Joyce Meyer - Generosity and the Power of Serving Others - Part 3
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Well, welcome to "Enjoying Everyday Life". I'm so glad that you have joined me today. It's so important that we don't just live selfish, self-centered lives, expecting everybody to do something for us all the time, when we really don't think about doing things for other people. The Bible has a lot to say about how we should treat one another. Matter of fact, there's a pretty long list of things that we should do for one another: be friendly toward one another, and love one another, forgive one another, serve one another, just over and over and over. And so, we're not to live for ourselves. I don't think there's any more lonely life than someone who, you're the only one in it.
I lived like that for a long time. I was the center of my life, and I finally decided it's like being in solitary confinement. Just imagine someone in a prison cell, they maybe only get out one hour a day to take a walk, and they're in a four by six or four by eight space all day just by themselves. Well, that would have to be miserable, but that's the way it is when you're selfish and self-centered, your life is only all about you. So, I am gonna ask you today, boldly but lovingly, "Do you think about other people, and purposely think about what you can do for them, or do you just think about what other people should do for you"? "Are you mad at somebody right now, because you don't feel like they have done what they should be doing for you"?
If you forgive them, leave it, and let it go. And instead, why not make the devil mad by doing something for somebody else? Romans 12:21 says, "We overcome evil with good". The best way to fight the devil is by loving other people. You know, Jesus did an amazing thing as an example to us. It says that he washed his disciples' feet.
Now, washing feet in the New Testament was not a very pleasant job. They wore sandals, and the roads weren't paved, so feet were dirty. And washing feet was a job for the lowliest servant in the house. It was not something that a guest would do. But in John 13, actually there's 17 verses. "It was just before the Passover festival. And Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave the world and go to the father. And having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the very end".
Now, he knew it was time for him to leave, to go to the cross to die, and then to go back to his father. And so, he's wanting to leave them this one very important last example. I want you to remember that, that this was something he wanted to leave them with. It was that important that right before his death, this was one of the things that he did. "The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus". And Jesus, of course, knew this. Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.
I think that's an important point, because it's basically saying, Jesus knew who he was. He knew he had all power. He didn't have to go to the cross. He did it because he knew it was the father's will. You can't serve other people if you don't know who you are. If you're always trying to prove who you are, then you can only do things that you think are important, because you want everybody else to think you're important. But if you know that you're important to God, that he loves you, and you know who you are in Christ, then you don't have to prove anything to anybody. And I don't think we're ever really free as long as we're trying to impress other people. It's only when we're free from all that junk that we can truly say that we're free.
So, Jesus knew who he was. He knew where he came from. He knew where he was going. "And he got up from the meal, and he took off his outer garment, and he wrapped a towel around his waist. And after that, he poured water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples' feet". I'm gonna say dirty feet. It doesn't say that here, but we know their feet were dirty. "Drying them with the towel that was wrapped about him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'Lord, are you going to wash my feet'? And Jesus replied, 'you don't realize now what I'm doing, but later you will understand'".
You know, maybe there's some things going on in your life right now that you just don't understand. I read once and I always like to say, "We live life forward, but we understand it backward". He told Peter, "He said, 'you don't understand what I'm doing now, but you will understand later on'". And maybe you don't understand what's going on in your life right now, but the day will come when you will understand it. It may seem unjust and unfair, but God can show you that it had a purpose in your life later on. "'no,' said Peter, 'you shall never wash my feet'". And listen to this, "Jesus said, 'unless I wash you, you have no part with me'".
Boy, I love that. You know what that really means? Unless we're doing things for one another, then we have no real relationship. A one-sided relationship is not a relationship. If one person's doing all the giving, and the other one's doing all the taking, then there's no real relationship. Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you have no part in me". We have to learn how to give, but we also have to learn how to receive. And you know, I know people, they're good givers, but they're not good receivers. Every time you try to do something for them, it's like, "Oh no, no, no, you don't have to do that, you don't have to do that".
You know, when I wanna give somebody something, all I want them to do is graciously take it, and say, "Thank you". I don't like to have to go through all that, "Oh no, you don't have to, no, no, no, no, no"! The truth is, is you really want what they're wanting to give you anyway, so why not just take it? So once Peter heard this, "He said, 'well, Lord, don't just wash my feet but my hands and my head as well'! Jesus answered, 'those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet, their whole body is clean'". Now listen to this, "'and you are clean, though not every one of you'".
