Serve One Another (Attidudes of a servant)

Intro:

Last week we built the foundation of how the church is to function as God intended it to function.

And we looked at the command Jesus gave us as His church in the New Testament. He said “ Love one another.

In fact, last week we saw from Scripture, that the only way we can be a healthy church is if we have love for one another.

Our love for one another is a gift from God to us as the church.

It is picture of Christ's un wavering love for us.

which is a picture of the love the Godhead has within Himself, The father and Son and the Holy Spirit.

Our love for one another is the glue that makes everything else possible in the church, without it we can do nothing.

Today we are going to build upon this foundation of Love for one another.

We are continuing in our Series on the One another commands Jesus Gave us.

and today we want to consider the command Jesus gave us to serve One another in the church.

turn with me in your Bibles to....

Galatians 5:13 ESV

13 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.

Love is the foundation of our relationship with one another and service is how we are called to live out that love towards one another.

Peter reiterates Pauls words to the church in again

1 Peter 4:10 ESV

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:

We each have been given gifts from God through the Holy spirt in our lives,

These gifts were not given to us for our own pleasure or to use to build our selves up, these special gifts from Christ, were given to us to serve one another in the church.

We need to understand that Every part of the body of Christ is gifted to serve.

that means that None of us who are in Christ have an excuse for not serving the body of Christ.

If you are truly born again into Christ, than Being a servant is who God intends for you to be.

PAUSE

The Bible seems very clear to me as I read it… As a Christian who has been given gifts from God to serve the church, You are either obeying God and serving the church or your not- there is no middle ground.

As I was studying for this sermon I came across a short poem called “He’s no Stranger” written BY LYOD TAYLOR that I thought fit’s well with our serving in the church.

“HE’S NO STRANGER”

He’s the wisest man in the church There’s nothing he can’t do If you turn down your ministry He’ll be there to do it for you. He’s also a very faithful member And shows up right on time If you don’t honor your commitment He’ll cover you every time. He’s obviously very wealthy The plate’s always passed his way If you choose not to give a cent He’ll all the expenses pay. Who is he? You may ask, This one with such acclaim? Thank God he’s in every church, “Somebody Else” is his name.

Do you get the point?

Too often churches miss out on seeing God do exceedingly abundantly more than they could ever ask or think because the people who are the church fail at serving one another in the church.

Church family Jesus commands us to serve one another, and if we are going to be a church that follows after Jesus -than we need to be a church that serves one another faithfully.

I want to take a minute before We continue to say “I love what God is doing in this church.”

I love seeing so many of you serving this body of Believers.

and what I have noticed is the more we serve one another the healthier our church is becoming, and the healthier our church becomes as a body of Christians the more God grows our church.

Today I want to take this time to remind us...

Why Serving one another matter in our church.

Look with me at what jesus said to his followers in Matthew 20:26-28

Matthew 20:26–28 ESV

26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Today I want us to take a few minutes together to look at Five attitudes a servant must have in order to serve the church the way that God intends His followers to serve.

The First Attitude a servant must have is ...

A Servant Is Humble

Philippians 2:3–8 ESV

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

In John 13 we see Jesus as a humble servant.

On the night before Jesus was arrested He wanted to demonstrate for His followers, what attitude it would take for them them to serve one another the way that He came to serve them.

The text in John 13 tells us that as the disciples and Jesus were eating Supper, He rose up from the table, took off His outer garments and laid them aside.

Then he picked up a towel, Tied it around His waste and poured water into a small washbasin.

He then quietly walked over to each one of His disciples and began to wash their feet and wipe them off with his towel.

This job that Jesus was doing was beneath any Jewish man.  Even Jewish servants didn’t wash their masters’ feet.  For a Jewish man to bend down and wash the feet of another would have been one of the greatest acts of respect and love he could show that person.

Christ the self-existent  Son of God, the one who spoke everything into existence.  The one who all creation will sing his praises.

If there was ever a man who walked this earth who should never have to humble himself it would have been Jesus.

But Jesus humbled himself before these 12 men -so that He could demonstrate to them that in order to love the church you must be a servant of the church.

