Serving Like Jesus

In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. According to Leon Jaroff in Time, the satellite's primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and beam data to earth about Jupiter's magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere. Scientists regarded this as a bold plan, for at that time no earth satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target. But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past the giant planet in November 1973, Jupiter's immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a higher rate of speed toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; Neptune at nearly three billion miles; Pluto at almost four billion miles. By 1997, twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun.

And despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth. "Perhaps most remarkable," writes Jaroff, "those signals emanate from an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light, and takes more than nine hours to reach Earth.'" The Little Satellite That Could was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it kept going and going. By simple longevity, its tiny 8-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible. At last contact, January 2, 2003, Pioneer 10 was 7.6 billion miles from Earth, or 82 times the nominal distance between the Sun and the Earth. At that distance, it takes more than 11 hours and 20 minutes for the radio signal, traveling at the speed of light, to reach the Earth.

So it is when we offer ourselves to serve the Lord. God can work even through someone with 8-watt abilities. God cannot work, however, through someone who isn’t willing to serve.

Let’s Review the purposes of our life and our church we have discussed in the previous three sermons. Our first purpose is to love God…..that’s called dynamic worship & prayer. Our second purpose is to establish life-giving relationships between us; to love those who God created…..that’s called fellowship. Our third purpose….is to be radically obedient to God’s Word so that we become like Jesus……that’s called discipleship.

Today we’re going to look at God’s fourth purpose for your life; Spirit Empowered Service… that’s called Ministry.

The Bible says this, let’s read it together in (Ephesians 2:10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (NKJV)

Would you notice the word “workmanship”? You were made to make a contribution, not just to consume. God made you to make a difference. And what matters is not how long you live, but how you live. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of your life. On this planet nobody gets a free ride. We’re all meant to give something back. We’re all meant to make a contribution. The Bible says we’re created to serve, we’re saved to serve, we’re gifted to serve, we’re shaped to serve. We’re commanded to serve.

Whenever God gives us an assignment to do something, He never gives it to us without equipping us first. And in the next verse Job says, “Your hands shaped me and made me.” (Job 10:8 NIV). If you remember from reading the Purpose Driven Life that Pastor Rick Warren uses the acrostic “SHAPE” to describe the five ways God uses to uniquely shape you for His purpose: Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. Those five things make you different from anybody else in the world and your purpose is to serve Him. I encourage you to perhaps re-read that section of the Purpose Driven Life to help you get a better grip on how God made you. God made you unique and your uniqueness is not for your benefit.

Look at the next verse. (1 Peter 4:10) As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (NKJV)

It says we’re to use whatever God’s given us to what? Minister which means to serve others! Your talents are not for your benefit alone. Your purpose in life is to be what God made you to be. And He gave you gifts, heart, abilities and experiences for the benefit of other people, to be used by serving others.

So write this down, “One purpose of my life is to serve God by serving others.” That’s one reason you’re alive. You were put here to serve God and the way you serve God is by serving other people. Now, some people want to serve God; they just don’t want to serve others. But you can’t do that. The only way you can serve God is by serving others; or as I am fond of saying, “For the glory of God and the good of others.”

Now the Bible has a word for this, it’s called “ministry”. And again, like worship and fellowship and discipleship (our first three purposes of life) this is a misunderstood word. When I say the word “minister” most people think of pastor. But the Bible says every believer is a minister. Not every believer is a pastor, but every believer is a minister. Ministry simply means using my shape 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 that’s called? Ministering. And you know what you are? You’re a minister.

In the Bible the word “service” and “ministry” are the same word. And in the Bible “servant” and “minister” are the same word; so all of us are called to ministry. Everyone who is called to salvation is called to serve. I want you to turn to the person next to you and say “You’re a minister”. Any time you use your talent to help somebody else, you are ministering. You are serving. And it’s the fourth purpose of your life. All women are ministers. All men are ministers. All little kids, all old people, if we’re believers, we’re all called to serve Jesus Christ through serving others.

Now the good news is that God not only created us for service, He gave us a model. He came to earth Himself and said “This is how you do it. I want you to watch Me”. And so he came to earth in the form of a man and He said, “This is what I want you to do with your life”. You were created to be like Christ, and what did Christ do while He was here on earth? He served.

