As I started preparing a sermon for Mission Month, it reminded me of the time when I played tennis. I learned a lot of things. But there are two things in tennis I would like to share with you that can help us in our relationship with others and especially in our relationship with God.
First of all, in tennis, the serve is key to the game. As what my friend say, “In tennis, service is everything.” The better you serve, the more likely you can win.
You probably have watched tennis players on TV hit the ball so hard in their serve that the opponent is just left standing not knowing where the ball went. Many times I wish I could do that. The better your serve, the more likely you will win.
In the story from the gospel of John, Jesus is also telling his apostles that service is important in our lives. After fishing the whole night, Jesus invited Peter and the other disciples for breakfast. He started a fire on the shore, and most likely used some of the fish they caught. After eating, Jesus and the disciples had a serious discussion about their future work. Jesus three times asks Peter if he loves him (vss. 15-17). Peter is hurt because Jesus asked him this question three times. Every time Peter answers “yes” to the question of Jesus, Jesus would say, “Feed my sheep.”
Whether or not this is the case, many scholars see this as Peter’s commissioning to be the kind of shepherd who would, like Christ, lay down his life for the sheep. This is service in the truest sense of the word.
Our task or our mission in this world, like that of Jesus, is not to be served, not to grab the spotlight, and not to become successful or famous or powerful or idolized. You and I are called to be servants of God.
An old woman with a shaky voice called at 2 a.m. right at the end of a taxi cab’s driver shift. “Could you pick me up?” Once he was there, he beeped and beeped, only to find out that she was on the second floor, had an old suitcase, and needed it carried down. It turned out that she herself, weighing very little also needed to be carried down. The cab driver said to himself, “Why me? This is not part of my job description.” He also did not know how to say no. He carried her down and put her in the back seat of the cab. She asked to be driven around downtown. “Now?” he said. “Yes,” she said. She wanted to see her other old apartment. “I live all alone,” she said. “No one is left. The doctors say I have a few weeks to live, and I need to go to the hospital and that’s where I’m headed tonight.” The cab driver had noticed that she had covered all the furniture in her apartment with cloth. He did not know why he was going this second mile or why he was taking her to her final home. Maybe the answer was simple. He remembers Jesus’ advice to “feed the sheep”.
But then, there is something else in tennis that might help us. In tennis, “love” means zero. If the score is 40—love, that means the one who is serving has 40 points and the opponent has nothing. So the object is to give your opponent “love”.
In serving others, I think our main motivation should be “love”. I don’t mean that we should give nothing. But when we serve others, it should be motivated by our love for Christ and for others.
Jesus at first asked Peter, “Do you love me?” And when Peter replied “Yes, Lord, I love you.” Jesus went on to say, “Feed my sheep.” Our love then should be the main motivation for serving others.
If you are into computers, you may remember several years ago of a particularly harmful computer virus that spread across the Internet. It was called the “Love Bug” because the virus spread by means of an e-mail that was headlined with the description, “I Love You”. And if I remember right, it was a Filipino who sent that computer virus around. The virus spread so rapidly because it was able to send copies of itself to all the listings in each victim’s address book of contacts.
We live in a time when we are generally suspicious when someone says “I love you” to us out of the blue. But that is the very message that Jesus spoke to the disciples, reminding them of his love for them, and asking his followers to serve others out of love.
The glory of being God’s servant is the opportunity to do what God did in Jesus Christ or Lord. “For God so loved the world, that he gave…”
For us today, if we love Christ, we are called to serve. We are called by God not only for the saving of our own souls, but to help reach out to others. Many times we tend to forget this.
Jesus reminds us that if we really love him, we need to feed his sheep. Let us go and serve as hard as we can, and give others our love. And our tennis game will be better and we will live more abundantly.
