Hearts Ablaze for Serving?
Thesis: We need to have hearts that are ablaze and that burn with the passion for serving God and serving each other. Only then will we find fulfillment and happiness in life! Only then will we make a difference for all eternity.
Illustration:
While I was helping to clean the church, I encountered a 12 year-old boy who was working out his court sentence for theft by doing community service. He asked me what bad thing I had done to be working there. "Why son, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just helping out the church. What did you do?" I ventured. "I didn’t do nuttin’ either, " he assured me. Alarmed, I asked why he hadn’t told that to the arresting officer. "What was the use?" He muttered. "He went to my house and found all the stuff." Laura Panaro
Introduction:
Many look at serving in the church as a punishment not a joy. Yet studies have proved over and over that those who serve are more content and happy with their life than those who do not serve the Lord and others.
In Myers book The Pursuit Of Happiness he addresses the truth about what genuinely brings happiness and contentment to peoples lives. In his epilogue after going through many studies he sums up his findings:
By scrutinizing the fruits of hundreds of painstaking studies of well-being we have, first, dispelled some popular but mistaken ideas:
1. That few people are genuinely happy
2. That wealth buys well-being
3. That tragedies, such as disabling accidents, permanently erode happiness
4. That happiness springs from memories of intense, if rare, positive experiences (idyllic vacations, ecstatic romances, joy filled victories)
5. That teens and the elderly are the unhappiest people
6. That trial marriages reduce the risk of later divorce
7. That religious faith suppresses happiness
We’ve also pondered things that DO enable happiness:
1. Fit and healthy bodies
2. Realistic goals and expectations
3. Positive self-esteem
4. Supportive friendships that enable companionship and confiding
5. A socially intimate, sexually warm, equitable marriage
6. Challenging work and active leisure, punctuated by adequate rest and retreat
7. A faith that entails communal support, purpose, acceptance, outward focus, and hope
(page 205,206)
The surveys show what the Bible has said for centuries "Serving is good for you because it will make you happy and it will have eternal value." The problem comes into serving when the person who serves comes with the wrong attitude. Listen to what Hybels has to say about this:
The right motivation for Christian service is love. When we discover God loves us with an everlasting love and that we matter deeply to him, we want to serve. He has given us salvation as a free gift. He has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. He has shed the blood of His most precious Son as a sin sacrifice for undeserving souls like ourselves. When all of that comes together and clicks, an unquenchable, divine energy is infused into the spirit of the believer. There is an insatiable desire to return love to God. That love is returned to God through worship and service. It is so natural that anything short of passionate service seems unnatural.
One major cause of servant drop-out is faulty motivation. Some people are motivated to serve because of guilt. They feel bad if they don’t do something, so they say yes to soothe their own guilty conscience. Others are motivated by the belief that they must earn their way into God’s favor and pave the way to heaven with their good works. There are also those who serve for the applause of people. They want others to notice their service and give them affirmation and praise. With the wrong kind of motivation, you won’t be able to keep a servant serving. With the right kind of motivation, you won’t be able to stop a servant serving. It is just about that simple (37).
Serving is to be done according to Scripture it’s not an option for the Christian. Nowhere in Scripture does it say serving is an option it’s modeled by Christ himself and he instructs us to serve:
NIV John 13:12-17
12. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them.
13. "You call me `Teacher’ and `Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
15. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
16. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Serving is to be an intricate part of being a Christian. It’s part of our faith. It ’s who we are. We are all called to be servants of God and of one another. We all are instructed to minister and serve. Don’t boo me yet! Bill Hybels adds, "The theme of sacrifice runs through the entire Bible like a crimson thread. "
The choice to serve is rooted in a word called commitment. Two questions could be thrown out "Who do you serve?" and "Who are you committed too?" People today say they just do not commit to anything but in reality they do:
1. I see people commit to playing sports
2. I see people commit to watching sports and supporting there favorite teams
3. I see people commit to there jobs
4. I see people commit to there cabins
5. I see people commit to the pursuit of money
6. I see people commit to watching their favorite TV shows
7. I see people commit to themselves- to live their life their way
8. I see people commit to political parties
9. I see people commit to the pursuit of pleasure
10. I see people commit to education
11. I see people commit to certain foods
12. I see people commit to going to State fair every year
13. I see people commit to racing cars
14. I see people commit to their hobbies
a. ALL THESE COMMITMENTS ARE TEMPORAL-THEY HAVE NO ETERNAL VALUE! IN OTHER WORDS THEY WILL NOT LAST FOR ALL ETERNITY!
