Operation: Radical Service

“The adventure of faith begins with faithfulness.  Being faithful is taking responsibility for the good we know to do.”

– Erwin Raphael McManus, Chasing Daylight, p. 81

I’ve always loved how the military names major tactical adventures “Operations;” after all, they’re bloody, dangerous, a matter of life and death, like most surgeries are.  And I have to admit, as I read the quote above, thinking about all the good things we know to do and imagining what it would be like if we would all actively do them – my spirit stirs with the same imagery.  To intentionally do good works as Christ did requires adventurous tactical organization by the Holy Spirit, a healthy covering in the blood of Christ, and is very much a matter of life or death to those we will potentially share the Gospel with as we obediently serve.  So, I’m writing to challenge you to just that – to a battlefield, to a dangerous and life-threatening wonder known as serving God.  Lately, God has been aligning everything I read to really challenge me, to challenge me to start doing something for the Kingdom of God, rather than the couch-potato nothingness I’ve been taught to be content with.  He’s challenging me to start being faithful in the small things, to begin doing good on an everyday basis, in whatever ways I can – not because I feel pressured to ”earn my salvation,” but because I want to bring glory to my King.  I mean, after all, Jesus is my example, and it says of Him in Acts 10:38, in the Voice, “You know Jesus went through the land doing good for all and healing all who were suffering under the oppression of the evil one, for God was with Him.”  If His life was daringly risked and lost for the cause of doing good around the world, such should my life be …  And such should yours …

As much as we shy away from telling people to do good works in this day and age, afraid it will lead to a legalistic and lifeless faith, we’ve forgotten that God commanded us and predestined us to do just that – to do good works!  He didn’t predestine us to simply go to church on Sundays!  Ephesians 2:10, in the ERV, says plainly, “God has made us what we are.  In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.”  Only in spending our lives doing good will people notice something different in us, only in the way we sacrificially love and give out of the fullness of our hearts will they be curious about the fire that burns in our souls from Christ.  Forgive me for being so bold, but there is nothing noticeably different or attractive in Christians who go home every night to watch TV like their unsaved neighbors, nothing to compel those unsaved neighbors to know the Christ we claim to serve.  In Colossians 1:10, Paul prayed that “your life will produce good works of every kind and that you will grow in your knowledge of God.”  Did you hear that?  He doesn’t give us the excuse that, “Well, maybe you just aren’t called to do that kind of work.”  If it’s a good work, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be investing our lives in that to the glory of God.  Yes, I believe there will be times when God directs us to pare back in some areas in order to give more wholeheartedly of ourselves in a different area (because a little bit of service poured out in eighty-different ways isn’t nearly as effective as a little bit of service given to one or two worthy causes for the Kingdom); yes, I agree that simply slaving away at one good work after another is conducive to wearing a person out, but if we aren’t doing anything – there’s a problem!  God has surrounded us in this nation with opportunities to be a blessing, with opportunities to minister to those around us, with opportunities to do good!  We cannot afford to offer wimpy excuses! 

Philippians 1:11 says, in the CEV, “Jesus Christ will keep you busy doing good deeds that bring glory and praise to God.”  Now, don’t tell me you’re already too busy.  I get that.  I’ve tried using that excuse too … and you know what the Holy Spirit does when I use that excuse?  He starts asking me what I’m busy with, starts asking how much time I spend on the Internet every day, how much time I spend talking on the phone, shopping, or thinking about things directly related to my life  (check out this youtube video for some humor about the issue of self-centeredness in our culture and how much time we waste thinking about "me").   For me, the real question comes down to, “What can I cut out of my schedule to serve God more fully?  To be investing more in the Kingdom of God than I have been before?  How can I reorder the way I spend my days to be more effectively sharing Christ with those around me?”  That’s the question I feel like I need to be asking more, the question I need to be grappling with.  It’s the question that makes me want to sit down with my calendar and Titus 3:14, in the CEV, which says, “our people should learn to spend their time doing something useful and worthwhile” and begin chunking out more intentional time for serving God with the skills and resources I have available to me, because, as James 2:17 hauntingly reminds me, “Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!”  I know, I’ve blogged about this before (click here to read that blog), but I feel like I still haven’t gotten the message, like I still haven’t changed from the knowledge of these weighty mandates to serve, like I’ve been hiding out to avoid the carnage of warfare – and in the process have missed out on the adventure of allowing God to move through me as I serve.  As Christians, we have a responsibility to be doing good with our time.  Our communities need to see Christians as a people passionate about serving God in every situation.  How, you ask?  Well, let’s brainstorm.  What good do you know to do?

