What Keeps You?

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 

7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 

8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:1- 8 NIV

In our current teaching series, Radical Reorientation, we are exploring what it looks like to serve and love others.  We defined serving as both offering ourselves to another for their good and contributing to the good of the world around us. 

I certainly want to broaden our view of service from simply something we should do (more of) to an understanding that this way of life accurately reflects the image of God.  When Jesus reveals Himself as a servant, He was revealing who God actually is.  

We live in a world that operates in the exact opposite posture.  The goal is to be served.  That is where the power is and that is how we know we’ve made it— by the way people cater to us or cower to us.  

But in Christ, we are to share the same mindset and follow the same model, and that is the posture of a servant.  

We have learned that in order to keep what we have, we must protect what we have.  We have learned to withhold ourselves and live guarded or we will get hurt.  But to preserve and shrink back into distrust and withhold ourselves will continue to undermine our hope to live fully and freely.  

Of course, we know we should do good things for others -volunteer for things -but if it comes from a posture of having and holding, then our service is often from what we are able to do. But the way of Jesus invites us to serve from who we are.  That pesky identity thing again!

We don’t serve in order to save.  Instead, we want serving to become an expression— as we become more fully formed into the image in which we have been made.   This way of orienting our lives to serve others and offer ourselves must be learned, because it is foreign to the way we have learned to live.  

What if the way we experience the fullness of life we long for is by giving ourselves away?

God intends this for all of us. Everyone has something to offer.  And in serving, we will contribute goodness and beauty into the world as we learn to live in the fullness of His love and life for us.   

I ended the message on Sunday with two questions:

What keeps you from offering yourself? 

Many of us have valid reasons for why we withhold ourselves, why we protect not only our time and resources, but also the very essence of who we are. Make a list of the reasons why you may withhold, reserving judgment and laying aside any defensiveness or guilt. Next, I invite you to enter into a time of reflection using this prayer below.

Lord, I know that in giving myself to others, I can easily drift into unhealthy patterns that do harm to myself and enable others.  Or perhaps, in trying to preserve my boundaries, I drift towards preserving my way.  As I look at my list, would you help me to receive both grace and direction?  Would you lead me into the ways you are calling me to give my life away.

What step can you take towards offering yourself?

Our goal is that we learn to be full enough to give freely.  

This fullness that  I am talking about can only come from being returned to the relationship for which you have been created, your relationship with God.  We want to give ourselves out of the fullness of His love for us.  

God desires for us- and designed us- to live and experience a fullness that is only found in Him, day in and day out.  It’s from this Source that we are able to express His work in us by offering ourselves for the good of another. 

What I’m encouraging you to do is to take a step. 

You don’t have to do everything, just do something.  If you have been burned or burned out, I’d love to encourage you to consider taking a step,  And to take that step with us.  

We have so many great first steps for you.  Places where you can learn to offer yourself as you learn to live in the fullness of God’s love.I believe you will be cared for and surrounded so that you can find the freedom to give— even if you suspect you aren’t yet full enough.

We are all learning how to offer more of ourselves, as we continue to learn to live in the fullness of God’s love.

Mike Ashcraft, Senior Pastor at Port City Community Church, wrote today’s devotional.