Notice the next verse. Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28 KJV)

A lot of people spend so much of their time searching for self-esteem, self-worth, and significance. They want to feel good about themselves. But they’re looking in all the wrong places! Sure, success, status, material goods may cause someone to temporarily feel good about themselves but it doesn’t last. The Bible says you get your self-esteem from service. Jesus said you will truly understand and find purpose and meaning for your life when you give it away in service. The greatest thrill in the world is to be used by God.

What does it take to be used by God and to learn to serve like Jesus? This morning we will discuss four things. Number one, write this down. Serving Like Jesus Means Being Available. Serving like Jesus means that we at times will sacrifice our desires and agenda in order to serve others. One day Jesus was going to Jericho on one occasion and some blind men start shouting to Him.

(Matthew 20:30-32) And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!" So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" (NKJV)

Now I want you to notice the words “stood still”. Jesus stopped. If you want to be used by God, if you want to serve God, you must be willing to be interrupted. Most of Jesus’ ministry and most of Jesus’ miracles were interruptions. Many of the people He healed – the blind man, the lame man, the sick people, the paralyzed man, the dead child – all of them were interruptions. His first miracle….interrupted at a wedding. He second miracle…interrupted on the way to Galilee. It says, “Jesus stopped”. It’s interesting to study the stops of Jesus and notice how many times Jesus stopped in ministry. Almost every miracle Jesus did, He did it because He let Himself be interrupted.

(Proverbs 3:28) Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it," When you have it with you. (NKJV) Servant-hearted people don’t procrastinate. They’re spontaneous, they’re sensitive, and they say “OK, let’s do it!”

Here was John Wesley’s motto:

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, by all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.

That’s what it means to be shaped to serve God. You must be available. You must be willing to step out and say “OK God what do You want me to do?” Now what keeps us from being available? Many will say “I’d like to be used by God. I’d like His power in my life. I’d like to serve God.” What is it that keeps us from being available?

Let me give three common barriers. Number One: Self-Centeredness.

The Bible says, Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4 NIV)

Whenever you see a need right in front of you, guess what? God is giving you the opportunity to practice serving. Let me say it again. Any time you have a need right in front of your face, and it’s real obvious, somebody needs help. God is giving you the opportunity to learn to serve, to learn to be like Jesus Christ. You see the number one enemy of compassion is busyness. We just get too busy! And because I’m so busy, I don’t have time to serve. I’ve got my agenda, my plans, my dreams, my goals, my ambitions. You know what the problem is? We hang this on the door of our heart, “Do Not Disturb.” We do it all the time. We say, “Do not disturb”. I’ve got my goals. I’ve got my safe little life going here, so don’t disturb me for the needs of other people.”

I, like many of you, know what it is to change your plans to be available to serve. Real servants accept being interrupted. If you really have a servant heart, like Jesus Christ, you accept being interrupted because your agenda is God’s agenda. In your morning prayer time say what I at times have said; “Lord help to love You and to love others today.” We show our love when we’re willing to be interrupted and change our plans. I say it again. Almost every miracle and almost every act of ministry Jesus did, He did when He was interrupted. We have this self-centeredness that gets in the way and gets to be a barrier.

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A Second Barrier To Being Used By God…Is Perfectionism. We want everything to be perfect before we do anything. We think, “When it’s all just right, when things settle down, then I’ll serve.”

Notice these verses of Scripture: (Ecclesiastes 11:4-6) He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good. (NKJV)

Eccl. 11:4 (NLT) “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.” Would anybody like to give a testimony on that verse? Real servants, Christ-like servants, do the best they can with what they have for Jesus Christ today. They don’t wait. I’ve said many times, “You do the best you can, with what you’ve got, where you at.” America has made an idol out of excellence. And many people worship excellence, even Christians. And they say “Well, you know if you can’t do it first class, don’t even try.”

I was listing to a podcast on the internet and it was interesting to hear Rick Warren’s comments about this and I quote: “At Saddleback we don’t believe that. At Saddleback we practice what we call “The Good Enough Principle”. And The Good Enough Principle is this: it doesn’t have to be perfect for God to bless it.” (End quote) That’s the truth.

