Christian Essentials: Serve

Christian Essentials: Serve John 21:15-17 January 17`, 2021 LOVE GOD AND PEOPLE GROW IN CHRIST-LIKENESS SERVE CHRIST GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES Key Verse: 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in 29 Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. Colossians 1:28–29 (ESV) The Big Idea: Loving Jesus because He has graciously forgiven all your sins is the foundational motive for serving Him. Even after colossal failures in our lives, Jesus invites us back into fellowship with Him and to serve Him by serving people. Definition of Serving Christ? To SERVE Christ is to spread the Gospel of God’s salvation through Christ, to build His Church, to love God so passionately that we see, love, and serve the people that God made in His image. John 21:15–17 (ESV) 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” Matthew 27:37-39 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. è Serving Christ is inextricably linked to the Two Greatest Commandments: Loving God and Loving Others LIFE LESSONS TO CARRY WITH YOU THIS MORNING: 1. Failures in our lives are not the end. They don’t end our relationship with Jesus. They don’t end our opportunities to serve Him. 2. Serving others should flow out of loving Jesus. 3. Serving others is both loving God and loving people. 4. Loving Jesus will lead you to serve, but it is possible to serve without loving Jesus. 5. We learn and choose to love Jesus and people in a progressive manner. I should love Him more today than I did a year ago. Accept the SERVE Challenge 1. Confess your failures to the Lord. Receive His forgiveness and restoration. 2. Ask the Lord to help you love Him more than you do. 3. Serve Christ by serving people. Ask Him each day to help you see ways you can serve Him and others. 4. If, in your current service, there is no joy, ask the Lord to show you why and to restore to you the joy of your service to Him.