Josh Howerton - Embracing the Servanthood of Jesus (01/11/2026)

Summary:

In this sermon kicking off the «Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop» series, Pastor Josh Howerton celebrates LakePointe Church’s 2,000th baptism of 2023 and the massive Serve Your City Weekend (4,500+ volunteers, 14,000 hours served). Drawing from John 13, he teaches that true followers of Jesus adopt the heart of a willing bondservant—modeled by Jesus washing the disciples' feet, including Judas'. Contrasting «volunteer» (convenient, self-focused) with «bondservant» (lifelong gratitude for redemption), he warns that genuine salvation produces servanthood. Serving the least is serving Jesus (Matthew 25), brings divine blessing and presence, and fulfills humanity’s highest need: transcendence. He calls the church to pray for opportunities, go serve in ministry, and give to missions.

Celebrating God’s Work at LakePointe
LakePointe family, if you guys got your Bibles, let’s head over to John Chapter 13. That’s where we’re going to be today, and man, before we get anywhere, I just want to say I always feel like if we stop celebrating the unique and powerful things God does in our midst, He’s going to stop doing them, so I’m never going to stop celebrating them. Last night, at the Saturday 6 PM service, which by the way is awesome and has lots of parking spaces, it’s really great!

So last night at that service, there was a young lady named Kirston Boon who was LakePointe’s 2,000th baptism this year. Come on, somebody! Man, the 2,000th baptism this year in 2023! I just can’t wait to see what happens for the rest of the year. I also want to celebrate this. Obviously, this weekend we test drove something we haven’t done before called Serve Your City Weekend. We mobilized every life group we had to be out all over DFW, just meeting needs and serving people in Jesus’ name. I am incredibly honored and overwhelmed to announce that yesterday there were more than 4,500 LakePointers out serving the city at 200 sites, with 14,000 man-hours served all throughout our city.

Hey, LakePointe Family, can we just thank those people? That’s right, man, out in apartment complexes and schools. It was awesome!

The Heart of a Servant
Well, I want to talk about why we went all in on Serve Your City Weekend. I’m starting a series today called Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. You’ll see why, and I want to talk about the heart of a servant. Now, before I talk about this at all, I need you to understand that we are not naturally born servants. In fact, I want to give an example to find out where all my friends are at. Where are my friends at? Who’s got dogs? Who’s got a dog? Anybody got a dog? Man, I love y’all so much! Where are my cat people? Where you at? Man, I’m not putting my—I’m so sorry! Man, we’re praying for y’all. There are plenty of great churches in DFW. You know that’s a joke; that’s a joke! Somebody sent this to me, and I found this predictably very funny. How can you tell the difference between a dog and a cat? I have a point for this; there’s a point to this. A dog says, «You feed me. You clothe me. You shelter me. You must be God.» A cat—some of y’all see where this is going—a cat says, «You feed me. You clothe me. You shelter me. I must be God.»

Okay, now what I want to say is here’s my point: some people actually do this with their theology. There are actually two different theologies, and if you’re paying attention, you’ll see them out there in the world. Here’s what it is: dog theology is, «I exist to serve God.» But some people, without even knowing it, get this cat theology in their head that God exists to serve me. Can I just say something? Down with cat theology! We want to be done with cat theology. Because we do this sometimes. We start to think that the reason God exists is to serve me, to make a big deal out of me, to lift me up, to meet all of my needs. But y’all remember: we exist to serve God, to glorify God, to meet His needs, to rise to His callings. This is the entire reason we exist.

But the problem is, we are not naturally born with the heart of a servant. Sometimes you’ll really see this; it really stands out. Have you ever had this experience? I’m talking to husbands for a second here. You ever had this experience looking at family pictures with your wife? Here’s what I mean: you look at a family picture—not that this ever happens in the Howerton house—and you’re trying to figure out, is this a good picture or not? You look at it with your wife, and everybody could look amazing in the picture, but if she has one strand of hair out of place? Bad picture! That’s a bad picture! Okay, now on the other hand, if she looks good and everybody else in the picture looks undead? Great picture! That’s a great picture!

