I’ve been a Jesus follower for about 17 years as of this blog post, and over that time one of my favorite passages of Scripture has been Jeremiah 29. In Jeremiah 29 we see the nation of Israel has been driven out of their country because of their disobedience. They are captives of the nation of Babylon. They are exiles in a foreign land with no end in sight. You’re probably wondering why this is a favorite of mine, aren’t you? Haha. Here’s why…
Jeremiah 29:4-7 & 11 says, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare…. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
You see, God tells the Israelites that they will find their welfare in seeking the welfare of others. Another way to put it is to say that they should seek to serve rather than be served.
Serve Not Be Served
Sound familiar? This is why Jesus said he came. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. Jesus served in so many different ways. He served our greatest need by taking our place. He lived the life that we should live; yet instead of reward, he took the punishment that we deserved on the cross. He sacrificed his life so that we can have life!
But Jesus also served physical needs, as well. Matthew 9 is a great place to look as an example of how Jesus compassionately served the needs of people. In one chapter, he healed a paralytic, a woman that was bleeding, raised a girl to life, healed two blind men, and restored a mute person’s voice!
And as Jesus-followers, we should want to imitate the heart of our Savior. We have been served by a compassionate, loving God. Therefore, we serve others.
This is why at Redemption Church, we serve Roanoke. Not out of obligation! We genuinely want to love and serve our city because we have been loved and served first by God.
How We Serve
How we serve our city happens in different ways. It might start at an individual level, as our members serve organizations or causes that they’re passionate about. But one of the things we are going to do as a church is mobilize our members for what we call Serve Roanoke days. We’re not sure how often we’ll have these serve days, but we’re a new church so we need some grace!
The next Serve Roanoke day is coming up on Saturday, July 17th. We have the opportunity to serve breakfast to the Roanoke Police Department, as well as to revamp and update some landscaping for Virginia Heights Elementary School.
I pray that Redemption Church would seek the welfare of people in our city because Jesus sought the welfare of his people in the gospel. We might ask: If we ended up dissolving our church tomorrow, would our city feel it? Right now, maybe not. But as we serve our city moving forward, we trust and pray that God will get glory and that our city will know… experientially know… that we care about the people of Roanoke!
If you’re interested in joining us to serve Roanoke, find me Sunday after our worship gathering or find my email address on the Leaders Page of our website.
For ongoing serve opportunities through other organizations in Roanoke, visit the Serve Roanoke page of our website where you’ll find multiple opportunities to serve!
Jacob Thomas
Jacob is our Ministries Director here at Redemption Church. He and his wife, Anne Marie, are passionate about church planting and raising their son to follow Jesus!