Sometimes, it’s hard to see the big picture. This happens in sports all the time. It’s hard to connect winning the championship with doing this particular drill for the 400th time. While everyone loves playing in the big game, practice can feel mundane and pointless. It’s easy to say, “well, it’s good enough,” give up, and then get clobbered in the big game. At that point, the players often wonder why they’re not doing better in these games. It’s because they aren’t doing the little things. They haven’t connected yet that the little stuff is what leads to the big stuff.

       Serving others can often feel like that. Like practice, it’s hard work, it takes self-sacrifice, and it often means we don't get to do what we want so someone else can do what they want. And, like practice, serving others can sometimes become divorced from the big picture. We want to be near Jesus. We want to be making a difference in his Kingdom. We think about our faith and we get this grand ideas, big picture world and life change, and we envision grand gestures and actions. It’s hard sometimes to connect wrestling kids in the nursery or greeting people at church with the grandness of our faith. Practice vs gametime.

       But, Jesus makes it quite clear that the grandness of our faith is directly connected to the small acts of service we do for others. In fact, in Matthew 25 he talks about one of the biggest ideas of our faith to make this point. Jesus says that on Judgment day, there will be two groups, sheep and goats. The sheep get into heaven and walk with God in eternal life. The goats don’t make it in and are left outside. When the sheep hear this, they ask why? Why do we get this incredibly grand gift of eternal life? We didn’t do any great acts of heroism and we weren’t great leaders of faith. So why?

       Jesus tells them: it’s because you visited me when I was in prison. You gave me something to drink when I was thirsty. You cared for me when I was sick. I was a stranger and you helped me. The sheep respond by saying, “Jesus, when did we see you thirsty, sick, a stranger, or in prison and help you?”

       Matthew 25:40, “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

       This list is pretty mundane, normal stuff. Feeding someone who’s hungry, helping a stranger, and visiting someone who’s sick. That’s normal stuff. That’s not grand, epic, heroic faith stuff. But Jesus says, “Well, what if I was the sick person? Would taking care of Jesus, the Son of God, when he’s sick be considered epic?” Well sure! I mean, it’s Jesus!

       That’s when Jesus says, “Whenever you did these little acts of service for others, you did them for me.” Jesus takes our little act, volunteering to help with the FCC Kids group, passing the offering tray, working in the sound booth, and directly connects it to the grandness of our faith. You’re directly serving Jesus this Sunday. Not the pastor. Not the other people. Not the church. You’re serving Jesus this Sunday. Thank you so much for serving this week. You make our church championship game ready!