Service

One of the topics that we just keep coming back to is service- which means you have to ask yourself whether your youth leader is just too lazy to come up with a new topic or whether there's something so profoundly important in the topic that it needs lots of emphasis and discussion. Being the youth leader, I'm going to go with the second one. :)

So why is it so important to understand? It's the age-old tension of faith vs. works. Ephesians 2:8 talks about how we have been saved by grace alone, rather than by our works, so that no one can boast. Doing good alone can't save you, because the kingdom of God is as much mental as physical. And really, how many of us have done something that we thought was really helpful, only to realize later that it wasn't the right thing to do? Or have done something good for the wrong reasons? Even something as cut and dry as serving a meal to a hungry child can have a wide range of impacts on the server. Any way it goes, the child gets fed. But are you doing it because God asked you to love your neighbor as yourself, and this is an expression of pure love? Or is it because it gives you a smug sense of satisfaction to know that you're not in the position of the one who needs help? Or maybe it's because you need verifiable service hours to put on your college application, and this is an organized activity that doesn't take much thought on your end. One motivation goes a long way towards bringing you closer to God. The others? Not so much. Salvation is about drawing closer to God, not just checking off a list of good deeds.

But then James 2:24 reminds us

^21-24 Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

 It's not just about the mental, either. If salvation is a drawing-near to God, there's some action required ("drawing near" is an action, yes?). If you say you believe something but your actions don't match what your mouth is spouting, you have to wonder where the disconnect happened. Dig a little deeper: Have you not really bought in to this whole Christianity thing? Do you have some unresolved questions that might make it easier to live out what you've been taught? Or maybe you just need the reality check that you haven't put much thought into your time and actions, and now that you know, you're ready for some change.

So to help us dig a little deeper, let's look at motivation and you can think about what resounds most clearly with you. Why might we serve?

• Self-service: Not just gaining college-enticing service hours, this also includes the actions you take on behalf of someone else to make yourself more secure or to ensure that there's help for you when/if you might need it.
•  Guilt: Feeling bad that you have it better, you throw a little something (time or money) at a problem not to make the problem better, but to make you feel like you "did your part."
• Obligation: You serve because something you belong to requires it- NHS, Boy Scouts, etc.
• Commandment: God said to love others as yourself, so you're going to serve to obey God rather than because you "feel it" (this is not always a bad thing!)
• Justice: You are outraged by a wrong and so you act, not because you like the act of service (though you might) but because you have a strong need for change.
• Feelings of joy: Maybe you really love the action that functions as your service, the fact that you're serving, or the people that you're serving. Whatever it is (and maybe it's all of the above), there is an eagerness in this service- you're happy to do it because of the heart-squeezing happiness it brings.

 Your reasons could be any or all of the above, or even something else entirely, and it probably changes based on a myriad of circumstances. But obviously, some of those reasons are going to be preferable to others. In addition to recognizing that some reasons to serve are better than others, it's important to remember that there are ways to optimize our servants' hearts:

• The most enjoyable forms of service make your heart and your mind sing. They are pleasant and tailored to your skills. Seek them out- they'll refresh you! But if you haven't found them yet, don't just sit and wait for them to come to you. Most of the time we learn what our skills and interests are by DOING- and in the doing, we refine until it feels right. I once knew a guy whose job was to travel around and fix chiropractic tables- and he LOVED it. That's obviously not something your guidance counselor is pushing toward you as a career option, so how did he find it? By starting down a path he thought he might enjoy and then tweaking his skill set as the opportunities arose. You can do the same.
• Serve in ways that DON'T make your heart and mind sing.Very few people enjoy doing dishes or putting away chairs or doing any of the other mundane tasks that so often need doing. It can be easier to pursue the more glamorous service opportunities and ignore the ones that won't get you praise or a Nobel Peace prize. Do the everyday services anyways- it'll help you grow in understanding, in principals, in appreciation of others.
• Think both immediate and long-term. Put your phone away and look around you to find the things that you can do RIGHT NOW. You don't need to spend every waking minute on it, but there's always something that can use your attention. But don't forget about the future, either. Is there something you think would be really cool to do but that you're not qualified for right now? Learning a skill or preparing yourself for a move or even going to college can all be acts of service in themselves, depending on how you view them and what your motivations are.
• Service isn't just a "do"- it's a "be." Get a black belt in service- move from having it be an event to having service be your way of life. It's a mindset shift, when you start to look at everything from where you go to what you do to how you eat as acts of service. There are very minute shifts that can make a big difference to someone else, and it allows you to immerse yourself in loving others all the day long.
• Keep yourself balanced.  Every cause out there has more than one way to approach it (and this is not a rallying cry for you to take on all of them). Keeping balanced is finding both where you fit in the plan and keeping the bigger equilibrium across all of the ways you serve in your life. There are four main categories of service (with some cross-overs) and every Christian should have some form of active service in each of them:
• Known: Serving in a way that allows you to know the people you're serving. You can see their faces, you can talk with them, you can connect on a personal level (even if it's nothing more than a "Hi, how are you?"). This is the hands-on stuff. It might be people at your school, at church, in your neighborhood, or the people we interact with on the mission trip. In our church, it might include the Circle of Friends Shoppe or (for some of you) the India Ministry.
• Unknowable: Like Heifer or Shared Hope, this service benefits people that you will never meet. You can't see their faces, talk through their struggles, give them a hug. Sometimes you're benefiting people in distant lands, and sometimes they're people right here who are kept private for safety reasons, like when we raised funds for Friends of Abused Families.
• Formal: The "organized" service action/event. Sometimes it's spearheaded by someone else, like the mission trip or the India Gala, but it can also be a personal standing commitment to an organization (greeting at church, serving on a board, providing childcare every Wednesday night at the shelter, being a Big Brother, etc.)
• Informal: Whether spontaneous or not, this is the "I'm just gonna do it" category. It can be talking to someone who looks lonely, letting someone in front of you in line, or deciding to surprise your family with dinner. Maybe it's calling your grandma, because you know she'd like that. Or maybe it's deciding to stop buying chocolate with questionable labor practices. These are the things that don't require a big plan- they're the opportunities that simply show up in your life, nudging you to follow through. They can't be quantified on a list of ways you serve, but believe me, you'd notice a very different world if we all started to ignore the little things.

Your assignment for the week was simple: No matter how you currently serve, think of ONE new thing in any of the service categories and decide to take ONE step towards making it part of your life. Maybe it's as simple as finding the website of an organization and looking at their volunteer opportunity list. Maybe you donate something off of a wish list. Maybe you call your grandma. Maybe you.... fill in the blank. Just choose one thing and, most importantly, start.

5 Minutes of God Time: Follow Me by Casting Crowns