Head, Heart and Hands

I am reading through Jeremiah in my personal devotions at the moment and I have been struck by a little phrase that is used as a description of the Israelites’ rejection of God. In Jeremiah 16:11, God says the Israelites “followed other gods and served and worshiped them.” It’s the pairing of the word served that has caught my attention and Jeremiah puts them together on at least 5 occasions. 

The root word carries a variety of different meanings in the Old Testament from agrarian enterprise to temple based activities but it’s not the breadth of meaning that has grabbed me; it’s the link between worship and service.

Perhaps I am just slow, but when I think about the apostasy of the Israelites I think about them worshipping the baals, following the gods of the nations, and rejecting the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their heads and hearts rejected the God who brought them into the land of milk and honey and they sought after other gods, gods that are no god at all! But time and again, the Old Testament says to us, they did not just engage with these other gods with their heads and hearts, they engaged with their hands as well. They worshipped and served foreign gods. 

This was of course an enormous concern to the prophets like Jeremiah but early leaders like Joshua, warned the Israelites of their propensity to allow their hearts to wander. In Joshua 24, at the conclusion of his life, Joshua says “14 Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 [...] As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” 

You can see there is an intrinsic link between acknowledging God and serving God. Between following God and serving God. Between worshipping God and serving God. It is not either or. Those who claim God as their master and worship him, hand their lives to him to be lived in service of him. Your hands always follow your head and heart.

This is nothing new of course. We don’t need to go far in the New Testament to see that the entire focus of Jesus’ life was serving God and serving us in response to his Father. In the garden of Gethsemane we see him prayerfully distressed at the prospect, but still committing himself to the greatest act of service ever known to humanity. 

In the end, the Bible knows nothing of a secular/sacred divide for those who call themselves Christians. All we do in all parts of life whether completing a $400k deal, stitching a wound, teaching a child economics or changing a nappy is done in service of God. Your hands follow your head and heart. 

Neither does the Bible know anything of worship without whole of life devotion, as if you can say the right thing without doing the right thing or praise God with your head and heart and voice and not with your hands. To trust God is to be enveloped completely into a life lived in service of him and his people.

The outworking of this has many trajectories but whole of life service is never less than serving God's people when they gather, because that's where we build one another up week after week. And I am constantly stunned at the hundreds of people who serve in various ways across our church each week. From Growth Group leaders to the tech teams, from tea pourers to gardeners, from welcomers to ESL teachers. I delight in the way so many serve. 

And here is the big news in all of this. There is room for you to be serving too. Sometimes people look around in a church like ours and think “wow, there are lots of people, I’m not needed here!” But nothing could be further from the truth. There are opportunities every day of the week for you to exercise the gifts God has given you as we build wholehearted disciples of Jesus together. As you step in, gospel impact extends, gospel reach expands, gospel love enlarges. When you put your hand up and say “I am in”, you and others will grow as wholehearted disciples of Jesus.   

Serving gladly is a key part of being a wholehearted disciple and it makes you feel a stronger sense of belonging to all that happens here at Christ Church. We would love to help you get started. 

So Serve Sunday is this week and this is what it's all about. This Sunday there will be an opportunity for you to consider how you are serving now and what you can be doing in 2027. A chance for a change, a start, a fresh start. There will also be a chance to say thanks to all those who lead teams and serve us so well. 

Serve Sunday, this Sunday, get excited to be a people who both worship and serve the Lord.