Service and Servant LeadershipM

ay 1

6,

2015

SundayHERE’S WHAT I THINK

In this year’s student association elections, three candidates are running. Candidate A, Jim, is an extremely popular student, a star basket-ball player, active in the church youth group. He’s good-looking, and ev-eryone likes him. Candidate B, Michele, is a quiet, studious girl who gets straight A’s and wants to study law. Of the three of them she seems to really have the best ideas about how student government should work and what she can do to improve the school—but she’s not a whole lot of fun. Candidate C, Dave, is a nice guy but not a superstar. His grades are good enough to run for president but not straight A’s. He has lots of friends, but he’s not what you’d call super-popular. Mostly, people know Dave as someone who works hard. He tutors underprivileged kids at a community center after school, he coaches a kids’ soccer team for free, and he’s gone on two church mission trips and been the hardest-working member of the team.

Whom are you going to vote for? What qualities do you think are most important in a leader?

Log on to www.guidemagazine.org/rtf to post your responses. Be up-front and honest. Say what you think.

MondayWHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO SAY?

Different people, different opinions. Some of the quotations below represent the views of true kingdom citizens; others may not. Can you tell the difference? How do these statements compare with what God is saying in His Word? After reviewing the texts in the God Says . . . section of the lesson, write a statement that cap-tures your belief. Be prepared to quote yourself at Sabbath School.

“Businesses planned for service are apt to succeed; businesses planned for profit are apt to fail.”—Nicholas Murray Butler, 19th-century U.S. educator.

“The service we render others is the rent we pay for our room on earth.”—Wilfred Grenfell, early 20th-century missionary to Labrador.

“Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness—great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, great reputation, and great joy.”—Jim Rohn, 20th-century U.S. motivational speaker.

“I know of no great men except those who have rendered great service to the human race.”—Voltaire, 18th-century French writer and philosopher.

“To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind.”—Pearl S. Buck, 20th-century U.S. writer and missionary in China.

“The highest destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.” —Albert Einstein, 20th-century U.S. (German-born) physicist.

FEAST OF FOOLS

(What connection do you think the following illustration has with the Bible texts in Wednesday’s section?)

Imagine you’re visiting the great Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, sometime around New Year’s Day in the year 1405. You walk into the huge building expecting to see a solemn worship service. Instead, you see the most amazing sight. Priests are dancing around the altar, wear-ing their clothes inside out and chanting nonsense syllables instead of the words of the service. The smell of incense fills the air—but it stinks, because it’s made from smelly old shoes! And up the beautiful center aisle of the church, two monks are leading—a donkey! You wonder, What is going on here?

You’ve arrived just in time for the Feast of Fools, an unofficial “holiday” popular during the Middle Ages. On that day, all the normal rules are turned upside down. People are encouraged to let off a little steam by behaving in bizarre ways, doing things that aren’t normally considered appropriate.

In even earlier times, similar celebrations were held in many different countries. One of the best known is the Roman festival of Saturnalia, held in honor of the god Saturn. During this festival, everyone changed places in society. Masters served their slaves, and children were allowed to run the household. For a short time, everyone pre-tended things were different. Those on the bottom of the ladder got to pretend for one day that they were at the top.

Can you imagine celebrating the Feast of Fools, or Saturnalia, at your school? You could sit in the principal’s office with your feet up on the desk and give your teacher detention for talking too loudly or run-ning in the halls. OK—so maybe the faculty won’t go for that idea!

Our society depends on the idea that some people give orders, while others take orders. We all know who’s important, who’s at the top, who’s in charge. But Jesus came preaching a bunch of seemingly crazy ideas about an upside-down kingdom in which the “leaders” were really the servants, dedicated to helping the people lower down on the ladder. In this kingdom, Jesus said, the way to get ahead was by getting down on your hands and knees to do the dirty work. The only way to become great was to serve others. And Jesus didn’t suggest this as a one-day crazy festival. No, He said this was how things should be every day—in our homes, in our schools, in our churches.

Copyright © 2015 General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Write your own quotation.What I say is . . .

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Key Text: Choose one of the texts from Wednesday’s section of the lesson. Write it here and memorize it this week.

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WednesdayGOD SAYS . . .

Matthew 20:25-28 (CEV)“But Jesus called the disciples together and said: ‘You know that foreign rulers like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over everyone they rule. But don’t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.’”

John 13:12-15 (CEV)“After Jesus had washed his disciples’ feet and had put his outer gar-ment back on, he sat down again. Then he said: ‘Do you understand what I have done? You call me your teacher and Lord, and you should, because that is who I am. And if your Lord and teacher has washed your feet, you should do the same for each other. I have set the example, and you should do for each other exactly what I have done for you.’”

Matthew 23:11, 12 (CEV)“Whoever is the greatest should be the servant of the others. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.”

Luke 14:12-14 (CEV)“When you give a dinner or a banquet, don’t invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.”

James 1:27 (Message)“Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.”

Micah 6:8 (NIV)“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Matthew 25:40 (CEV)“Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

FridayHOW DOES IT WORK?

Look back at yesterday’s suggestions for finding ways to serve. Then jot down a few ideas about how God might be calling you to serve others:

Needs I see around me:

TuesdaySO WHAT?

Sure, we all know Christians are supposed to help others. But most of the time it seems like something you do for extra credit. You know—ac-cept Jesus as your Savior, go to church, pray, read the Bible—and, if you have time, go on a mission trip or sing at the nursing home on Sabbath afternoon. Doing it makes you look good and maybe even feel good—but is it really all that important?

According to Jesus, it’s at the dead-center of the Christian life. It’s what He’s going to be looking for when He comes back again. And it’s the only way to get ahead, to really succeed. Jesus isn’t impressed by your grades, your sports trophies, your friends, your clothes, even your perfect Sabbath School attendance record. A big shot in Jesus’ kingdom is some-one who’s willing to get down on their knees and do the dirty work.

That’s why Jesus did that little object lesson where He got down and washed the disciples’ dirty feet. Nobody else was willing to do it. Jesus showed that a real leader, a real success, is the person who’s not afraid to get their hands dirty—serving others.

ThursdayWHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME?

Maybe you see yourself as a leader . . . or maybe you don’t. Either way, God is calling you to serve. That means serving Him by serving others. But how do you make that a little more practical? How do you know what God actually wants you to do for others?

Different people will get different answers to that question. But a good start is to take a look around you. What are the needs you see in your family, in your school, in your community? Who are the people who re-ally need help?

Take a look at yourself, too. God blessed you with natural talents and abili-ties, and He’ll help those to grow if you give them to Him to serve others. Where can your gifts be used to connect with other people’s needs?

Remember Jesus washing those disciples’ feet. He was being humble—putting Himself down in order to serve others. Real service may use your natural gifts and talents, but it will also involve being humble. Not draw-ing attention to yourself or getting praise for how great you are. Doing things that may be difficult, that others might not appreciate or under-stand. It might even mean getting your hands dirty!

Really serving others brings us closer to Jesus—and to other people, too! Start looking for opportunities to answer God’s call to service today.

SERVICE AND SERVANT LEADERSHIP / May 16, 2015

Copyright © 2015 General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Things I’m good at and enjoy doing:

Where do the two connect? (How can I use my gifts to meet others’ needs?)