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Last updated 6.10pm Saturday 14 February 2026.
Saturday 14 February 2026
Tomorrow's Weekly Sheet
Is available to download (15/02/2026) as are the sermon nates.
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Sermon Notes
(Also available to download.)
Love Your Church – Serving
Appropriate context:
· New members – God’s gift to the church
· New leaders – examples of Christ – serving him by serving us
Last week we looked at the theme of ‘Caring’ – which is an expression of love in response to the saving love of Christ.
This week we are looking at the theme of ‘Serving’ – in many ways the ultimate expression of love and closely linked to caring.
Jesus said, ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends’ (John 15:12-13)
Because of the love of Christ, the day-to-day life of the believer is to be marked by the heart attitude of a servant – our constant prayer is to seek out opportunities to serve God by serving others. It is both a heart attitude and a way of life.
Remember that Jesus said, ‘whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Matthew 20:26-28)
Jesus did not just say it he did it as well: ‘Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him’ (John 13:3-5)
This act has numerous meanings:
· The drama of the gospel anticipating his humiliation on the cross
· An example for his disciples to follow, ‘If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you’ (John 13:14-15)
· Jesus was prepared to do that which others were not – his disciples had sat at the table with dirty feet – somebody needed to do something!
The default for followers of Christ = to be servant hearted. The Christian life is not about me! Which again brings us into conflict with the world!
Servant King (Graham Kendrick) – ‘So let us learn how to serve, and in our lives enthrone him, each other’s needs to prefer, for it is Christ we are serving’
Brother, Sister, Let Me Serve You (Ricard AM Gillard) – ‘Let me be as Christ to thee’
All of us have been granted gifts by God – natural, supernatural and experiential.
When we came to faith in Christ through hearing the gospel, we responded by surrendering our all to the One who gave his all to save us.
We were then placed in the church where he intends that we all should flourish by exercising those gifts for the two-fold purpose of:
· Building up the church
· Glorifying Christ – in and beyond the church
God’s perfect plan for ABC is fulfilled when we are all serving the Servant King by serving one another with all we have received as a result of our new status as children of God and our inheritance of, ‘every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world’ (Ephesians 1:3-4)
In the church we are to help one another to recognise, nurture, and exercise these God-given gifts.
This is a serious matter – servanthood is not an optional extra! We will each be held to account for what we did and didn’t do with all that God has given us. Jesus’ parable about the sheep and goats deals with the issue of judgement, note how every example relates to serving others – ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ … ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me’ (Matthew 25:40, 45)
Lots to explore in homegroups, but for now as we prepare to remember all that Christ’s love in laying down his life for us, will we, following his example serve as he has served us?
There is supposed to be something profoundly unique about the Church of Jesus Christ in the world. Something that cannot be found anywhere else. In many ways it is summed up in the following:
‘And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need’ (Acts 2:45)
This is not some form of first century socialism. Rather the beauty of Christ reflected in his bride, the church.
The early church described in Acts is portrayed as a community of believers taking shape instinctively in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no record of planning meetings or five-year plans, short and long-term goals or mission statements!
Acts 2:42-47:
· ‘they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching’ – a deep yearning to know more about Jesus through whom they have been saved.
· ‘and the fellowship’ – a deep desire to be alongside fellow believers, a sense of belonging to a family, of being sons and daughters of their heavenly Father. A sense of unity that goes beyond flesh and blood.
· ‘to the breaking of bread’ – a desire to keep remembering Jesus and all that he has done for them through the regular re-enacting of the drama of the gospel in the routine of the daily meal.
· ‘and the prayers’ – their days structured around individual and corporate intimate fellowship with their Father in heaven
· ‘And all who believed were together and had all things in common’ – people of diverse backgrounds bound by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sinners forgiven sharing a common heart for Christ and one another.
· ‘And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need’ – a radical expression of love expressed in a level of care beyond anything ever seen before through which they were fulfilling the provision in the OT law.