You see, there’s just this natural thing in us to view the world through the lens of «me.» How does this affect me? And can I be really honest? Sometimes people bring this selfishness into the church, and they think that the purpose of the church is to meet and serve their preferences. You know, not that this ever happens at LakePointe; we have an amazing worship team, but every now and then, somebody will say something like this to me in the lobby: «Hey, Pastor, I really didn’t like the worship today.» And I always want to fire right back, «That’s okay; we weren’t worshiping you anyway.» You see, but we do this. We will start to bring into the church this selfish mindset—that the whole purpose of this thing is to meet my preferences and my needs. But Jesus Christ, what He did in the passage we’re about to read, is He stooped to the floor, took the low job, put His needs last, and took the form of a servant and said, «I exist to serve my master.»

Setting the Scene: John 13
Now, I want to set this up really quick because we’re getting ready to read one of the most important passages in the entire New Testament. So let me set the scene really quickly. There came a moment in the last day of Jesus’ life where a sharp crack was heard throughout the room. When that sharp crack echoed through the room, 12 other heads snapped to the corner, and as that door closed—echoing the sharp crack—a countdown timer started ticking down in Jesus’ head from 24 hours. We know that because the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus, quote, «knew that His hour had come.» What that means is for the rest of His ministry, Jesus had been waiting for the moment when He, as the Lamb of God, would sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world. He had been waiting for this moment. But the second that door closed, the Bible tells us Jesus, quote, «knew His hour had come.» Twenty-four hours ticking down, Jesus in the next 15 minutes with His disciples in that upper room at the Last Supper. You’ve seen the painting: 13 dudes on one side of the table—great for a painting, weird seating arrangement.

Jesus, in that moment, knew He had 15 minutes to lay everything on the table that would set the course for the rest of human history. Make no mistake: the reason you are sitting here today is because of what Jesus said in the next 15 minutes. As soon as this began to happen, as that door closed, Jesus walked to the back of the room, the Bible tells us, and He picked up two things: a towel and a foot-washing basin. The second He picked up that basin, everyone in the room—here’s what the disciples would have thought. They would have been thinking, «Oh please, not me! Oh please, not me! Please don’t let me be 13!» Very specifically, they would have been saying, «Please don’t let me be 13. Not 13! Anything but 13! I just don’t want to be 13!»

Here’s why they would have said that. In Jesus’ culture, when a rabbi called a disciple to follow them, they had a phrase they said about the disciple: may you be quote, «covered in the dust of your rabbi.» When a rabbi called a disciple, the calling of that disciple was to follow so close to the rabbi, walking so close behind him to see what he did, do what he did, experience what he experienced, you know, live what he lived. They were to follow so close to the rabbi that the feet kicking up off the heel of the rabbi would cover the disciples so that they were quote, «covered in the dust of their rabbi.»

A rabbi could call on a disciple to do literally anything but one thing. There was only one action a rabbi could not ask his disciple to do: wash feet. There was a reason for this. You see, you have to remember that this is ancient Rome; this isn’t 21st century America. They didn’t have all these clean roads with cars. The preferred manner of transportation was obviously by foot, and if they weren’t traveling by foot, the Roman roads were covered with animals—donkeys, camels, sometimes even elephants, horses. And animals produce animal droppings.

Historians tell us that the Roman roads were caked not just with mud, not just with dust, not just with water; they were also caked with feces, the animal droppings from these animals. For years, what these disciples would do, with open-toed shoes, was walk on these Roman roads as close to their rabbi as they could. Over time, their feet would be caked not just with mud, but with a thin layer of animal feces. Because of this, in this culture, no one could be commanded to wash the feet of other people in a normal setting. The only person who could be commanded to do it was a slave—not just any slave, but in a public setting, it had to be the lowest-ranking slave. So whenever somebody was called upon to wash feet, in that moment, everybody knew who the lowest-ranking person in the room was.

As Jesus picked up his foot-washing basin and his towel, every man in the room was thinking, «Not me—please don’t let it be me!» One reason they would have been thinking this is that the disciples had been debating their ranking among themselves. Two of the disciples, James and John, in the ultimate mama’s boy move, sent their mom to Jesus to try to establish that they would get ranked one and two in Jesus' pecking order. So in that moment, when Jesus walked forward with a foot-washing basin, they knew that somebody was going to be established as ranked number 13—last. «Please don’t let it be me!» The mouths of all the disciples would have hit the floor when the Lord of the universe, Himself, Jesus, stooped to His knees, put a serving towel over His arm, made Himself number 13, and began to wash the caked feces and dirt off the feet of His disciples.