Notice those God used in Scripture; they certainly were not perfect. If God only used perfect people, what would get done in this world? Nothing, zip, zero! We all have weaknesses. We all have faults. We all have failures. We all have handicaps. However, God uses us all. There aren’t enough superstars in this world to get God’s work done. God uses normal people…so let us allow God to use us as we are. As we serve we will grow in our abilities and our excellence.

Number Three: Materialism. Materialism is the third barrier that keeps us from being available to serve. (Luke 16:13) "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (NKJV)

Please notice the word “cannot”? He didn’t say, “You should not serve both God and money.” You cannot serve both God and money. You’re not taking your money to heaven but you are going to take your character. So let each of us be a kingdom-builder. Don’t let the affairs of this life distract us from our responsibility to put God first.

So, Serving like Jesus means being available. Serving Like Jesus Also Means Being Grateful. To serve like Jesus, we have to serve gratefully; grateful that we have the opportunity to serve. The Bible tells us a story in John Chapter 11 of Jesus serving in an incredible way. His friend Lazarus had died. Jesus went to Bethany not just to comfort Martha and Mary; He went there to do ministry, to raise Lazarus from the dead. Now, He could have walked up and prayed a prayer and not said anything to anybody, to Himself and God. But He decided to pray the prayer out loud so that we could still read it today and see what He had to say, so those people could hear it.

(John 11:41-42) Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. "And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." (NKJV)

Jesus expressed gratitude to His Father for listening to His prayers. Jesus had an attitude of gratefulness in everything that He did. He started with gratefulness. That was His attitude in ministry. Now you might think, “I’d be grateful too if I could raise people from the dead.” However, Jesus was grateful in the tough times. Jesus was grateful when He was criticized. Jesus was grateful when things were not easy in ministry. That was the attitude that He led in His ministry. Ministry and miracles always happened in this attitude of gratefulness. The Bible says in (Psalms 100:2) Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. (NKJV)

We serve Him with gratefulness because He’s given life to us through Jesus Christ. He saved us! If He never did anything else for us, that is enough to be grateful and serve Him the rest of our lives.

There are some barriers to serving the Lord with gratefulness. One Barrier Is Comparing And Criticizing. When you compare yourself to others or tend to criticize others, that is a barrier that hinders us from serving with gratefulness.

(Romans 14:4) Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. (NKJV)

If you have been born again then you are the Lord’s servant. And so it’s a matter of His opinion of you that matters; not my opinion or your opinion. So comparing or criticizing just doesn’t make sense. We’re on the same team. We have the same goal of serving God by serving others. God has SHAPED each of us uniquely to fulfill this purpose in our lives. Comparing and criticizing hinder us from serving with gratefulness.

The Second Barrier Is Wrong Motivations. The Bible talks about this in (Matthew 6:1) "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. (NKJV)

Self-promotion and servant hood don’t mix, but it’s easy to get them mixed up. A lot of our service can be self-serving at times. 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 if You will take care of this.”

How do you know if you have a wrong motivation? Gratitude. When you lose a sense of gratefulness you can know right away there’s something wrong with your motivation. Wrong motives don’t last. If you want to learn to serve like Jesus, you have to learn to serve gratefully with a generous heart. You make yourself available. You make yourself grateful.

Number 3: Serving Like Jesus Means Being Spirit-Empowered.

When Jesus was baptized by John the Bible records (Luke 3:21-22) When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased." (NKJV)

(Luke 4:1) Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, (NKJV)

If you remember during these 40 days Jesus fasted and was tempted by the devil. Jesus was victorious over every temptation Satan threw at Him. After that temptation and victory over the devil the Bible reads:

(Luke 4:14) Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. (NKJV)

Jesus performed His miracles and served the Father through the power of the Spirit. Paul testifies in Philippians chapter two that during the incarnation (when God became man) that Christ gave up His rights as God and served God as a man. So if we are going to serve like Christ then we also must be Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered.

