Created to Serve

Welcome to Week 4 of Wonderfully Made as we continue our 5 week quest to evaluate where we are in our journey with God. The goal of this series is to help you answer TWO very important questions.

Question #1 - WHY am I here?

Question #2 - WHAT'S NEXT for me in my relationship with God? “We all have a NEXT STEP to take”.

In order to help us answer these two important questions we are taking a look at 5 purposes for which God created you and how it is that the church plays an important role in helping you understand these purposes.

In Week 1 we started with the idea that you were Created to Be A Disciple.

A disciple is more than someone who has trusted in Jesus. It is also more than someone who shares the gospel. A true disciple is one who passes the HOPE of Jesus on to others and then helps them do the same with someone else.

In Week One we challenged you with the question, What STAGE are you in when it comes to the Disciple’s Pathway and what step is God leading you to take NEXT?

In Week 2 we looked at the 2nd purpose for which God created you and that is you were Created to Worship.  In order to be a worshiper you have to have a relationship with God. You and I were created for the purpose of reflecting God’s glory in the world and that happens when we are in right relationship with Him. The question we challenged everybody with in Week 2 was, Have you ESTABLISHED a relationship with God through BAPTISM and Covenant Partnership? Have you made a public profession in Christ through baptism since you have believed? Do you just ATTEND Church or do you really BELONG to the Church as a Covenant Partner?

Last Week we explored the 3rd purpose for which God created you and that is you were Created for Community.

We looked at the community TOGETHERNESS of the early church as outlined for us in Acts 2 and we observed that through their togetherness they were able to gain favor with those outside their church community and the Lord drew others to Himself as God transformed each of them into SENT disciples. The question we challenged everybody with last week was, Are you in COMMUNITY with other believers where you can grow in Christ-likeness and become a SENT disciple? Are you in CIRCLES with people doing life together with other believers where God can shape you as a SENT disciple or are you just content with sitting in a ROW on Sunday morning?

And that brings us to today where we are going to look at the 4th purpose for which God created you and that is you were Created to Serve.

But what if we are thinking about life all wrong. What if I were to tell you that you exist and where put here on earth not to GET MORE OUT of life but you are here to PUT MORE INTO life!

Rick Warren says this in his book, The Purpose Driven Life:

“You were put on earth to make a contribution. God designed you to make a difference with your life.” In other words, God made you so that you can add to life on earth, not take away from it. You were in essence CREATED TO SERVE!

And when it comes to you growing as a SENT disciple of Jesus nothing identifies you more with Him than when you are BEcoming a SERVANT! In fact, here is what Paul said when he wrote to the church at Ephesus. Ephesians 2:10 .

Ephesians 2:10 NIV

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

He has equipped each of us with various gifts so we can serve Him by serving others. You were created to be a blessing to others. You were created to do things (good things) that will draw people to God and allow them to see that He is good and a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. You are gifted and are being equipped to bring God’s goodness to the earth. To bring His kingdom blessings down to a world that groans under the weight of sin.

Philippians 2:1–18 NIV

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Philippians 2:1–2 NIV

1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

Imagine a man sets out on a road trip and about halfway his vehicle stops. For the life of him he can’t figure it out. He opens the engine. Examines the wires, the oil. Looks at the brakes, the battery, the spark plugs. And so he calls a shop an orders new spark plugs…they come put them on…try to start it but nothing. So he says, must be the battery. He calls and gets a battery brought to Him, tries this, puts it in…still nothing. He says, maybe its the engine. I’ll just get a new one. So he takes it to a shop, has them put a new engine in..this one bigger than the last one. Still won’t go.

So the mechanic looks at the car from top to bottom, checks all of the vehicle and says..I can’t find a single thing wrong with it. This vehicle is in perfect shape. You don’t need anything, you just forgot to put gas in it.

Sometimes we look at Churches and we say why don’t they serve. And we change programs, change pastors, change worship, try and get everything right..and we miss the most obvious thing: they are missing the right fuel.

The first thing Paul addresses here is the :

The Fuel of A Servant:

I want you to notice two immediate things about this verse, before he starts to talk about serving. He begins by saying, “if you have any encouragement from being united, and love from having his comfort, any tenderness and compassion from his Spirit…implying that a servant begins first with having a heart after Jesus, and enjoying Him.

You don’t begin with service, you begin with worship! That is the fuel.

The motivation is deeper than seeing a need and filling it. It is seeing Jesus.

You see, one of the things I emphasized the first week, is that our calling is to the caller. God is calling us to himself, and our calling is connected to Him. God is not first leading you to a place or position, but to a person (Jesus).

