Imagine a famous person, so to speak, coming over for dinner at your house, I say famous person because you go ahead and fill in the blank. Maybe it's an actor, an actress, an athlete, a musician, a politician, a, a talk show host, a uh a billionaire, a business owner who whoever comes to mind when you think of someone famous, imagine that person coming over for dinner. But instead of just dinner, they start doing your dishes and they start cleaning your bathroom and start scrubbing the toilet. I would feel a little weird, right? Some of you are like finally some help. Um But for most of us, we'd feel a little weird, right? Like someone that has a title or a position, someone we've looked up to or followed for years. Now it's coming in and doing seemingly a lowly task. Now, I want you to hang on to that feeling because that's exactly what the disciples experienced with Jesus in his final hours. And so hang on for that for just a moment. But what we're gonna talk about today is the fact that significance, the path to significance is paved with service, the path to significance is paved with service. We live in a culture that is all about self promotion and, and getting the likes getting the follows and, and even if you're not a social media person, we understand that when you're in the business world or in your job or in your community, you're trying to rise to the top, right? We've never moved past the feelings we have when we're kids at recess, right? Who can, who's the cool kid who's got the authority, who's got the title? And while we have a world that pursues titles, we have a savior who grabbed a towel. And what I truly believe is that significance is not found in trying to build something for yourself as much as it is found when you do something into the service of others, Mark Batterson, put it this way. He said, if we do small things like they're big things, God will do big things like they're small things. And I truly believe this, that there is no small task when we do something to the glory of God and in the service of others in the 18 hundreds, the world's most famous evangelist at the time, his name was DL Moody. And think about Billy, think of like the 18 hundreds version of Billy Graham. And he was hosting this pastor's conference where people traveled from around the world. He was the keynote speaker, he was leading the conference and people travel from around the world to it. And some people came over and pastors came over from Europe. And it was a, it was tradition from where they came from that at night, they would put their shoes out the front door in the hallway and the servants would clean the shoes and then they'd be ready and Polish ready to go for the next day. Well, the moody was walking past the hallway praying for his guests when he noticed the shoes out front and in that community at that time, there in America, there is no servants that are policy in the shoes. And with nobody watching, nobody looking dl Moody, the the keynote person, the person leading the whole conference took all the shoes and went home and polished them himself and then put them back. So that when the pastors woke up, they were none the wiser. Now he didn't share that story, but someone that was one of his friends that actually helped carry the shoes back to Dale Moody's place actually recounted that story later in his life. You see the leaders that make the biggest difference are the ones who serve and lift others up. Have you ever had a moment in your life where you thought to yourself? And you asked yourself this question, how did I get here? Not like a positive like, wow, top of the mountain, how did I get here more so? Like I didn't sign up for this kind of moment. Have you ever been that way? Like, in a relationship, in a job? You find yourself doing something? I, I didn't, I didn't sign up for this. How did I get here? My, how did I get here? Moment came for me one summer when I'll call it The Tale of Two camps. And in one camp I had the honor of being the keynote speaker and it was really cool because it was the camp that I grew up going to as a kid. And I got to fly back and be the speaker at the camp. And so I presented some messages, people got saved and people were coming like, oh, great job. And I was like, cool. I was like, yeah, and it was like this moment kind of affirming my calling into where really, I've been speaking on stages ever since. But what stood out to me that summer was actually not that summer, like not that camp, but actually another camp that I went to. I took a group of middle school students to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the summer, which I'm thinking now middle school Florida humidity summer, not the smartest thing. Anyway. So we were there and it was called World Changers and it was pretty cool set up. I was this leader for uh it's a group of students. And so we would do service projects during the day and then we do worship services in small groups at night and So the second day of the camp, the second night of the camp, uh I got up to use the restroom and there was like two main restrooms, like one for boys, one for girls. And there were hundreds of students there. And I got up to use the bathroom and I got to use the bathroom and I'm washing my hands and then walks one of my leaders who is just like out of it sick. Have you ever been so sick? You're out of it. I just like sick, sick. You know, and I say that because up came things and they did not make it to the toilet or the trash can just boom to share with the room. Ok? And it was bad and it was gross and, and then the person because they