Improving Your Serve

There are several sports in which one player with a strong technique has a tremendous advantage over his opponent. Tennis great, Andy Roddick, exemplifies this advantage with his powerful serve. From 2001 – 2004, Roddick’s record was 234-74 and at 22 years of age, his prize money totaled over $7 million. On September 10, 2006, Roddick was the runner-up in the U.S. Open and earned $1.1 million. Roddick's new coach, the legendary Jimmy Conners, has helped Andy improve his overall game; but his greatest strength is still his serve.

The "service" advantage transcends beyond the tennis courts into the business world. Growing up in a metropolitan area, I was used to a competitive service industry; which resulted in great customer service, timely responses and a high quality of work. Business owners knew that if their company didn’t perform well, the customer had plenty of other choices to call the next time. In a smaller town, fewer competitors often results in less motivation and a lower quality of workmanship. I recently called one company that took over five months to respond to a simple service call and another that responded within a matter of hours. Which company do you think I will call the next time? Certainly – the one that provided the best service!

Realizing the importance of the “serve,” I carried my thinking beyond the tennis courts and local businesses, into the realm of the local church. Can improving the way we “serve” really make a difference in the local church? The answer is emphatically “yes!” The problem is that too many church members think they are the ones who should be served, rather than realizing that they are supposed to be serving others.

Phil 2:7 (NIV) says that Jesus set the example of serving by humbling Himself and taking on “the very nature of a servant.” When the disciples were arguing over who would be the greatest, Jesus said in Mark 9:35 (NIV), “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." The Apostle Paul relates a similar thought in Phil 2:3-5 (NIV) as he instructs believers to “consider others better than yourselves… looking not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” In Gal 5:13 he says that by love, we are to “serve one another.” It is obvious that God wants His church to be “others oriented” and to “serve” one another.

How is your serve? Do you sit in the pew or serve in a ministry? Do you go to church to get something for yourself or to give something to others? Do you complain if things aren’t done exactly the way you prefer or are you flexible for the sake of reaching others? Do you build people up or do you tear them down? Is your religion built on serving the Savior or serving yourself?

Andy Roddick improved his serve through years of practice. Serving others may not come naturally to you; but the more you practice, the better you will become at it. The more Christ-like you become; the easier it will be to develop a spirit of servanthood.