So what does that have to do with the Great Commission?  I think that a lifestyle that is a Great Commission lifestyle is a serving one.  I don't mean you go three times a year to Salvation Army and help them sort clothes, or that you open the door for people every other day.  I mean that your entire life is all about seeing other people's needs and doing all that you can to meet them.  Philippians 2:5-7 gives us a great picture of the ultimate Servant.  "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in likeness of men."  Jesus, in Mark 10:42-45, said, "...You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve , and to give His life a ransom for many."  Jesus, who is God, could have arrived on the scene with spotlights, white horses and an entourage.  Yet He showed up in a lowly way to meet people's needs.  Jesus came for one reason: to die on the cross for our sins to set us free from sin and make a way for man to get to heaven.  Yet along the way, He met people's needs!  He fed them; He restored their sight; He healed their sickness; He raised the dead; He brought hearing to the deaf; He gave speech to the mute.  He met their needs, so that by the time He got to the cross, people believed in Him because His actions matched His message.

Look around you.  Look at your neighbors, your co-workers, your family.  Look for the homeless, the poor, the widows, the orphans.  If we pay attention, we can see the needs that they have.  In America, most of us are blessed enough to be able to meet some of those needs.  A bag of groceries, a mowed lawn, an oil change, a painted house, an invite for dinner, a washed car, a hot meal, a shower and shave, a place to sleep, a family, a home...the list is endless - as are the needs.  When we serve people, it allows them to see Jesus in us.  Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

But there is a balance here.  I don't think that we should serve people and then never tell them about Jesus.  Paul commands Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2).  We must verbally tell people who Jesus is, why they need Jesus, and how they can have a relationship with Jesus.  Serving and telling go hand in hand.  It should not be an "either-or" option.  It is a "both-and" command.

I had a meeting with a school principal who seemed a little less than enthused to be meeting me at first.  I could tell in her eyes that she was waiting for me to explain how great I was, etc.  Instead, I asked her how I could serve her and the school.  I told her that if a janitor was sick and they needed someone to clean toilets to call me.  When I said that, it turned the conversation, and led us down roads of ways that we will be able to minister to the teachers, students and families there.

When we serve others, we are not only obeying God, but we will open doors to share the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And that is why we are here on earth.