b. BUT I DO NOT SEE PEOPLE COMMITING TO ETERNAL THINGS - THINGS THAT MATTER TO THE LORD!
c. I SUPPOSE THE STATEMENT IS TRUE "OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND"!
d. BUT ALL THROUGH THE BIBLE I SEE A THEME BREAKING FORTH OVER AND OVER -IT’S SERVE THE LORD AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR ALL ETERNITY!
Please here me out and let me SHOW THIS Truth to you from Scripture
Matthew 4:10 states, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ’Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."
Matthew 6:24 states, "No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and money."
Lets also explore Ephesians 4:
NIV Ephesians 4:1-32
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called--
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."
9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions ?
10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.
21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
26 "In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
T.S.-According to our texts we need to have hearts that are ablaze for serving. There are three critical areas where are hearts need to be blazing with an attitude of serving. The first is in the area of giving of our time.
I. We need to have hearts ablaze for serving that give of our time
a. The importance of giving what is most valuable to you -your time
i. Psalm 31:14, 15 David illuminates our mind with a thought I would like each of you to ponder today, "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ’You are my God.’ My times are in your hands…"
ii. Is your time placed in God’s hands?
iii. It’s time for a self-evaluation -
1. How much of your time in one week is devoted to your relationship with the Lord?
2. How much of your time in one week is devoted to serving in the kingdom of God?
3. What do you spend most of your week doing?
a. If you don’t know I challenge you to track your time this week.
b. Evaluate what you do with your time.
c. Who gets the benefits?
d. What attitude dominates your time?
e. When do you serve-and who do you serve?
f. Where do you spend your time?
g. How does your week line up with what Scripture says- about what should dominate your time?
b. Christians must give their time it’s imperative. There is a common belief among most people that you cannot build a home without work and the truth is you cannot build a church without work.
i. Quote- "You cannot make footprints in the sands of time sitting down."
ii. Here is a challenge to you -tithe 10% of your time this week to developing your relationship with the Lord.
iii. Here is another challenge to you-tithe 10% of your time to serving in the Kingdom of God.
iv. Then do what you want with the other 80% but remember it’s the 20% of your time that will make a difference for all eternity
1. Illustration on a man who reads his own obituary
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T.S.- Our hearts need to be ablaze with the passion to give of our time but we also need to have hearts ablaze with the passion to serve each other in meaningful relationships.
II. Hearts Ablaze for serving through giving of yourself in Biblical Community
a. The importance of genuine relationships..
i. Hybels states, "…community is loving and being loved. Unless you are exchanging deeply committed levels of love with a few people, you will die slowly on the inside. This is precisely why so, many people feel almost nothing at all. Through the whole course of their lives, they have never exchanged deep levels of love with anybody. It hasn’t happened with their parents. It hasn’t happened with a spouse. And sadly, it hasn’t happened with friends. By this point in life they have become completely numb to the possibility that they might experience a passionate, loving relationship. This not God’s plan for us. He hungers for us to be loved and to give love to others. As a matter of fact, he wants this for us even more than we hunger for it ourselves"(14).
ii. Giving of ourselves in relationships to others is what Biblical community is all about.
1. Take time to read the book of Acts with the intention of looking for relationships in Biblical Community. Lets explore Acts 2:37-47:
37. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
38. Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
40. With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."
41. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
44. All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47. praising God and enjoying the favor of all people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
b. Look at this Biblical Community in Acts!
i. They devoted themselves to learning God’s word-to drawing closer to God verse 37-42.
1. Hybels notes, "Your ability to experience and enjoy the fullness of human community is directly linked to your community with God. Many people wish they were doing better in their human relational world, but they don’t see that there is a definite connection between their communion with God and the quality of their human relationships. Your relationship-building potential with your horizontal relationships is directly tied to the maturity level of your vertical relationship with God"(29).
ii. In verse 43 it tells us they were filled with awe- "Awe of God"
this ties n with last weeks message on having awe towards God.
