Not just volunteers, servants of the Lord

“Don’t assume you have to be extraordinary to be used by God. 

You don’t have to have exceptional gifts, talents, abilities, or connections. God specializes in using ordinary people whose limitations and weaknesses make them ideal showcases for His greatness and glory.”   Nancy Leigh DeMoss                   

  April is National Volunteer Month. It began in Canada in 1943 and came to the States in 1974. It took on a new energy with President George Bush’s 1990 “Points of Light” speech encouraging volunteerism. 
  At Grace, we are so thankful for volunteers, yet we’re not just volunteers. We’re called to something much greater and with much more significance. As believers, we are serving the Lord Jesus Christ. It goes back to an upper room where Jesus took on a slave’s task and washed His disciples’ feet.
  After our Lord had washed their feet, He makes a shocking statement: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet” (John 13:17). He was their Lord. Today Jesus would be “the boss.” You’d have thought that Jesus would have said, “Now wash my feet,” but He doesn’t. Instead, He urges them to do the one thing that was hard to do, that they didn’t want to do – serve each other.
  It’s easy to serve the boss or whoever is in charge. It’s easy to serve our families, whether our spouses or children or even our grandchildren. That’s natural. It’s not natural to serve those that you’re not “naturally” related to. In fact, it’s unnatural. Yet, as Christ-followers, we are supernaturally related. Because of the cross, we’re brothers and sisters in Christ. No one becomes a Christian by serving, yet Christians are saved to serve. A believer who doesn’t serve the Lord and others has missed God’s will and is an anomaly.
  It can be difficult to say exactly what a servant does, but you know one when you see one. It is hard to get a good definition of what servanthood is, but you know what it is when you experience it. Today when we’re honoring and showing special appreciation to all of the volunteers at Grace Church, we don’t dare attempt to list them out – there are so many who serve the Lord here at Grace that we knew that we’d overlook some.
  In that upper room lesson, Jesus teaches us that serving Him is more often than not, humble and unnoticed. For example, when was the last time that you noticed the restaurant worker clearing and wiping tables as you were dining out? You probably didn’t…and that’s what Jesus has called us to. Very few of His servants are famous as this world counts fame. Few of them are great. There is no reason that you’d know any of them but they make a difference in eternity. What does it mean to serve the Lord?
  We serve an audience of One. It’s a repeated theme of Scripture. In our occupations, marriages and homes, community and church, or wherever – we are first to be serving the Lord. We do what we do for Him. If no one notices, He always notices. It’s so freeing and helps keep our motivation in check. Our sinful hearts want to be noticed. Yet when we serve to be noticed, we lose being noticed by the One who ultimately counts.
  Being a servant begins with an attitude not an action. Being a servant doesn’t start with what you do, it begins with the attitude of your heart. The most important attitude is that of love. No service is acceptable to the Lord without love. Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
  Service without love is drudgery. It often can breed resentment and pride. Yet love for God purifies our service and lightens the burdens that we face in this life as we do the Lord’s work. It’s not a coincidence that Paul’s extended treatment of love in 1 Corinthians 13 comes in the middle of a section where he is teaching the church about the use of spiritual gifts and serving the Lord in their local church community.
  Servants come in all sizes, all shapes, and all colors. Those who serve the Lord are some of the most ordinary people in the world. Mannford George Guchki said, “The servant of God may be a very ordinary person with a very ordinary manner of life.” No one is too young or too old. It was a young servant girl that God used to bring General Namaan to Himself (2 Kings 5). A little fellow giving up his lunch was used by Jesus to feed 5,000 (John 6). Two of the individuals who first saw Baby Jesus were senior senior saints, Simeon and Anna (Luke 2). No one is too young or too old to serve the Lord. Our retirement program is literally out of this world!
  Anyone can be a servant if they have a servant’s heart. What is it that makes the difference between being a servant and not being a servant? Is it mowing a neighbor’s lawn? Is it taking a meal to someone who is sick? Is it giving money to those in need? No, because you can mow a lawn with a servant’s heart or you can do it out of a sense of obligation. You can make a meal because you want to serve somebody, or you can do it because you want to win favor and have them praise you. You can give money because you really want to help, or you can give money in order to curry favor with somebody. The same action can be the action of a servant or the action of a proud, self-serving person. What makes the difference is the motivation inside your heart. When we do what we do as to the Lord, it’s so freeing!
  Some believers will find it easier to be a servant than others. Perhaps because of our background, temperament or even position in life, some find it easier to serve. Yet, God’s Word commands us all to be servants whether we find it easy or difficult.
  The Lord Jesus is the model of being a servant for us. There are two verses we ought to tattoo on our souls. Mark 10:45, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” and Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Why did He come? He was a servant and came to serve. Look nearly anywhere in the Gospels and you will find Jesus serving. He’s our example. We are to be like Him. We are to serve because He first served us!
  We’re so thankful for those who serve the Lord at Grace! It’s a privilege to honor you! You’re following in the footsteps of our Savior! 

