How To Become A Great Servant Of The Lord (Sermon On Christian Service)

But let me preface this sermon by saying that we have some VERY GOOD SERVANTS of the Lord in this church.

God knows who they are, and we who watch the fruit they bear also know.

God has blessed them in this life, and He will bless them in the life to come.

King Hezekiah was probably one of the most godly leaders a nation has ever had.

WHY DO WE SAY THAT?

Look at 2 Kings 18:1-6. We read, “Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. AND HE DID THAT WHICH WAS RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.”

There is one verse in the scriptures that really explains why we say he was a great servant of the Lord.

Look at verse 5. We read, “HE TRUSTED IN THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL; SO THAT AFTER HIM WAS NONE LIKE HIM AMONG ALL THE KINGS OF JUDAH, NOR ANY THAT WERE BEFORE HIM. FOR HE CLAVE TO THE LORD, AND DEPARTED NOT FROM FOLLOWING HIM, BUT KEPT HIS COMMANDMENTS, WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES.”

Any man would be honored to have the Word of God say such great things about him. These verses tell us a great deal about this great man of God.

For example, in our text we can see at least THREE things about his life. First we see...

I. HIS SERVICE

Look at 2 Chronicles 31:21 again. We read, “And in every work that he began IN THE SERVICE OF THE HOUSE OF GOD...”

WHERE DID HE SERVE?

The Bible says, “...in the service of the house of God...”

King Hezekiah recognized the house of God as God’s institution, and we are told he chose to serve there.

I do not want to sound like I am mean when I say this, but we all know people who give a great deal of their time to serving organizations they have joined. But I am here to tell you that the greatest place that you can spend your life, is in the SERVICE IN THE HOUSE OF GOD.

However, this is an age when it is difficult to get people to SERVE THE LORD.

It is not hard to get people in the church to accept a job, but it is very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get them TO DO THE JOB they have accepted.

This is not only a problem in the spiritual world, it is also a major problem we have in the secular world.

Illus: Corporations all over this country will tell you it is not difficult getting people to accept a job, but it is very difficult to get them to do the job once they are hired.

• They won’t come on time

• One child can be sick and the whole family stays home to blow his

nose

• They will call in sick when they are not sick

• They do not know how to produce when they are there

They have never been able to comprehend that if they cannot make the company that hired them some money, that company does not need them.

When it comes to the House of God, it does not get any better, in fact, it is probably a lot worse.

But before I get into that, let me say that there are some who have dedicated their lives to serving the Lord. So we are not addressing these. THANK GOD FOR THESE!

We are addressing the leaders that are leaders in title only. That is, they wear the title in the church showing that they hold a certain leadership position, but they never do the job.

• When they should be in the house of God serving the Lord, they are serving some man made institution

• When they should be in the house of God serving the Lord, they are home watching the football game, or the car races

When the faithful stand before the Lord to give account of their service, THESE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE SURPRISED, AS THEY MUST GIVE ACCOUNT TO GOD FOR THEIR LACK OF DEDICATION.

And one excuse they cannot use is this; “THERE WAS NO PLACE TO SERVE!”