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, He gave His disciples this command: (Acts 1:4) And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; (NKJV)

The disciples wondered if He was going to restore Israel to her former glory and power. This was His answer:

(Acts 1:7-8) And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (NKJV)

Notice the fulfillment of our Lord’s promise to His disciples: (Acts 2:1-4) When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (NKJV)

As a result of the infilling of the Holy Spirit with power they indeed were witnesses and turned the world upside down. If we’re going to serve like Jesus and serve like His disciples we too must be Spirit-filled and Spirit-Empowered. We are a Pentecostal church. We believed in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues or languages; we believe in the gifts of the Spirit nine of which are recorded in 1 Corinthians chapter 12; we believe in the manifestation of the presence of God; we believe in healings, signs and wonders. So if you haven’t experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit I encourage you to seek for His filling and His empowerment.

There’s a Fourth Thing. Serving Like Jesus Means Being Faithful. Being faith means you don’t give up! You keep on going. You don’t quit in the middle of your assignment.

At the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth, Jesus said this in (John 17:4) "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. (NKJV)

I want you to be able to say that when you get to heaven. You completed the work that God gave you to do. Jesus was faithful in fulfilling His service. He didn’t give up. He didn’t give in. He was persistent. And if you’re going to be like Jesus it means you’re going to serve as long as you’re alive. Now you may retire from your job someday, but you should never retire from serving. God wants you to serve for the rest of your life.

The Bible says, (1 Corinthians 4:2) Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. (NKJV)

What motivates us to stay faithful in serving God over the long haul? I mentioned this last Sunday; Remember the Reward! So we have gratitude for the past blessings of the Lord and we have faith in the future rewards from our Lord. We also know that what we’re doing really matters. Now let’s be honest folks, a lot of what we do in life doesn’t matter. It isn’t going to matter next week much less next year or next decade or in eternity. But any time you’re serving in Jesus’ name, no matter how small, it matters.

The Bible says this in (1 Corinthians 15:58) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (NKJV)

What a wonderful promise to us in this verse; our labor for God whether small or great has purpose and meaning. In God’s eyes, there is no little service. He said, “Even if you give a cup of cold water in my name that counts.”

As servants of God we must learn the difference between significance and prominence. They are not the same thing. Some people think that if something is given a lot of visibility, it’s the most important. No, that’s not true. God says the parts of your body that you don’t see are more important than the parts you do see! And the same is true in the Body of Christ. We all matter and are important to the heath and growth of the overall body. I know we can’t understand that even our smallest acts of service are valuable but they are.

Several years ago two teenage boys tried to come into a church service at night. It was packed and they couldn’t find any seats. So they turned around and decided 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 down to the center and set them in the middle of the church. That night both of those boys accepted Christ and became Christians. One of them was Billy Graham who has now led millions and tens of millions of people to Christ. 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. Don’t mistake anonymous with insignificant. Just because it’s not known doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary. Real servants do every task as if it matters.

You can do two things with your life. You can waste it, or you can invest it. The best use of life is to invest it in that which is going to outlast it. It’s going to pay dividends over the long haul. One day you’re going to stand before God and what if He said something alone this line? “What did you do with your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and 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) For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. (NKJV)

Rest assured God keeps His promises. On earth they give awards for 10 years of faithful service. In heaven you’re going to get eternal rewards. (Matthew 25:21) "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' (NKJV)

My dear church family, more than anything else, I want God to be able to say that about you. That’s why I do what I do. I want you stand before God one day and have Him look into your eyes and say to you, “Good job! Well done! You did what I put you here on earth to do. You worshiped me, you fellowshipped with other believers, you grew in character to be like Christ, and you served Me, the way I shaped you. Well done! Good job! Come on in and enjoy eternity and all the rewards I’ve planned for you.” I want God to be able to say that about you, because you were shaped for serving God. Well done!

A curious fact about Elvis…the only Grammy award he won for an album out of 250 million albums sold, was for a religious album that he recorded called, “He Touched Me”. And a song on that album expresses this very verse. 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.

Question: Is God going to be able to say “well done” to you? Is He going to be able to say, “You spent your life in serving Me. Well done!” Is there anything in your schedule where you’re giving back unselfishly, or are you too busy? Are you waiting for things to slow down? Or do you have other priorities? I make no apology in saying to you that the most important thing you’ll ever do with your life is serving God in ministry. It’s far more important than your career, it’s far more important than your hobbies, it’s even more important than everything else you can think of because they aren’t going to last. But this is. You were put here on earth to practice serving.