Madagascar 3 Review
June 10, 2012The Story Continues…
June 12, 2012True Servants Serve #1
As I talk to other pastors, I realize just how difficult it has become to get volunteers to serve in ministry. Many churches burden the same volunteers with serving, time and time again, because the task of recruiting volunteers is so difficult.
On average 20% of Christians serve the Lord faithfully. That leaves 80% of Christians uninvolved in the work of ministry. In a church setting the percentage can be alarmingly below 10%. Just because 20% of Christians serve doesn’t mean they do so in or during a Sunday corporate worship setting.
In 2010, I preached a sermon called True Servants Serve. Here is a excerpt…
“What I want you to write down is this–true servants serve. True Servants serve. If you take nothing else away from this day, I want you to take this away. True Servants serve. And what does that mean for your life? It’s simple; if you’re a true Servant of a Master then you serve your Master, because when you stop serving you’re no longer a Servant. Right? Simple. A Servant serves. And so, a true Servant of God, serves God.”
The Bible says in Mark 10:45, “For the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Christ came to be a servant. He didn’t come to sit by and idly watch others carry out the work of His ministry.
If the term Christian means “little Christ”, how did we as a universal church get so far away from a lifestyle of servant-hood?
Selfishness. Selfishness pulls us away from properly reflecting the image of Christ. In our desire to serve ourselves, we neglect serving our King and Savior. The Bible is clear in Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”
Selfishness is placing concern with oneself or one’s own interests above the well-being or interests of others. Essentially it is the service of yourself. Selfish Christians are not servants. Some questions for you to reflect on…
- Do you serve God faithfully? If so, how often?
- Do you give of your time to actively make disciples of other people?
- Do you physically give of your time, talents, and treasures to meet the needs of others?
- Do you routinely serve in your church?
God wants to be your master. He wants lordship over your life. If you are a true servant of Christ, you need to be actively and intentionally serving Him, but the first step is willfully deciding if you want to serve Him. Do you want to serve Jesus?
Comment questions… do you struggle with giving of yourself and your time to serve the Lord? How do you conquer this in your own life?
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I enjoyed reading your blog. It is very true. How can we be Christians and not be servants?
You are so right. I was amazed at how many churches, large and small, really do have the same problem of finding volunteers. It was a common current among the many people at the Orange Conference in Atlanta GA. There are so many opportunities to serve others in your church or neighborhood organizations. Make it a family choice and serve together as a family. On a personal note, my family participated with our church in serving a local ministry by bringing food,so much that it filled our church bus. My children helped load all the food into the bus, then unloaded it into the pantry for this organization. The woman who ran it was so overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness. We filled the nearly bare pantry to overflowing. There were tears of joy flowing everywhere and my children got to be a part of it. My 12 yr old said on the way home: “Wow, that may have been the best experience of my life. Thank you for letting me come with you.” To me, that was the best statement that could be made. We serve others because Christ came and DID serve others. He has served US! Let’s find a way to share His love.