will send you home with a good hand clap, but to go to the Word of God and pull from it what it means and how it's practical today.

We have a fan.

And in Acts 6, 1 and 2, these men said, It is not good for us, the apostles, that we should suffer, that we'd be away from the Word of God and from prayer.

But, letter A, we have some physical needs.

We see meeting the physical needs.

There was Palestinian Jews who spoke Hebrew, that's what the text brings up.

And Greek-speaking Jews of the diaspora.

And now there is this division between these two groups and the church.

And the debate was about what?

The distribution of the money and the time and the energy of the church with respect to the care of widows.

An important topic.

And understanding this, first, I want you to understand that the allowance of Greek-speaking leaders in the church was an act of inclusivity, it was an act of trust and drawing across cultural lines because Paul would say that there is no Jew, there is no Greek, we are all one in Christ.

And so the body of church was coming together, but we see here what was kind of like the first church crisis, the first one that's noted.

The word that comes out for daily distribution is diochnia.

We'll talk about that a couple of times this morning.

Diochnea, it means daily distribution.

The term in 1 Timothy 3 13, it brings up the term the first time we'll see deacons.

Diachonos.

Those are cousins.

Diachnia and diaconos, and it means to serve.

The word deacon means to serve.

The verb served in verse 2 is literally table waiter.

Got their towel, okay?

This is not speaking of CEOs of church businesses, servants.

But we have this first crisis, the first internal struggle.

And it's for good reason widows were not being taken care of.

You remember what James said later on.

Pure religion and undefiled is taking care of your widows and your orphans.

Okay?

I've got a list that sits in my office on a piece of paper of all of our widows or widowers or and our single mothers of the church that I'm reminded to pray weekly over them.

Nobody here can possibly understand what it's like to walk through that except those that have walked through that.

It's a hard place to be.

Not just that you've lost someone that you've loved, but that you're going through life completely different than the number of years that you were going through life.

My wife's uh grandmother wrote a great book.

If there's somebody here dealing with widowhood, it's called My Second Wind.

How she bounced back and got back on her feet from being a widow.

And so if you need that resource, we'd be glad to help you.

But these people were having this struggle because the apostles felt the mandate to be in the Word of God in prayer.

So this the 12 summoned the church on the matter.

Why?

Because they needed help.

They needed help, right?

Are the whole body stepping up to the three T's time, talents, and treasure.

Is everybody within the body helping?

The church, listen to me, does not grow through spectators, it grows through service.

It wasn't just about food.

This was about fairness and unity and faithfulness.

And the way the church handled this crisis revealed its heart for its mission and for service.

Letter B, let's look at that.

Maintaining the spiritual necessity.

So they call forth because they need help so that they can continue to help widows, they can continue to help serve, maintaining the spiritual necessity.

Look at verses 3 and 4 of Acts 6.

Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

See, there's this balance between meeting needs, serving needs, and the Word of God as the mission of the church.

Have you ever lost your balance?

Have you ever lost your balance in life?

I was 14, maybe 13, and I went to the mall, Christiana Mall, with my girlfriend and her mom and her little brother at the time.

And I'm looking at tennis shoes, and I still to this day really can't come up with what happened.

But I bent over, and there's 20, 30 people in this store looking around, and I bent over, and when I leaned over, I suddenly fell.

And I hit the wall, and like an avalanche, you know how they sit on shelves?

The shoes begin to fall on my head, and I looked up and I'm like, what is happening?

How did this happen?

And I sat there and my girlfriend was trying to figure out what had happened to me.

And I just remember all that happened was I lost my balance.

I can't explain to this day why did I fall over from nothing?

Planet Earth tripped me as I was standing still and an avalanche.

I lost my balance, and when you lose your balance, it can become a mess.

Hear me?

Every year, 17,000 ministers in America leave the ministry.

And I think a big part of that is because ministers are not able to totally devote themselves to the preaching of the word of God and to prayer.

When you get yourself out of balance, R.C.

Sproul said a pastor is expected today to be a CEO, a developer of a company, an expert in counseling.

And as the church grows, the time for the word of God decreases.

It's minimized.

And I'm going to tell you, church, family, I love shepherding.

I want to know you and your family, and I want to know every family.

I love shepherd pastoring.

