Tag Archives: service

The Foot-Washer | Bible Gleanings | February 1-2, 2025

January 31, 2025 Brandon G. B. Leave a comment

Confusion permeated the room. The air was heavy with a sense of mystery. This particular evening just felt different. Jesus stood up from the table, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin without saying a word. And puzzled glances were on every face as the Creator stooped low to wash the dirty feet of His disciples as a slave-servant.

The Lord washed His followers’ feet with carpentry-calloused hands, and then He got to Peter, who naturally objected to the notion of His Savior bringing shame upon Himself by performing the task of a slave. He protested, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” (John 13:6b, emphasis mine). What was Jesus doing? Did He consume too much wine? Had someone stolen Jesus’ identity to impersonate Him and make Him a laughing stock?

Suddenly, Christ broke the silence, explaining why He had stooped to such a low level, although He was the Lord of glory: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15). The Savior demonstrated supreme humility, doing what only slaves did, in order to give all of His disciples a model of others-focused service to follow. Jesus was essentially saying, “Do for each other what I’ve done for you: serve like a slave.”

This is specifically what Paul the apostle meant when he commanded all Christians, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:3-5).

According to Paul, if the exalted Christ temporarily set aside His divine rights and glory for the salvation of unworthy sinners, then believers can certainly put the needs of others before their own. And if Jesus washed the feet of sinners, then His saints can surely wash each other’s feet through burden-bearing, need-meeting, prayer-uplifting, encouragement-giving, reproof-issuing, and any form of loving service that puts others first.

The devotional column above is from my newest book, 40 Days with Jesus, which is a forty-day daily devotional focusing on the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus. This book is available in hardcover and paperback on Amazon:

Brandon is the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church in Bandana, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Dakota, and their three dogs, Susie, Aries, and Dot. Brandon and Dakota are also foster parents through Sunrise Children’s Services of Kentucky. Brandon is also a published author and a religious columnist for the Advance Yeoman newspaper in Ballard County, Kentucky. He is also a devotional contributor for Kentucky Today, a news publication of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. His columns are also featured in the Times-Argus newspaper of Central City, Kentucky, West Kentucky News of western Kentucky, and the online blog, Reforming the Heart.

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Slack in Zeal | Bible Gleanings | October 5-6, 2024

October 4, 2024 Brandon G. B. Leave a comment

It definitely wasn’t music to my ears—quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. I tuned my guitar strings as low as possible to slacken them and make them easier to remove. But just for fun, I attempted to play a song on the loosened strings, but they were too relaxed to strike a chord. The low hum of the strings sounded like two growling dogs squabbling with three yowling cats. Despite its beauty and value, the guitar was useless because the slackened strings frustrated it from fulfilling its fundamental function: producing a lovely sound.

Likewise, what rings true in the Scripture is that the believer’s primary and paramount purpose is to glorify the Lord by producing a life-song that causes Him to rejoice with singing (Zeph. 3:17). The Lord wants His people to compose a beautiful and blended “melody” of faith, hope, love, and joy, along with all other virtues required for a God-pleasing harmony (cf. Psalm 19:14). And zeal is to Christian living what tuned guitar strings are to music: without it, the rhythm is ruined. Unfortunately, a believer’s life sounds like a broken record when zeal and passion are slackened. That is why Paul said that a saint’s zeal must be tuned up and turned up in order to live a life that is like music to God’s ears: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” (Rom. 12:11).

Zeal, which is the devotion and diligence with which we serve the Lord, should never smolder or be smothered—it should always burn blazing hot. Whatever we do for the Lord should be done with all of our might, with fervent enthusiasm and passionate haste, not with laziness or lethargy (Eccl. 9:10). The Lord wants us to be “zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14), meaning that we should be eager and excited about doing good things in His name and for His glory. He even commands us to be zealous in our repentance, to be gleeful instead of gloomy when wholeheartedly turning away from our sins (2 Cor. 7:11; Rev. 3:19). And most importantly, the Lord wants us to be like Christ, who was consumed with zeal for the Lord’s house (John 2:9).

Thus, every believer’s constant prayer should be something like the opening two stanzas of O Thou Who Camest From Above, a timeless hymn written by Charles Wesley (1707-1788), which says:

“O thou who camest from above the fire celestial to impart, kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altar of my heart! There let it for thy glory burn with inextinguishable blaze, and trembling to its source return in humble prayer and fervent praise.”

