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“You are a servant.” This is the phrase that Mr. Lancaster emphasized with the students in chapel this week as the culmination of this year’s theme chapels. The purpose of the qualities we have studied in 2 Peter 1 is to make the students useful tools for Him. Mr. Lancaster read to the students from 2 Corinthians 5:15, “and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” He told them that their lives are not to be lived to please themselves, but they are to serve God by serving others.
This is a distinctive of Christian education. Flying in the face of our culture, we teach students to deny themselves and serve like Jesus.
Mr. Lancaster addressed the motives that we have for serving others by warning the students of the temptation to do nice things for others for “effect.” We do not serve others to be noticed by them, but we serve because we love Jesus and we love others.
As he concluded, Mr. Lancaster asked the students for specific ways they could serve others. “Fold laundry for my siblings,” and “Let someone else go first” were among many suggestions the students offered. Why would we teach children this? Why would we present stories to them of missionaries and martyrs who have given everything to follow Jesus? Why would we tell them that they should pay the high price of fully devoting their lives to obedience to God? We tell them this because Jesus said that “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:25b-26). The world would tell us that profit, gain, and happiness are found in financial prosperity, athletic fame, or recreational pursuits. The world tells us to value comfort, ease, health, and self-satisfaction. Jesus tells us the truth: “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things [the daily needs of life] will be added to you.”
One of the key components of our mission statement at NBCS is that our students will grow in service. How do we practically train students to do this? We give them opportunities to serve others by assigning classroom responsibilities, encouraging them to hold the door for other students, or asking them to let another student go first in line. We provide them with opportunities to serve others through clean up from Weekday Bible School classes that meet in Newton Bible Church, setting up tables and chairs for church funerals, listening to younger students read, or serving the pop on pizza day. In an atmosphere where service is both modeled and expected, students learn to expect it of themselves and find the joy that comes from serving others. They learn by experience that Jesus’ words are true, “These things have I spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).
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