Aim for Jesus: Raising Imperfect Families That Serve

All right, now, hey, let's get our hearts ready

for what God has for us this morning in his word.

I want you to put your arms out with your palms up.

Close your eyes.

Just a posture of surrender.

Take a deep breath.

And remember, God is just as near

as the air you're breathing.

Let's pray.

God, today, would you guide us closer to you?

Help our minds put away the frustrations of this past week,

put away the distractions of the coming week.

We want to fully focus on you.

We come empty with nothing to offer but surrender.

Fill us up as only you can.

Holy Spirit, move in here today with power.

We believe that in advance.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, amen, amen.

Hey, today, we are continuing

with our Imperfect Family series.

And we've got Child Dedications, a full Sunday.

And so, those were supposed to be last week,

but that's kind of us committing together as a church

that we're gonna help these families.

We're gonna pour into them.

That's hard for somebody who's just filling the pulpit to do.

So we have Child Dedications today.

Got a full service.

That means my message is gonna be

a little shorter than normal.

I knew it was coming.

All right, just pause.

I knew it was gonna happen.

Let's get out of the way.

No family is perfect.

This series is called The Imperfect Family.

No family is perfect.

Every family's got a little crazy in it.

All right, raise your hand if you don't have a drunk uncle.

That's a drunk uncle.

Just kidding, keep your hands up.

Hey, everybody's got one, right?

Everybody's got a little crazy in it.

It's different.

And I wanna make sure that we start there.

Because there is a sense of,

when we talk about the family,

when we talk about parenting,

there's a tendency for us to hear what we should do.

And our immediate response, we think is,

well, I am failing at that.

And we should be aiming to follow Jesus,

to point our family to follow Jesus,

but Jesus' followers aren't perfect.

Jesus is perfect.

And actually to follow Jesus is to admit

that you're not perfect,

that you're a sinner who needs a savior.

And God's grace is so much bigger

than anything any one of us has done.

So our aim is not to be perfect.

It's not perfection, but it's actually progress.

And kind of what I want us to zone out

is we need to make sure we're aiming at the right target.

We know we're not gonna hit it perfect.

It's not gonna be a bullseye.

But the worst thing we could do is be aiming it over here

when we should be aiming for something over here.

Psalms 127 verses three through five, it says this.

I like how it,

phrase here says,

children are a gift from the Lord.

They are a reward from Him.

Children are a gift, they're a reward.

Children born to a young man are like arrows

in a warrior's hands.

How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them.

He will not be put to shame

when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.

Here's the truth about raising kids.

They are arrows in your hand.

And you are going to launch them somewhere.

That's the nature of it.

You are gonna launch them somewhere.

You're not gonna do it perfectly.

But my prayer is that at a minimum,

as imperfectly as we do it,

that we are aiming at the right target.

That we are aiming for athletics or academics

to be the ultimate goal.

We want our families to be pointing in the right direction.

We wanna be pointing them to Jesus and His ways.

Is that where you're pointing your family?

The greatest way you can point anyone to Jesus

is to first be following Jesus yourself.

This isn't true of just children.

It's true of people.

I said this a few weeks ago.

Kids, people, they don't do what's moral.

They do what's modeled.

Like people do what's modeled.

They do what they see others do.

And over the next few weeks,

we're gonna look at some specific ways

we can point our families to Jesus.

Specific ways we model what Jesus modeled.

Today, I wanna hone in on one particular thing.

I wanna talk about raising kids that serve.

You know, we talk about raising kids that serve.

That means we need to be serving.

Jesus calls us to serve, to serve others,

to serve those who need help,

to serve those who can't offer anything in return.

Jesus calls us to serve.

And here's the deal.

Service is something that is so foreign in our world.

Our world doesn't get service.

Our culture doesn't get service.

It's you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.

Everything given is measured by the potential for return.

I think I've shared this before,

but this is like crazy to me.

We're not regular Aldi shoppers,

but one time we went to Aldi

and I put the quarter into the cart

and like a lady was walking in

and I handed her the cart.

And I was like, here's a cart.

And she like tried to hand me the quarter.

And I was like, you can have the quarter.