1. Worship God with awe (Hebrews 12:28).
a. WE need to come to church and worship him with AWE!
i. This term is defined as, "a mixed feeling of reverence, fear, and wonder, caused by something majestic, or sacred."
ii. Awe-"refers to a feeling of fearful or profound respect or wonder inspired by the greatness, superiority, grandeur of a person and suggests an immobilizing effect." (Webster, 98)
2. The biblical community had an awe of God and as a result the apostles did miraculous things by God’s power.
iii. Verse 44 tells us the believers where all together and had everything in common.
1. Hybels cries out, "We will never be completely whole or fully alive until we enter into community, sincerely and fully, with God and with people. This community is the experience of knowing and being known, loving and being loved, serving and being served, celebrating and being celebrated"(60).
2. Wow! A church of believers all together "One for all for One!" that was their cry. They where living what we dream of and wish for and pray for! They where united in His Love. They had one purpose-one direction-one goal to serve him-not to serve their own agendas or wants but to serve The KING!
3. Jesus in John 17 prays for His disciples and he said, "Oh God, My Father, may they experience oneness."
a. Hybels adds, "Relationship-deep and full communion. His desire was that they would not live in the isolation of loneliness that has never suited the souls of mankind, but would enter into community relationships that enrich, replenish, and energize their hearts and souls"(60).
iv. Verse 45 states, "Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."
1. Some of you are looking to the exits right now. Your screaming that’s insane-IS IT? By whose standard?
a. Reality says "It’s not insane it’s really sane to show people they are loved and cared for!"
b. I’ll talk a little more about giving in a moment under point 3.
v. Verse 46-47 reveals to us that Biblical Community is not just one day a week.
1. It’s an everyday event!
2. They meet together on a regular basis-daily!
a. Some of you are squirming!
3. It says they shared meals together - they loved each others company!
4. When they ate together they had a blast-they where glad-happy- and it was genuine and authentic. They really loved each other!
5. It says that they praised God 7 days a week
6. As a result of praising God they found favor with other people.
a. Other people saw what they had and they wanted it!
b. They loved it!
c. They prayed for it and they found it!
7. As a result of this type of Biblical Community -God added to their number daily! That’s revival! That’s how to win people to Jesus Christ!
c. Do you want to drive away loneliness? Then chose to help form Biblical community at New Life!
i. To start you must be willing to be a friend to someone. Here is how you do that:
1. Understand that friendship is not to be looked at as what
I can gain from the relationship.
· We are not to form friendships for the purpose to take care of ourselves to meet our own needs.
· We are not to make a friendship with someone because we think they are moving up in stardom so therefore we then hitch with them to rise with them.
· It’s not about pretending to care about them so they will join our group and put another notch in our hat for bringing in another one.
2. Friendships take a lot of work to develop (Plug the relationship class).
a. Hybels states, "if we are going to move from aloneness toward community, we must face the sobering reality that building friendships can be lengthy and challenging endeavor. It’s a process that requires energy, risk, and quite possibly, hurt"(21).
3. Friendships take time so don’t rush them let them develop.
ii. Parrot writes, "Nothing reaches so deeply into the human personality, tugs so tightly, as relationships. Why? For one reason, it is only in the context of connection with others that our deepest needs can be met. Whether we like it or not, each of us has an unshakable dependence on others. It’s what philosopher John Donne was getting at when he said so succinctly, "No man is an island." We need camaraderie, affection, love. These are not options in life, or sentimental trimmings; they are part ot our species’ survival kit. We need to belong"(11).
1. I add because God made us that way. God desires us to form Biblical Community!
T.S.- Not only do we need hearts ablaze for developing relationships with others but we need hearts ablaze that give financially to God which we will explore next week.
Conclusion:
Lets recap-- We need to have hearts that are ablaze for serving God and serving each other. WE need to serve through the motivation of love and not guilt. We need to serve in three areas:
We need to serve the Lord and each other by the giving of our time.
*We need to take a time check this week and determine if I am giving the appropriate amount of time to the Lord.
*If not then I need to explore the ministry fair and find out where I can plug in and help for the Lord.
We need to serve the Lord and each other by developing Biblical Community.
*This is done by developing our relationship with God (Plug prayer and prayer class).
*This is done by developing relationships with one another in the Body of Christ. (Plug dinner for 8, and relationships class).
Close in Prayer!
