Serving & Worshiping You with Every Breath I Take
OPENING PRAYER:
Lord, as we enter the final week of our Lenten journey, guide us on the path that leads to you. Fill our hearts with gratitude, patience, strength and peace. Help us to grow closer to you this Lent through the practice of worship, service and submitting our will to yours. In your name we pray, Amen.
Praise and worship shouldn't be a few hours of church service entertainment. It should be our heartbeat and should never depart our lips. 'Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.' (Psalms 95:2).”
- Euginia Herlihy
BREAKING THE ICE:
Often people have “favorite” church services, such as Christmas Eve, Easter, worship on a mission trip, youth-led services, etc. What is your favorite worship service and why?
REFLECTION:
Do you believe that one person and one person's gifts can change the world, can change a community, and can even change a church? I want you to think about the one person who has been present at just the right moment when you most needed help, whose presence changed your life. Now consider…who could have replaced that person’s love and care for you?
I imagine the answer is likely, no one. Now think about yourself and the simple acts of service you've done, that are known only to God. Who could have replaced you?
This past Sunday we explored the life and witness of Dorcas, the seamstress whose simple acts of service were demonstrated day in, and day out. Her faithful service paved the way for the good news of Jesus Christ to take hold in people’s lives even after she died, and then the apostle Peter pushed back death and miraculously presented her alive! When God was ready to perform the miracle, Dorcas made a huge impact on her community because she had already shown a servant’s heart.
What about you? What kind of impact are you making? No job is too small, insignificant, or menial. Certainly, the church needs great preachers and evangelists, but honestly, God mostly needs his children to serve in the simple ways he has gifted each of us uniquely.
Paul in Philippians 2:5 – 7 reminds us that we are to have the same mindset as Jesus, who "did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." In other words, Jesus chose to give up his divine privileges so that we might be given a second chance at this life. He came with the knowledge that he would offer his life as a sacrifice for ours.
When we think about how God showed his love for us, it changes how we think about love. Love becomes a verb. Mature love is shown in the choices we make to love & serve others. This is not a love that comes easy – it’s a love that is sacrificial. We often have to submit our own agenda for God’s agenda. It’s love that builds up community through simple acts of service that may never even get noticed by others. Simple acts like making coffee on Sunday mornings, preparing the altar for worship, or visiting someone who is sick, developing curriculum for the next generation, or volunteering on a hard-working ministry team behind the scenes. All these ways of serving are ultimately about transforming people’s lives with the power of love. This is why we are called to serve and worship God with every breath we take.
You see, Jesus turned the world’s values upside down, when he identified serving as the way to greatness. The world defines greatness in terms of power and wealth and status. But Jesus calls his followers to set their own interests aside in favor of the interests of others. Jesus reminds all of his disciples, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)
Like the disciples, we struggle with our own ambition, pride and prestige and as a result, we unnecessarily miss the deep joy and peace Christ offers us. During this holiest of weeks in the Christian calendar, you are invited to contemplate the life-long path of surrendering your own self-interests to the interests of Christ. You are invited to complete a spiritual growth plan and then bring it back with you on Easter Sunday as you consider the humble task of developing a servant’s heart and the ways you hope to grow more like Jesus over the next year.
WRESTLING WITH THE WORD:
Read Colossians 3:16-17
- What does worship look like in this scripture? How is this similar or different from your experience of worship?
- Considering these verses, why is corporate worship important? How is our service to God an act of worship?
- This scripture talks about the peace of Christ ruling our minds and thanksgiving in our hearts. How is this tied to acts of worship and service?
Next Steps:
- How can we let the word of Christ richly dwell in us?
- How can we do everything as an act of worship?
- Paul is sharing the characteristics of a new life in Christ. How do we keep our worship from becoming mundane?
PRAYER FOR THE WEEK:
With all my heart I praise the Lord, and with all that I am I praise God’s holy name! With all my heart I praise the Lord! I will never forget how kind God has been. All of God’s creation, come and praise your Lord! With all my heart I praise the Lord! Lord we offer to you our worship, may we never stop praising you. Amen (Based on Psalm 103:1-2,22)