Eternity In Our Hearts // Live On Mission

Live on Mission

The connection is obvious. A ministry fair fills the lobby, and the teaching turns directly to serving on a team. The simple truth stands up front: the pastors and staff cannot fulfill the church’s mission alone, which is exactly how God designed the church. There are new ministries to launch and things to expand, and the only way any of it happens is by adding volunteers. First thing to say, and it has been said repeatedly, getting to church one hour early once a month is not burning out anybody. That is not what burnout looks like. It is a concrete, doable step that moves the mission forward.

Post-Covid, leaders have been slow to rise up. Service spots get generally filled, but people are slow to commit to leadership. That hesitation is real. Yet the paradox is also real. Serving looks like helping out, but it is actually a massive blessing for you. The joy of making a difference, a deepened relationship with God, and a growing sense of ownership and belonging in church come as you step in. Serving shows up official and unofficial, planned and spontaneous, scheduled and unscheduled, here and out there. John 13 sets the pattern, and it helps us see how living on mission actually satisfies the eternity God has planted in our hearts.

Towel and Basin

John 13:3-8 says, "Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus replied, ‘You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.’ ‘No,’ Peter protested, ‘you will never ever wash my feet!’ Jesus replied, ‘Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.’"

Authority in heaven and on earth does not push Jesus away from the towel. It leads Him straight to it. He does not cling to position. He chooses service. Peter’s protest sounds like humility, but Jesus exposes the real issue. This only works if we permit Jesus to clean us up. It is not the dirt that negatively affects our relationship with Jesus, but our refusal to allow Him to clean us up. Refusing His cleansing leaves us at a distance, outside the belonging He is openly offering. Let Him wash you. Let Him make you new. Mission does not begin with what you do for God, it begins with what you allow God to do for you.

Shocking Humility

John 13:12-17 says, "After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, ‘Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.’"

Foot washing was shocking humility. Not all serving is literal foot washing, but the priority of humility never goes away. Worship leaders do not lead to be admired. Preachers do not preach to be elevated. Small group leaders are not the main event even if people hang on every word. Serving promotes humility. It steadily reorders the heart until the center shifts. One of the biggest challenges to 21st century American Christians is simple to name and hard to live: "In your life story, you are the sidekick, Jesus is the hero." Humility is not a feeling you wait to feel. It is a posture you practice, over and over, with a towel in your hand.

A Lifestyle to Imitate

John 13:14-15 says, "And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you." There is a deeply confrontational challenge inside those sentences. It should not be skimmed over. Jesus is teaching the disciples, and teaching us. He is Lord. He served us. Therefore we should serve one another. We certainly are not above doing what our Lord was willing to do.

Here is the reality check. If we are too proud to serve, if we are unwilling to serve, then we are living as if we are better than Jesus. Unintentionally, without malice, we are living as if it is fine for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to serve and help others, but it is not for me. That is a backwards position to be in. That will not work out well. But Jesus is not trying to make anyone feel guilty about all the ways they have not served. There is an invitation here to follow Him into a different kind of life. A life of serving and caring for others. A life where we are willing to put ourselves second, help people practically and spiritually, make a difference in people’s lives, and point people toward Jesus. He has given an example to follow. Do as He did.

Closer to Him

Serving others is imitating Jesus. Serving others is imitating Jesus, which draws us closer to Him. Humility is the gateway to imitation, and imitation is the pathway to intimacy. When you serve, you are not just filling a slot or covering a task. You are becoming more like the One you follow. You are stepping into someone’s discipleship journey, helping them take another step. And something shifts inside you as well. The best learners are those expecting to teach. Read that again. The best learners are those expecting to teach. Anticipating the chance to pour out keeps you hungry to take in. It keeps your walk with Jesus warm and active, not cold and theoretical.

Blessed in the Doing

John 13:17 says, "Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them." What is this blessing? There is no further explanation in the passage. But it is an open promise worth testing with your life. Imagine a church filled with people who take this challenge and invitation seriously, people who genuinely follow the example of Jesus by serving and caring for one another. Imagine story after story of people finding breakthrough because someone was willing to serve, needs being met, burdens being shared, people being encouraged, relationships being strengthened, people growing closer to Jesus. As we live this out together, imagine a community experiencing all kinds of blessing, in all kinds of ways, because we have chosen to actually do what Jesus taught us to do.

Serving is its own blessing. No psychology degree is required to see it. Helping others, taking our eyes off ourselves, lifts us when we are down. It clears the fog and steadies the soul. Let two motives run side by side and keep them strong. The joy of the harvest, because God uses simple service to bring people home. And the urgency of the mission, because days are short and needs are real. Let both motivate you. Let both sustain you.

Eternity in Our Hearts

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end." There is something philosophically significant about all of this. If human beings possess this awareness and appetite for eternity, then it makes sense that a life consumed with temporary things will never satisfy us. Career, comfortable retirement, achievements, recognition, many of these are good things, but temporary things simply cannot carry the full weight of an eternal longing.

"Eternal life is a kind of life which begins when we come into contact with Jesus Christ and his kingdom." - Dallas Willard. In other words, eternal life is not merely about the duration of our existence. It is about the kind of life we are participating in. It is life with God, discovering life and freedom and victory in His kingdom. It is living in His plans and purposes. And Jesus invites us to begin participating in that life now.

That changes the way we think about living on mission. Serving is not simply adding more religious busyness to a schedule that is already busy. It is allowing our temporary lives to participate in the eternal activity of God. When you serve someone, build His Church, share the gospel, mentor someone, pray for someone, encourage someone, help someone take another step toward Jesus, you are participating in something eternal.

1 Corinthians 15:58b says, "Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." Nothing is wasted. Not a greeting at a door, not a diaper changed, not a small group facilitated, not a prayer whispered. It all belongs to the work of the Lord, and it all carries weight beyond the moment.

"Be with Jesus. Become like Him. And do as He did." - Practicing the Way (John Mark Comer). That matters because Christianity was never intended to be reduced to believing certain things about Jesus while remaining spectators to what Jesus is doing. We are invited to be with Him, close to Him, which means being close to the action. Becoming like Him, sharing His cares and concerns and priorities. And of course doing as He did, washing feet just like He washed mine. Jesus is the One who satisfies the eternity in our hearts, not ministry, not serving, not being busy at church, not saying yes to every request. But if following Jesus means actively participating in His Kingdom, then it makes sense that something feels incomplete about our faith if we are trying to follow Him while consistently declining His invitation to join Him in what He is doing.

Maybe the eternity in our hearts is not simply asking, how can I live forever. Maybe it is also asking, how can my life have eternal significance. The invitation from Jesus is that this short life, these few decades we have, can actually be part of something that existed before us and will continue long after us. Our life can be a part of something eternal.

How can I participate in serving in church?

How can I live on mission in my day-to-day life?

Use Your Gift

If you were to write down the top five people who have helped you in your faith journey, five people God has used to enrich your faith and deepen your relationship with Him, it is very unlikely that the list would be five people employed by a church. It would not just be five pastors. That is how God designed the church. He gifts ordinary believers to make an extraordinary difference in one another’s lives.

1 Peter 4:10 says, "God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another." Use them well to serve one another.