But this church, we took off in 21 like a rocket.

And we began swimming, and all of a sudden, about 200 people added to our body.

And in order to shepherd a growing body, you have to have help.

All of a sudden, if you visited, I'm sorry to say this, I'm just being transparent, but if you visited four weeks ago, I'm keeping track in my mind if people that are here today are missing as a shepherd, because if a sheep goes off, you have to fix that.

And so in my mind, right, I'm doing a census as you come through the door and I go, okay, these people, are they on vacation?

Are they hurting?

Is something going on?

And I'm thinking about people that I'm used to seeing.

And then there's people who came one month ago, and I'm learning your face and learning who you are, and I'm going, I don't know.

And you came one week, but you skipped a week because you had a ball game, and then you came a third, and I'm trying to piece together, and you come through the door, and I go, I think I know them, I think they've been here before.

And I'm trying to guess.

Do I ask you if you're a first-time visitor?

And I go, smoke is coming.

And I go, please just come again.

And so a few weeks ago, we had a meeting, and in the church, this church's bylaws, we had written long ago when it started, when you're little, you don't have to worry about all of this too much, but we had written that one day we may have the need for deacons to arise.

Why?

Because of what I'm telling you.

And basically, it's a servant, but we'll just say it this way: letters A through C in the alphabet, your last name, would have a deacon attached.

That way, if there's a problem, if there's a health issue, if there's a need that arises, something to prey upon, they will have a deacon that can follow up and talk with the pastoral staff about things, and so we are able to shepherd well, to serve well the purpose of a deacon.

So uh we presented that need, and I want to share to the church.

I said that I would right now, this sounds businessy if you're visiting, but right now, uh through November the 3rd, be one month's time, we are going to uh vet through and be looking for deacons.

If you want to make a deacon nomination church, you have to be a covenant member to do that.

If you're a covenant member and you'd like to nominate a deacon, you can email me.

Here's my email right now.

Everybody, you can email me.

Be fine.

You can call me.

My email is R write, my last name, R-W-R-I-G-H-G, at signed the church at that's A T C W dot com.

Okay?

And we'll be taking those nominations for a month.

And here's the deal: don't nominate somebody without them knowing.

Okay?

They need to agree to the nomination.

Okay?

If you just send somebody because you think it'd be fun, or you think it'd be funny, okay?

Not okay.

Okay, they have to agree, and by 1 Timothy chapter 3, uh, what the Bible gives as guidelines for a deacon, we would like to have seven deacons to vote on come December.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

But why?

Because the body needs that.

We need the help.

We need to, and I don't want somebody to get over here, and this is what happens, it's just reality.

Sheep go over here and they miss a week, and then it got easy to miss week two, and before long, it was five weeks, and they're like, I just visited three months ago.

This church doesn't care about me.

And that is not the case.

We just don't want to miss things, and sometimes in humanity that can happen.

So, that commercial about deacons is over.

Back to the text.

So they chose from among them seven, full of the Holy Spirit wisdom that will serve.

Seven, why seven?

That was the pattern of Jewish councils.

So they it was something that was done, it was uh societal.

Um, seven men.

The apostles did this.

The apostles' priority and mission was right here.

It was identified.

They wanted to continually be in prayer and the ministry of the word of God.

They wanted to see the word of God impact hearts, the gospel go out into hearts.

Now, word to devote continually is the word proscartosiman, and that means continuous.

Continuous work.

You see, ministry is divided into two parts, church.

It's the word and the work.

Okay?

Everywhere you go that there's a church, there ought to be the word of God and the work of God.

And they knew if the word of God, hear this, as far as their mission, they knew if the word of God weakens, then the church of God would collapse.

That their work with the church would collapse.

They could not allow this.

So if the church ever gets distracted, know this the gospel will get diluted.

Okay?

We have to maintain this as the mission.

We have to keep to that.

Point number two this morning, servants patterned like their master.

Look at verse three.

We're gonna read three, five, and six of Acts, and then we'll turn over to Matthew, chapter 20, if you want to be turning.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

But verse three, it says, Men full of the Holy Spirit, verse five and six, and the saying, please the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and what?

The Holy Spirit.

And it says, whom they set before the apostles when they had prayed and they laid hands on them.