Volunteering

-          Offer to lead a Bible Study in a facility that is perhaps normally overlooked – a juvenile detention center, jail or prison; a domestic violence shelter; a homeless shelter; a local nursing home, etc.  (A great resource to take them through, especially if it’s a group of new believers is http://www.awmi.net/store/usa/books/417 )

-          Look up a local soup kitchen and volunteer to help out for at least one meal a week, and make a point of getting to know some of the people you meet.  Better yet, if you live in a neighborhood where there are lots of homeless people, get a few bags of cheap food from a restaurant, or make up containers of hot soup (if it’s cold where you live) and hand deliver to them on the streets – and do it often!

-          Call up the local domestic violence program or nursing home or crisis pregnancy center and see how you can volunteer your time to be a blessing to the people there – give of yourself, make relationships, LOVE PEOPLE!

-          Find an after-school program in the area that serves at-risk kids and find a way to be involved, whether that means helping the kids with homework or playing sports with them, or whatever else.  If you own your own business, consider inviting the kids for a field trip to tour and see how it works – do something to engage their imaginations and provide a positive role model for kids who are hurting!

-          Talk to an agency in the community that leads support groups for various kinds of people – people who are grieving, dealing with addictions, etc. – and see what you can do to help out, if it’s writing letters of encouragement, buying Bibles or supplies – anything!

-          Contact the VFW for opportunities to volunteer – whether writing letters to soldiers overseas, helping set up a fundraiser/drive for items the soldiers would be blessed with, or ministering to the Veterans who feel their sacrifices have been forgotten.

-          Consider becoming a foster parent or adoptive parent that can share the love of Christ with children in their most vulnerable moments.  Or become a Big Brother, Big Sister if fostering or adopting is not something you can commit to right now.  Somehow, connect up with a vulnerable child and share Christ’s love with them.  

-     Contact your local hospice center to see if there is a way you can be ministering to families during this time of grief; go to them with ideas.  Perhaps there's a book that really ministered to you when you were grieving.  Offer to buy that in bulk for them to distribute to families during the grief process.

Giving

-          Give Bibles, Christian books, and Christian movies to all the places listed above – juvenile detention centers, jails, prisons, domestic violence shelters, after-school programs, homeless shelters, nursing homes, etc. 

-          Give blood!  Save lives!

-          Donate food and non-perishable items to the food pantry on a regular basis. 

-          Donate blankets and nice clothes (for people to wear on their job hunting expeditions) to the homeless shelters in the area.

-          Buy diapers and baby formula (as expensive as it is!) for crisis pregnancy centers and shelters for single moms or domestic violence victims …

-          Buy sermon CDs and books on tape for the people in your congregation who are losing their eyesight – or better yet, volunteer to go and read to them.

What else can you come up with, if you think about it?  What other good things can you begin doing right where you are?  How can you make a difference for the Kingdom of God in your hometown, starting today?  I dare you, as I dare myself, to sit down with a phone book and a prayer, looking through the yellow pages for non-profits, crisis centers, places that need volunteers, and write down every service idea you can think of.  After you have your list, pick at least one you can begin pursuing today … to make a difference … to do good, like Jesus did … because remember, as Bill Hybels wrote in his book, Holy Discontent, “The number of times Scripture mentions God’s passionate concern for the poor, the oppressed, the widows, the orphans, those who are incarcerated, and those who have no voice is astounding!”  May our lives be spent as passionately for the same people … may we be faithful to do the good we know to do – even when it seems inconvenient, and requires more of us than pushing a button on the TV remote …May we embark together on Operation: Radical Service.