To Serve Man

Several years ago, my kids discovered one of my favorite TV shows from childhood, “The Twilight Zone.” A few times a year a certain cable channel would hold a Twilight Zone marathon, so the kids watched lots of episodes with me. One of my favorite episodes is called “To Serve Man.” In this episode, aliens called Kanamits land on earth, but instead of attacking us, the Kanamits give the earth technology that makes life better for all humanity, including ways to end both war and hunger. One of the aliens leaves behind a book in the Kanamit language, and our language experts interpret the title of the book to be “To Serve Man.” Obviously these aliens are good guys. 

Eventually, the Kanamits start inviting earthlings to travel to their homeworld for vacation, and thousands of humans volunteer to go, including our main character, the person who interpreted the title of the book. But as he boards the alien spaceship, he is interrupted by his assistant, who shouts to him that they have interpreted the rest of the book, setting up one of the most famous lines in Twilight Zone history, “Mr. Chambers, don’t get on that ship! The rest of the book To Serve Man, it’s… it’s a cookbook!”

Much to my surprise and excitement, on my next birthday my kids pooled their money and presented me an incredible gift, a pair of boxer shorts with a photo of the Kanamit and the words, “To Serve Man.”

We live, today, in a culture that is constantly asking the question, “What’s in it for me?” Serving others is the last of our concerns. The problem is that living with a “me-centric” focus creates all kinds of problems. When we think of ourselves first and others last, we bring about conflicts in our families, jobs, schools, in our nation, and around the world. 

Followers of Christ have a different standard. We really are to “serve man.” Listen to what Paul said in Philippians 2:3-4 – Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

See? Christians are to put others first, to serve one another. What are other people’s needs, hurts, dreams, and obstacles? Put them first!

In fact, in the next few verses, Paul teaches us that our example in serving others is Jesus himself. Think about it for a moment. Jesus is God, he is from the beginning, he created the universe, he holds all things together, yet he chose to humble himself by coming to earth and living as one of us so that he could serve us. So that he could serve you. He was even willing to lower himself to the humiliating, excruciating death on a cross, not for any sins he committed, but for the sins you and I have committed. With what he has done and continues to do for us, how can we not follow him by serving others?

Listen to his own words in Matthew 20:25-28:

“You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave. For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.”

As we continue our look at spiritual growth in the life of a Christian, it’s important to understand that, as Christians, we are to serve others.

My point is, all of the Bible reading, prayer, and daily quiet times in the world won’t make a difference if we are not living our lives to serve others. That’s what we are called to do! 

How are we supposed to serve? That varies from individual to individual, but it all depends on you, how you are put together. The Bible says that when we accept Christ we receive at least one, possibly more, spiritual gift. We’ll talk later in the blog about spiritual gifts, but they go a long way in determining how we are designed/built to serve. But our type of service is shaped by more than just our gifting.

Pastor Rick Warren came up with a great way to understand the concept that how we are “shaped” determines how we can best serve others. Warrens says that by identifying the traits we possess, we can better understand how God designed us to serve. This is our SHAPE:

Spiritual gifts – (What am I gifted to do?)

Heart – (What do I love to do? What am I passionate about?)

Abilities – (What are my natural talents? What are things that just come naturally to me?)

Personality – (Where does my personality type best suit me to serve?)

Experiences – (Where can I take the life-changing experiences I’ve had and put those into use?)

Take some time this week to examine your life. What might be your spiritual gift(s)? What are your passions? What natural talents can you put to use? How does your personality fit into ministry to others? How have your experiences shaped you in a way that will help you meet the needs of others?

Are you just living for yourself? Or is serving others your focus? Would you be willing to add to your prayer list the request that God would give you a servant’s heart while showing you where you can serve?

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