were out of it and they were sick, went back to the room. And so here I am in this bathroom by myself, middle of the night in this mess. And I thought I'm just gonna pretend this didn't happen and go home. Have you been in those moments? Parents? Come on. You know, that's true. Right. If you're, if you got, you know you're married and the baby cries, you know, there's a time where you're pretending to be asleep, right? If not, you can nudge your spouse because they were the one pretending to not hear the cry anyway. And so here I am standing, we're all talking about service it's a camp about service. It's called World Changers, right? We're preaching this message I just preached before at a different camp. And so I am by myself middle of the night, the worst smell I manageable. And I, and I'm like, I first time I've been to this camp so I don't know all the people. And so I'm knocking on doors. No, no one's awake. None of the phone numbers work. Uh, I don't know where the cleaning supplies are. All I could find were paper towels and some basic soap, no disinfectant, no gloves, no anything. And I'm like, oh my goodness, this is awful. And I'm like, God, there is nobody to clean up this mess. And God gave me the little Holy Spirit tap. He's like, yeah, there is. And I was like, no, there is nobody. God, you didn't hear me. I'm gonna pray for someone to come and clean. And it was almost like it wasn't an audible voice, but it was like this moment where it was like God saying, ok, you say you want to lead, you say you wanna serve, let me tell you what ministry is really like. Uh I don't know if I signed up for this Jesus. I'd spend the next hour and a half just kinda work my way through. No one knew. No one said anything. The leader was so delusional. He didn't even acknowledge it the next day. And I saw him and I was just like, oh my goodness. But you know what though? All these years later, that's the moment I remember. I don't remember the service projects we did. I don't remember what I preached on a couple of weeks prior. I don't remember what the speaker program I remember though, having that moment alone with God in the middle of the night and him, like, prompted me going, ok. Do you really, do you really wanna serve? Because this is what ministry looks like is the unseen? And who are you doing for anyway? Are you doing it for the accolades are you doing? Because I called you too. And so I had to wrestle in that moment and that changed my perspective when it came to serving. I understood and it's really shaped me since then. Also, I always take cleaning supplies with me and I don't get up in the middle of the night. That's what I've learned. Um But what I realized was that you study scripture, you, you read through it, you understand that leading in ministry and significance is not found in going after a title. But it's demonstrated when Jesus grabbed a towel, it's paved in service. It just is during COVID, went back to school, uh completed my doctorate at Phoenix Seminary and my dissertation was on leadership. And so I did some research on leadership. And so it's interesting, the academic study of leadership really developed in the last 100 150 years. And so I was walking through this process and what was interesting after all these hours of study and books and books and books and books that I read at the end of the day, you know, what the world like the culture, academic world came back to and, and, and demonstrated is that the best leaders, they didn't call it this, but the best leaders act like Jesus. That's really what they did here. I, I'm not gonna bore you with the dissertation piece. But let me just walk you through the history of how our culture has examined and explained what leadership looks like to our world today. First, it started with what's called trait leadership, that's called the Great Man theory that great leaders are born. You have to look for the right person to be the leader. And then the trait leadership theory moved into something called skills, leadership. So, well, it's not just the person, it's really what are their abilities, what can they do? They move to skills. But then they started to say, well, it's not necessarily enough to have the right skills. It actually has to be about behavior. So that moved to what's called style leadership. And so writers, you of that study leadership, understand like guys like Peter Drucker and others that came in management that uh management became a term that came in and said, well, it's actually the style that you lead the way you lead well, then it moved on and said, well, actually the way you lead changes based on the situation you're in. So then it moved to something called situational leadership and as it continued on there, then in 1977 a guy named Robert uh Greenleaf coined the term servant leadership. Now, some of you might be looking, well, John Jesus actually was a servant leader. He was, but it wasn't used in American academic or business culture like you didn't use like you were there, the person who had the power was in charge and everyone existed for them. And so Robert Greenleaf came and said, mm the best leaders because if you think about what happened, right, in the sixties and seventies here in our country, about how there became mistrust and distrust in organizations and in leaders, right? There was civil rights movements, there was the party in Woodstock era, there was Vietnam, there's all this institutional mistrust. And so this guy came in and said, well, actually the people that lead the best are the people that are trusted and the people that are trusted are