REPUTATION OF THE EARLY CHURCH
‘See how these Christians love one another’ (Tertullian 160-220AD)
From what is described above, there is no sense of these elements of the life of the early church being exercised as simply an obligation, rather it is an expression of their love for Jesus in loving one another – this is the superpower of the church!
It is simply the faithful obedience of the church to the command of Jesus shared with his disciples in the upper room before his crucifixion:
‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’ (John 13:34-35)
The genuine mark of a believer will be an instinctive and life-long response to the love of Christ expressed in love for him by loving others - By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’
A DESPERATE NEED OF A SAVIOUR
The only way to love Christ and to love others consistently in this way is to truly know and experience the Father’s love revealed through his one and only Son’s atoning sacrifice on the cross – ‘that you love one another: just as I have loved you’
Only when we recognise our true condition before a Holy God:
Isaiah – ‘Woe is me! For I am lost [I am undone (NKJV)]; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’ (Isaiah 6:5)
David – ‘For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight’ (Psalms 51:3-4)
The Pentecost Crowd – ‘when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:37-38) – the very people who would very quickly be demonstrating extravagant, costly care for one another.
‘My memory is nearly gone but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Saviour’ – the testimony of John Newton, who wrote, ‘Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.’
CAPTIVATED BY LOVE
Paul – ‘The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost’ (1 Tim 1:15)
Paul is not wallowing in his sinfulness, rather he is marvelling at the grace he has received! He is captivated by the love of God revealed through Jesus.
Elsewhere Paul says, ‘For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 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’ (2 Cor. 5:14-15) – Paul regularly uses the language of being compelled, he simply cannot help it!
It is only through a heart captivated by the love of Christ that the Spirit forms in believers and in the church Christ’s likeness by which increasingly and consistently the fruit of the Spirit is manifest: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control’ (Gal 5:22-23)
The caring observed in the early church intentionally reflects the character of Jesus which instinctively springs out of a heart devoted to Jesus, a heart that overflows with gratitude to him in response to his love and is commonly expressed in ‘love for one another.’
‘One anothering’ is a major theme in the NT and the early church. There are approximately 100 verses containing the Greek word, ‘allelon’ which is translated ‘one another.’ 59 of these verses are direct commands or exhortations to believers concerning how they are to act towards one another.
Christ’s command to love one another is his appointed strategy for the gospel to be lived out in the church - ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’ (John 13:34-35)
OUR RESPONSE
Caring in this way challenges and is challenged by our culture of rampant individualism, which is suspicious of institutions and authority and has a tendency towards an inflated sense of humanity’s basic goodness. But there is something irresistible about the church which is faithful to Christ’s command to love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
To care in this way, it is essential to recognise that before a holy God that we are great sinners, but that Christ is a great Saviour, and we can do this intentionally by:
· Regularly reading the gospels and recalling all that Jesus has done for us through the cross
· regularly giving thanks and prioritising attending and participating in the Lord’s Supper
Thursday 12 February 2026
Jim Harries - Mid-February News
Read all about Trust and Vulnerability in Taking in Orphans in Jim's latest update which is available to view on-line.
Sunday 8 February 2026
Heating at Church
An issue came to light when the installation engineer did his detailed survey and it became clear that the boiler initially specified was not suitable for our building. An order for a different, suitable, boiler was placed on Friday. Unfortunately, that means it will be a further four weeks, at least, before we will have heating in the church.
In the meantime we will continue to meet in the hall. Zoom will still be available - but not the same immersive experience.
Friday 28 November 2025
Family Slot Video Available
From last week:
Sunday 26 October 2025
Family Slot Video
Apologies to those on Zoom, for the technical problems this morning which meant there was no sound. Please feel free to watch and listen on line using this link.
Sunday 5 October 2025
October-December Newsletter
Is available to download.
Saturday 19 July 2025
Latest Newsletter
The August-September 2025 Newsletter is available to download (link corrected!).
Sunday 6 April 2025
Sarah Craigen Completed the London Landmarks Half Marathon
In Aid of the British Liver Trust
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| Thank you so much to those who donated whatever you can, it has really made a massive difference. |