Like it's 25 cents.

It's not a huge deal.

And you'd have thought that she won the lottery.

She could not believe of the generosity of a quarter.

Guys, our world doesn't get service.

It's not how the world operates.

We don't operate the way the world operates.

We are to operate the way that Jesus calls us to.

That is to serve others.

And when we do that,

it is radically different from the world.

That's what God's economy is.

He has called us to serve

without any expectation of a return.

So if you turn me in your Bibles to John 13,

a little bit of context about this passage.

This is right before Jesus' arrest and then death.

He is gathered with the disciples.

He knows that he's about to be betrayed.

He knows that he's going to die.

And these are kind of the final moments

that he has with the 12.

And here's how Jesus serves.

Then we're gonna start in verse three.

Jesus knew that the Father

had given him authority over everything

and that he had come from God and would return to God.

So he got up from the table, took off his robe,

wrapped a towel around his waist

and poured water into a basin.

Then he began to wash the disciples' feet,

drying them with a towel that he had around him.

Jesus begins washing his disciples' feet.

Takes off his robe, ties a towel around his waist.

He has all authority.

That's literally what it starts there.

But he lowers himself to serve those around him,

those who follow him.

It's a picture of servant leadership.

Remember, it starts saying he has all authority.

He has from God, he will return to God, all authority.

Jesus, he's saying, he's at the top of the org chart, right?

He's in the C-suite, right?

He's up there and yet he is serving his followers

by doing something that's reserved

for someone who's at the bottom of the org chart,

somebody who's just to help out.

I've heard it put this way.

I think it's just, there's a lot of truth to this,

especially if you're a Christian.

If serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you.

If you wanna do things Jesus' way, servant leadership,

because the best leaders aren't the ones

who think highly of themselves,

but the ones who value everyone.

And Jesus, as he's doing this,

this is a shock to Simon Peter, verse six.

It says, when Jesus came to Simon Peter,

Peter said to him, Lord, are you gonna wash my feet?

Jesus replied, you don't understand now what I'm doing,

but someday you will.

No, Peter protested, you will never ever wash my feet,

never ever.

Jesus replied, unless I wash you, you won't belong to me.

He's like, if I don't do this, you don't belong to me.

Simon Peter, he flipped the script,

then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet.

Give me that double blessing.

If this means I'm yours, I wanna be yours.

Jesus replied, a person is bathed all over,

does not need to wash,

except for your feet to be entirely clean.

And you disciples are clean, but not all of you,

for Jesus knew who would betray him.

That's what he meant when he said, not all of you are clean.

Simon Peter's pretty funny.

He goes from, you'll never ever wash my feet,

to wash my hands and my head too.

He changed his mind so quickly.

I'm not gonna go too far to that.

Just a side note, when Jesus has spoken directly

to something, it's okay for you to change your mind.

Not the authority of other people,

but if God's word is clearly talked about something,

and that you thought a different way,

if Jesus has said something directly in his word,

it's okay for you to change your mind.

You don't have to just be stubborn

and stick with what you thought,

because you thought it, right?

Just throw it out there, right?

That's an aside.

All right, let's keep going, verse 12.

It says, after washing their feet,

he put on his robe again, he sat down and asked,

do you understand what I am doing?

You call me teacher and Lord,

and you are right, because that's what I am.

And since I am your teacher and Lord,

and have washed your feet,

you ought to wash each other's feet.

I have given you an example to follow.

Do as I have done to you.

Jesus tells them, I'm teacher and Lord.

That's why they would call to him, rabbi, Lord.

Rabbi meaning teacher.

I am teacher, Lord, to you.

And since I have washed your feet,

you need to wash others' feet.

Do as I have done.

He's not saying go and serve others because I told you so.

He's saying serve others because I have done it to you.

He isn't just saying it,

he is modeling it for his disciples to serve those.

Not take your position of authority,

say I'm above that, say I'm gonna serve everyone.

How are you modeling service in your home?

How are you modeling service in your home?

Showing those that you live with

that serving is how you operate.

Let's keep going.

Verse 16, I tell you the truth.

Slaves are not greater than their master,

nor is the messenger more important

than the one who sends the message.

