Nobody Is Above Serving Others
Costi Hinn
4 min read ⭑
As a follower of Jesus Christ, you are called to place your feet where he has placed his and to act as he did. There may be no more obvious a characteristic of Christ than his service to others. The Gospel of Matthew records the entire scene and also includes a vital lesson on being a servant that we would do well to take to heart. It is God’s will that all followers of Jesus be a servant just as he was:
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of him. And he said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to him, “Command that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on your right and one on your left.” But 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.” He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on my right and on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:20–28, NASB).
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No matter what you pursue in your life as a Christian, consistent service to others is something God has called you to. Maybe you’re in the midst of a season where you aren’t sure what’s next for your life, but you can be sure God wants you to serve while you wait on other doors to open. Maybe you’re at a fork in the road with major decisions to pray about — well, one decision you never need to wonder about is whether you will serve. This could look like regular involvement within your local church during worship gatherings, but don’t forget that worship isn’t limited to Sundays. Worship is a lifestyle, and serving others is what we do every day.
Wherever God has put you, no matter how uncertain various factors may be, you can use your hands to be an extension of Christ. You can use your life to emulate his. That is always God’s will for you. One of the great illustrations of God’s will for us as servants is in the New Testament when Peter is writing to Christians who are in the midst of persecution. You might think a church leader would give people a break, considering all they’ve endured, but Peter intensifies his call, urging them to keep pressing forward. He writes in 1 Peter 4:10,11, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (NASB).
“The simple truth is this: nobody is above serving others. Jesus, his disciples, the early church, the modern church, athletes, celebrities, business owners, pastors and everybody in between.”
The simple truth is this: nobody is above serving others. Jesus, his disciples, the early church, the modern church, athletes, celebrities, business owners, pastors and everybody in between. Labels lie and tell us we’ve earned top spot and are now to be served. Christ has called us to serve.
The life of D. L. Moody provides a nice example of the kind of serving Christ calls us to — no matter who we are. In the late 1800s a large group of European pastors came to one of Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But this was America and there were no hall servants. Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there but was met with only silence or pious excuses not to help.
Moody returned to the dorm and gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s most famous evangelist at that time cleaned and polished the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret. When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never knew by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret.
Perhaps the episode provides some insight into why God used D. L. Moody as he did. He was a man with a servant’s heart, and that was the basis of his greatness.
Costi W. Hinn serves as the Teaching Pastor of Shepherd’s House Bible Church in Chandler, AZ, and is the Founder and President of For The Gospel, an online ministry dedicated to providing sound biblical doctrine for everyday people. He is the author of several books and is currently completing his doctorate at The Master’s Seminary. Costi and Christyne are the joyful parents of five children and are expecting their sixth.
Taken from “Walking in God's Will” by Costi Hinn. Copyright © 2025. Used by permission HarperCollins Christian Publishing.
