A New Ridge Fellowship Devotional
CALLED TO SERVE
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.
1 Peter 4:10
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Devotional Day 1
READ: Philippians 2:1-11
Reflect:
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What quality of Christ stands out to you from this passage of Scripture?
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Paul urges the people of God to live by the standards outlined in verses 2-5. What seems easiest to you? What seems the most difficult?
Devotion:
Oftentimes, I get asked if serving others is a requirement to be a part of the church or to consider yourself a Christian. While the question generally comes from a genuine place in the person’s life, I can’t help but wonder where the conversation will go. We could go back and forth for hours on the free gift of salvation versus the call in Scripture to serve one another. The potential rabbit trails are endless.
While there are many ways to address a question like this, I usually start right here in the passage from Philippians that we reflect on today. There is no need to go back and forth and the question, “Do I need to serve?”, quickly becomes less important.
Paul, the writer of Philippians, doesn’t get into the back and forth, he simply says that if we follow Jesus, we must seek to live like him. “…He made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant”.
If the Son of God finds value in a life of humility and service, then the invitation to each of us is to imitate His life. We must push through our roadblocks and follow closely in his footsteps. To follow Jesus is to give ourselves to a life of service.
Action Step: Ministry Fair
While there are many ways that we can serve in our everyday lives, here at New Ridge, our prayer is that each person who belongs to this community would look for ways to serve our church family. We don’t do this because it is a requirement. Neither because you want to appear better than those who do not serve. We simply serve because Jesus embodied it. As we grow closer to Him, we too should want to look more and more like Jesus.
We don’t want to just talk about the importance of serving, we also want to give you the tools to put it into practice. In these devotions this week, you will
continue to receive some action steps and resources to help you discern how you might serve here at New Ridge. Our goal is to give you the tools to help you make a wise decision.
Following this week of devotionals, we will also have a ministry fair on Sunday, September 15th. The fair will be after each of the services. Many of our ministries that have active serving opportunities will be in the lobbies of the church to answer any questions and help you get connected to different serving opportunities that fit with your gifts and interests.
As we journey together over the next week through these devotionals, we pray that God would stir in your heart to make it clear how you can live a life of service to God.
Devotional Day 2
READ: Mark 10:42-45
Reflect:
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Jesus’ words may feel harsh here, but they are meant to encourage us if we are willing to be honest with ourselves.
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Where are some places in my life where I serve others well?
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Where are some places in my life where I need to embody service more?
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Devotion:
Not convinced that looking at Jesus’ life of service means we are called to the same? How about we take the words right from His mouth. “…Anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant…”
The words of Jesus are often meant to cut right through the lies of our lives that the enemy has told us are true. When you look at the world around you, serving others, giving up something so others can have, and leadership that seeks to serve, not be served are all things that won’t win you any points or help you climb the corporate ladder. But whose approval are we seeking?
Are we seeking the approval of the cold, harsh world of corporate executives, bosses who treat us poorly, and striving for wealth, money, and power at all costs? Or are we seeking the approval of Christ? The Christ who tenderly calls us to live as if we are servants of our brothers and sisters.
Chase your dreams, have aspirations, live for excellence in your work and life. Christ is not opposed to these things!
Jesus is only concerned with one thing: the posture of your heart.
He wants to see that:
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no matter where you are in life,
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no matter how important you are,
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no matter how wealthy you become,
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no matter how many people are in your department
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how successful your business becomes,
Can you...
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live a life of service to each and every person you interact with?
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put others needs above your own?
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experience some pain so others can succeed?
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live differently, pointing others to Christ.
Will we do this perfectly? No, but we can strive to live a life of service to others. As we dig into these words of Jesus, we must be honest with ourselves. Are we on the right track or do we need to give something up so that we can follow Jesus well and serve others?
Action Step: Serving Document
As you continue to reflect on service this week, here at New Ridge, there are plenty of opportunities to put your faith into practice! Our ministry leaders have worked hard to ensure that you have the tools you need to make a wise decision. Linked below is a document that breaks down all the serving opportunities that are currently available in various ministries here at the church.
We simply ask that you take time to read through this document, consider the opportunities, and explore the ones that stand out to you at the ministry fair on, September 15th. Our goal is not to overwhelm you with many service options. We hope you will pick one or two that look exciting to you and serve faithfully in those places to put your faith into practice here at New Ridge!
Today, take some time to read through the options and prayerfully consider where you might like to serve and where God might be calling you in the process.
