Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], July 2021]

As followers of Jesus we are called to serve the least, the last, and the lost – but what does that look like practically for us in 2021?

On Sunday we were talking about following in Jesus’s footsteps and becoming world changers; the first part was humbly serving the poor, but my question is “Well, how do we practically do that?”

So on Sunday we read in Luke about Jesus’s manifesto where he laid out what his mission was going to be like here on earth. He talked about the idea of being good news – not just preaching it – but being it; serving the poor, acting for justice, bringing healing and freedom to to people, and we looked at the idea that if we are truly followers of Jesus Christ, we have to follow Jesus. We have to follow in his footsteps, do those things that he did, sign up for his manifesto. But I left that question “Well, what does that practically look like for me now in 2021?”

Jesus lived in the Middle East, he had a massive following and it was 2,000 years ago, so what does it look like? How do I translate that into today’s world really? Well, let’s just look at what Jesus didn’t do. He said he was going to humbly serve the poor but that didn’t mean that he supported aid organizations, he didn’t send money, he didn’t give money out so the poor could be served. Also he didn’t sit in a church or a building waiting for people to come to him, he wasn’t putting up a sign saying ‘help here’. He didn’t do that so what did Jesus do?

Well I think what we see Jesus do time and time again as recorded in all four gospels was that Jesus was a guy who rolled up his sleeves, got stuck in and got his hands dirty. He went to where the needs were. We find him going to places like the pool of Siloam where people who needed healing hung out and he healed people. He often went off the beaten track, he took detours in order to reach those people on the fringes of society, like stopping to look up into a sycamore tree to chat to a guy called Zacchaeus. Also what he’d spent a lot of time doing is hanging out with those who the religious authorities labelled as sinners. He went to their houses, he ate with them, he attended their parties and when we talk about parties here we’re not talking about church buffets; we’re talking about probably pretty raucous affairs with drink and food and goodness knows what else.

Jesus was willing to sacrifice his reputation in order to hang out with all the wrong kinds of people. So how can we follow in Jesus’s footsteps?
Well, number one, I think what it takes is enormous courage because for most of us to serve in that sort of way is to step out of our comfort zones It takes courage to move out of what is perhaps our normal social circles and to move into areas that are unknown to us. Actually, it takes courage to step into places where life is increasingly messy because we like to avoid mess rather than get involved in it. So, number one, it takes enormous courage.

Number two, it takes intent. You need to decide that this is what you’re going to do. This isn’t something that’s going to fall into your lap; you need to decide and choose to serve in this way. You need to go out and look for it. Now, that may not be going on the streets searching for poor people but it could be signing up to an organization that serves in some way or another.

For me, when I was in my 20s, I contacted the Salvation Army and said “Look, I’d like to just help with a soup kitchen” so I served in a soup kitchen one evening a fortnight. I had to make some sandwiches, I had to make some soup, bring it along and just spend some time serving the poor in the town. I had to be intentional with that, I had to go and seek it out and, thirdly, what it needs is just an initial step. It doesn’t have to be a giant leap, it’s just that first tentative step towards increasingly serving the least in our society.

I’m not asking you to go and find some homeless guy, drag him off the streets and move them into your house, but what I am saying is “What are those small things that you can do intentionally to start to serve the poor?” I think actually one of the best ways is to hook up with an organisation, to volunteer for an organization whose job it is to serve the poor.

I would go as far as this: when we’re thinking about going back to a physical church and starting up many of our church activities I know we are asking for volunteers but perhaps God is telling you not to volunteer for a church but to volunteer for an organization that serves the poor. A bit controversial, might get my wrists slapped for that one. Now you might be saying to me, “Well, that’s all great but my life is just too busy for that”. Perhaps your life is too busy, maybe your life is too busy for you to be a follower of Jesus Christ because actually Jesus calls you to make him the number one priority in your life.

I doubt that your life is truly too busy; it just maybe may need a resorting and reordering of your priorities. Are you willing to take that challenge to follow in Jesus’s footsteps by firstly humbly serving the poor in our community?

.
[1] YouTube link: How do I serve the poor?
Bible references: ~

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.