What Jesus is saying here, he's saying serve everyone.

Like everybody is made in the image of God.

Even serve those who aim to hurt you.

Like Jesus washed Judas' feet.

Judas is saying Judas is gonna hand him over

just shortly after this.

Jesus is telling the disciples

to not think too highly of themselves, to serve everyone.

No qualifiers on serving others, just serve them.

How often do we put little qualifiers on that?

Well, I would do, but, well they,

fill in that blank however you want.

Oh, you see Jesus talking in Luke six,

he kind of goes all in on this and it's,

I think we have a tendency as humans

to not do things God's way, like we kind of go our way.

And I think if we read Luke six with honest eyes

and open hearts, like it is convicting.

Cause we were called to live like this, not like the world.

Luke six, verse 32.

If you love only those who love you,

why should you get credit for that?

Even sinners love those who love them.

Just put a pause, well, when's the last time

you loved somebody that hates you?

Yeah, stepped on my toes, that one hurt.

All right, keep going.

And if you only do good, only to those who do good to you,

why should you get credit for that?

Even sinners do that much.

And if you lend money only to those who can repay you,

should you, why should you get credit?

Even sinners will lend their money to others

for a full return.

Love your enemies, do good to them.

Lend to them without expecting to be repaid.

Then your reward from heaven will be very great

and you will truly be acting as children of the most high.

For he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.

You must be compassionate

just as your father is compassionate.

As Jesus followers, we are to be different from the world.

We are to serve those who need it.

Those who need it, not those who can pay us back.

Not those who in return serve us back.

We serve everyone because that's what Christ did for us.

I think ego is a thing that gets in the way

for most of us when it comes to service.

We think too highly of ourselves.

Like just being real.

Sometimes we just think too highly of ourselves.

Just gonna be like the most humbling experience I can say

is we are not that important.

I think I'm important on some days.

I missed last week and everything went fine, right?

I'm not that important.

None of us are.

Jesus is our model.

He was God in the flesh and he served others.

We are to serve everyone,

even those who can't pay back for your service

or whatever that might look like.

Then last passage from John 13, verse 17.

John 13:17

It says, now that you know these things,

God will bless you for doing them.

Now that you know these things,

God will bless you for doing.

Jesus is, he was showing us and he's telling us

that we should serve others.

He said, now that you know,

God will bless you for doing what you know.

God's not gonna hold you accountable

for the things that you don't know,

but he will hold us accountable for the things we do know.

And right here he is saying, now you know, go serve people.

Serve them and go and do it.

You can't just say it, you have to go do it.

You have to.

And one last point here, and this is a big one.

When you serve others, when you serve people

who have no tangible return to your life,

you're not doing it to serve them.

You're actually serving as if it were for the Lord.

Ephesians six, Ephesians six,

if you have a baby being dedicated or a child,

that was your cue, all right, go get your kids.

Ephesians six, verses seven through eight says this,

work with enthusiasm.

Other translations actually say serve with enthusiasm.

Serve with enthusiasm as though you were serving the Lord

rather than people.

Remember, the Lord will reward each one of us

for the good we do.

This is huge, huge, huge, huge, huge.

Serve as if your service is for the Lord.

So the service you give isn't,

service you're giving to others isn't for them,

it's actually an act of obedience to the Lord.

And that changes the way that we should serve

because here's the deal,

Jesus gave us his life on the cross.

That's how he served us.

We did not deserve that from him.

There's no way we could have earned that salvation,

to earn that kind of love, but he freely gives it to us.

He's saying, do you want to others as I have done to you?

He wants us to extend that same grace

to everybody around us.

He calls us to serve them sacrificially

without seeking repayment.

When we are serving others, it's how we serve the Lord.

When you're serving someone who doesn't deserve it,

you're serving like Jesus.

We don't deserve his grace and yet he gives it freely.

Not only are we serving like him, but our service is to him.

We serve others because he is worthy of our service.

People are difficult, they are difficult people,

you're one of them, just being real.

We don't serve them because they're difficult,

we serve them because that's what God's called us to do.

And he is worthy of our service.