Now this is the scene as we get into the Scriptures and we begin to read this in John chapter 13. It says he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin, and he began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. In this moment, the one who was above all things stooped below all men. The Bible says that he «took the form of a servant, » that he counted others, even though he was more significant than them, more significant than himself. In this one action, Jesus left an example for all of his followers for all time—a picture of the heart of a servant. This is what we are called to be. Make no mistake; there is no one like Jesus who does not take the form of a servant.

Bondservant vs. Volunteer
Now, can I just be really honest? What I’ve noticed as I’ve been around the church and around Christians is that everybody wants to be known as a servant, but nobody wants to be treated like one. We do this really often in the church. We’ll pray things like this: «God, if you could use anybody, would you please use me?» And then he starts to answer your prayer, and you say, «Well, all they ever wanted to do was use me.» Everybody wants to be thought of as a servant, but nobody wants to be treated like one. Have you ever noticed this? In the church, a lot of times we use the word «volunteer.» You may never have noticed this, but the word «volunteer» is never in the Bible. It’s not a Bible word; you won’t find the word «volunteer» in the Old Testament or in the New Testament. The Bible word is the word «bondservant.» The Apostle Paul called himself this. He said, «Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, bondservant.» The Apostle Peter did the same thing; he referred to himself as «a bondservant.» Some of your Bibles will actually translate that word as «slave.» Some people will see that word «slave» and think, «Oh, the Bible condones slavery, » but you don’t understand the historical context behind that word. When the Bible uses the term «bondservant, » it means something very different than the word «slave» as we think about it.

Here’s what a bondservant was. You see, you’ve got to remember that in Roman culture there was no such thing as bankruptcy. So when somebody had a debt that they could not pay, what would happen is they would be thrown in prison until somebody came along and paid a debt that they could not pay to, quote, «redeem» them from their debt. When they would do that, the wealthy person would come, pay the debt, and in response to that person paying off their debt, to try to repay them, the person would enter into servanthood for that person. For up to the next seven years, that person would serve in the household of the person who paid off their debt to redeem them from the curse of their debt, functioning around the house doing anything that they desired for up to seven years. Now, after seven years, nobody could be a servant longer than seven years. After seven years, the person was relinquished from their debt and from servanthood—no ifs, ands, or buts, no qualifications; they were done. But every now and then, somebody would realize that the redeemer who had redeemed them from a debt that they could not pay on their own was so generous and kind and wonderful. They would realize that, even after seven years of servanthood, they still had not paid off the debt that that person had paid off for them.

Every now and then, that person would willingly desire to remain a lifelong servant of that person in gratitude. What they would do, according to the Old Testament law, is they would take an awl, and they would drive it—it was like a nail—through their earlobe and in that moment, enter into what was called willing bondservanthood to that person. They weren’t required to serve; they were saying they willingly wanted to serve this person for life out of gratitude for their redeemer having paid off a debt that they could not pay to free them from the curse of their debt. Now, this is what God—by the way, is that sounding familiar to anybody? —this is what God calls us to be. He calls every follower of Jesus everywhere to be a «willing bondservant.» And oh, by the way, can I just say this? I think that’s the least we could do, because Jesus did not take a nail and put it through his ear; come on, somebody! He took nails and put them through his hands and his feet. He died a bloody, horrible death on a cross that we could not pay to redeem us from the curse of the law and to pay off a debt that we could not pay by nailing our sins to the cross and canceling the record of debt held against us.

Now this is different. The spirit of a bondservant, listen, is different than the spirit of a volunteer. See, a volunteer is serving, but sometimes a volunteer is often—it’s kind of about me. It’s all served when it’s convenient. I’ll serve when it’s fun. I’ll serve when people recognize me and acknowledge what I’m doing. But watch this: the heart of a servant is different. The heart of a servant is just all about the master. A servant asks a question: «Where does God need me? What sacrifice does He want? I’m not serving to be seen by people; I’m serving for the one who sees what is done in secret. That’s why I’m serving.»