So this pattern of men that they were looking for was people that were full of the Holy Spirit of God, like their master.

People like their master.

So seven men full of the Holy Spirit chose men, they laid hands, they prayed.

And I want you to see in Matthew this picture of the disciples.

Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

Letter A, as you're turning there, we have to reject the secular.

Matthew 20, look at verse 20 and 21.

Then we'll jump down to verse 24.

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons kneeling down and asking something from him.

And he said to her, What do you wish?

And she said to him, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and the other on the left in the kingdom.

Go down to verse 24.

Okay?

That's two of the twelve.

And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.

But Jesus called them to himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.

Yet it shall not be so among you.

But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave or bondservant, 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.

As it starts here, you see this mother being a natural mother, but misplaced ideology, right?

She says, He says, What is it that you want?

Just a small thing.

When you get to your kingdom, there's a right and left hand side of Jesus.

I just, nothing major, but can my sons be on the left and right hand?

Right?

You go, that's a good mother, right?

Until you see another mother over here peering in.

What'd she say?

What about my boys?

What about my sons, right?

And so all of a sudden, the mother bears.

I've dealt with a lot of mama bears.

Me and Heather in years of teen ministry.

Funny stuff.

One of my favorites.

We had a pool party right before we're going back to school.

And this mom shows up, and it was it was majorly junior high students.

Junior high boys.

Just picture it.

A pool.

And there's a sweet girl in her brand new school clothes, and her mom came in.

I raked.

The Cayley's little school clothes got all wet at the pool party.

I'm like, she came to a pool party and she got wet.

She's lucky she didn't get tossed in the pool being around junior high boys.

And she was like, somebody's gonna have to pay for this.

And I'm like, well, who's that?

Why did she wear her new clothes to a pool party?

Mama Bear.

I mean, she mama bears have this head thing.

It starts going like this when they talk.

I said, okay.

We took a girl to Teen Camp.

By the way, the church, I found somebody to sponsor her, a little star.

Star was her name.

We get star to camp, get through the whole week.

You know, they paid$300, whatever dollars.

Week is done.

Star, we got eight to ten hours to get back home from Georgia to Indiana.

And I'm like, look, y'all, we're gonna leave this early.

Everybody's gonna have their stuff packed the night before we're gonna do this.

Well, that morning, Star can't find her shoes.

I'm like, how are you living?

How are you a teenage living and you have lost your shoes?

Like the night before camp, you realize no shoes.

And I'm like, I'm not spending all morning.

We started looking and trying to help, and I'm like, we got 10 hours to get home.

Star, you're gonna have to get on the bus.

You're going without your shoes.

Alright?

So Star gets on the bus.

We get home.

Guess what I get on Monday morning?

A phone call.

Y'all left that camp.

And my daughter's shoes.

And I'm like, I'm sorry, man.

I don't know how she lost her shoes.

In fact, we all tried to help find her shoes.

And she was like, Well, somebody there at the church is gonna have to pay for these shoes.

And I'm like, Are you kidding me?

So I asked the pastor, because I'm the youth pastor, I don't make that decision.

And we paid for her to have shoes because Mama Bear was getting hot, right?

One simple little, just something simple.

Can James and John be on the right and left of the throne of heaven?

Right?

These would have been.

Salome was Mary's sister, the one with this request.

That makes James and John first cousins of Jesus.

When you set your kingdom, just put your cousins right there.

How about a reservation for the family?

Well, verse 24, I read it.

When the ten others heard this, they were greatly displeased.

I guess so.

Right?

But Jesus, this is kind of amusing.

Jesus called them to himself.

I don't know the setting, but Jesus calls them over.

It doesn't say out of the room or somewhere else.

Jesus calls the two to himself.

This is sort of a funny interaction.

And then Jesus begins to preach to them.

He says, You know how sometimes others lord things over you.

You know how sometimes you get lorded over, boys.

Others can hear it.

Think about these guys.

Fourteen to twenty-year-old fishermen in a society where the rules were all above them.

Special society and laws, these teen fishers, they were the bottom rung.

Did they know about people lording over them?

Oh, for sure.

And so Jesus, in verse 26, he's talking to him and he said, It shall not be so among you.

You see, the world we live in, church, says, you'll find yourself by asserting yourself.

