Sermon Tone Analysis

Spiritual Disciplines – 08

/SERVICE/

/Text: Acts 6:1-7/

 

Place Preached - (Mississauga International Baptist Church)

Date Preached - (12~/07~/03)

 

Introduction:   

 

ILLUS: *The Pony Express* – In operation from April 1860 – November 1861.

Carried mail along a 2,000 mile route that stretched from St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA.  Operated via an organized relay of horseback riders.

The cost of sending a letter was $2.50 even in those days.

This was a rough and demanding and sometimes hazardous job.

-  A San Francisco paper carried the following ad:

 

“WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18.  Must be expert riders willing to risk daily.

Orphans preferred.”

Interesting – the Pony Express never had a shortage of riders!

Likewise, serving God is not a job for those who are only casually interested.

The Lord asks for our life, not our leftovers.

It is a priority, not a pastime.

The mental picture that applicants for the Pony Express had must have included scenes of thrill-a-minute excitement.

Yet, although there was certainly occasional heart-stopping excitement, there would be many long hours, of loneliness where the rider was left to himself and the monotony of the work.

The Discipline of serving God is something like that.

Though we surrender to possibilities that make us shiver with excitement, there are many more moments which are mundane, ordinary, trivial – even boring.

Might be Preaching or Teaching (Public Ministry), more likely to be something like nursery duty.

May be singing a solo, or it might be operating the sound equipment that amplifies the solo.

Public testimony, or preparing dishes for the church after-glo.

Truth is – Much is done outside the church

 

Baby-sitting, preparing meals for those in need, running errands etc.

Most important likely is having a servant’s heart in our homes.

Fetching water, taking time to read the child a book, assisting wherever needed.

Service is really quite commonplace – The need for it abounds everywhere.

/Service must become a spiritual discipline.

Why?/

 

! I.

Because Every Christian is Expected to Serve

 

God calls us, but He does not call any of to idleness.

We are saved to serve!!

 

*Hebrews 9:14*  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 

*Psalms 100:2*  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Service is every Christian’s Commission!

There is no such thing as Spiritual unemployment, or Spiritual retirement.

Now it is not only important that we serve, but why we serve.

/The Bible mentions at least six motives for serving./

!! A. Motivated by Obedience

 

We should serve the Lord because we want to obey Him.

ILLUS – If you were an angel of God and given the assignment to sweep the back alleys of the world’s filthiest city, while another was given the task of ruling the richest empire on earth,  you would tackle it with the same enthusiasm as the other.

For the joy of the servant lies only in his obedience to God’s will.

Can you imagine an angel refusing to serve – it is unthinkable.

Plainly - Not to serve God is sinful!

!! B. Motivated by Gratitude

 

*1 Samuel 12:24*  Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.

It is No burden to serve God when we consider the great things He has done for us.

Saved us – we were guilty, unforgiven, a heartbeat from hell!!

 

When the fire of service to God grows cold, consider His works on your behalf.

ILLUS:  if $10 million dollars went in your bank account every morning, or you were blessed with talent or beauty and health and given 1000 years to live, but still died and went to hell, what would that be worth?

But He has given you far more!!  God has never given anyone something that can begin to compare with Salvation.

!! C. Motivated by Gladness

 

*Psalms 100:2*  Serve the LORD with */gladness/*

 

Not grudgingly, not with grimness – The Lord loveth a cheerful giver – of money, of talent, of time, of service.

ILLUS: In the courts of ancient kings, servants were often executed for nothing more than looking sad.

*Nehemiah 2:2*  Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?

this is nothing else but sorrow of heart.

Then I was very sore afraid,

 

WHY?

A sad face gave the appearance that you did not want to serve the king, or worse that you were dissatisfied with the way he was running things.

It’s understandable why service is a drudgery to those hoping to earn salvation by works, but the Christian who understands what God has done for him~/her for eternity should be able to serve God cheerfully.

Serving God is not a burden, it is a privilege!!

 

*Psalms 84:10 * For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

What message are we sending to our children by the attitude with which we serve God??

That we enjoy or endure?

!! D Motivated by Forgiveness, not guilt.

READ *Isaiah 6:6-8*

 

Isaiah was bursting at the seams with eagerness to serve God is some way.

Why?

Because he felt guilty?

NO, because God had removed his guilt!

The people of God do not serve Him in order to be forgiven but because we are forgiven.

!! E. Motivated by Humility

 

SEE *John 13:12-16*

 

With astonishing humility, Jesus, their Lord and Teacher, washed the feet of His disciples as an example of how all His followers should serve with humility.

On the other hand, self-righteous service is highly concerned about results.

The flesh whines about service, but screams against hidden service.

It is the normal thing to strain and pull for recognition and honor.

*Philippians 2:13*  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Can you serve your boss and others at work, helping them to succeed and be happy, even when they are promoted and you are overlooked?

Can you work to make others look good without envy filling your heart?

Can you pray for the ministry of others to prosper when it would cast yours in the shadows?

!! F. Motivated by Love

 

*Galatians 5:13*  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

ILLUS: A Missionary in Africa was asked if he really liked what he was doing.

His response, “NO, my wife and I do not like dirt, we do not like crawling into vile huts through goat manure.

– But is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like?”

*2 Corinthians 5:14-15*  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

! II.

Because Every Christian is Gifted to Serve

 

!! A. Service is Gifted Work

 

At the moment of Salvation the Holy Spirit impart to you a spiritual gift mix.

LOOK UP *I Corinthians 12*

 

*1 Corinthians 12:4*  Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

*1 Corinthians 12:11*  But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.