the ones who actually serve to meet the needs of the people around them. So actually, it should be about servant leadership. And then out of that, then the next year, a guy named James Burns in 1978 really combined situational leadership and servant leadership and said, hm, we should be about transformation and he started using the term transformational leadership. And he distinguished the difference between the transactional leadership and transformational leadership. And actually some of this still applies today. So a transactional leader is someone who says, I will give you money in exchange for your hours. I will, I will tell you to do this, you will do that. I will exchange goods. You will give me that. I will exchange one thing and give me another. And that's the end of the relationship. But the best leaders, the ones that you remember, the coach, the teacher, the employer that you remember to this day are the ones that don't focus on the transaction. But instead says, hey, together, we're gonna pursue a goal and that at the end of the process, we're gonna become better people. So it's not the transaction, it's the transformation that takes place, it's about serving and meeting the needs of other. And so that launched a whole movement actually. And so Jim Collins wrote the book Good To Great. There's uh Ken Blanchard wrote the book lead like Jesus uh leaders Cozart and Posner wrote the leadership challenge. Steven Covey wrote the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. John Maxwell wrote the 21 irrefutable Laws of Leadership and many more. And so in the eighties nineties and the early two thousands, this whole business genre of leadership became and it all centered on the idea of transformation, which is crazy that it took 100 and 50 years of research and writing to say, hey, be like Jesus to people. That's what they're saying, Ken Blanchard put it this way. He said, servant leadership is all about making goals clear and then rolling up your sleeves and doing whatever it takes to help people win in that situation. They don't work for you but you work for them. Do you approach leadership that way? Do you have people in your life, that approach leadership that way or do you approach people that say? Hm, no, you work for me, right. Patrick Lencioni, author and leadership guru actually put it this way. He says my hope is that someday people won't talk about servant leadership because that will be the only type of leadership that exists. I want to have this conversation because we're called to lead and the way our culture is going, the way our, our society is going is not working, trying to rat race yourself to the top to get a certain title so that you can buy things that you don't need with money that you don't have to impress people that you don't know and somehow you're like, why am I feeling empty at the end of the day? Yeah, says no, there is a better way. It says you were made to make a difference. Ephesians 210 that you were created as God's workmanship. You're created on purpose with a purpose and then call to go and walk in those good works. And so in our culture, the thing right now is how do you handle A I like, how do you use computer and technology and artificial intelligence, right? To assist you to make your job easier or better? Well, let me offer to you two questions that can kind of serve as servant leadership A I OK, servant leadership A I. So, and so these are two questions that can help you that can come alongside. OK? It's not a computer thing. Don't freak out. It's just spells A I OK. Um And so, but I want you to ask yourself these two questions as you head into the head into your work week. OK. Number one is what gets your attention? What gets your attention? Where is your focus? Where's your focus? I'm not a bike person. I don't ride motorcycles and things or two. But friends that do say that when you're training, right? They talk about, it's very important where you look why? Because the bike goes where your eyes go. Same thing happens in your work life and your relationships, right? If your, if your focus is on bitterness, if your focus is on what's wrong, if your focus is on there, guess what your life is going there, right? Where's your focus? We do it all the time, don't we? Like if you're shopping for a new car and you're thinking about a car, what do you see on the road everywhere you see that car everywhere, right? So where is your focus? Is your focus self? Are you walking into a room? Say, what can these people get, give to me or are you walking into a space into a relationship, into a friendship, into a community? Saying what can I give? It's a change of mindset. So what gets your attention? The second thing we gotta ask ourselves then is what gets your intention? This is, can you identify your motive? Can you identify your motive? Now? It's not wrong to want something for yourself, right? But it is dangerous when it becomes an idol, right? Power is a dangerous thing because the reverse powerlessness, no one wants that. But in our culture, what do we see time and time again when someone comes to power, self preservation, right? And the church isn't immune to that we've seen throughout centuries when the church has absorbed power and use it to control people instead of empowering and lifting up people, right? So that's the thing we have to ask ourselves, what gets your attention and what gets your intention? Do you need to clarify your focus? And do you need to identify your motive? Because we do that, it changes things if you step back for a moment instead of saying what can I get from this situation, how