And God says, Jesus said, you'll find yourself if you deny yourself.

You'll find yourself at work if you'll just assert yourself.

Jesus said, you'll find yourself if you deny yourself.

The world says, climb the ladder.

But Jesus says, carry your towel.

Carry your towel.

Look at letter B.

Why?

Because we are to be reflecting the Son of Man.

Verse 27 and 28 there in Matthew.

He says, Whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did, not come to be served, but to serve.

To give his life a ransom for many.

Whoever wants to be great among you, he says, be a servant.

I'm so glad that this church, Amanda talked about it some, is a serving church.

I love the amount of people who serve at this church.

I think we're pretty unique in that manner.

The old mantra is 80% of people or 20% of people do 80% of the work.

And that is so wrong.

Wearing people out, it cannot be accepted.

Jesus, though, ever the discipler, the 33-year-old with senior high and college boys, pulls them not to a big rebuke, but an encouraging word.

He says, even the son of man, even the God man, why do you use son of man?

Because all of Mark's favorite title 14 times used in that book.

The God man, me, who is worthy of godness, who came lowly as a servant, is here to serve.

I'm not here to be great.

I'm here that my father, who I'm serving, is great.

I'm here to give my life.

Church, how are you giving your life?

How are you using your towel?

How are you using the three T's?

Your time, your talent, and your treasure.

How are you using all of those?

Because church doesn't grow through spectators, church grows through service.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, 19 through 23, if you want to turn there, it's a great passage, complementary to this text.

He says, For though I am free of all men, I've made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.

And to the Jews I become as a Jew that I might win the Jews.

And to the Gentile as a Gentile that I might win the Gentile.

To the weak I become as the weak that I might win the weak.

I become all things to all men by all means that some might be saved.

He said, I don't have to be a servant to all, but I've made myself a servant to all.

That some people would come to know Christ.

That people would hear the gospel.

That's your purpose.

God gave you a gift and a job and a circle, and that's the purpose.

God wants to use you to be a light to people around you, right where you are, your family, your neighborhood, your workplace, your sports, your classmates.

God gave you that purpose.

And Paul says, in order to see that purpose, I have to make myself a servant to people.

I can't look at climbing the ladder, I gotta look at carrying the towel.

Nancy Lee deMoss says, We are never more like Jesus than when we serve.

I don't want you to miss in verse 26 and 27 something important.

Look at what it says.

I know we've read it.

He says, It shall not be so among you, but whoever, listen, whoever desires to become great, let him be your servant.

Hold on to that.

Whoever wants to be great, the akinos, be a servant.

It goes even deeper, though.

You might miss this.

And whoever desires to be first, he said, You want to be great?

Serve.

You want to be first?

He says, let him be your bondservant or slave.

Different words.

The akinos servant, he says, bond slave is doulas.

He says, a servant chooses to help.

A bond slave lives to obey.

Hear me.

Your purpose in living, you want to be first, he says.

Then you live to obey God.

Servanthood is not the way up to the top rung.

Identity is not tied to titles, it's in towels.

Look at a third thing this morning.

Servants participate in the ministry.

Go back to the book of Acts.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

Chapter 6, servants participate in the ministry.

We're going to look at, lastly, in this point, Ephesians as well.

But Acts 6.

It says, okay, after they call forth for these men, lay hands on them.

Verse 7, what was the result?

Then the word of God spread.

And a great number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of priests were obedient to the faith.

Letter A is equipping for growth.

Equipping for growth.

When the apostles were able to focus on the Word of God because men stepped up to serve, then the Word of God that was focused on, guess what?

It began to spread.

And when the Word of God began to spread, because the apostles were able to focus on the Word of God in prayer over the Word of God, it spread, and people were disciples, and the number of disciples, it says, multiplied.

Because they were able to focus.

Now they didn't, it didn't say that ministry missed a beat.

It didn't say that widows had to take the back burner.

It didn't say that somebody's house wasn't, their need wasn't met, that a meal wasn't taken, that somebody wasn't served.

But because the whole body began to work, that pattern would continue as a church.

Excuse, I don't believe was a one-time event.

It was a pattern for every generation of believers.

Let's look at that in Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 4, verse 12.

Ephesians 4:12

He lists some of the giftings in verse 11: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers.