Pick up a copy of Brandon’s latest book, Fundamentals for the Faithful, which explains the importance of all the basics which every believer should know:

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Lovers of Self | Bible Gleanings | June 22-23, 2024

June 21, 2024 Brandon G. B. Leave a comment

He preserved his smartphone at all costs, even if it meant potentially ending lives. In May of 2023, a distracted Indian official was taking selfies on the job, when he dropped his phone into a water reservoir which held over 2 million liters of water for local residents and farms. According to the Associated Press, he first directed divers to retrieve the phone, but when they came up empty-handed, he gave orders to drain every drop of the desperately-needed water in order to reunite with his darling device. He selfishly sacrificed lifesaving resources to save a waterlogged phone that costs only a few hundred dollars to replace. The selfies on his phone must have been spectacular!

His selfish retrieval happened time zones away in another country, but his selfishness hits home. All of us live in a “selfie culture” in which we are absorbed with ourselves and obsessed with a fervent quest for happiness at any cost. We are innately and instinctively self-centered, self-seeking, and self-serving. That is why the Bible says that as sinners, we are naturally “lovers of self” (2 Tim. 3:2a). Our fallen spiritual genes compel us to put ourselves first and everyone else last (Rom. 2:8; Phil. 2:21; James 3:16).

However, such self-centeredness should be steadily shrinking in the souls of saints who possess a new nature because of the redemptive work of the One who put others before Himself on Calvary’s cross. Thanks to the sanctifying work of Christ in believers, the Lord is replacing our greedy impulse to prioritize ourselves with a holy inclination to serve others and seek their best interests. That is why the Scripture teaches that selfless neighbor-serving is one of the surest evidences of having been saved by grace (1 John 3:14-18). Thus, all who know Christ should exhibit self-denying actions and a self-sacrificial attitude. As Paul the apostle commanded: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:3-5; cf. 1 Cor. 10:24).

Ironically, selfishness always results in great loss. Being self-absorbed will destroy friendships, damage fellowship with other believers, and even dismantle your prayer life (Prov. 18:1; James 3:13-14; 4:3). On the other hand, selflessness always results in great gain. As Jesus promised, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt. 23:11-12). And after speaking to the self-centered rich young ruler, the Lord Jesus assured: “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first” (Matt. 19:30, KJV).

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Ready and Willing | Bible Gleanings – November 19-20, 2022

November 18, 2022 Brandon G. B. Leave a comment

I resent rummaging through a cluttered kitchen drawer to find a spatula or spoon. That’s why we keep our most frequently used cooking utensils in a bamboo bin next to the stove, where they are easy to reach when needed. I am less inclined to use a knife that is hiding deep within the drawer. If the whisk isn’t clean, I won’t use it either. I will always use the kitchen tools that are ready for the job and easily accessible.

The Scripture is clear that God delights in using His people when they are readily available for His consecrated use (cf. Exodus 35:5; 1 Chron. 29:9). God wills to use those marked by willingness to do His will. He reaches for those who are “out in the open” and ready to be used by Him, not those who are “hiding out” from their spiritual obligations. Moreover, those sitting around in the sink of sin will not be used for sacred service until they are washed (cf. 2 Timothy 2:20-21). The servants God uses the most are those who have made themselves the most usable.

Ananias was a servant in the Bible who embodied such willingness and availability. St. Luke wrote of him, “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord”” (Acts 9:10). He was ready to serve Jesus with eager hands and a willing heart the moment he heard his name called. Even before he was told the details of his divine assignment, he was prepared to do whatever the Lord required! Without hesitation, inquiry, or complaint, Ananias dropped everything he was doing to serve the Master.

Like Ananias, all of us who know Christ ought to be “all systems go,” eager to do the Lord’s work. We should jump to our feet when serving God, not drag our feet. Instead of putting off sacred service, we ought to prioritize it above everything else. Instead of burying ourselves in the drawer of our own burdens, we should place ourselves within God’s reach. When God calls us to do something, our knee-jerk reaction should be, “Yes, Lord? What do You want me to do? Where do You want me to go?”

The Lord is asking you the same question he posed to Isaiah: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And the only right answer to that inquiry is Isaiah’s answer: “Here I am! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). Every believer’s heart should beat to the tune of Fanny Crosby’s relatable hymn, Lord, Here Am I, which opens like this:

“Master, Thou callest, I gladly obey;

only direct me, and I’ll find Thy way.

Teach me the mission appointed for me,

what is my labor, and where it shall be.

Master, Thou callest, and this I reply,

“Ready and willing, Lord, here am I.”

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

Sermons

The Priority of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7-12)

November 9, 2018 Brandon G. B. Leave a comment

The following sermon was delivered at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky, on the 7th day of October 2018, during the morning service:

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their two dogs, Susie and Aries.