SERVICE: Motivated Expectation

Psalm 100:2 CSB

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

INTRO—

UNmotivated...

Expectation...

Motivation.

[Video: Coach Norman Dale’s motivational speech in “Hoosiers.”]

Romans 12.1 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.”

Psalm 100.2 “Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”

SERVICE MOTIVATED BY...

OBEDIENCE

While I’ve too often heard…and preached…the minimization of this factor for our motivation to service/ministry, I want us to remember that we are called to obedience.

Deuteronomy 13.4 “You must follow the Lord your God and fear him. You must keep his commands and listen to him; you must worship him and remain faithful to him.”

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life Motivated by Obedience

John Newton, the slave-trader who became a pastor following his conversion to Christ and wrote such hymns as “Amazing Grace,” illustrates obedient service as follows:

If two angels were to receive at the same moment a commission from God, one to go down and rule earth’s grandest empire, the other to go and sweep the streets of its meanest village, it would be a matter of entire indifference to each which service fell to his lot, the post of ruler or the post of scavenger; for the joy of the angels lies only in obedience to God’s will.

GRATITUDE

Think about it this way…alongside obedience, gratitude (thankfulness) is a significant and important motivation for our service in his name.

1 Samuel 12.24 “Above all, fear the Lord and worship him faithfully with all your heart; consider the great things he has done for you.”

Worship & Service…hand-in-hand (remember Romans 12.1 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.”).

Gratitude…living to honor and please our Lord who has blessed us so richly…well, sounds like a simple plan for us to go with.

FORGIVENESS, not Guilt

For the record…what has God done regarding your sin and mine? What is he ready and willing to do with anyone who will repent of their sin and trust him with their life? FORGIVE!!! I think Isaiah…even in the Old Testament…understood this fact...

Isaiah 6.6-8 “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.”

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life Motivated by Forgiveness, Not Guilt

That pulpit lion of London, C. H. Spurgeon, moved with some of Isaiah’s emotion, said in a sermon on September 8, 1867,

The heir of heaven serves his Lord simply out of gratitude; he has no salvation to gain, no heaven to lose; … now, out of love to the God who chose him, and who gave so great a price for his redemption, he desires to lay out himself entirely to his Master’s service. O you who are seeking salvation by the works of the law, what a miserable life yours must be!… you have that if you diligently persevere in obedience, you may perhaps obtain eternal life, though, alas! none of you dare to pretend that you have attained it. You toil and toil and toil, but you never get that which you toil after, and you never will, for, “by the works of the law there shall no flesh living be justified.” … The child of God works not for life, but from life; he does not work to be saved, he works because he is saved.

CONCL—

OBEDIENCE…NOT GUILT.

GRATITUDE…NOT GUILT.

FORGIVENESS…NOT GUILT. [So basically, not guilt!!!]

Serving our Lord is a blessed expectation…biblically motivated by a call, a thank you, because God made the way for us…any one of us!

Matthew 4.10 “Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.””

Matthew 4:10 CSB

Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”