SHAPED FOR SERVING GOD
Purpose #4 MINISTRY — 40 Days of Purpose
1 Peter 4:10
Adapted from Outline by Rick Warren—Saddleback Church
INTRODUCTION:
A couple years ago the nation remembered Elvis by making his greatest hits album number one in the nation—25 years after the guy died! Now in spite of enormous success, Elvis was, according to family and friends, an unfulfilled and unhappy man. Elvis died of obesity and drug dependency at 42.
Priscilla Presley said this about her husband: “Elvis never came to terms with who he was meant to be or what his purpose in life was. He thought he was here for a reason, maybe to preach, maybe to serve, maybe to save, maybe to care for people. That agonizing desire was always with him and he knew he wasn’t fulfilling it. So he’d go on stage and he wouldn’t have to think about it.”
Elvis didn’t have a clue where to begin to look. In a sense, he was lost. Today we continue our 40 Days of Purpose by looking at God’s fourth purpose for your life: “Shaped to Serve God.” Elvis, the king of Rock and Roll felt like he was here to do something. . . something more than to swing his hips and sing but he just couldn’t quite figure it out. I don’t want you to make that mistake. Let’s discover the reason God put us on planet earth.
• Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You are God’s WORKMANSHIP. God has a design and a purpose for your life! Notice the progression of this verse—you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ to do good works and not the other way around. Some people think if you do good works then you will be saved—they think good works will put you in Christ. NO, no, no! You are God’s workmanship. His design and purpose is to bring you into Christ Jesus to do God works.
It’s not about you; it’s all about God. He does the work. He places you in Christ. He has prepared good works for you. Simply put: GOOD WORKS DO NOT ESTABLISH YOUR SALVATION; GOOD WORKS ARE EVIDENCE OF YOUR SALVATION! Good works are evidence of God’s work in you—evidence that you are in Christ.
Are you here today as the “workmanship of God?” Are you “in Christ Jesus?” If that’s you, then God has prepared in advance good works for you to do. God is not sitting in heaven wondering what He would like for you to do—God has a design and purpose for your life. God’s plan is for you to do good works. God doesn’t want you to sit soak and sour. The church is not a bus stop for you to wait for your ride to heaven. God has good works for you to do.
What good works has God planned for you to do? What does the evidence look like? How will others know you are “in Christ?” The Bible tells us.
• 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)
Each one should use whatever gift he has received TO SERVE OTHERS, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
My fourth purpose in life is to serve God by serving others.
Do you want to know why you’re alive? Do you know why God put you on this planet? You aren’t put here just to take up space, consume and get a free ride through life. You are here to serve God and the only way you serve God is by serving other people.
The Bible says we should use our gifts to serve others. Unfortunately we believe, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to make a lot of money!” The American way is to use your abilities and talents to make money—to make it big—to be successful.
Your purpose in life is not about money or things; it’s not about personal success. Your purpose in life is to be what God made you to be. And He gave you gifts and talents and abilities to be used by serving others.
Some people want to serve God; they just don’t want to serve other people. I guess you might say they love God, but they don’t like people. Hmm . . . doesn’t the Bible say something about claiming to love God whom you have not seen, while not loving others in God’s family? Doesn’t it say you can’t do that? (If you’re wondering check out 1 John 4:20.)
Just like you can’t love God without also loving people, you can’t serve God unless you serve people.
Would you agree that as Christians we are supposed to be like Jesus? If you don’t agree with that, then you need to go back and reread our third purpose. God wants us to be just like Jesus—that’s discipleship—that’s the third purpose of your life.
• Matthew 20:28 (NIV)
. . . The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve . . .
We are to be just like Jesus. If Christ’s love motivated Him to serve others then guess what—OUR LOVE OTHERS WILL MOTIVATE US TO SERVE. You can’t serve God unless you are willing to serve others—that’s God’s plan and purpose for your life, TO DO GOOD WORKS AS YOU SERVE OTHERS.
Jesus is our example. He has shown us how to serve God. Jesus said that in everything He did He brought glory to God. What was it that Jesus did to bring God glory? Jesus served others. The Bible says we should do the same—to use our gifts to serve God.
Now let me ask you one more question before we move on; how many of you want to one day hear Jesus say, “You did a good job?” The Bible puts it like this, “Well done good and faithful . . .” —faithful what— “faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, 23).