Now that's interesting. How could Jesus say that they were clean? The one who he said wasn't, he was talking about Judas, but Peter is going to deny him three times. This is before he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. Where he asked his disciples to just pray with him for one hour, and they all fell asleep. When he needed them the most, they weren't there for him. So, how could he say, "You're all clean"? You know why? Because they were weak, but they weren't wicked. And I love that.
But there's a difference in having a weakness and just being a wicked person. "For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said, not all of you are clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. 'do you understand what I've done for you'? He asked them. 'you call me "Teacher" and "Lord," and rightly so, for that is what I am'".
And then he goes on and says, "What I've done, I've done as an example to you". He didn't need to wash their feet. He knew who he was. He had all power. He knew where he was going. But he did it as an example to them. We need to go out in the world and we need to be an example to other people. And one of the ways we can be an example to them is by serving them, doing things to bless them, giving them things for no reason at all. I remember doing something kind for somebody that had worked at a coffee shop out in the mall. And I heard her say that she was saving money for something, so I bought it for her and gave it to her.
And later I ran into her in the lady's restroom in another place in the mall, which was no accident, God arranged for that. And she looked at me and she said, "Why are you the kindest person in the whole world"? Well, obviously I'm not the kindest person in the world, but apparently nobody was showing her much kindness and she needed that. And I just simply said to her, "Well, I'm a Christian, and God has been very good to me, and I just wanted to be a blessing to you". And she said, "Well, honestly, I've been mad at the man upstairs for a while, because my mother died with cancer". But she said, "After this today, I may have to rethink it a little bit". And I thought, "Wow, I bought her a coffee press, but maybe I bought a soul".
You know, sometimes just by doing something for somebody, Jesus bought all of us with his blood, he paid a dear price. But we need to get out in the world and represent him. And by doing things for other people for no reason, except just to be kind, we can represent God by doing that. And so Jesus said, "I've done this as an example to you". Now, I love verse 17. "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them". Well, guess what? You've heard this teaching today. So now you're responsible for what you've heard. You can no longer say, "Oh, I didn't know I should be doing things for other people".
Now, you know that you should be doing things for other people. Random acts of kindness, kind things for people that you don't even know. It's amazing what an effect it has. Do you know that there are people in the world, that nobody has ever given them anything for no good reason except just to be good to them? There's a world full of people like that. And all of us that are Christians, if we all got together and did this, we could make a big change in the world. Jesus knew his time on earth was just about over, and he wanted to leave them one of the best examples that he could give them. You know, if we're addicted to feeling important, we can't serve. Jesus said we have no true companionship with one another if we don't serve one another, even in a marriage.
You know, Dave and I have been married almost 57 years, in three months it'll be 57 years. And we still do things for one another. He makes the bed in the morning. I always make sure that we have dinner. You notice I didn't say, "I always cook dinner," but I make sure we have something. And he does the dishes, after dinner. So, I do things for him. He does things for me. We still say, "Thank you," to one another. Can you imagine how many marriages could be saved if people would just start doing things for one another, serving one another, even using good manners with one another? Sometimes inside your own household you order people around.
You know, if you would just do for your family, what you would do as a ministry in church. Many people join the helps ministry in their church, but they don't wanna help anybody at home. They feel like a martyr if they're asked to do things at home. We must know how to give, and we must know how to receive. Jesus said we would be happy if we followed his example. And I don't know about you, but I sure want all the joy that I can have in my life. Don't you? I wanna be just as happy as I can be. Happiness gives you energy. The example of washing feet is a very practical one, and can be practiced by all of us everywhere we go. Not literally getting a pan of water and washing somebody's feet, but it's just an example of doing things for one another, and maybe even things that aren't very pleasant.
Washing those dirty feet was not a very pleasant thing to do. But Jesus lowered himself, he took off his outer garment, which basically means he took off the important person that he was for a few moments. And he put on a servant's towel, and he knelt down, and he washed his disciples' feet. What an example. There's another example that amazes me in John 21:1-4. Says, "Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples..." now, this was after his death and resurrection. And he had already appeared to his disciples, but now, he appears to them again.
"By the Sea of Galilee. And it happened in this way: Simon Peter, Thomas, (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. And Peter said, 'I'm going to go fishing'. And they all said, 'well, we're going to come with you'. So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus".
Well, when I read that I wondered, "How many times is Jesus in our midst, and we don't recognize that it's Jesus? How many times is he speaking to our heart to do something, and we don't realize that it's Jesus"? "Jesus said to them, 'bring some of the fish that you have just caught'". Well, the Bible says they fished all night and didn't catch anything. Now watch this. "So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net to shore. And it was full of large fish, 153 of them".