And he says, verse 12, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

He gives you a three-point outline right there: equipping, edifying.

Okay?

Work of the ministry.

You see this word in Ephesians 4 is carterasmos.

And it means to mend.

The equipping part, it means to mend, like mending a net.

Okay?

And we see that through scripture at different places.

We're going to see it in Mark chapter 1, but mending a net so that something can be ready.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Why would they mend a net?

So that they can go and catch fish.

How many of you?

Christmas time, okay?

It's okay.

We're in church, but it's okay.

You have to watch Home Alone part one or two.

It's okay.

No judgment here.

It's okay.

It's alright.

Right?

It's okay.

Home Alone one and two.

You're with over 800 million people that have watched the movie, right?

But in part two, there's this scene, okay?

And me and my family, we can't help it.

We just spout out lines.

But part two, there's this scene.

Harry and Marv have escaped from prison, and they're going to go with the great plan to capture money from a toy store.

Awful.

And then Kevin, magically, who's in New York, lures them to an abandoned apartment, right?

And there's this great scene where Marv is pulling staples out of himself.

Right?

And he opens a door and he walks in and he says, Harry, I've reached the top.

And he stands there and there's this, he takes one step, and all of a sudden there's this, he's right here, and he goes, and you see him in the scene, and he cracks his neck and he looks up and he says, Wow, what a hole! What a hole.

In Mark 1.19, James and John were cartissimos.

They were mending their nets.

Why?

Because it was torn.

There was a hole.

And when there's a hole in nets, you cannot bring in the fish.

They were mending.

Why?

So that they could build up.

They were mending their nets because there was a hole.

Equipping begins with you receiving a gift, and then ministry happens.

That word for deacons, and you say, Pastor, well, what is my part, Pastor?

How do I know my part?

Well, you have gifts, right?

But a man that hit this, your ability.

When a person receives the Holy Spirit upon salvation, they're given a gift.

Encouragement, giving, minus mercy, could be administration, helps.

And then they see what is the whole.

And they fill that spot, that need.

How can you build up the body of Christ for the building of the whole body?

You find out where there is mending, where there is a gap so that you can serve.

It should be innate to the DNA of a Christian to serve.

You should almost be aching to serve.

Now I do know that some people they get burnt out.

I get the idea.

We've had many people come here from different churches or situations where they were just used and used and used, and they came and said, I just want to be able to like soak in for a little while.

And I get that because a part of the building up is being able to breathe in the word and build you up.

It's like the picture on an airplane.

You can't help somebody else if you ain't, you know, or you won't help them real well, so you've got to get air and breathe.

But Heather and I will go somewhere, and most of the time, if we're in another place or state, often I'm preaching, but if I'm not, and I go to a church, I feel real weird.

I'm just standing in the lobby and I'm like, wanting to pat people on the back.

Welcome to this church that's not mine, but I'm glad you're here because it's church and you should be here.

And I'm like, I wish this guy knew because I really would go say something nice for him as a pastor.

I'd go up and say, just give me two minutes.

I would love to serve.

And I get there and I feel real weird in churches when I'm not serving.

All right?

We're 20 years in service.

Like, we need to be doing something.

And the body should feel like that.

You shouldn't dread service.

Remember the beauty and the beast?

The song Be Our Guest.

Be our guest, be our guest.

There's a line in it.

I'm not going to keep singing.

Don't worry.

But here's a line, this hit me.

Life is so unnerving for a servant who's not serving.

He's not whole without a soul to wait upon.

You hear that?

Matthew 9, Jesus had it.

Matthew 9 36, it says, when Jesus looked out over the crowds, compassion filled his heart.

When he saw the opportunity for service, Jesus was moved.

He wanted to serve.

Galatians 6 9 says about service.

Be not weary and well-doing.

In due season, you will reap if you don't faint.

If you continue on, you build endurance as a servant.

Acts 20, 35 says about serving, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

I love this.

I was listening to Dave Ramsey the other day.

He says, You haven't experienced fun in giving until you've paid someone's light bill.

And I get to picture.

Until you've given in a way that's changed so it didn't mess you up too bad, but it changed their life for the week, for the month, right?

And so he says, it is much more blessed to give.

And so serving in actuality blesses you, the blesser.

