Serving Too Much or Too Little?

Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
- Luke 17:1-10

There’s a certain irony to these verses since Jesus is exactly the type of master who, just a few chapters after these verses, actually washes his disciple’s feet like a slave and who shares dinner with them, saying, “I do not call you servants but friends.”

One of the key things that stands out in these verses is that Jesus is not merely the Servant King who cares for our needs and comforts us. Jesus is also the Lord of All who is worthy of our service and sacrifice. Often at City Church the pendulum has swung away from themes like obedience, duty, and sacrifice because so many of us have come out of oppressive church systems that used fear, guilt, shame and pressure to get us to serve more and more and more. Jesus wants to heal us from those experiences, and he does so as the Servant King. And at the same time, Jesus wants to invite us in to a life of service, sacrifice and obedience - for our own flourishing and for the flourishing of the world.

Where do you fall on the scale between serving too much and not serving enough? Why is that? What is Jesus saying to you about that issue these days?

Holy Week Events

Good Friday Service: Short 6pm casual service at Bill & Katy White’s home, 2490 Maine Ave Long Beach, followed by a potluck dinner. Bring a dish to share.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt: 9:30am on Sunday in front of Lafayette. Feel free to bring some stuffed eggs by 9:15 if you’d like, or just bring some kids to enjoy the festivities!

Easter Breakfast: Bring baked good for a 10am light breakfast in front of Lafayette, and meet some neighbors.

Easter Worship Service: 10:30am (our regular time) we’ll celebrate the resurrection of Jesus together at Lafayette Elementary School Auditorium. Invite a friend if you’d like.