A Competition of Service

I just read this snippet from Matthew 20:

²⁰Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him.²¹And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”²²But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”²³He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”²⁴When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers.²⁵But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.²⁶It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant,²⁷and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave;²⁸just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Immediately I began to ask myself, "When is the last time you saw a group of Christians trying to out-serve one another?"

I know serving is serving and not a competition, but really think about that question for a moment.  Think about what Jesus calls His followers to do and then think about what a church might look like if everyone was practicing what Jesus preaches.

How would people treat one another?

What would the church argue about?

What would people focus on?

How different would it look than many-a congregation that exists today.  I mean, have you ever seen a church were people were falling over themselves to build one another up in love?  Have you ever seen a church were people were trying to assist or help out or out give everyone else of time, talent, or money?

Yeah, neither have I.

But I can dream, right?