Jesus the creator of all ,humbly did what no other Jewish man would do, He washed the feet of his own followers, so that He could teach these men what attitude it would take for them to Serve One another in the Body of Christ.

and as Jesus finished washing the disciples feet He said these words in

john 13:13-17

John 13:13–17 ESV

13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

To serve one another- Requires us to have the attitude of Humility.

To understand that there is no one in the church unworthy of our service,

To understand that None of us is above the task of serving

and to understand that no one is below the ability to serve.

The second attitude a servant must have in order to serve the church like Christ is...

A Servant is Prepared (to Serve)

1 Timothy 4:7–8 (ESV)

7 Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

In May, I am going on a trip to Israel and a couple of the places we are going to visit is Mt. Sinai where God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, and I want to climb to the top of that Mt. When I am there, We are also going to the Dead sea. Now I have seen many photos of people swimming in the dead sea and the pose seems the same.

Act it out- you lean back in the water with your arms floating out to the side and right in the middle is a floating dead sea Bubble( Rub Belly)

So I have been going to the wellness center each day for the past few weeks. I have been training my body to be ready to climb that maintain, and to be fit enough to not have a dead sea bubble in my picture.

And what Paul is telling us in this passage in 1 Tim. is that getting in shape spiritual should be so much more important to us than getting in shape physically.

When Christ saves us , He gives us a new nature, and this new spiritual nature needs to be trained for godliness.

Just like When we train our physical bodies - we go to where we can be trained best- We go to the gym.

When we train our spiritual lives we need to go to where we can be trained best.

We go to the word of God - the Bible to learn God’s truths

We go to the throne of God in Prayer to seek His wisdom

We go to the Family of God-the church, to learn from others who have already been where we are at.

and We seek the leading of God the Holy Spirit in our lives to direct our every move

The point is this , Being a servant like Christ, does not come naturally for any one of us, We must prepare ourselves spiritually so that we can serve one another effectively .

Next..

A Servant Is observant (He Looks for ways to Serve)

In 1 Cor. 9 Paul was speaking to the church about his own heart of Service and the attitude He must have in order to serve others.

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 ESV

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

The attitude of a servant is someone who is willing to serve in any way they are needed, no matter what the task may be.

Paul gives us a beautiful picture of a servant’s heart in this passage, He was willing to serve in any way that was needed in order to reach people for Jesus Christ.

Paul didn’t say “ I am a Jewish Rabbi I only serve the church as a teacher. NO!!!! He was willing and ready to serve in any way so that He could meet the spiritual needs of others..

For the Jews he served them as a jew in order to impart spiritual good into their lives,

For the gentiles he served them as a gentile in order to impart spiritual good into their lives,

Paul’s attitude was a heart eager and willing to serve - no matter what the task would be -for the spiritual good of others.

Church family, When we serve one another we must have this same attitude in our service.

If we want to bring glory to God in our lives as the church, then We must must always be looking for ways to serve one another with the desire to impart spiritual good in one another’s lives.

Don’t limit yourself on how you serve one another in the church to what you think your preferences and abilities are,

Instead, Just look for opportunities and joyfully fill those needs.

(Soft Spoken) Don’t sit back and be a spectator when it comes to being part of the body of Christ, Step up and serve your church!

Our next attitude of a servant we want to look at g follows in line with this one.

The attitude of a servant is someone who serves with a heart of Sacrifice.

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A Servant is sacrificial

( He serves others with a Sacrificial heart)

Not only is a servant humble in how He serves, Not only is a servant prepared to serve, Not only does a servant seek out opportunities to serve, But He also must be ready to serve sacrificially.

Hebrews 13:16 ESV

16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

A Servant must be ready to sacrifice His time, his money, his abilities all so that He can build up his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Discipling others is hard work. Investing in other peoples lives is hard work, helping a brother or sister fix their broken relationship with God is hard work, Caring for the needs of the sick is work, Serving others when we are tired and hurting ourselves is hard work.

But Jesus didn't say to us If its convenient serve one another, He simply said this is who you are called to be in Christ,

He said’ Serve One Another..