A Story of Pride vs. Servanthood
Many years ago, before I was the pastor at LakePointe, when I was pastoring a different church, there was a girl in our church who wanted to serve on the worship team. And you know that’s fine; we need people to lead the people of God in worship. She wanted to serve on the worship team, and we had a process by which we evaluated whether people had this gift. Now just to be very straightforward with you, she was one of those people who had the spiritual gift of singing, but nobody seemed to have the spiritual gift of listening to her. As she came into the process, she was very, very forceful and very demanding throughout the process. She thought very highly of herself because she had a background, a degree in vocal performance, and she had spent years performing—traveling and singing. But the problem was, as she got into our process, we kind of thought, «Man, she’s a solid C-minus.»

But she was very, very forceful because of her background and demanding to be a part of the team. So we kind of got in, and we were like, «Man, let’s do this: we’ll let her on the team, but we’ll just turn the mic down.» And so, you know, we let her on, and that kind of thing. The problem was her voice was so unique that even with her mic down, it was messing up all the blend and all the balance. So we did what we do with all of our leaders: we started doing some coaching. «Hey, what if we did this? Let’s work on some things and let’s try to, you know, get the volume where it needs to be.» But no matter what we did, there was a pride in her, there was an ulterior motive—something in her that needed to be heard and seen.

So as we coached her, here’s what we did: we eventually said, «Hey, let’s develop her.» So we’ve got some other opportunities. There was a homeless ministry up in Franklin, about 15 miles north of where we were. We would sometimes send some of our worship team to serve there, and we were like, «Hey, why don’t you go and help lead worship for this homeless ministry? It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.» And we asked her that; it was like, «Oh no, that really didn’t work for my schedule.» And we were like, «Oh, well hey, we’ve also got worship teams that serve in the kids’ ministry. You know what could be better than that? Man, the Bible says out of the mouths of babes is praise perfected!» So we just said, «Man, let’s go serve with the kids.»

«Oh man, that, that really, you know, I don’t know those songs, and that’s really not my style.» What we figured out is that as long as she was up here on this stage, she was in, but the second that she couldn’t be up here on the main stage with everybody seeing her, all of a sudden she was out. Now here was the problem: a volunteer has this spirit: «I want to be seen. I want to be recognized. I want to do what I want to do how I want to do it.» But here’s the heart of a servant: the heart of a servant goes, «What does the master need? I’ll take the low place. I’ll do the dirty job if it just helps people.»

And here’s why this matters: what I’ve seen all these years being a pastor is this: this is always true: when pride walks onto a stage, God walks off. When pride walks into a church, God walks out. If you’re too big to serve little people, then you’re too little to get big assignments in the kingdom of God. You’re too little for that! Jesus says this: «What I want for my people is a heart of a servant.»

Servanthood as Evidence of Salvation
The heart of a servant is so central to following Jesus. Did you know this? The Bible actually says that it is a sign of whether or not somebody is even saved—that’s how significant this is! You’ll actually, I’m going to show it to you in the passage. Look at verse 10. Jesus, after he washes their feet, says, «You are clean, though not every one of you.» And he said that because he knew who was going to betray him—one of Jesus' disciples right after this would betray him: Judas Iscariot. And that was why he said not everyone was clean.

Verse 12: «When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.» «Do you understand what I have done for you?» he asked them. «You call me teacher and you call me Lord, and rightly so, because that’s what I am. But then watch this: if I’m your teacher and I’m your Lord, » he says, «now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.» Now I’ve pointed this out: Jesus, right before he washes their feet, points out that he knew Judas was going to betray him. Can I just point this out? Jesus washed the feet of Judas, who the Bible says was getting ready to «lift his heel against Jesus.» Jesus washed the very heel that would be lifted against him.