Meaning this, service always flows out of a heart of worship for God. From abiding and devoting your life to Jesus.

This is why two weeks ago we began with a call to worship first. Because that is step one.

A worshipful heart will be a servants heart.

This is why, before he talks about the call to serve in verses 3-18, he says, if you have Christ, If you have His Spirit, if You have the encouragement by being united with Him…then serve.

This is Why at vertical you have to see serving God in the local church as doing more than fillgg a need. Your why has to be deeper than that.

This is not a you should serve sermon. Thats true. But its deeper than that. This is a you need Jesus message!

Because if you have Christ, and worship Him whole heartedly. serving flows naturally.

He says, therefore if you are united in Him, Have His Spirit, are encouraged by His love, then..serve as Christ served.

If you serve out of obligation alone, don’t serve.

Serving is not a got to, but a get to! Serving is the natural response to the love of God.

My point this morning is not about you just serving somewhere., but more so, asking the question…what does my service of God reveal about how much I treasure God.

It is an issue that we don’t serve, but more so than that, the greater issue is that it doesn’t bother us to serve. Or to put another way, the nature of our relationship with God does not produce a heart of service.

Rich Young Ruler: You see the issue was not that God needed his money. It wasn’t about the serving or giving. Him walking away was about more than what he wouldn’t give, it reflected His heart and belief of who Jesus is.

This is why I do not want you to just serve out of obligation or guilt. Now there are times we may feel obligated, but your service must be deeper than that. My heart is to help you to see what Jesus has done for you..and then serve out of that love.

Notice the fuel that Paul says empowers and motivates a servant:

A servant who follows Jesus has encouragement (The Gr. word used here conveys the idea that Jesus is coming along side of us to help us, give us counsel, and cheer us on)

The prefix -en means to clothe or put on. So Christ puts courage on us and in us.

Service for Christ requires a supernatural courage. To keep loving and giving, even when people don’t appreciate you. Even when its hard. Christ gives us courage to keep going!

Where does that come from?: The implication that being united or one with Christ, makes you bold!

So heres the point: Being united with Christ, Him being in us, and surrendered to Him…gives us courage to serve as Jesus did.

You see it doesn’t primarily bother me when those who say they know Jesus don’t serve. God doesn’t need us. But it bothers me, that it doesn’t bother us not to serve. Again, because it shows a lack of courage from a lack of fellowship with Jesus.

This is a call to fellowship with Jesus.

Serving is the means by which we draw near to Jesus? Don’t believe me:

Matthew 25:40–45 NIV

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Do you see the connection: Your willingness to serve others reflects a willingness to serve Jesus. And we can not reject serving the brothers we do see, without rejecting our Savior we can’t see.

So why do we serve, because being united with Christ makes us bold. And because we desire Him.

A servant who follows Jesus has comfort (The Gr. word used here conveys the idea of Jesus coming near to us because of His love for us)

It says we are comforted by His love. In other words, the comfort and love of God should so fill you that it overflows into the life of others.

Because Christ has loved us, we can love and serve.

It is not forced! It is natural.

The comfort and love of God allows us to comfort and love others.

This also means this…your service should be deeper than oblligation.

If you only serve because you are obligated to, not because you get to…don’t serve.

We comfort because He was comforted us.

The implication is this, if we don’t show love have we truly recieved it?

If you have no comfort to give, you need to go back to the comforter and recieved!

God’s love and comfort is our motivation.

A servant who follows Jesus has His Spirit (The idea being we have “fellowship” with God’s indwelling Holy Spirit) He gives us strength and power to be the servant He has called us to be.

Christ has given us His presence and Spirit.

He has given us a deep fellowship.

He has given us Himself.

This means that Christ has sanctified us, saved us, made His dwelling place within us!

The spirit has changed us!!

This means service is not what we do but who we are now!

So…as God calls us to serve it is not that He is asking us to do something as much as to be something. Be who you are..and what you are created to be.

We serve because His Spirit has made us new and changed our identity. We are servants!

A servant who follows Jesus has His compassion (We have been given deep affection and compassion by Christ considering our sinful state) God has compassion for our human struggle and He leads us and cares for us as a loving Father.

Again this echoes all of what Paul is saying. God is only asking what He has already given, and He says walk in it!

Your heart of service flows from a heart of worship. Worship is the fuel.

We don’t serve God because we have forgotten our why! We have forgotten what Christ has done for us!

Notice I did not say that we serve simply because there is a need!