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

We are Easter People!

“Jesus Christ did not come into this world to make bad people good; He came into this world to make dead people live.” Lee Strobel

Though they’re fun and nothing wrong with them, Easter isn’t about bunnies, colored eggs, baby chicks, Easter Egg Hunts, new clothes, dressing up or family get-togethers. It’s not about Easter lilies or even going to church. Most importantly, Easter is not for one Sunday a year.

  For a born-again Christian, a Christ-follower – Easter is every day. It doesn’t begin with life, it begins with death – Jesus’ death and then for those who commit their lives to Him, our death – death to self. Easter is living out Jesus’ new life within us every day. Christians are to be the 365 days a week, 24/7 Easter people. It’s not temporary; it’s transformational.

  As everyone who saw Jesus post-resurrection knew that things had powerfully, wonderfully and eternally changed, everyone who sees us should recognize that we too have been powerfully, wonderfully and eternally changed by Christ living in us.

  Easter people continue to daily live out the Easter message. They not only know what the Jesus story says, they know what it means. Christ was resurrected from the dead so we can have eternal life in heaven and resurrection life now. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” What does it mean to live out the resurrection life?

  It means surrender…of everything. That’s what we’re commanded to do in Romans 12:1-2. In a military sense, surrender means defeat, but for a follower of Jesus, it means victory over whatever hinders our Christian life. It means that we ask God to search our hearts and reveal areas that we’ve kept for ourselves, then as He brings something to mind, we surrender it to Him. It’s a lifelong process, yet begins with a major surrender. Full surrender is an ongoing opening of the closets and cabinets of our lives and inviting the Lord to clean out whatever He wants because if Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.

  An unsurrendered Christian is miserable. They have a broken relationship with their Lord and are often easy to spot. They may say the right words but their lives deny Christ’s Lordship, reeking with hypocrisy. Surrender transforms our attitude, worldview, conversations, relationships, management of time, money and talents…everything. It’s  only as we give Christ the absolute control of our lives, that we experience the fulfillment, purpose, and satisfaction that He wants to give us and that we all long for.

  It means seeking Him. The Lord promises us in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” Can you imagine going to work and doing your own thing, just because it seems like the right thing to do? This is obvious. To do a good job and please your employer, you must first get instructions. The Bible is our “instruction book.” It’s our Love Letter from our Heavenly Father. We’ll never learn how to live unless we’re faithfully in the “instruction book.”

  The surrendered life means listening (reading His Word) before you talk (pray). When we realize how much Jesus loves us, we want to listen to what He says to us. It’s the only way we can pray intelligently. Unless we study His “instruction manual,” we don’t know how to pray.  

  Seeking Him means worshipping together with other believers and faithfully being under the teaching of God’s Word. It’s prioritizing Body Life and community. God uses His family to help us grow spiritually. It’s not just “Jesus and me” or “Jesus and my immediate family.”  

  The more that we seek Him, the more He reveals Himself to us. Be warned though. The more we seek Him, the more we realize how ignorant we are. A seeking Christian is humble because he/she has an ongoing awareness of how little they know and how far they have to go and grow. We’re designed for a relationship with God and each other. Seeking Him is vital for us to move forward in that relationship.

  It means serving Him. The most miserable people are those for whom life is a continuous selfie, those who continually think, talk about and serve themselves. Jesus saved us so that we can serve Him by serving others.

  As there is no such thing as a non-functioning member of the human body, there’s not to be a non-functioning member of the body of Christ. But we’re not “volunteers.” Jesus bought us from the slave market of sin and we belong to Him. Service is not optional. You don’t volunteer for Jesus’ army; you’ve been drafted! If someone doesn’t want to serve the Lord, then it may be because He’s not their Lord. The aim of service is to bring glory to the One who loved you and gave His life for you. It’s vital that we pray for the supernatural filling of the Holy Spirit, so that we can most effectively serve through His power and not our own.

  It means sharing Him. Can you imagine someone discovering the vaccine for the Coronavirus but never telling anyone? It would be criminal. Those who are born-again have the cure for this world’s worst malady – sin. To not share what Jesus has done for you is beyond wrong. The only hope for everyone you meet and this world is the cross and salvation. It’s a free gift that most don’t know has already been purchased for them. Easter people freely share how others can be Easter people.  

  And think of all the other things we share without hesitation; favorite sports teams, political party, hobbies, etc. We even share our favorite movies and music. Yet, we hesitate to share the One who forgave us for an unpayable debt and will freely forgive anyone who comes to Him. Why? We hesitate to share because someone might think we’re a fanatic, yet we’re willing to be a “fanatic” for nearly everything else.

  Heaven is forever. Heavenly transformation of new life in Christ is for the here and now. It’s what this world desperately needs. It’s wrong to be a “Secret Service Christian.” We’re commanded to share the hope that has been given to us every opportunity we have (1 Peter 3:15).

  What joy those first believers had when they realized that Jesus was alive! It transformed them! As Easter People, it must transform us!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.