The Bible also said that he will reward our service.

So I offer a question for you.

It's really simple.

If we want to raise kids that serve,

that means that we have to be modeling service.

So just be honest, who do you serve?

Answer that question, who do I serve?

Who do you serve?

How you answer that question is pretty big.

There's a lot of possible answers there.

There's only one right answer and it's Jesus.

And we serve him by serving others.

Does your life reflect that?

Can your family see that?

Imperfect family.

We're never gonna get it just right,

but let's make sure we're aiming for the right target

and the right target is Jesus and his ways.

He has called us to serve.

Let's pray.

God, would you help us build families,

build homes, Lord, that serve you.

That we would serve like you,

that we would not discriminate our service

based on what we will get in return,

but to serve out of love for you and our community.

That we would not hold back generously

from giving to those around us.

God, guide us closer to you in our everyday steps.

Give us eyes to see the opportunities around us

and in front of us.

God, help us to be a people that are distinctly different

because we serve

with no regard for what comes back.

But God, we serve out of obedience to you.

God, help us to be Jesus followers

that model what you model,

that we don't just say it, but that we actually live it out.

God, we trust you with any reward that might come.

It's all because of you.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name

and all God's people said, amen.

Hey, at this time, if you have a child

that's being dedicated,

you guys can come up, just hang out right here.

Come on up, everybody.

As they are kind of moving towards the front,

I just wanna explain what we're doing today.

Child Dedications, it's just that.

It is some families that are dedicating their child

or children to the Lord.

They're saying, we are committed to raising this child

in a way that will honor God.

So that one day, a lot of these little ones,

they're not there yet mentally,

but so that one day their child's faith will be in Jesus.

Putting your faith in Jesus is a personal decision.

Mom and dad can't make it for them, right?

I wish we could, I got kids.

I wish they would just put their faith in Jesus.

But what these families are doing

is they're committed to doing their best

to point these kids to Jesus.

That's their commitment.

They're saying, hey, when we're at home,

we're gonna point these kids to Jesus.

And we, as a church family,

we're committing to do the same with them.

You've heard that it takes a tribe to raise a family.

Church, we are a big part of this tribe.

Can I put a little meat on those bones?

That means when these kids are acting crazy in the lobby,

we don't shake our heads and just ignore them.

That kid's loud, that kid's crazy.

Some of these kids are loud and crazy, that's okay.

Some of my kids are loud and crazy, that's all right.

That means we come alongside and we help these families out.

We don't just avoid the awkward, we step into it.

Because you know what?

Sometimes kids are hard and you need a hand.

This is the truth, right?

I mean, if you got kids, you know,

they're difficult sometimes.

I never forget one time I spent like a whole month

telling my son the same thing in basketball.

I was like, dude, if you just like, don't do that, do this.

Like, just do this, just do this.

And then he met with TJ.

TJ's in here, he coaches with me.

And TJ said the same exact thing to him.

And we're driving home and he goes,

hey, TJ said I should just, and I was like.

I've been telling you the same thing,

but yes, listen to TJ, that's a good deal.

Sometimes you need other people

to speak into your kid's life.

They're committed to pouring these kids to Jesus.

As a church family, we're rallying with them to say,

hey, whatever you need to help with that,

we're here to help with that.

Can I get an amen?

Well, hey church.

No family is perfect.

None of us.

Some of us have problems, some of us got big problems,

but guess what?

None of us are perfect.

That's why we need each other

and that's why we need Jesus.

So these families that have come up here,

we put their name and their picture,

not to just show up because we're saying,

hey, they're saying this is their home

and they're gonna raise these kids here.

And we're saying, we're gonna come alongside

and be a part of that as much as we can

to point these kids to Jesus.

That's something to celebrate church.

If we don't have kids in the other room, we're dying.

Literally, if there's no new life, what are we doing here?

There's a lot of kids that are loud, they're a mess,

they take work, we're gonna serve them,

we're gonna do these things.

That's what it's all about.

It's imperfect.

Let's continue to serve those, okay?

So let's stand and let's celebrate

that we have rooms full of kids,

we have families that are dedicating their children

to Jesus, stand and worship together.