Service (January 29, 2023)

After Salvation, we now have work to do!

So many times I hear the following:

• I can’t serve in that area, I am not mature enough as a Christian yet.

• I can’t serve in that area, I need to grow more in God.

• I don’t like serving, I like to be in church to hear preaching.

• I don’t want to come to church and work.

You get the idea and I get the idea … everyone loves to stay in the Sanctuary and look at me! (HAHAHA) Jokes aside, I do realize that serving, especially during service time, is not likable and hard to do. Here is another thing that I hear about serving …

• I serve, but when am I going to get fed?

• NOTE ~ on this saying I have heard – I have seen in the church, someone that had said this and they would not be in the church service when they were not having to serve elsewhere. When are we being fed? Think about it …

• Some will also say, I will do “fill in the blank” and never give it another thought.

In this, it is very obvious that I have royally failed as the Pastor of this church. And I don’t like to fail.

Let’s look at the Scripture about service …

Matthew 11:29-30 ~ “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

After SALVATION comes SERVICE.

• The load in service. “Take my yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:30). The yoke is a harness put on an animal to enable it to pull a load. Thus the yoke is not only a load but says you will get another load. The devil complains that God’s yoke and load are too much, and many Christians agree and refuse to serve. However, the devil never tells about the terrible yoke of sin that is a much heavier and trying load and labor than God’s yoke.

• The learning from service. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me” (Matthew 11:29). One of the great compensations of serving Christ is that service increases our spiritual learning. Much spiritual ignorance is a result of lack of spiritual service.

• The lowliness of service. “I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). Christ is our example for service. “Meek and lowly in heart” says our service must be done with humility. This is necessary in order to take orders from God in your service. Refusal to walk humbly before God in service will result in a lack of service.

• The leisure in service. “Ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29). Christ is a good Master; He is no slave driver. Therefore, His yoke is a contrast to the yoke of sin. Christ gives rest to the worker; sin does not. And it is the best rest of all, for it is soul rest. But the yoke of sin gives no rest. “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest” (Isaiah 57:20).

• The lightness of service. “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). In contrast to the yoke of sin, the yoke of service for Christ is easy and light. Serving Christ is not a heavy burden but a blessed burden. Yes, we can become weary in His service, but we should not ever be weary of His service. And when we are weary in His service, we will find that He gives “rest unto your souls.” Sin, however, gives no rest.

Now let’s look back at things some have said about SERVICE to God in His Church. What we must realize … serving God is not work, it is a calling. When we are in SERVICE to God: the work is easy, we learn as we serve, we become meek and lowly, we will find rest, and we are blessed. Mankind makes service to God hard.

Next let’s look at Motivation in SERVICE.

Ephesians 6:6 “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,”

MOTIVATION is so important in our service for God. It will determine the quality of our service. It will determine how consistent the service will be. The right motive will do wonders; the wrong motive can corrupt and ruin. Our verse speaks of both the wrong motive and the right motive.

• Wrong motive. “Not by the way of eyeservice, as people-pleasers.” Three things are said here about service done with the wrong motive.

• First, place of service. “Eye-service.” Some will only serve where they are noticed and where it is before a big crowd. They will not serve in obscurity. If your motivation for service is guided by eyeservice, you will greatly limit the places where you will serve God.

• Second, praise for service. “Men-pleasers.” Some serve only if they get the praise of men. The praise of God does not interest them. Such are like the Pharisees who “loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43). This attitude will also limit your service and it will corrupt your service, too; for you will compromise to gain the praise of men.

• Third, person of service. That is implied; if your motivation is eyeservice and menpleasers, you are serving self. That not only limits your service, but that also disqualifies you from serving God.

• Right motive. “Bond-servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” Three things are said about service with the right motive.

• First, the person of service. “Christ.” It is not self but the Savior that we are to serve.

• Second, the place of service. “Will of God.” It is the will of God that tells us the where of service (as well as the what and when and how). But the place of eyeservice is determined by the crowd, not by the will of God.

• Third, purity of service. “From the heart.” Our service for God must be heart service. It must therefore be genuine and pure. Some serve outwardly, but inwardly they are grumbling and complaining. That is not heart service, that is only outward service. God sees the heart and evaluates your service on the attitude of your heart. When your heart is right, your service will be right.