Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus set the ultimate example of what it means to serve others. We must follow his example. After all, as Christians, we’re called to serve just like Jesus did. In the following Bible verses about serving others, we learn why and how God calls us to serve.
All Scripture references are in NIV unless otherwise noted.
Bible Verses About Why We Serve Others
Why should we serve those around us? These Bible verses explain the reason behind God’s call to serve.
We love because he first loved us. — 1 John 4:19, NIV
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. — Ephesians 2:10, NIV
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” — Acts 20:35, NIV
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. — Romans 7:6, NIV
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. — Romans 15:1, NIV
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. — Galatians 6:2, NIV
Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. — Ephesians 4:28, NIV
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” — Mark 9:35, NIV
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. — 1 John 3:18, NIV
Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. — Matthew 20:28, NIV
Biblical Commands to Serve Those Around Us
Throughout the Bible, God continuously commands us to love and serve others, and gives us specific instructions for doing so.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” — John 15:12-13, NIV
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. — Galatians 5:13, NIV
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. — 1 Peter 4:10, NIV
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. — Romans 12:9-13, NIV
Do not withhold food from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. — Proverbs 3:27, NIV
“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” — Matthew 5:42, NIV
“What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” — Luke 3:10-11, NIV
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. — 1 Thessalonians 5:11, NIV
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. — Philippians 2:3-4, NIV
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. — Ephesians 6:7-8, NIV
Bible Verses About Serving God
In addition to serving others, we’re also called to faithfully serve God. In fact, serving him is the only way we can properly help those in need around us.
But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. — 1 Samuel 12:24, NIV
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that leads to death, so that we may serve the living God! — Hebrews 9:14, NIV
“Whoever serves me must follow me; and what I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” — John 12:26, NIV
But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. — Joshua 22:5, NIV
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive and inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. — Colossians 3:23-24, NIV
Bible Verses About Serving Those in Poverty
At Compassion International, we have the honor of serving children who live in extreme poverty. We serve with the conviction that God knows each of these children and that he calls us to show our love for him in the way we love others.
These Bible verses detail more of this conviction and why we are called to serve children in poverty.
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done. — Proverbs 19:17, NIV
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. — Hebrews 6:10, NIV
“The King will replay, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” — Matthew 25:40, NIV
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. — Hebrews 13:16, NIV
And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your life will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. — Isaiah 58:10, NIV
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. — Isaiah 1:17, NIV
