LOVING ONE ANOTHER WITH ACTS OF SERVICE

                          

VIDEO LNKS TO THIS SERMON
LOVING WITH ACTS OF SERVICE -PART ONE
LOVING WITH ACTS OF SERVICE - PART TWO
Love One Another With Acts of Service

By Pastor Mark Taylor

God has given us variety in His creation. He has also given us unique and different personalities.  He has given us different ways to express our "love one to another".   We have learned how to love one another with words of encouragement and affirmation.      Today we are going to learn how to “love one another” with “Acts of Service”.  In the weeks to come we will learn how to love one another with gifts and quality time.

Acts of service, is doing things for others that you would want them to do for you. Our Lord and Savior said this: "Therefore, whatever you want people to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12).  You can show your love to others by doing things for them.  Love is not just a feeling, it is action.  “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue only, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

The “Love Language” of “acts of service” is something the Lord Jesus Christ both demonstrated and taught us to do. “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.” (John 13:12-14).  Today, in our society, we do not demonstrate or love for each other with this custom,  but there are many ways we can “wash each other’s feet” through loving each other with tangible acts of love and service.

Here are some ways to "wash each other's feet:  

A person who has an interest in teaching the Bible could start a Sunday School class for children or lead a  small group for adults who are not involved in Sunday School.  

Young adults could volunteer to help do some repairs or yard work for an elderly person or couple.  

Senior citizens could volunteer to read or help at a local school.  

A group in the church could volunteer to fix a meal and take and serve it at a homeless shelter.  We need to take our faith outside the walls of the church and use it more inside the walls.

This message is not designed to make you feel guilty or to make a decision to do something out of guilt.   I have asked the Holy Spirit to talk to you, motivate you, and inspire you to be like Jesus.

You may not feel like you're the most qualified. But in most cases the most qualified will not volunteer or use their gifts and abilities. God will give you the ability and the skill to accomplish the mission He is asking you to do.

Many people are locked into “gender” gaps and “generational” gaps which identify and limit them in the types of service that they are willing to give to those they love.  For instance, some men will not wash the dishes, because their dads never washed the dishes.  They view that service as something the wife should always do.  Some women feel that it is the husband’s job to take out the trash and wash the car.  When we allow ourselves to think and live the way our parents did, we limit our capacity to show our love to others with acts of service.  “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (Philippians 2:3).  “Remember there are no rewards for maintaining stereotypes, but there are tremendous benefits to meeting the emotional needs of those you love.”  

You may do a lot of things right, but if you don’t do it with love, you will not meet the needs of those who need your love. “And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Loving each other with acts of service is not limited to the husband and wife relationships.  This command of “loving one another” applies to our friends, fellow Christian brothers and sisters, children, and grandchildren. It is a love language that should be spoken by each of us to each other.  Love is a choice and cannot be demanded or manipulated.  “Each of us must decide daily to love or not to love each other.  This is true in all our relationships.

One of the best ways to express our love to the Lord is in “acts of service”.  “Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.” (Psalms 100:2).  This includes attending worship services, giving, praying, and giving testimonies of His goodness.  “Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalms 107:8).

Below are some simple “acts of service” we can do for each other and the Lord:

1. Be at church to show your love and support for each other and the Lord.
2. Visit the sick and home bound, and those in nursing homes.
3.   Prepare some food for someone who has lost a loved one or who has just had surgery and is at home sick.
4.   Use your gifts and abilities to serve the Lord and others within the church.  (teaching a class, watching the nursery, sing in the choir, repairing, cleaning etc.).

1.   Find a mission work outside of the church you can devote time to or donate money to help in their work for the Lord.

1.   Ask others and the Lord the question: “Is there something I can do for you?”
2.   Write a note or make a phone call to let them know you are “there for them”.
3.   Invite someone to your home for a meal or take them out and pay for it.

 Demonstrating your love for others is not a matter of them deserving it or not, it is a matter of God’s grace in you.  “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). 

Example:  "The Good Samaritan". A story of Grace.  God has shown you His grace by saving you when you couldn't save yourself.

Some of you have been waiting on the Pastor to ask you to serve. It is time for you to volunteer your gifts and abilities as acts of service for others.  It is one thing to complain about the needs that are around you, and yet he is another thing to be part of the solution to the problems.  

It is typical for 20% of the people in the church to do 80% of all the activities. If you are part of the 80% it is time for you to join the 20% in acts of service and love.  There is no limit in the amount of good that this church can do for the work of Christ in this community. But it is going to take everyone doing something before God's will can be done.  Sometimes it only takes a few people to inspire other people to use their gifts and abilities. You may be that person that is a spark that starts a fire in someone else's life to become the person God designed you to be. You may be the example that your children and grandchildren will follow to accomplish many great things in the kingdom of God

Express to your loved ones that it is a way you feel loved when they do things for you.  One practical way to do this is for two people or a family to write down two to three things they can do for each other to make each one feel more loved.  You can show your love for God by showing your love one another in “acts of services”. "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."    (John 13:35).  It is a testimony to your family, your friends, your church family, and most of all to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”          (1 John 4:7).