Now, right after this, as soon as this happens, Judas walks out and betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Right now in 2023, as the lead pastor of LakePointe Church today, can I tell you why this freaks me out? Y’all, this is serious stuff right here. Here’s why this freaks me out: because Judas was in church, guys! Judas had seen all the things. For three years, Judas had never missed a Sunday. He didn’t have some lame Josh Howerton preacher preaching; he had Jesus Christ preaching every sermon! When Judas had a question, Jesus answered it. Judas saw all the miracles; he saw all the kindness. Judas watched Jesus walk on water! I’ll go a step further: Judas actually participated in the miracles. The Bible tells us that when Jesus fed the 5,000, he put the bread into the hands of his disciples. Judas was one of those dudes with bread in his hands, walking around watching the bread miraculously multiply as the power of Jesus flowed through his own hands. He watched all that happen, and he never surrendered himself to the Lordship of Jesus.

Do you know how I know that? Well, here’s how. Look at what it says in Matthew 26. Matthew 26 is another camera angle of this exact moment. Here’s what it says: «When it was evening, he—Jesus—reclined at table with the twelve, and as they were eating, he said, 'Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me.'» So he says this, and in Matthew 26, it says, «Immediately all the disciples were very sorrowful, and they began to say, one after another, 'Is it I? '» What’s that next word? «Is it I, Lord?» So they all, as soon as Jesus said that, were like, «Somebody’s going to betray Jesus!» and I think Peter probably spoke up first—Peter, you know, like some people he didn’t have an inner voice; he only had an outer voice. Anything he thought, he said. So Peter just goes, «Is it I?» I don’t think he just asked; Peter probably blurts, «Is it I?» And then one after another, 11 dudes say, «Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord?» But then skip down two verses, and watch what it says when Judas asked the question. Judas, who would betray him, answered, «Is it I, Rabbi?» And he said to him, «You have said so.»

Eleven guys say, «Is it I, Lord?» You get to Judas, «Is it I, Rabbi?» Judas knew Jesus as a really wise guy—somebody who could help him, somebody who could advance his cause. He knew Jesus as a good teacher—never submitted himself to the Lordship of Jesus. That is scary news! Here’s the scary news: man, you can do all the things; you can read all the things, you can participate in all the stuff, you can attend every service, you can serve in ministries—all this stuff—and you can still not end up in the kingdom of God. This is what you see right here. Somebody asked me one time, «Josh, did Judas lose his salvation?» Nope! He faked it! In fact, here’s a theological question somebody will ask: «Can you lose your salvation?» Wrong question! Because the Bible says salvation belongs to the Lord. You can’t lose something that doesn’t belong to you. So, can you lose your salvation? That’s the wrong question. Here’s the right question: «Can God lose a Christian?» No! So you can’t lose your salvation. But listen, you can fake it.

Now, you may be going, «Okay, well if that’s true, how do I know if I’ve been genuinely converted? If I’ve become a new creation in Christ Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, here’s how you know: if you have submitted yourself to the Lordship of Christ, you’ll start to look like Christ, who took the form of a servant and treated others as more significant than himself. Have you ever noticed this? Earlier in the New Testament, it says that Judas handled the money for Jesus' ministry. So when people donated money, Judas was the one that handled it, and the Bible says that Judas was stealing from the funds from Jesus' ministry. So instead of Judas leveraging his resources to serve, he stole other people’s resources for himself.

I just want to point this out: the one who would not serve was not saved.

Serving the Least = Serving Jesus (Matthew 25)
Now I need you to understand this: this is a very strong theme: that anyone who follows Jesus with genuine faith becomes servants. In fact, check this out: in Matthew 25, there’s one parable Jesus told that you are in. You are in this parable, and it’s an end times parable! Everybody gets real excited when you talk about end times. Okay, end times parable: Jesus said, „Man, at the end of all things, I’m gonna return!“ That’s what Jesus says. He says, „I’m going to separate everybody that’s ever existed, and I’m going to put the sheep on my right and I’m going to put the goats on my left.“ It says, „And then watch what Jesus says to the sheep on his right: 'Then the King will say, come, you who are blessed by my Father! Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.'“

Watch this: so what is the difference between the sheep and the goats? Jesus says it right here in verse 35: „For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; I needed clothes, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you looked after me; I was in prison, and you came to visit me.“ Now, I just, again, you will be in this moment when this happens. You will be there, and some of you will be the sheep on Jesus’ right to whom he says, „Come into my kingdom, because you—you know, I was hungry; you fed me. I was naked; you clothed me. I was thirsty; you gave me some.“ And you will say this, according to Jesus: „Some of you will say, 'Jesus, when did I see you? I was like 2,000 years after you! When did I see you? '“

And this is what Jesus says: he’s going to say, „Then the King will reply, ‘Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these…’“ So watch this: whenever you served—whenever you took a low position, whenever you served one of the least of these, my brothers—you did it for me!

