Submission in Serving
At Open Arms Community Church we’re doing a series of messages right now called “Growing Closer To God”. In this series we’ve recognized that unfortunately most Christians lives look no different from their Non-Christian counterpart, and sometimes look even worse.
We’ve been looking at various attitudes and behaviors we can engage in to grow closer to God and become the person He made us to be and experience the life He desires us to have.
Last weekend we discussed the topic of serving/giving. We saw that serving and giving are synonyms. When you give you’re serving, when you serve you’re giving.
Something that I wanted to share on is the issue of HOW we serve.
Being a leader in a church (a volunteer organization; aka: an organization run mostly by volunteer help) I deal with people serving all the time and I regularly have to deal with the issue of people wanting to serve as long as it’s “their way”.
As a Christian we’re called to serve and when we serve we’re called to serve as unto the Lord. In other words, what I’m doing I’m doing for the Lord, for His approval (so I should give Him my best), and submitted to Him. It’s not for me or about me.
I often see people want to serve as long as things are done their way. Here in lies one of the reasons we don’t grow and benefit from our acts of service. Serving isn’t about WHAT we want or HOW we want it. It’s about WHO we’re serving and what they want and how they want it.
If I go to serve someone and will only do it my way, how is that a blessing to them? Did it really help? How is that growing me? I’ve stayed the same.
This doesn’t mean we can’t offer our insights and suggestions, but ultimately, as a servant, it’s not what I want, but what they want that determines what and how I serve in a particular situation or place.
I’ve seen some people not only not submit to the vision and desires of those they were supposedly serving, but I’ve even seen some try to bully, manipulate, and control by withdrawing their service, support, and contributions until a thing is done the way they want it done. This is not serving/giving. This is selfish and immature. It is robbing our self and the others from the blessing and growth God intends for all to experience.
When we serve I want to encourage us to keep a humble servants attitude and remember that if we’re really serving others then it is not about what we want or how we want it. It is about what they want and how they want it, because we’re serving THEM, not us.
Ultimately when we serve we remember that it’s not even them we’re serving, but the Lord, so we should not only serve humbly and out of love and care for the other person/people, but we should also serve with excellence.
There is a lot said about excellence, but I like to use this definition… giving your best or your all, and nothing less. Jesus said, “love others as you love yourself”. Paul went on to say, “you are not serving men, but are serving the Lord.” Jesus said, “when you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it unto me.” So, if I’m preparing a meal, giving a gift, running sound at church, mowing a lawn, teaching the children, or cleaning a toilet I’m to do it all for the glory and pleasure of Jesus.
I don’t think Jesus would be pleased if I went in to serve someone, but instead did it my way and really served myself.
This is where we apply the scriptures of “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” or “consider others better than yourself”.
Again, it’s not that we don’t have good ideas and can’t share them, but there comes a point where we accept the desire and will of those we serve, otherwise it’s not service it’s rebellion.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/949841/submission_in_serving.html?cat=34
We’ve been looking at various attitudes and behaviors we can engage in to grow closer to God and become the person He made us to be and experience the life He desires us to have.
Last weekend we discussed the topic of serving/giving. We saw that serving and giving are synonyms. When you give you’re serving, when you serve you’re giving.
Something that I wanted to share on is the issue of HOW we serve.
Being a leader in a church (a volunteer organization; aka: an organization run mostly by volunteer help) I deal with people serving all the time and I regularly have to deal with the issue of people wanting to serve as long as it’s “their way”.
As a Christian we’re called to serve and when we serve we’re called to serve as unto the Lord. In other words, what I’m doing I’m doing for the Lord, for His approval (so I should give Him my best), and submitted to Him. It’s not for me or about me.
I often see people want to serve as long as things are done their way. Here in lies one of the reasons we don’t grow and benefit from our acts of service. Serving isn’t about WHAT we want or HOW we want it. It’s about WHO we’re serving and what they want and how they want it.
If I go to serve someone and will only do it my way, how is that a blessing to them? Did it really help? How is that growing me? I’ve stayed the same.
This doesn’t mean we can’t offer our insights and suggestions, but ultimately, as a servant, it’s not what I want, but what they want that determines what and how I serve in a particular situation or place.
I’ve seen some people not only not submit to the vision and desires of those they were supposedly serving, but I’ve even seen some try to bully, manipulate, and control by withdrawing their service, support, and contributions until a thing is done the way they want it done. This is not serving/giving. This is selfish and immature. It is robbing our self and the others from the blessing and growth God intends for all to experience.
When we serve I want to encourage us to keep a humble servants attitude and remember that if we’re really serving others then it is not about what we want or how we want it. It is about what they want and how they want it, because we’re serving THEM, not us.
Ultimately when we serve we remember that it’s not even them we’re serving, but the Lord, so we should not only serve humbly and out of love and care for the other person/people, but we should also serve with excellence.
There is a lot said about excellence, but I like to use this definition… giving your best or your all, and nothing less. Jesus said, “love others as you love yourself”. Paul went on to say, “you are not serving men, but are serving the Lord.” Jesus said, “when you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it unto me.” So, if I’m preparing a meal, giving a gift, running sound at church, mowing a lawn, teaching the children, or cleaning a toilet I’m to do it all for the glory and pleasure of Jesus.
I don’t think Jesus would be pleased if I went in to serve someone, but instead did it my way and really served myself.
This is where we apply the scriptures of “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” or “consider others better than yourself”.
Again, it’s not that we don’t have good ideas and can’t share them, but there comes a point where we accept the desire and will of those we serve, otherwise it’s not service it’s rebellion.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/949841/submission_in_serving.html?cat=34
Labels: give, honor, rebel, rebellion, selfishness, serve, submission, submit
posted by Pastor Mike @ 11:51 AM
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