I had the privilege of preaching this past Sunday at Centenary UMC, and I felt very welcomed and blessed to be a part of their worship experience. With last Sunday being All Saints Day, I decided to talk about the legacies that we leave behind, and the legacies that I believe Christ asks his followers to leave behind, and I focused on John 13:1-17 and1 Corinthians 9:19-27.

First off, I believe Christ is calling us to be servants, and not simply just to serve. When we choose to serve, we get to do it on our clock. We get to choose who we are going to serve, in what situations and for how long. Richard Foster, in The Celebration of Discipline states that, “Servants on the other hand, have surrendered their right to choose who and when they will serve. All of their life is seen from the perspective of a slave. They no longer possess the rights of free men and women. They are completely available and vulnerable.”

Don’t you think through the humbling act of washing the disciples’ feet, that Jesus was calling us to be servants and not just to serve at our leisure? He washed the feet of Judas for goodness sake. And I can’t help but think that Jesus’ closing words to his disciples at the foot-washing were preparing his followers to forgive and accept Judas back into the fold.

The second thought I had from the passage in John is that we cannot forget to serve those closest to us first and foremost, those that will continue to live out our legacy. How have you recently shown your spouse, your kids, your parents the full extent of your love? Or are they the ones that get the scraps or the crumbs at the end of the day?

From Paul’s passage in 1 Corinthians I believe we can gather that being a servant is a state of mind, and takes great practice and work to master. Just like anything else that is not exactly natural, being a servant takes practice, it takes prayer, and it takes a great deal of commitment. So what are you doing to your heart on a daily basis to be prepared to love? How are you training yourself to serve even when it hurts, to love when it’ s not returned, or to reach out when you don’t know if you will be accepted?

In closing, I think that we have often been asking ourselves the wrong question. Perhaps a more important question to ask of yourself is not what people will say about you when you are gone, but what will God say about you when you arrive?

November 4, 2009 <> Michael Warneke

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