Personal Story: Protecting My Daughter
Now, I need you to understand how this works. You may be going, „Why did Jesus say, 'Whenever you served the least, you did it to me? '“ Okay, I got an example for this. And for you to get my example, I need you to see a picture of my daughter Felicity at the age when this story happened. Okay, so this is a picture of Felicity at that age. Yeah, just give me a good „Aww!“ man, because that’s a— I mean, she literally looks like a doll at this age! I can’t believe that’s even real! So, cutest thing that ever existed right there, man!

So here, this is Felicity at the age when this happened. Alright, so we’re at a park in the Nashville area, and we’re there with my daughter Eliana and Felicity at about this age. Felicity is just starting to toddle, pull up on stuff, so she’s hanging out on the ground. I got this little thing, and she’s playing with a stick. He’s playing with a stick, and then all of a sudden this four- or five-year-old boy walks up and, no joke, happened just like this: he just walks up, real awkward, didn’t say anything, and he just looks at the stick, looks at Felicity, looks back at the stick, looks at Felicity again, looks at the stick, and then he looks at me, and he at least has a second of pause. Then he looks back at the stick, looks at Felicity, and with zero warning, he takes the stick and hits Felicity in the head!

Now, I just need y’all to know this: when that happened, my eyes went red. The sky went dark, and I heard a voice say, „Finish him!“ You know, it was like I was ready! Y’all, I almost choke-slammed a five-year-old! I was going to be doing prison ministry from the inside. That’s what I was going to be doing, man! I was ready! And here’s the deal: every parent that has a kid knows this: when somebody does something to your kid, you feel it! There ain’t no pain like kid pain! When somebody does something to your kid, you feel it! Now what? In fact, I would rather the kid—he would have fared better if he hit me! Way better!

Now, let me just ask this: why is it that when somebody does something to one of your kids, you feel it like they did it to you? Well, here’s why: because as a parent, you so identify with your child that to do something to them feels like they did it to you. And Jesus, in this passage, he so identifies with the last, the lost, the least, and the lonely that he says, „Whenever you serve them, I feel like you did it to me.“

A Warning and Blessing for the Church
LakePointe Church, can I just give us a warning? We’re in this season right now of an incredible move of God—great outpouring of the Spirit, church is growing, thousands of people getting baptized. Can I just give you a warning right now. Let me set this up: there’s the Great Commission: go into all the world and make disciples of all nations; get everybody saved, get them following Jesus. That’s the Great Commission. But then there’s also the great commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. Here’s my warning: some churches get so focused on the Great Commission that they forget the great commandment. They get so focused on making sure that they save the world that they forget to serve the world!

In fact, can I just make sure from a leadership perspective you understand why we do what we do? This year, in 2023, we will have given away more than $8 million in missions to serve the last, the lost, the least, and the lonely at LakePointe! $8 million! That’s awesome, man! That’s awesome! But I need you to get this: every now and then somebody will hear that. Like, I’ve literally had people look at our budget and be like, „Man, that percentage that y’all give away in missions—that’s really, really high.“ And here’s what people say: they’re like, „Man, why would you give away $8 million when, Josh, you need new campuses? You need new buildings? You need new services? You need more staff?“ Now why would you do that when you actually need that money to grow your thing?

Well, here’s why we do that: LakePointe Church, it’s not all about us; it’s about more than us for the glory of the one who stooped to serve us. That’s why we do that! And listen, it’s even better than that! Jesus says that there’s a blessing that accompanies people who put a serving towel over their arm and wash the feet of the world around them. There’s blessing! Look at this, he says it in verse 17: „Now that you know these things, you will be blessed.“ You will be blessed when? „If you do them!“

Now, there are two ways that this blessing happens. One, I said it earlier; I just want to anchor this in our church: when pride walks onto a stage, God walks off. When pride walks into a church, God walks out. Wherever Jesus sees a church full of a spirit of servanthood—people willing to put serving towels over their arms, take a low position, and do the dirty job to meet the needs of the world—wherever he sees that—that’s where he commands the power and presence of his Holy Spirit! That’s number one.