- and this is why the servant must have an attitude of sacrifice when he is serving. Because without a heart willing to do whatever it takes, serving others is more than any one of us wants to bear on our own.

To be a sacrificial servant means that you are willing to do what ever it takes for however long it takes to build spiritual good into your brother or sisters life.

As a servant We should have no limits to our willingness to serve; whether that means sitting in the nursery watching crying babies, or standing in the kitchen washing the dishes after a church fellowship .

or standing on the stage leading in worship

or greeting visitors as they come in the front doors.

Serving others takes work, It takes commitment, It takes each of us being willing to give up what we want so that we can impart spiritual good into one another’s lives.

-the attitude of Servant is One that is willing to serve whoever, wherever, whenever, However and forever if needed.

Next… The attitude of a servant is someone who serves so that the name of Jesus will be magnified in their life.

A Servant is God- Glorifying

He Serves for God’s Glory not His own

throughout the entire Bible God has made it very clear to mankind that we were Created for His own pleasure

ALL of creation was created so that it might bring glory to it’s creator.

Colossians 1:16 ESV

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

All Creation including mankind is here to proclaim the glory of God,

But the truth is that All of of creation doe not proclaim God’s glory, mankind- God’s prize creation, has failed at seeing and worshipping their Creator God..

A.W. Tozer Said “

The heavens and the earth were intended to be a semitransparent veil through which moral intelligences might see the glory of God, but for sin-blinded men this veil has become opaque. They see the creation but do not see through it to the Creator; or what glimpses they do have are dim and out of focus. It is possible to spend a lifetime admiring God’s handiwork without acknowledging the presence of the God whose handiwork it is.2

A. W. Tozer

Church You were created for the Glory of God , This is who you were made to be Its your purpose.

To Bring God glory through your life.

Jesus was speaking to His followers in .. Matthew 5:14-16

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 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.

Did you notice How we let our light shine in this world?

Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to the Father who is in Heaven.

When we serve one another in the church- the world notices, and our good works towards one another points them to our Heavenly father whom we are serving.

The attitude of a servant, serves others so that the name of God is magnified in His good works.

We are called to shine brightly in this world for the glory of God and we does this through serving one another in the church,.

A Servant who serves for the glory of God focuses on what Jesus has given them, Not what they are giving the church.

simple put, the attitude of a servant doesn't serve the church so that they receive the praise of others in the church, or so that they can be blessed in their life, They serve the church because they are so in love with Jesus and nothing else makes any sense but to serve so that His name is praised.

in the mid 1800’s an old Baptist Preacher named Charles Spurgeon wrote:

We have worked, we have even worked hard; but the question comes to us—“What have we worked for? Who has been our master? With what object have we toiled?”

Charles Spurgeon

Church family- If you serve the church for any reason other than God’s glory than you have failed at serving the head of the church which is Christ, and the only one you have serve dis your self.

the attitude of a servant serves is such a way that the name of Jesus is proclaimed in everything you do!

Bring it Home

It is a joyous work that we’ve been given by the head of the church Jesus Christ. , The Bible tells us that One day Jesus will return for His church and to those who have faithfully served Him with their lives He will speak some of the most precious words any one of us will ever Hear “ WELL DONE THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT” .

In order for those words to be true of Clear Lake Baptist Church then we must have the right attitude as we serve one another.

The attitude of a servant must be one of Humility.

No one is above or below serving one another.

the attitude of a servant must be One who prepares to serve.

We need to prepare our hearts spiritually so that we can serve one another effectively.

The attitude of servant is One who doesn't wait to be asked to serve but looks for opportunities to serve.

We need to not just be spectators in the church, instead we need to Step up, jump in and serve our church.

The attitude of a servant must be One of Sacrifice

We need to be willing to serve whoever, wherever, whenever, However, and forever if needed.

the attitude of a servant must be One who serves others for God’s Glory

We are called to serve one another in such a way that the name of Jesus is proclaimed in everything we do as a church!

I ask you one simple question as we close?

What is your attitude towards serving your church today?

Don’t just come to church as an attender, step up, jump in, and get excited about serving Christ for the glory of God, in your church!

Pray!