In tennis, some players have booming serves. Others can return just about everything their opponent fires at them. But the best players are those who can not only uncork powerful serves but can return them as well.
What in the wide world of sports does this have to do with First Impressions? Well, thanks for asking. We do what we do each weekend because we’ve been served. We’re actually returning serve. Let me explain. Jesus first served us. Now we return His serve by serving others. In their book Creature of the Word, Matt Chandler, Eric Geiger and Josh Patterson describe how everything we do is a response to what Christ did for us. “The foundation of our service is built upon Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection for us. It begins and ends with Jesus--begins there because He is our original motivation and ends there because only in Him are empowered to serve others.” The fact of His service through His life, crucifixion, death, and resurrection on our behalf is certainly fresh in our minds in the days following Easter.
Jesus serves us first. We return His serve.
As followers of Christ, we need to remember that we don’t serve out of guilt or some misguided effort to earn a place in His kingdom. That’s over. That’s complete. That’s why Jesus yelled from the cross, “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30). There’s absolutely nothing we can add to what He’s already done. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves in a million years. When it comes to a serve, that’s an ACE!!! But we return His serve by serving others with radical hospitality.
-We return serve by welcoming people into our parking lots.
-We return serve by providing a friendly ride on our shuttles.
-We return serve by greeting folks with a wide smile at the doors.
-We return serve by guiding guests throughout the campus.
-We return serve by brewing people coffee, lattes, and mochas.
-We return serve by cooking up hot meals in our kitchen.
-We return serve by interacting with folks in the auditorium.
We return serve as a response to the overwhelming grace Jesus has showered on us. We serve as an act of worship of our Savior. We serve because He first served us. A couple of hundred years ago, Martin Luther hit the nail on the head when it comes to what our service is all about. “A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.” And that’s EXACTLY the return of serve we hope to provide through First Impressions.
Jesus serves us first. We return His serve.
(This post originally appeared on the Hope Community Church blog. I was asked to contribute a piece about the meaning of service for our church's First Impressions ministry. http://blog.gethope.net/serving-2/returning-the-serve.)
(This post originally appeared on the Hope Community Church blog. I was asked to contribute a piece about the meaning of service for our church's First Impressions ministry. http://blog.gethope.net/serving-2/returning-the-serve.)
