Out of Service

In 1978, Bob Dylan released his song, Gotta Serve Somebody. In the chorus of the song, he sang with his unique raspy tone,

You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You’re gonna have to serve somebody

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

I think Dylan captured a truth that lies deep inside the hearts of people – we don’t like serving others. “You gonna have to…” He didn’t sing “it’s good for you to serve others…” or “you’ll find joy in serving others…” No! He penned how we often view it, “you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

By way of contrast, Jesus was clear in telling his followers that there is blessing attached to serving. After washing the disciples’ feet and calling his followers to be foot washers (servants), Jesus said, If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:17)

You could read what Jesus said as “happy are those who serve others.” If we’re honest, many of us doubt that Jesus was right. We feel more blessing in being served than in serving. And even if we believe that Jesus was right, we often view serving others like eating our vegetables, we know we should, but we’d rather not. Our resistance to serving others often means that we find reasons to avoid it. We all tend to have excuses, and pride often prevents us from serving those around us.

If we are going to serve like Jesus served (John 13:15), we must know what Jesus knew. Listen to what Jesus knew – John recorded it for us in John 13:3-4.

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

There are three things Jesus knew that freed him to serve. First, he knew “that the Father had given all things into his hands.” Jesus knew the authority that he had and because he knew it, he didn’t have to prove it. If we have to prove we have power, we are not free to serve. Secondly, Jesus knew “he had come from God.” Jesus knew his identity. What he did in washing the disciples’ feet, flowed out of who he was – the Son of God. If we are jockeying for position and trying to earn our identity, we’ll never be free to serve. Finally, John wrote that Jesus knew he was “going back to God.” Jesus was confident in his destiny and that confidence freed him to bend the knee.

If we are going to live the life of servanthood Jesus is calling us to, we need to know what Jesus knew. We have authority through Jesus (Mt. 28:18). We are children of God (Romans 8:15-17). We are destined for eternity with Jesus (John 3:16). When we know this, we are freed to serve. And we’re not freed to begrudgingly serve like Dylan suggested - “you’re gonna serve somebody…” No, we are freed to serve with joy and experience the blessing of Jesus.