There are many different needs in the world. And trying to fill every need may cause you to miss the purpose that God has called you to.

Your motivation and fuel has to be deeper than “they need me here”. It has to be…Jesus has called me! Christ has loved me. Christ has empowered me!

Most churches are trying to run off the wrong fuel.

We have to get back first to value and appreciate what Christ has done.

If Christ could die for you, and you won’t live for Him?

And again, look at verse 2

Philippians 2:2 NIV

2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

He says, if you have Christ in you and are united with Him, be in community.

This is why we again went from called to worship to called to community.

This is the progression. Worshipping Jesus brings you into unity with the body of Christ. And then, once you are connected to Christ and His church…the serving is second nature.

We are called to Jesus, but the way by which we draw near to Jesus is through worship, community and service.

So we see what Fuels Us..what motivates us..next we see the attitudes of a servant. If the first section was the why, this is the how:

The Attitude of a Servant

Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV) 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

What if I told you that what you do isn’t as important as the heart you do it with?

That it isn’t what you give but why you give.

It is the internal motivations. It is the attitude.

For instance a complaining volunteer is worse than an attender.

I would rather you not do anything than serve with this heart of “I don’t want to be here. Its too early. Its too much. These people get on my nerves.”

Why? Because our attitude keeps people from seeing Jesus, and also, disrupts the good that those who have the right motivations are doing.

In the book of Acts..it says everybody was of one heart and mind! And its why Paul says here is verse 2, be of the same mind, by one Spirit..because we must be unified. And there is nothing more divisive than a complaining servant who has lost sight of God’s grace and goodness.

Paul describes three attitudes we must have to serve well:

Attitude #1: A servant does nothing motivated by selfish ambition or vain conceit.

The servant God has called us to be also points to our heart and motivations for serving.

Do not serve for attention, credit, or acknowledgment. Do not serve to get something in return.

Serve simply for their good!

Do not serve just so you can say this is my ministry or title.

Do not serve so people can say, “look at what they did”.

Serve because Jesus is worth it.

Service must never be transactional! Sometimes churches can be guilty of only serving people so they can come to thier church, or benefit them, or give something back.

Serve people irregardless of what they do in return.

As a matter of fact, serve those specifically who can’t give you anything!

Luke 6:35–36 NIV

35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

If you serve for attention, well thier attention will be your reward, but God’s want.

This also means practically..when you serve and do good…don’t post about everything.

Someone told me along time ago, always keep more behind the counter than on display. Serve in a way that people are greatly impacted, but that the only person they can credit is God!

People don’t need to see how great or good we are..they need to see Him!

James 3:16 NIV

16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Attitude #2: A servant values others above themselves. A true servant thinks about others and what would add value to their lives regardless of what he or she may have to sacrifice in order to do so.

This means that we must be willing to take a loss so that others can win!

We must be willing to go without so they can gain.

Practically speaking: We have people serving every week in various ministries. They serve in Prayer, VKIds, in Echo, in Next, In Worship…coming early to honor God and help those others worship and hear God. Our ministries here are more than to meet a need, but our why is for the glory of God. These folks make sacrifices so that you can gain! That is the culture of our church.

How can we live in a way that values others above ourselves?

We stop thinking about what we want but what it is that others need.

Attitude #3: A servant makes the interests of others a priority. A true servant practices Matthew 22:39 “… love your neighbor as yourself.” The same priority you would give to yourself naturally you instead give to others because of your love for God and your love for others.

This is why as a church I have challenged our folks I've been encouraged by a fellow church and am challenging our body to mobilize in response to this devastation in Western NC! Our first step is going to be to flood our campus tomorrow and through next week with non-perishable food and water.

Bring all the food and water that you’re able, and drop it off in our lobby. We will get this to teams that our serving through Baptists on Mission! There are also short term mission opportunities!

We can not sit in comfort while the western part of our state is in devastation:

My family stays in Eastern TN, right on the edge of the mountains. The whole town has been devasted. Housing floating down the river. My parents subdivision has lost 2 homes at the bottom of the hill they are on. Powers out.

Notice I said a priority: Priority means you make time and move some things around.

Are the needs of others a prirority to us?

The point of this section here is this: How you serve reveals who you serve!

James 2:14–16 NIV

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

In other words, listen to this, serving does not save you…but if you are saved you will serve.

We have to offer more than words, and we have to be shaken from our indifference. To say, go in peace, keep warm, keep fed..but not to feed anyone when they are hungry is a deception.

There are thousands of people hurting, hungry, without power..and if that doesn’t not compell us to do something, even when its right yard..we must ask ourselves who we truly serve.