Guess what, faithfulness comes by being a servant! You cannot be faithful unless you serve God by serving others.
Look at the connection Peter makes between our service to others and being faithful.
• 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, FAITHFULLY ADMINISTERING God’s grace in its various forms.
The Bible has a word for our faithful service to others; it’s called “MINISTRY”. Like worship and fellowship and discipleship, ministry is a misunderstood word.
When I say the word “minister” most people think of priest, pastor. They think of somebody who wears those funny collars, or a robe, and talks like “GOD.” But the Bible says every believer is a minister. Now, not every believer is a pastor, but every believer is a minister. Ministry simply means using my gifts and abilities to help somebody else in the name of God. Any time you use your talents, your abilities, your background, your experiences to help somebody else, you know what that’s called? Ministering. And you know what you are? You’re a minister. We are all ministers of Christ Jesus!
How can we be effective ministers? How can we be faithful servants? What does it take for you and me to serve others — to do the good works God has prepared for us to do?
If we are going to serve God as we serve others—IF WE ARE GOING TO SERVE LIKE JESUS, then we must be AVAILABLE, GRATEFUL, AND FAITHFUL.
1. Serving like Jesus means being AVAILABLE.
• Matthew 20:30-32 (NIV)
[30] Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" [31] The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" [32] JESUS STOPPED and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.
Jesus made Himself available to other people. Circle the word STOPPED. If you are going to be used greatly by God in your service to others you must be willing to be INTERUPPTED.
Jesus’ ministry and most of Jesus’ miracles were interruptions. You think about it. All the people he healed – the blind man, the lame man, the sick people, the paralyzed man, the dead child, and the woman with the issue of blood – all of these miracles were interruptions. Jesus’ first miracle, He was interrupted at a wedding. His second miracle was an interruption on the way to Galilee. The Bible says, “Jesus stopped!” If Jesus was willing to be interrupted, then we too should be willing to stop the busyness of our lives and serve others.
• Proverbs 3:28 (NLT)
If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, "Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.
Servant-hearted people don’t procrastinate. They’re spontaneous, they’re sensitive and they say “OK, let’s do it!” Servants are willing to be interrupted.
Let me give three common barriers being an available servant.
Barrier number one: SELF-CENTEREDNESS.
• Philippians 2:4 (NIV)
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
• (The Message) Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
How often are we just thinking about ourselves that we don’t notice the people around us who are broken, discouraged, or hurting? God does not want us to have a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign on the door of our hearts. If we are going to be like Jesus then we need to open the door of our hearts to meet the needs of others.
o Have you ever gone into a restaurant and felt like you were interrupting your waitress from getting her “other work” done? A waitress who thinks her job is to fill ketchup bottles, wrap silverware, clean the counter, and catch up on the latest gossip has missed her purpose. A waitress is to serve!
If we’re too busy to notice other people God brings into our lives, if we are more concerned about ourselves than we are about other people, then we have missed our purpose. God’s design and purpose for our lives is that we serve Him by serving others.
Those with a servant heart, like Jesus Christ, don’t mind being interrupted. Your agenda is God’s agenda! Servants get up in the morning and say “OK, God my plans are your plans. If you want to touch someone today through me, if you want me to share an encouraging word, whatever it is Lord, USE ME!”
Jesus was interrupted all the time by people, but that’s when Jesus did the greatest things. Jesus didn’t have the barrier of self-centeredness; He came to serve others.
Barrier number two: PERFECTIONISM.
Philippians 3:12 (NLT)
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.
Real servants, Christ-like servants, do the best they can with what they have for Jesus Christ today. They don’t wait.
• Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NLT)
If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.
You see what’s happened in America, is we have a made an idol out of excellence. Many people, even Christians will say “Well, you know if you can’t do it first class, don’t even try.” Well, there’s a Greek term for that…hogwash!
We need to learn to live by “The Good Enough Principle”. The good enough principle simply says, “it doesn’t have to be perfect for God to bless it.”
If God only used perfect people, what would get done in this world? Nothing, zip, zero! We’re all a bunch of misfits. We all have weaknesses. We all have faults. We all have failures. We all have handicaps. But guess what? God uses us all. Why? God doesn’t use perfect people because there aren’t any—GOD USES NORMAL PEOPLE—WILLING PEOPLE.