Devotional Day 3
READ: Romans 12:1-10
Reflect
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Have you ever considered that your service to others helps you to be a living sacrifice to God?
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o What do you think it means to “outdo one another in showing honor”?
Devotion:
One thing we need to be careful about, as people of faith, is believing that the status our world might assign us means we have more value in the Kingdom of God. This is not so. In God’s Kingdom, we are all His children. We all carry the same value in God’s eyes. God is like a good parent who would never choose one child over the other, seek to be fair, and give them an equal amount of love. Be reminded of this truth today: you carry the same value as each person in our church community.
However, this doesn’t mean we are all the same. Each of us has different gifts, talents, and abilities. The beauty in this is that each of us is to bring our own unique gifts to our church family to be used for the glory of God. Not to put on a show or to prove our worth as Paul says, but to show our love to one another and to honor each other by complimenting the gifts each of us brings. When we do so, we can collectively operate as a healthy body operates. Each of us doing our part, for the good of the whole.
Action Step: Spiritual Gifts Test
Often, we hear passages of scripture about the gifts we have, or we’re told we should use our gifts to serve God. To do so, we must first know what gifts we possess. Taking a spiritual gifts test can be a helpful tool as you begin to think about where you can serve God here at New Ridge.
Below is a button that will take you to a free test if you are interested in learning more about how your gifts might align with serving opportunities at the church. We encourage you to try it out and see if it might help you discern where you could use your gifts to serve God and one another here at New Ridge.
Devotional Day 4
READ: Acts 2:42-47
Reflection
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How does the modern church differ from the church portrayed in this passage? How is it the same?
Devotion
Though our passage today doesn’t speak directly to service, it does portray a rich vision of what a church community can look like. Most importantly you can see two clear values of the early church: commitment and unity.
There is an unwavering commitment to one another shown in this passage.
The believers all share in meals together. They all worship together. When someone is hurting or in need, others give up their possessions to care for their brothers and sisters. Something always intrigued me about this way of life and practice of faith. The more we operate from a vision of life together with one another, the less we seek to divide, live selfishly, and place our needs above others.
All of this leads to unity in the Spirit. When you put 10 people in a room, you’ll have plenty of different opinions. Now, like our passage, imagine how difficult it can be to stay unified when the whole town is involved! But as the passage says, “they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship”…and scripture says it was contagious…”and awe came upon every soul”.
What a beautiful vision of life in service to one another as we pursue the teachings of Christ and the apostles and commit ourselves to the fellowship of all believers.
Action Step: pray through service opportunities
Will you join us? Will you buy into the vision of community as shared in Acts? God is calling all of us to live with a strong commitment to Him and each other. To do that, we must be willing to meet the needs of each other and our ministries.
If you can say yes to that vision, below is the list of serving opportunities, we simply ask you to revisit them and pray that God would help to reveal the opportunities that allow you to serve this community of believers to the best of your ability.
Devotional Day 5
READ: Galatians 5:13-17
Reflection:
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Have you ever considered the ability to serve one another as the highest form of freedom?
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What would change if you began to think this way?
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Devotion
In our passage today, Paul is writing to a congregation in Galatia to correct teaching from those who were trying to force the believers to adhere to certain customs and practices of the Jewish law. In summary, Paul’s basic argument is that through Christ, we have complete freedom. To live a life in line with Christ’s teaching and to believe in him as the way to God, we need not worry about the former ways. In doing so, he shares an absolutely beautiful picture of what it means to be free in Christ.
Freedom in Christ does not mean that we do whatever we want. It does not mean we are justified to live a life that indulges our unhealthy desires. No, it simply means that we use our freedom to serve one another. To love one another is to live out one of the greatest commandments that Jesus shares with those who follow him.
As we wrap up our devotional series on service, we come full circle and hear the words of Jesus calling us to serve one another as we follow in His footsteps. May our life goal be to emulate Jesus and trust his words. May we submit ourselves to a life of serving one another out of love for our neighbor and to honor God.
Action Step: discern you choice
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Today, we close this week of devotions with a simple call to action. As you have:
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read these devotions
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viewed the service opportunities
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explored your spiritual gifts
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prayed through the options
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Hopefully, God has been stirring in your heart and prompting you to explore serving in at least one area here at New Ridge.
As we conclude, we simply ask you to mark down 1-3 options that have stood out to you most. On Sunday, at our ministry fair, we prayerfully hope that you will have the courage to find the ministry table that coincides with the options you select and step out in faith to connect with the ministry leader. God bless you as you continue to journey closer to Jesus and seek to serve your church!
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