God has very simple instructions for us when it comes to finding and serving one another. When we follow the leadings of God, we can build and strengthen those around us. When we serve others, we are serving Christ. Jesus himself said, “No servant is greater than his master” (John 15:20). We gotta serve!
You’ll often hear Christians say, “Love your neighbor.” It’s good advice. And it’s not just a suggestion. Jesus wasn’t kidding when He said that it is the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:36-40). But more than just loving our neighbors, we are called to serve them. Serving isn’t a process that only takes place in the church or around your home. Serving can be something as simple as washing the dishes or folding laundry. The most important thing to remember about serving one another is to not let serving become a chore, but to serve out of love for God and His people.
Bible Verses About Serving One Another
1 Peter 4:10 ESV / 119 helpful votes
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
Galatians 5:13 ESV / 90 helpful votes
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Mark 10:42-45 ESV / 46 helpful votes
And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV / 31 helpful votes
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Romans 12:10 ESV / 29 helpful votes
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Hebrews 10:24 ESV / 26 helpful votes
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
1 John 4:7 ESV / 24 helpful votes
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Ephesians 5:21 ESV / 24 helpful votes
Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 4:32 ESV / 23 helpful votes
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Galatians 6:2 ESV / 22 helpful votes
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Philippians 2:3 ESV / 20 helpful votes
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Mark 10:45 ESV / 17 helpful votes
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Romans 15:14 ESV / 16 helpful votes
I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.
John 13:14 ESV / 16 helpful votes
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Colossians 3:13 ESV / 15 helpful votes
Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Romans 12:16 ESV / 15 helpful votes
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
1 Peter 5:5 ESV / 14 helpful votes
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Galatians 6:10 ESV / 14 helpful votes
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Hebrews 6:10 ESV / 13 helpful votes
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
Ephesians 5:25 ESV / 13 helpful votes
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Romans 14:19 ESV / 13 helpful votes
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Luke 22:26-27 ESV / 12 helpful votes
But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 11 helpful votes
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; …
John 15:12 ESV / 11 helpful votes
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
1 Peter 2:21 ESV / 10 helpful votes
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
Hebrews 10:25 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Galatians 6:1 ESV / 10 helpful votes
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
1 Corinthians 12:25 ESV / 10 helpful votes
That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
Colossians 3:23-24 ESV / 9 helpful votes
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Philippians 2:7 ESV / 9 helpful votes
But made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Matthew 23:11 ESV / 9 helpful votes
The greatest among you shall be your servant.
Matthew 25:40 ESV / 8 helpful votes
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Hebrews 13:16 ESV / 7 helpful votes
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Romans 12:1-21 ESV / 6 helpful votes
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. …
John 15:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 13:34 ESV / 6 helpful votes
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Matthew 6:24 ESV / 6 helpful votes
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
1 John 4:11 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 Peter 4:8 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Hebrews 13:17 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Hebrews 9:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes
How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV / 5 helpful votes
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
Ephesians 5:1-33 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. …
Ephesians 4:16 ESV / 5 helpful votes
From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
John 12:26 ESV / 5 helpful votes
If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Luke 6:38 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Mark 9:35 ESV / 5 helpful votes
And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
Matthew 20:28 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
1 John 3:18 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:17 ESV / 4 helpful votes
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
1 John 3:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1 Peter 1:12 ESV / 4 helpful votes
It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
James 2:14-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Hebrews 3:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Philippians 2:4 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Ephesians 4:2 ESV / 4 helpful votes
With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Ephesians 4:1-32 ESV / 4 helpful votes
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, …
Ephesians 2:10 ESV / 4 helpful votes
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
2 Corinthians 13:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
2 Corinthians 4:5 ESV / 4 helpful votes
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
Romans 12:13 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Romans 12:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
John 13:1-17 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. …
Matthew 5:42 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Matthew 5:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Proverbs 3:27 ESV / 4 helpful votes
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
1 John 4:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 John 4:19-20 ESV / 3 helpful votes
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
1 Peter 4:11 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:9 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
1 Peter 1:22 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-28 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. …
1 Thessalonians 4:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes
And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,