You think that you're being a blessing, but you're being blessed to be able to do and to help and to give.

Letter be.

Expanding the kingdom of God.

Look at Ephesians 4, 16.

That whole passage on spiritual gifts and the purpose of them, it ends right here before it goes into the new man, and it says, from whom, verse 16, the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

It says, you sharing the thing that God gave you to share, your availability builds up the whole body.

It encourages and edifies the entirety of the body.

So that we can see the kingdom of God expanded.

Servanthood is God's mode for expansion.

That's what Acts 6 was about.

We want to continue through the Word of God.

And that's what happened in verse 7.

It says, and then, because these seven men, full of faith with the Holy Spirit, used their gifts to further the body they served, then the word of God continued, and then it multiplied, and discipleship multiplied.

It's cyclical.

The word of God increased, and then disciples multiplied, and then the word of God increased, and then disciples multiplied.

Disciples who are discipled, disciple.

Let me say that again for some of you.

You missed it.

Disciples who are discipled, disciple.

It continues.

Don't miss what that verse says.

According to the effective working by which everybody does its share, it causes growth to the body.

When you serve, you grow.

And when you serve, you do your part, and the church grows.

So, church, I want to ask you.

Today, you're sitting there.

And this represents something for you.

How are you using your towel?

Are you using your towel?

Is there something that God's put on your heart that you haven't ventured into yet?

But your towel represents an opportunity.

How are you using your towel?

I know the world and the workforce, and everybody's in your ear about how you're climbing the ladder and how you're filling the account and how you're ready.

But I'm telling you, Jesus' picture to these disciples was how are you using your towel?

Will you grab your towel today?

I reviewed the story of William Booth, the founder of Salvation Army.

I want to close with this this morning.

When he began preaching on the streets of London in the 1800s, hear this.

He didn't attract respectable crowds.

William Booth attracted poor people, he attracted prostitutes, drunks, broken.

And William Booth coined this phrase.

He said, Go for souls and go for the worst.

Before he ever preached, he'd feed the hungry.

He'd wash the sores of the sick before he'd open a Bible.

You see, he just believed that the gospel needed to be seen before it could be spoken.

And there's a story about a young man that I wanted to tell you.

One night, this young fella came in, stumbled in, was just coming out of a hangover, he was dirty, really came in, probably felt hopeless.

A volunteer there welcomed him in, sat down with him, gave him a warm meal, and began to listen to his story like he was a real person.

Despite all the things that he drug in with.

Years later, he became one of Booth's ranking officers, and this was his testimony.

Listen to this.

He said, They washed my feet with their kindness, and God washed my soul with his grace.

I want you to look at John chapter 13, and I'm finished.

John 13 · chapter mention

John thirteen, verses five through eight.

He took a towel and he girded himself.

And after that, he poured water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples' feet.

And he began to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

Then he said to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet?

Jesus answered and said, What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.

And Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet.

And Jesus answered and said, If I do not wash you, then you have no part with me.

Peter said, Lord, not only my feet, but my hands and my head.

And Jesus sat there, disciple after disciple.

He put their feet in a basin.

He took his towel and he washed.

And I can't imagine what it was like to look at Jesus in the eyes during this humbling moment.

I don't like feet very much.

But dirty fisherman feet.

One after the other.

And you think about this.

Here came Judas.

Looks up at him.

Washi.

I believe love came across those eyes as strong as maybe ever.

Willing to serve.

You know, I see it when my wife serves my kids.

I see it in people here.

I see it when a door is open in joy.

I see it when nobody else sees it and somebody's in here for no other reason but they love the Lord and a mat's got to be vacuumed.

Service.

Taking our towel.

I know that the world around you tells you that is how you get to the bottom.

But Jesus said, your identity is not in a title, it's in a towel.

In a moment, we're going to have an invitation, and I want to invite you this morning.

You've got a towel there.

I want to invite you.

Maybe this morning during the invitation, you'll come and say, Jesus, I've got an ability and I've got availability.

Whatever it is, this morning, I want to come and I want to lay my towel.

At this altar, and I want to let you know, whatever it is to be your servant, whatever it means to serve you, I'm going to put this right here.

Before God, before my church, and let you know I'm here to serve you.

We're excited you've joined us for today's message.

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