You are Created to Serve

Doing good and serving others is virtuous and kind.

Serving our community is a rhythm of a disciple. This is not something we do to secure our salvation but we do it out of love for God. We do it because we recognize that we are the hands and the feet of Jesus to the world.

It could be serving our community. Schools, hospitals, clinics… serving our neighbors, serving as a coach, and people who are in need.

God created us to serve. We are reborn by God with a renewed desire to love God and to love others.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

PRAY

God created us to Love, Live and Declare Jesus Together as HIS Body, HIS Church. We are to love Jesus and love others, Live for Jesus by serving HIS Body and serving the community in which we live that needs to see the love of Jesus.

We are all Called to Serve

God calls us HIS workmanship, (or HIS Masterpiece) created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of doing good works. We are all called to serve.

Our redemptive purpose is to help bring people closer to the Lord and we are a part of that process. We partner with God to bring wholeness and healing. We are invited to be God’s agents of reconciliation, mercy, truth, wisdom, and hope.

Last week we emphasized that in order for us to be Salt and Light, we need to be close to the people who need healing and restoration. As the church, we have to be people who are present where there are needs in the community.

It’s not hard to find needs in our community but we need to be intentional and we need to be strategic. Slow down, don’t be so hurried, don’t be so self focused. When we are rushed and anxious we fail to notice the needs that are around us.

Pray for our community, ask the Lord to open your eyes to needs around us. Ask the Lord to show you ways you can serve. God will always answer those prayers because that’s the heart of Jesus.

Remember that we are called to serve.

We must serve with the right motive

Jesus came to heal and to save all humanity. As the Body of Christ, we need to serve the way Jesus served.

Mark 10:45 ESV

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

What was Jesus’ Motive to Serve?

It wasn’t to be recognized by others but it was to be an example for us.

It wasn’t for a thank you but it was to show us that serving others can be a thankless job.

Receiving a thank you or recognization is wonderful but that’s never our motivation for serving others.

Jesus came to serve and if that was good enough for Jesus, then we must learn to be content by showing others Jesus by serving others.

Jesus came from a high position. HE was God in human form yet HE served with humility.

Philippians 2:6–8 ESV

6 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.

Jesus had every reason, every right, to come from a position of pride, power, and superiority, but “He made himself nothing.” or HE “emptied Himself.” This means that, in becoming a man, He gave up His desires, His will, and gave all of Himself to those He was serving: God the Father first, and then the people around Him.

Through Jesus’ humility, we see HIS heart of true service. It WASN’T about HIM. It was about the One who sent Him. Jesus didn’t want the glory but instead HE directed that to the Father.

Hours before Jesus was arrested and crucified, Jesus did something that was unbelievable.

John 13:1–5 ESV

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

The disciples didn’t know what to think. Here was Jesus—who they were pretty sure by now was the Messiah and the Savior of the world—and He was bending down in the most humble way to serve them and wash their feet. The disciples questioned His actions.

But Jesus answered them,

John 13:13–15 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.

In these passages, Jesus shows us the “why” and the “how” of serving God.

The “why” is humility and obedience to HIS loving Father—absolute surrender to give all glory to God.

The “how” is serving people around Him in startling ways. Jesus didn’t just give lip service to acts of service. He literally got His hands dirty to help those around Him.

As we serve, it’s important to examine our motives.

Are we serving with an agenda to change people to the way we think they should be?

Or are we fulfilling our purpose out of love for our Heavenly Father?

We have to do more then just pray for our community. We must serve our community with the same motive that Jesus had as HE ministered to others.

We have nothing to prove. Just like Jesus emptied HIMSELF we must empty ourselves and fully surrender to the Father and humbly serve people the way Jesus served others.

We are Blessed to be a Blessing to Others

God has blessed us with so many things.

Time, Talent, and Treasure.

God has given us time. He’s gifted us with talent. We are blessed with treasure.

We are blessed just to benefit ourselves… to make ourselves more comfortable… to meet our own desires…

No… we are blessed to be a blessing to others.

Abraham was blessed by God

Genesis 12:2–3 ESV

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

What an amazing promise by God. But did you notice something significant about that promise? Abraham was blessed so that in turn he would become a blessing to others.

The saying, “We are blessed to be a blessing” rings true. This important truth helps us understand what the main story of the Bible truly is.

We are blessed not to serve ourselves… not for our own benefit but we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others.

You may not think that you are blessed. Have you started writing down your story yet? I guarantee that when you are mindful of your story and connect God’s story to your story, you will see God’s blessing all over your life. Even in the hard times, the loss, the struggle, God has blessed you so be a blessing.

We are blessed to be a blessing.

God has Wired us to Serve

So often we can get overwhelmed with the needs in our world… hunger, war, greed, lust for power, abuse and corruption. When we wrap our minds around the scope of needs of our world we just don’t know where to start.

How about we start with our neighbor. Those who are in our circle of influence. Those who we see every day, at work, at the gym, at the store.

Talk to them

Listen to them

Pray with them

Serve them

Talk: Ask questions, encourage them, talk about life, talk about your own struggles and your own joys, your family, relationships, and then talk about Jesus.

Listen: Listen for the things that bring them joy, that they are passionate about… Listen for the things that they are struggling with, some needs that you might be able to help out with.

Pray: Prayer is a powerful connection because you are connecting them with Jesus through prayer. When you pray, you are inviting Jesus to enter into this relationship.

Serve: Write down those needs, take them to the Lord, and plan out a way to be a blessing.

Bring them to your small group, your prayer group, and strategize a way to bless.

Maybe include your family in a blessing to another family.

The more intentional we are about serving, the less judgmental, critical, and the less selfish we will be.

When we see that we are blessed to be a blessing and when we see that we are wired to serve we will become more loving, more full of compassion, and grace when we serve.

When we are serving our church and serving our community we are fulfilling our God given purpose. Don’t just pray about it, do it!

Let’s be that church that serves our community because we are serving Jesus.

Take Away:

How has God blessed you? Time, Talent, Treasure.

CHALLENGE: Look for ways that you can be a blessing to someone else this week.

Be a part of a small group at New Life and look for ways to serve our community as we are in community.