Barrier number three: MATERIALISM.
How often are we guilty of spending more time taking care of our things than we are of spending time with our family or letting God use us to be a blessing in the life of other people? THINGS GET IN THE WAY.
• Luke 16:13 (NIV)
No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
We serve God as we serve other people. We can’t serve one another and try to serve money and things at the same time; it can’t be done! You can get so busy taking care of things; you don’t have time to take care of people. And that’s a problem.
Serving Jesus means making yourself available—available to God by serving others.
2. Serving like Jesus means being GRATEFUL.
Why should we serve God with grateful hearts? Why do we serve God, not with a sense of duty, but with a sense of delight?
• 2 Timothy 1:9 (NLT)
It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan . . .
We do not serve God with a sense of obligation; rather we have an awareness of the great opportunity that He’s given to us—in this life and in the life to come. We serve God with gratefulness because He’s given life to us through Jesus Christ. He saved us!
Jesus is our example for how we should serve God. Did Jesus minister with a grateful heart? We find the answer to that question in the story of the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus.
o Jesus had been told that Lazarus was sick, but He continued to minister to the people in the area where He and the disciples were. Finally Jesus arrived in Bethany at the home of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. Unfortunately Jesus was too late. Lazarus had been dead for four days. Well at least everyone thought Jesus was too late. Jesus knew He had arrived right on time for He had been faithfully serving the Father and knew He had come not to heal Lazarus from some sickness but to raise Him from the dead. (Now if you’re going to raise the dead is it even possible to be too late? The dead aren’t in a hurry or impatiently waiting for Jesus to arrive!)
Listen to Jesus’ prayer at Lazarus’ grave.
• John 11:41-42 (NIV)
[41] . . . Father, I thank you that you have heard me. [42] I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.
Jesus paused to express His gratitude to the Father, and He did it for the benefit of those who heard His prayer—and for our benefit too!
Now the obvious reason Jesus offered this prayer was so we can all know that He is the Son of God. Jesus identified God as His Father in heaven who heard Him when He prayed. The proof was in what happened next! God answered Jesus’ prayer and Lazarus came back to life!
But there is another reason Jesus took the time to offer this prayer that isn’t as obvious. Jesus took time to thank the Father because everything Jesus did was done with an attitude of gratitude regardless of the circumstances!
Jesus was thankful to the Father at the graveside of His friend Lazarus. Funerals are hard places to be thankful. But there’s more to the circumstances here than what first meet your eye.
Jesus was thankful to the Father even though His own life was in danger! When Jesus told His disciples where they were going they weren’t so sure about the idea. They knew the Jews were looking for the chance to kill Jesus. Although best known for doubting Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, it’s in this story that Thomas shows his courage and commitment to follow Jesus—even to the point of death when he told the other disciples, “Come along. We might as well die with him” (John 11:16 MsgB).
Jesus served the Father with a grateful heart, and we should do so too!
• Psalm 100:2 (KJV)
Serve the Lord with gladness.
“Vegitale” wisdom has taught us that “A thankful heart is a happy heart.” If we are going to serve the Lord with gladness, we must have grateful hearts. You can’t have one without the other.
Barrier number one: COMPARISON and CRITICISM.
• Romans 14:4 (NIV)
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.
It’s God’s opinion that counts not ours! Competition with each other in service, it just doesn’t make sense. When you think about it, we’re on the same team. We have the same goal—the same purpose.
Barrier number two: WRONG MOTIVES.
• Matthew 6:1 (GW)
Be careful not to do your good works in public in order to attract attention. If you do, your Father in heaven will not reward you.
Sometimes a lot of our service, let’s just be honest, it can be self-serving at times instead of God pleasing! We need to be honest with ourselves about that. We serve to get others to like us. We serve to be admired. We serve to achieve our own goals. We serve as sort of a bargaining chip with God. “God, I’ll serve and You take care of me here”--all kinds of wrong motives.
How do you know if you have a wrong motivation? Gratitude—when thankfulness is missing from our lives we need to stop and examine our motives.
