"Puttin in Work: Why We MUST Serve"

Over the last few years I have spent in ministry, I have had the privilege to serve a lot of the Dayton community through volunteer work in a multitude of areas. Not all have been ministry related. Many of the projects I have been involved in have been manual labor that needed done at places like the Life Enrichment Center and other community centers and churches in the area. I have tried my hardest to be humble about the work, lead by example for those around me, and simply be a good representative for Jesus in the flesh.

One of the most frustrating things in volunteering is getting others to volunteer as well. The average American in today’s society has been conditioned to be a consumer only and not a giver. It has become a society of what can I get from this or that, and what angle can I take to get more out of someone or their business. No one wants to work for what they have today they just expect it is owed to them and they want to make it to the top off of the back of someone else.

Yes, I know this isn’t a popular message, but just take a look at the church. A place where all of God’s people are supposed to be giving and willing to go the extra distance for the greater good of man, and still only 10% of the church is doing 90% of the work that needs done within the church let alone outside the walls of the church. Then we don’t understand how so many good people end up burned out and leaving the church while the others who refuse to “plant seeds” continue to complain about all the things they don’t have because they have no harvest to reap from. Just like the social security system, we have more people eating from the crops of a few and less people actually pushing their plow, sowing their seed, and being a blessing rather than needing a blessing.

Let us look at part of a message I preached at Celebrate Recovery in August of 2016 when I returned from a missions trip in Malawi, Africa…

John 13:1-17 says,

Verse 1 “Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end.” 

Notice what He said here: “having loved his own.” Jesus didn't have any children so He’s referring to his disciples and to you. Jesus is saying that even in your messed-up ways here on earth, He loved you anyway. Not when you became perfect, but just as you are from now until the very end.

Verse 2 “The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus.” 

So the DEVIL put it into Judas’ heart to do something evil to Jesus. For all those people who question God in times of evil, remember the Bible says that Satan is the ruler of the earth (2 Cor 4:4) and if you do not guard your heart, you mind, and your soul (Prov 4) he will sneak in and make you do some things you ordinarily would not do (Romans 7:15). It's up to YOU to put on your full armor of God to defend yourself (Ephesians 6:11). Remember, the scripture says I can do all things THROUGH Christ who strengthens ME (Philippians 4:13)! He will help me, but I have to do some things myself. Let's keep reading.

Verses 3-7, “Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself.  He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.” 

Let’s read that last passage again. Jesus said, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.”  How many times have we questioned God when we were in the middle of the fiery furnace just to look back later and see that God was inside that thing with us the whole time? We often ask why God would let us relapse, or go back to porn, or take a loved one away from us, but at the end we see HE had a purpose even if it didn't line up with what we thought should happen.

Verses 8-17, “Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”  Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!”  Jesus replied, “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not every one of you.”  (For Jesus knew the one who was going to betray him. For this reason he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”) So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you?  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am.  If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example—you should do just as I have done for you.  I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

To sum this up in short, Jesus was sent to show us how we should live and how we should die. He gave so many examples of how we are supposed to serve one another and put others first, yet the church still insists on being takers instead of givers. We feel like we cant give up one Saturday a month to serve in the community and teach our children what Jesus taught us all about service.

Lets go deeper!

Ephesians 2:1-10

Verses 1-3 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

WHOA! That is some deep writing! This essentially says that we are DEAD MEN WALKING when we are following the ways of the world which is being led by the Devil! Satan wants us to be selfish and stay home on Saturdays with our family because we worked hard this week and we “deserve” a day off. He doesn’t want you to get out and show the world what Jesus looks like in the flesh. But there is good news! Lets keep reading…

Verses 4-9 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The breakdown of this goes is simple. God loved you so much, even in our sins of past, present, and future, that He paid the price with His Son so that you could be saved by your faith in Jesus alone and not have to work for it. Why would you not have to work for it? So you cant boast and people wont start worshipping you instead of Him. God is a jealous God and will not have anyone be worshipped in front of Him.

That being said, now you’re confused about why I am writing about service work if the Bible says I cant work my way to Heaven. Its really simple actually. Most preachers stop at verse 9 then complain that no one will volunteer in the church or in the community. However, if we read through to verse 10 we see why we feel amazing when we do actually serve others….

Verse 10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

NO, we cannot work our way to Heaven. However, we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. If we are doing what we are created for we are operating as we were designed to. If I use my cellphone as a hammer, it may work for a while but it will eventually break down. If I use it to make calls and keep it out of the water as it was created to do, it will operate as it should.

Then we have the laws of sowing a reaping. If I do not sow a seed, I cannot reap during the harvest. So stop getting mad at the new guys coming in who are working their tails off (as you used to before you go too good to do so) and they are moving up rapidly in the church, at work, or in the community. You cannot expect God to trust you with much if you arent being faithful with little. Maybe its YOU who He sent to minister to those at Target Dayton this weekend, and maybe He will be there in clothes waiting on you to show up?

Finally, if none of this is enough to convince you to get out and serve in the Kingdom as we were called to do because you are too busy or too good or above all that, lets look at Mark 10:45 which reads, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

If Jesus was not too busy saving the world to stop and serve the little guy, what makes us too busy or too important to get out and serve on a regular basis? Get out and put in the work that you were created to do and God created for you!