But two, you just need to know—I need you to know something about yourself: did you know that the maker of heaven and Earth—your maker—designed you? He literally designed you for you to be blessed when you serve!

Maslow’s Hierarchy and Transcendence
Now I always love it—let me give you my example, and then we’re done. I love it when sociology catches up with theology. I love when this happens! I’m a data guy, so I love this!

So, a couple of decades ago, sociologists identified what they thought were the five core needs of a person. Now they realized there are eight; they’ve expanded it to eight. But here’s how sociologists figured out people are wired: so here’s how you are designed: at the very bottom, it’s called Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. At the bottom of the hierarchy, first comes physical needs. This is the need to like breathe, to eat, to sleep, that kind of thing. 85% of people in America have their physical needs met. Now above that is what’s called safety needs: you need to feel safe. This is honestly a lot of what drives politics. People are like, „I need to feel safe, and this is what’s going to meet my needs.“ That kind of thing.

And this is why you buy insurance, this is why you lock your doors, this is why police matter—all this stuff. Safety needs: 75% of Americans feel like they have their safety needs being met. Now above that one, this is how you’re designed: above that one, you have love needs. This is the need to belong to somebody; you need affection. This is why social media is so big. You need that „like.“ You need that heart. I need to feel like somebody sees me and cares about me. 50% of people feel like they have their love needs met. Now above that one is what’s called esteem needs. Now esteem needs is the need to be complimented, the need to be adored. You know how you get these needs met? It can be real different between guys and girls! You know, girls, you need to look all pretty and everything just right, and everything’s just right. Somebody’s gonna say, „Oh, you’re so pretty!“ That works. A dude can be all, you know, old, bald, fat, and ugly, and be like, „Oh, here I am, world! I look awesome!“ You know, this is great! I look great, man! So, it’s just different, you know, different between guys and girls, but there are esteem needs! Everybody needs those met one way or another.

Now above that is what’s called cognitive needs, and this is the need to—this is why a lot of you are here—the need to learn. You’re taking notes; this is why you like documentaries, you like trivia, that kind of thing. Above that, aesthetic needs—this is the need for beauty. This is why we like a landscape painting, art; this is why you like Instagram more than Twitter. Oh, we like seeing something pretty! Now above that, the one they used to think was the most, the highest need, was self-actualization needs. And this is like when I–I like this one; I feel this one in my spirit. This is when I win! This is when my team is the champion! You know I get the promotion, or you make the money that you’ve always wanted to make—it’s when you get that achievement that you feel validates you! Self-actualization needs: only 2% of people in America, 2% feel like they have that need met.

Now sociologists used to think that self-actualization was the highest need in the human heart, but then they discovered another one. And here’s what it is: they discovered one higher, and it’s called transcendence. This is the need to live beyond yourself—the need to make a difference in the world. It’s why when you do acts of kindness, you walk away going, „That felt amazing!“

Personal Story: Helping a Homeless Man
Man, years ago when I was in college, I was driving to church one morning, and I’m driving to church, and on the corner of the street in Jackson, Tennessee, there was this homeless man that had a little sign that said he needed a ride. You know my first thought was, „I can’t help a guy; I’m on my way to church.“ You know I’m like, „Wait! That’s like saying I can’t eat because I’m too hungry!“ You know? So like, I was like, „You know, I just felt led by the Spirit. I’m like okay, you know, let’s do it!“

And I just kind of let this guy in my car. And he was like, „Where do you need to go?“ He said, „Memphis.“ I was like, „Oh man, I was thinking like downtown!“ You know? But I just—I was like, „Okay, Lord, you know, I’m here; let’s just see what happens.“ And so we drove for about 90 minutes and we just ended up talking. I learned about his life, and what I learned about this guy is that through a series of addiction decisions, his life had lost his job, lost his family, lost his marriage, and he was trying to get back to Memphis for one last chance to try to reconcile with his mom. We just started talking about this, and I drove him all the way, you know. I started running out of gas, got to the spot in Memphis where he needs to be, and he’s like, „Hey, this is fine, ” and I dropped him off. He didn’t have anything; he had a little backpack. And we just walked in and I could tell he was really touched. He was like, „Man, you know, why are you doing this?“