I was hungry, and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger.

I was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to your chapel in the cellar and prayed for my release.

I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health.

I was homeless, and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God.

I was lonely, and you left me alone to pray for me.

You seem so holy, so close to God, but I’m still very hungry, and lonely, and cold. -Unknown

We must mobilize. This is our first step..will you join me? Look to the model of Jesus.

Paul then continues with Philipians 2:5-8

Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV) 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.

Jesus had incredible resources as one who shared the divine nature with His heavenly Father. Yet, He didn’t use these resources for His own advantage but instead chose to humble himself being limited as a man so he could SERVE us on the cross (Let that sink in for moment!). Paul says, we need to adopt this attitude if we are going to step into who God created us to be. And He created us to be SERVANTS! You see, we can read about being Christ-like. We can even say we want to be Christ-like. But the only way to get there is to put feet to our words and actually practice and live out what it means to BE a servant!!!

When we humble ourselves as a servant to God we are in essence working out our salvation with fear and trembling as Paul points out in vs. 12. The result of this is we shine brightly with the Glory of God as Jesus is magnified through our life. When Jesus is magnified it gives opportunity for God to draw others to Himself. But we must be aware that our own selfish ambition and self concern will get in the way.

Listen to what Jesus taught his disciples about desiring TRUE GREATNESS.

Matthew 20:20–21 NIV

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

She wanted her sons to have a position of prestige (based on another account in Mark 10 it is safe to assume that this is something her two sons wanted as well). A position they assumed would help them achieve GREATNESS bestowing special rights and privileges. She is only concerned with her sons for selfish reasons. This place of GREATNESS would have most likely given her honor and something to brag about with her friends and family. After all these are her boys and what they are able to achieve will reflect on her as well. Do you sense her selfish ambition?

Matthew 20:22–24 NIV

22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” 24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.

Here we have the jealousy and envy of the other disciples. Again all motivated by selfish ambition. They are not indignant because they are more holy. They are upset because it keeps them from being in a place of honor and gets in the way of their own selfish ambitions to be GREAT.

Matthew 20:25-28

Matthew 20:25–28 NIV

25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

What is the greatness you are striving for? True GREATNESS is to become like Christ and we see that Christ was the servant of all servants!  Remember we were created to be IMAGE BEARERS of God! This is the true honor! This is what we were made to BECOME! What do you desire? How does this match with what God desires?

We have looked at the Benefits of a Servant and we have looked at the Attitudes of a Servant. I want us to close our time together by looking at the Purpose of a Servant.

1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

The purpose of a servant is to use your gifts to serve others.

1 Corinthians 12:4–14 NIV

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

1 Corinthians 12:24–26 NIV

24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Each part should have equal concern for the other parts no matter what they do or how vital they may appear to the body.

When you SERVE you are not only doing what God has created you to do but you are allowing God to use your life to make the Body of Christ (The Church) healthy. A healthy body is a growing body. That means the members of the body are growing and that God is adding other members to His body.

Serving, just like Community that we talked about last week, is a vital part of your Discipleship Pathway. If you are going to BEcome a SENT Disciple (Sincere Worshiper, Empowered Peacemaker, Notable Witness, Trustworthy Neighbor) then you have to use whatever gift God has given you to serve others.

Early on in the message we referenced Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God has already prepared the GOOD THINGS we just need to be obedient and allow Him to distribute it through our lives! What’s your next step in deploying your gift to serve others?

Invitation:

We want to help you discover your spiritual gift (refer to QR Code at top of handout that will take you to a link that will help you assess your spiritual giftedness and a form that you can fill out listing your top four gifts that will be shared with your Location Pastor)

Vision for Serving - We want to help you find a place to serve! Hear me! Not because we just need you to feel an empty void to help us get Sunday done. We want to help you find a place to serve so that God can do a deeper work in you spiritually cultivating you as a SERVANT and so that the Body of Christ can be HEALTHY so that we can help others encounter a relationship with Jesus.

When you came in we gave you a handout with all the different ministries we have here at Vertical Church with a brief description and the WHY behind each ministry. I want you to notice that each one is about loving people and helping them encounter Jesus. Our challenge for you today is based around two questions,

How has God gifted you specifically?

Where does He want you to exercise your gift?

4)  What’s Your Next Step?

Relationship with Jesus - we would love to pray with you at NEXT

Baptism Sign Up - QR Code

Oct. 13th - What’s Next Connect Sign Up QR Code

Community Interest QR Code

Spiritual Gifts Assessment  QR Code