can I get a title instead? Look at how Jesus served and while Jesus started the church now, for those who are like John you didn't really quote verses yet. This is all an introduction for right now. OK? Because we've been reading the same passage every week of the early start of the church. And I want you to see from this angle why this matter matters and actually still applies today 2000 years later, because Jesus gave us a better way here in acts chapter two, the church begins sorry in verse 42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of the bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common. Now notice the outward actions of these people and it says as they had in common, it says that they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had in need and day by day attending the temple together breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people. And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. You don't have people getting saved unless you have people out there sharing and they weren't just sharing with their words, they were sharing and showing with their actions and they were living differently with other people's needs in mind. Picture the early believers, right? They were oppressed religiously by that system. They were oppressed by the government. They were oppressed there by the Roman Empire. And so you have this guy that comes in is gonna be the king of the Jews. Someone who is healing people who's walking on water, who's supplying limitless amounts of food to people who can raise someone from the dead. You're thinking, ok. All right. You wait to see what's coming. Roman government. It's our turn now, right? And so you got these people saying like, OK. All right. All right. We chose the right team. Here we go, Jesus boom. And then so you see these people jockeying for position. And then in March chapter 10, we have the disciples chatting and they, you know, oh man, no one called shotgun in heaven. Now, if you're unfamiliar with shotgun, standard shotgun rules is that once you leave a building and you see within view of the car, the first person to call shotgun gets to sit in the front passenger seat, right? What the disciples were thinking about is nobody called shotgun in heaven. And so they were like, hey Jesus, hey, yo, rabbi teach. What's up? You here's an apple. Um my brother uh is James and John here are like, hey, look, um can we sit at your right hand? They're up in heaven? Can we be right next to you? You know what I mean? Could we be your VIP? And Jesus goes, you have no idea what's coming. And he predicts his death and says, there's some trouble coming for you. But then he says these words, this is Jesus, the one person that could say everybody focus on me. But Jesus in response to James and John says this and Jesus called them and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers of the gentiles lorded over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. They Yeah. Yeah, we get it, we get it. But our time is coming, our time coming, Jesus, our time coming to rule and in verse 43 but it shall not be among you. Hm. Theologically looked at James and John and said, stop it. Put down the pride mm that it should not be that way among you but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be a slave to all for even the son of man. That's a title for Messiah referring to himself. Even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. So I'm gonna show you a different way. And then in those final hours in the upper room before he'd be arrested, John chapter 13, they gathered for dinner and it was common custom that the servant or the lowest person in the room would then wash people's feet. Now come on. Now Middle Eastern feet at 2000 years ago. Sandals where people didn't bathe for days and you gotta wash. It's not cool. Right. But Jesus takes off his jacket and instead of claiming the title, grabs a towel and actually washes the, the feet of the disciples and Peter's like, whoa, whoa, whoa Jesus. You can't do that. He says, yeah, I can. And actually your feet aren't just dirty. Your whole body and soul are dirty and you need to be cleaned. I'm gonna wash that too. But right now I'm just gonna wash your feet. And then he says this here in John chapter 13 verse 12, he says, and we had to wash their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place. He said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am. But if I am, then your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet for I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. And then a few verses later in verse 34 it says a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You also ought to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another and then we start to see this pattern. The rest of the New Testament. Romans 12 9 and 10. Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil? Hold fast to what is good love one another in brotherly affection to outdo one another in showing honor. We have a service competition not because you're better than someone else, but because you care and love and lift up somebody else. First Peter 410 as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace Galatians 513 for you were called to freedom. Do you have to serve? No, you don't. Ok. Says, but you have the opportunity. Freedom to serve. Says, but through love serve one another. Here's the reality. The path the significance is paved with service. I love being in this building a man. This is pretty fun, right? Praise God for air conditioning as well as we approach the summer. I love the space. I love the lights. I love the technology. I love all of it. But I want you to know we're not in this space without the sacrifice and service of so many people. I think of doing our church administrator who was here every day, eight months, countless hours sweeping up when nobody was here cleaning up after contractors sweeping up nails, organizing rooms, getting it ready for its safe, that we can continue to work so that we can come in here and worship. I think about Wendy and the countless trips to Costco and going through getting all the events and then not only the meeting the physical needs, but then writing handwrit note cards to people and in the mail, come on. Who's doing that? Who's doing handwrit notes? I'll tell you who Wendy is. Right. I think about Holly who, like we're just glad to have a break from our kids for an hour. A man, I love them but like, hey, John can service be two hours. I don't know. And uh but it's not just watching kids, but we're raising kids in Christ together the countless hours and prayer and preparation into the craft and the lesson and the discussion and the parent using the emails and going through to create an experience where we're not just babysitting kids, we're making disciples. I think about Andrew who's got a great voice and a heart for music, but that countless hours making technology that it's working and the sound and the team and the chords and the rapping or of the chords and getting everything ready so that we can just come in, right? Think about my dad who's in the back who's been actually at more church services than anybody because even when I'm gone, he's here. Right? So more church services. He wins the attendance award, but he's in there for that because he's going through with all the technology wise so that we can stream it online. So that you watching right now could do that and be a part even when you're gone. I think about the setup teams when we were in the school at 530 in the morning showing up in the summer. No air conditioning. Right. We think about all the service projects handing out water serving, showing up at the school being locked out of a space going in here, like go like so many things. But that's service. That's significance, right? You know, we, we preach the word. We, we celebrate someone's voice or instrumentation or things through. But aren't we grateful for the ones changing our kiddos, diapers back there? You know what I mean? Like when we're going, it's sort of like I want you to know there is significance in every little action. You're taking care of a sick kiddo at night. And you're like, I, this isn't what I thought of. You're working through an issue in your marriage. You're picking up laundry for the thousands times isn't what I signed up for. You're in a business meeting where you work so hard and it feels like a school project where you got the one person who doesn't do the work and then comes in and takes the credit. Same thing in business. We get that right. But I want you to know that every action, every moment, every small thing that you do is an act of worship. There is no small task when done for the glory of God and in the service of others. And you are most like Jesus. When you suffer or when you serve the past, the significance is paved with service. If you got a gift, use it, right. Go for it. Right. If you got a voice sing, if you can teach, teach, right. If you can make food, man, make a feast and call me OK? But your gift is not for you Get that as for others. And so how can we make a difference this week? You don't have to start an organization. You don't have to like, like look if God calls you to sell everything you do that, you do that, but he might not call you to do that. He might call you to reach out to your neighbor to bring coffee to the office, to check in and be like, hey, something seemed off today. Can I pray for you with our growth group leaders? A couple weeks ago, we walked through this thing uh just an acronym by Dave Ferguson that talked about RP MS like picture like looking on the dash of RP MS, the revolutions per minute on your car. Think about these four needs and choose to meet one this week with the people in your life, at your school, in your family around you. Is there a relational need? There's someone going through something that you can be there for. Think about a physical need. Someone's sick can you mow the yard, water, some plants, take over some food, right? Clean up the classroom, tidy up the office. Show up to an event that you don't have to leave just to help a friend or coworker. Is there a mental need? Is there somebody depressed or somebody down that you can encourage, write a note. Have a phone call. It's like, hey, I'm here for you. Is there a spiritual need? Is there a conversation you need to have with someone? Let's start where you are use what you have and do what you can if you do that as a church, what if we were known, not by what happened on Sundays, but what happens outside of Sundays? Not by what we know, but by how much we love will you pray with me, dear father? Thank you for who you are and what you've done. God, our significance is found not in what we can get for ourselves, but God, when we serve and meet the needs of others where we use our calling our gifts, our time, our talents, our treasure to meet the needs of the people around us. God, you set the example. You didn't cling to your title, but you grabbed a towel and you washed the feet and then told us to do likewise. Let us go be people of love and people that freely and joyfully serve our community and beyond soon it says, let me pray. Amen.