And I just said, „Hey man, I’m a follower of Christ, and I just wanted to serve you today.“ Went in the little gas station and I just said, „Hey man, I got like 20 bucks—anything you need in here?“ And he grabbed some donuts, some milk, and some socks! I’ll never forget it—it was donuts, milk, and socks! And you know, as he’s coming back out, I just paid for his little tab. It wasn’t much. And he just said, „Hey, so why did you do this?“ I just said, „Man, I just felt like you needed to know that God loves you and that he was caring for you today.“ A little tear popped out of his eye; he realized it wasn’t the right place. He shoved it back in. And you know, he just said, „Man, the person that’s really getting the blessing is my mom.“

And he really focused on his mom. And you know, I’ll be really honest: when I left, you know, 90 minutes—gas, buying the donuts, the coffee—when I left that gas station, y’all, there was a feeling that guy telling me about the thought of him reconnecting with his mom after years of being lost in an addiction. And the feeling of thinking that day, one out of seven billion people, one of God’s princesses—that mom, she was being had a need. All God needed was one of his young, handsome princes, you know, to step forward and just be his hands and his feet.

Y’all, I’ll be honest: you may go that was a sacrifice for you. I left going who else, God? Where else? Put somebody else—let’s go, man! But you know why? Because my highest need was being met! I was serving somebody! And Jesus, like he said, „If you do these things, you will be blessed!“ I was blessed at the very core of who I was!

Action Steps
Hey, LakePointe Family, you want to be blessed? Put a serving towel over your arm and stoop to meet the needs of somebody around you! Want to be blessed? You do that! Now listen, man, I don’t want to be all talk, no action, man. The truth is like deodorant: believing in it doesn’t do you any good; applying it is what makes a difference! Okay, so listen, man! I got three quick action steps for you. Number one, I want you to—during this series, „Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, “ we’re focusing on our mission as a church—the things we will never stop doing—today is serve people. Number one, I want you to pray! We say pray, go, give. Pray! I want you to pray that God would put people in your path with needs for you to meet this week. Just be ready to step forward and bless those people. That’s number one.

Now, number two is go. And go in this context, here’s what this means: man, some of you, you’ve never experienced the blessing of stepping forward and serving in the context of the local church. Did you know this? Every time you come here, you are being served by thousands of people who put a serving towel over their arm and stoop to wash your feet! Your kids are being cared for right now in a kids ministry with hundreds or thousands of people who are serving them, putting your needs and your children’s needs above their own, and they’re going, „I’m blessed in what I do.“ You’ve never experienced that blessing? Listen, we have tons of volunteers! We have tons of them! I need this for you, because you’ll never be happy; you’ll never be fulfilled until you’re getting that highest need met—the need to bless and serve other people.

So here’s what I want you to do: maybe for the first time in your life, if you are not on a regular or consistent volunteer ministry team, a serve team, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to text the word „serve“ to the number 20411. Actually do this! Get out your phones; I want you to do it! Even if you’re not going to do it, just get out your phone! It’s going to boost my self-esteem! Like for real, do it right now! Like it’s going to help me feel like these people actually think—thank you! I see that phone; that’s great, man! That’s awesome!

Now here’s the last one: give! Give! Now here’s where we are right now: from now through the end of the year at LakePointe, we’re receiving what we call our annual missions offering, and that’s where we, as the families of LakePointe, set aside some giving in addition to our regular giving that goes towards missions exclusively-100% of it! And 100% of what’s given in our annual missions offering goes to do things like plant churches in the most spiritually under-resourced cities in North America. It goes towards funding our international partners in 12 or 13 countries!

Oh, by the way, one of them is Israel! It goes to help fund those partners! And the other thing it does is it goes to help fund our more than 40 local mission partners in the DFW area serving the last, the lost, the least, and the lonely all throughout DFW! Ministry partners like the Genesis Center in Kaufman, Texas! And you are getting ready to see Leslie’s story, who is a resident at the Genesis Center. Check this out!