So I got to thinking this morning, where did they get 153 fish, if they fished all night and didn't catch anything? And I looked up everything that I could look up and there were so many different suggestions on what it might mean that it got silly. So, I just decided to believe it was a miracle. God is still doing miracles today. "Jesus said to them, 'come and have breakfast'. And none of the disciples dared to ask him, 'who are you'? Because they now knew it was the Lord. And Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish". The thing that amazes me about this story is that here's Jesus, the resurrected Lord, serving breakfast to the disciples. Wow!
Once again, he's giving them an example of being a servant. That's pretty amazing. You know, I would make Dave breakfast, but the truth is, although I cooked for a lot of years and I was a pretty good cook, I've been out of practice for so many years, because of all the work that I've done in the ministry, that I'm not very good at it anymore. The last time I tried to fry Dave eggs, the egg ended up in the stove instead of in the pan. So, we just don't do that anymore. We'll order out, or have somebody bring it in. Matter of fact, he's still got a picture of the eggs that I made him, and they were really quite a joke. So, if you're not a good cook, don't feel bad, I'm not either. But Jesus served breakfast to the disciples.
In John 21:15-17, "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Peter, 'Peter, do you love me more than all these others'"? And of course, Peter was sure that he did, because Peter had a little problem with pride. "And he said, 'well, feed my lambs'". Second time "He asked Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me'? And he answered, 'yes, Lord, you know that I love you'. And Jesus said, 'well, take care of my sheep'. The third time Jesus said to Peter, 'Peter, do you love me'"? Well, it says that it grieved Peter that the Lord asked him three times. "And he said, 'Lord, you know all things: you know that I love you'. And he said, 'feed my sheep'".
Well, what was Jesus really saying to Peter? He was saying, "Peter, if you love me, then help somebody. If you love me, take care of my people. If you love me, serve others. Do things for them". Boy, that deserves some thought. How do we show our love for God? By doing things for other people. We do it as unto the Lord. We don't do it for them to think well of us, or for anybody else to think well of us. We do it just as a way of saying, "I love you, Lord". There's so many ways that we can serve people, but serving God equals serving people. When we pray, "God, I wanna serve you," it sounds very spiritual, but it needs to be worked out in our daily life in practical ways.
Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him". Whatever you do. Whatever you do. Verse 23 and 24, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, and not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving".
So really, to be honest, even little things like, you say, "Well, I hate to clean house". Well, don't even bother saying things like that. If you know you have to clean it, you can make it a happier occasion by just saying, "Lord, you gave me this house. I appreciate it. I wouldn't have anything without you. I thank you, God, that I'm not having to sleep on the street like thousands of other people are. And you've told us to take care of what we have, to be people of excellence. And so, I'm gonna clean this house today, and I'm gonna do it with joy, and I'm gonna do it unto you".
How many things do you have in your life that you need to do that you just don't like doing? You don't like washing your car. You don't like mowing the grass. You don't like going to the grocery store. Well, you can turn it around by just thanking God that you have the money to go to the grocery store, or thanking God that you have grass to cut. Your yard wouldn't look so good if it was just all dirt. Let's be thankful people. Let's do things for other people. Let's be generous people. Let's be people who take on the nature of Jesus Christ, and do what he would do. He washed feet as an example. He said, "Now do unto others as I have done unto you".
I've done this as an example for you. He fed them breakfast after his resurrection. He cooked breakfast for the disciples. Remember, Jesus told Peter, "If you love me, do things for other people". You know, I wrote this, and this is just a little saying that I think is good. "We're not saved by serving, but we are saved for serving". I think that's a good thing to remember.
Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are God's handiwork, (his workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, to do the good works that [he has prepared ahead of time]". We're saved, not by the good works that we do, but we're saved for good works. We get to do them. We get to be like Jesus. We get to do good things for other people. We get to be good to people.
You know, I spent a lot of years in my life hating a lot of people who had hurt me, and sometimes even just hating people because I just didn't like 'em. And I'm so glad, that I've spent at least the last 25 to 30 years of my life loving people. And I learned this message about doing things for other people a long time ago. And it's something I do regularly, and I do it on purpose. It wouldn't be my natural bent, but you don't have to be naturally inclined to do something. You can do the right thing and do it on purpose. And I always say, "When you do the right thing, when you don't feel like it, that's when you're growing". Philippians 2:21 says, "For everyone looks out for their own interest, not those of Jesus Christ". "But love is not selfish," the Bible says.