Would You Like Fries With That? Series

Pastor Mike Biolsi

pastor@ncfchurch.org

www.ncfchurch.org

North Country Fellowship Church

Attitude Adjustment #3

Would you like Fries with That?

We all want service. We demand it.

At a hotel – I want my reservation to be as it was promised, the right bed, non-smoking; I want a good bed where I don’t sink into the middle and touch the floor, and I want the room (especially the bathroom) spotless.

At a restaurant I want a smile from the person waiting on me; I want my glass refilled before it is empty – don’t ask, just do it; I want my food served hot, my server to be cool and everything to be timely .AND most of all I want to enjoy it with the people I care about…

Proverbs 15:17 - A bowl of soup with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.(NLT)

How many of you know what I mean about service? We all liked to be pampered, we all like to be treated like kings & queens – royalty in our own kingdom of delusions 8-)

I think the most impressive service that I have ever enjoyed was at the Corel Centre in Ottawa. We had box tickets to an Ottawa Senators. We had special parking not far from the main doors. When we entered we went to the box seats. We had a glassed in room with a TV, radio (both tuned into the game) a fridge fully stocked and cabinets of snacks. Leather chairs, and sliding glass doors out to the arena where there were private seating for 10-12 people.

We had waitresses that came in wearing tuxedos who took orders for dinner and hot appetizers. The came in between periods and refilled our fridge and cupboards.

When the game was over we went to our hotel, a concierge came to our vehicle, greeted us by name, carried our bags to our room and parked our car. The room was spectacular, with one wall all glass, over 10 stories up, overlooking the city at night. The bed was great and the pillows were down-filled and the best I have ever found.

Now THAT was service! Oh, and the game was good, too!

Talk about red carpet treatment! We all like being treated like that. We all like being treated like we are someone important.

So… from this day forward at NCF, the deacons will be…. :)

Though we all like feeling important, the Bible tells us how we can actually BE important.

Matthew 20:26-28 -If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.(CEV)

Real significance is not measured by the size of your investment portfolio, your house, your ride – but by the lives that you impact, the ways that you serve others.

All success consists in this: You are doing something for somebody - benefiting humanity - and the feeling of success comes from the consciousness of this.

Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915) US author

The key to lasting significance and meaning in life is not how other people treat you, or how you are served, it is how you serve others.

Serving prevents stagnation…

* In LIFE – it’s keeps us from getting in a rut, self focused, stuck in routine

* In HEALTH – many people are finding that serving others keeps them healthier

* In FAITH – most importantly it keeps our faith fresh. When we cease to serve we become stale, stagnant, complacent and our faith and church dies.

The key to lasting significance and meaning in life is not how other people treat you, or how you are served, it is how you serve others.

Many people miss this facet of life – mainly because we are a self-consumed society. We are a “victim” society – where everything is an attack on us. Nothing happens that is neutral, everything is a direct attack on me.

For instance… you go into a restaurant, and the service is slow, or the waitress is not very happy – are you concerned about what might be wring with her, or are you upset that your schedule is not going as planned – you are a victim of yet another sinister plat of the “busboy underground”, a conspiracy of the darkest kind bent on ruining your life through poor service. :)

Philippians 2:3-4 - Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.(NLT)