Serving God by serving others means making yourself available, having a heart of gratitude and finally,
3. Serving like Jesus means being FAITHFUL.
What does it mean to serve faithfully? It means you don’t give up. You keep on going. You don’t quit in the middle of your assignment.
• John 17:4 (NIV)
I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
Jesus didn’t leave anything half-done; he wasn’t half-hearted in what He did. Jesus did everything the Father asked Him to do. We need to follow Jesus example and complete the work God has given us to do.
Now you may retire from your job someday, but you’re never retiring from ministry; you never retire from serving God. God wants you to serve Him the rest of your life. No one can just coast through life.
• 1 Corinthians 15:58 (MsgB)
And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that nothing you do for God is a waste of time? In God’s eyes there is no such thing as a small, insignificant job. What ever you do for God is important!
• Matthew 10:42 (NLT)
And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.
God is into the details! He won’t miss the littlest act of service when it is done for Him!
If you’re going to learn to be a servant of God, you must learn the difference between SIGNIFICANCE and PROMINENCE. They are not the same thing.
o My nose is a prominent feature on my face—yours is too! But we could all lose our noses and still live the rest of our lives, because while the nose may be prominent, it’s not significant. Our livers or hearts are not as prominent as the nose. You don’t see it. But if it is lost we would be dead because it is significant!
And a lot of people think that if something is given a lot of visibility, it’s the most important, but that’s not true. In fact the stuff behind the scenes is as equally important to God as the stuff we all take notice of.
• 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 (MsgB)
The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, [26] the parts we see and the parts we don’t.
You see the fact is with our limited perspective, we can’t see how our small acts have big consequences, but they do!
Several years ago two teenage boys tried to come into a Sunday night church service, only it was packed out and they couldn’t find any seats. So they turned around and were going to leave because they couldn’t find a seat. But one usher said, “Come on, guys. I’ll find you a seat.” And that usher personally escorted them into the church and found them two seats. That night both of those boys accepted Christ and became Christians. One of them happened to be Billy Graham. Fast forward to the present and we know Billy Graham as one of the greatest evangelist in the church today with millions of people who have found Christ at crusades around the world.
Do you think that usher is going to get any credit in heaven? We have no idea of the significance of small acts. Real servants do every task with equal dedication because they know it all matters. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing something important that is well known or if you’re doing something important that’s not well known. It’s all important to God.
We often ask the question of new members, “What will you do for God at Praise Assembly of God?” I enjoy hearing people’s responses, but you know what—regardless of what people may say they are going to do IT IS ALL IMPORTANT! So really when you think about it the question should be, “Will you let God use you at Praise Assembly of God?”
That’s the question important question because if you are willing to do whatever God asks, then He will use what you do to continue to make us into an even greater church.
Let’s just get real practical for a moment. Let’s take out this little brochure called, “Getting into the Game”. I want you to find a place where you can be involved in the ministry of our church. We all need to be faithful to do our part.
One day you’re going to stand before God and to give an account for your life. God will ask each of us, “What did you do with what I gave you, the talents, the abilities, the background, the experiences?”
“Well, God, I was a little busy with my ambitions and plan. I never got around to serving You.” And God’s going to say, “Wrong answer! What were you thinking? Do you think I put you on earth to live for yourself? I put you here to serve Me by serving others.”
Now you may be thinking nobody’s watching you, and nobody’s noticing what you do, but God’s watching.
• Hebrews 6:10 (NLT)
For God is not unfair. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other Christians, as you still do.
God will reward all those who serve Him. The big stuff, and the little stuff; God sees it all. And it’s all important to God.
You know, I started this message talking about Elvis. A curious fact about Elvis is that the only Grammy award he won was for a religious album that he recorded called, “He Touched Me”. One song on that album talks about that day when we will stand in heaven before Jesus. It says this:
After the lightening and thunder,
After the last bell has rung,
I want to bow down before Jesus
And hear Him say, “Well done, my son.”
He is my reason for living,
He is my King of Kings.
I long to be in His possession.
He is my everything.
Is Jesus your everything? Is your desire to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant?”
God made you for a purpose and the fourth purpose of your life is that you serve God by serving others. Serving others like Jesus means you make yourself available, you serve with a grateful heart and you remain faithful. Yes there will be some barriers to overcome, but that is what it means to be a faithful servant—to complete the work God has given us to do regardless of the cost.
