Improve Your Serve week 3b (2)

“Why We Need to Serve”

Review . . .

“Overcoming Obstacles”

The #1 reason many do not serve today: emotional bandwidth

The story of two sisters

In order to develop greater emotional bandwidth, we must move from the “many” to the “One”.

Today we will discuss . . .

Why we need to serve

Transition:

Have you ever noticed?

The characteristics of young children . . . “It’s just in there”

Curiosity

Learning/growth

Temperament

I would suggest that God has also placed within each of us the need to serve.

The Creation Mandate . . . Genesis 1:26-31

English Standard Version Chapter 1

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27  So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The formation of man in God’s image indicates that we were made as “co-creators.” As such, we have been assigned to “create” the Father’s will on behalf of His kingdom.

To do so requires a surrendered heart, and yielded will, and a full embrace of who God has made us to be on His behalf.

Since creation, God has chosen to partner with man for the purpose of accomplishing His will on earth. This is not to say that He is unable to accomplish His will without us. It is to say that He has made an intentional choice in the relationship of partnership.

Man is the only one in all of creation who possesses the image of God. This places man in a position of reigning or stewarding on God’s behalf. When God assigned man the task of being “fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion,” God placed within man the need to serve.

When we are not serving on behalf of God’s divine order, we constantly look for something or someone to fill the need.

But there is only one aspect of life that will actually fill this need to serve, and that is to serve.

This was not changed in the Fall of man. The change at the time of the Fall made the labor more difficult, but it did not remove the necessity of serving (ruling).

Placed within each of us is a need or desire to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

It is my belief that this desire is the evidence of what I am sharing. To have a desire inherent within us would indicate to me that it has been placed there by God Himself.

The placement of desire leads us to explore opportunities for fulfillment. It is in the exploration that many become sidetracked through a variety of deceptive alternatives presented to them by the enemy.

Until we recognize the desire within and it’s purpose for existing, we will continue to pursue false options for the sake of attempting to fill this created need.

Another important aspect we must come to understand is that our service is an act of worship. As such, all that we participate in on behalf of God’s partnership is an expression of worship to Him as our Creator.

Said another way, without service, there is a missing component to my worship experience. I can sing and make melody to God, but service is equally a vital part and necessity to our worship.

Therefore, the “why” of our serving can be summed up in the following:

We are created in God’s image

As such, we are the image bearers of God Himself

At the time of Creation, God placed within us a need and mandate to steward His creation on His behalf.

When we engage in discovering our part in partnering with God, we will come into the reality of fulfilled purpose.

When we do not engage, we continually seek for that “something” which will bring meaning and purpose to our lives.

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

In Genesis chapter 2, we see the continued description of God’s activity in creation. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to work and keep it.”

Here we clearly see the intentional plan and purpose of the Father. He placed man in the garden, and then assigned him a specific task on behalf of His divine plan and purpose.

You may say, well Bill, I’m not Adam. Although true in statement, the essence of our assignment has not changed. We are still tasked with the original assignment to “work and keep” the garden.

Our garden is not the same as Adam’s, yet we have a “garden” assigned to our keeping. It is our responsibility to go before God and hear His voice as He places us in the garden on behalf of His kingdom work.

Turn with me now to a familiar portion of Scripture which depicts the start of Christ’s ministry. It is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

Luke 4

English Standard Version (Chapter 4)

5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,

“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God,

and him only shall you serve.’ ”

Here we see the temptation of Satan as he offers the “kingdoms of the world” to Jesus if He will but simply bow down and worship him.

Of course we see the immediate response of Jesus to refuse such an offer, but here is an important aspect to notice.

It would not have been a legitimate temptation unless Satan actually had the ability to give Jesus what he was offering.

For Satan to say he would give Jesus the kingdoms of the world would indicate that he in fact had the kingdoms to offer.

Satan makes a comment about these kingdoms: “I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given to me, and I give it to whom I will.”

When did Satan receive this authority?

Man gave his assigned authority which had been given to him by God at the time of the Fall. Ever since the Fall until the time of Christ, man was in a continual battle to reclaim his ownership of authority.

Jesus won back our authority on His cross and at His resurrection.

We have been granted full access once again to reign on behalf of Christ in the “garden” of influence God has called us to, but many today still choose to entertain the offers of the enemy rather than step fully into their God given assignment and learn to operate in the authority of Christ.

Until we understand and step fully into our reclaimed authority as purchased by Christ, we will continue to flounder in life as we experience the repercussions of the Fall.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am not advocating “Kingdom Now” theology. Rather, I am simply placing emphasis that the accomplished work of Christ on our behalf has granted to us full access to partnership with the Father on behalf of His kingdom.

In order to step fully into our reclaimed authority, it is vitally important that we understand our identity in Christ.

The reason many Christians do not step into their Kingdom assignment is due to the fact that they have never clearly embraced their new identity.

There is a continual mindset associated with the old nature with its limitations of the flesh, but we are “new in Christ and the old has passed away.”

In order to understand why we need to serve, we must come back to this issue of identity.

It is our new identity in Christ which propels us forward in the pursuit and promise of the Father’s call.

One of the most damaging lies that has been accepted in the Christian world has been the belief that only certain individuals have a divine call on their life.

I say that this is a deception from Satan that has been readily accepted as truth. The result has been a laity/clergy divide that we are still experiencing today.

Until the Body of Christ dismisses and refuses to accept this deception, we will continue to experience a partially active Body who is not accomplishing the stewardship of God.

Now, let me provide practical steps forward as we learn how to embrace to the full our identity in Christ and our stewardship assignment from God.

We must fully accept the accomplished work of Christ on our behalf. There is nothing more that I can do or need to do. Jesus finished the work, but I must receive His work on my behalf.

As I come into a full awareness and embrace of Christ’s authority in my life, I must rise up to the stewardship call of God.

Stepping into my kingdom assignment aligns me with the DNA placed within my heart at the time of creation.

I must choose to set aside the “weight and sin” of the deception Satan placed within the church which has created a divided house of laity and clergy.

Once I set aside this deception, I am then positioned to fully realize and readily acknowledge my kingdom assignment.

A received kingdom assignment will result in living in “the joy of the Lord which is my strength.”

So, why do we need to serve? . . .

We need to serve because God has said, “Let it be.”

Prayer time . . .

I want to call our prayer partners forward for a time of altar ministry.

There may be those here this morning who are still experiencing the results of sin and bondage in your life.

These areas must be broken through the authority of Christ and replaced with the Presence of the Holy Spirit.

We will never receive the fullness of life Jesus has for us as long as we remain under the limitations of bondage and oppression.

It is time for us to step fully into partnership with the Father!