WEEK #4: January 23-29

You were saved to Serve God.

What does that mean? Well, the Bible says this in 1 Peter 4:10 “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.” The Bible says that when we come to Christ, each of us is given a spiritual gift. We are then told that our responsibility in the Christian life is to use our gifts to serve others. By serving others, we really are serving God.

Ephesians 2:20 says it like this, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. Remember that verse? Folks, 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 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 God back.

Now the Bible has a word for this, it’s called “ministry”. This is a misunderstood word. When I say the word “minister” most people think of priest, pastor. They think of somebody who wears those funny collars, or a robe, and talks like “GOD”, and you know, that kind of stuff! But the Bible says every believer is a minister. Now not every believer is a pastor, but every believer is a minister.

Ministry simply means to serve God by serving others.” You want to know why 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.

Now the good news is that God not only created us for service, He gave us a model. Jesus came to earth Himself and said “This is how you do it. I want you to watch Me”. Notice the next verse, let’s read it aloud together,

Matthew 20:28, “Jesus said, ‘Your attitude must be like My own, for I did not come to be served, but to serve’”. Today, we’re going to look at learning to serve like Jesus. Jesus got it – not only was life not about him, it was all about God –serving God.

One day Jesus was walking down to go to Jericho and some blind men start yelling at him. And the Bible says this (Matt. 20:30-32), “Two blind men shouted ‘Lord, have mercy on us!’…Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”.

Underline the word “stopped”. Jesus stopped. If you want to be used by God, if you want to serve God, you must be willing to be interrupted. That’s called being AVAILABLE! Would you write that down? You must be willing to be interrupted. Most of Jesus’ ministry and most of Jesus’ miracles were interruptions. Think about it - all 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.

The Bible says this, Proverbs 3:28, “Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now”. 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 and at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as you ever can.

That, my friends, is greatness. You must be willing to step out and say “OK, out of my comfort zone, God what do You want me to do?” There are hurting people all around us, and the wounded will not wait. We’ve got to help them now.

Now what keeps us from being available? You see a lot of us say “I’d like to be used by God. I’d like His power in my life. I’d like to serve God, but I’m just not available.” And what is it that keeps us from being available? Let me give two common barriers.

Number one Barrier…self-centeredness. The Bible says “Forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand” (Phil. 2:4). Whenever you see a need right in front of you, guess what? In the Pedlowe family we say it like this – “See a Need - Meet a Need”. God is giving you the opportunity to learn to serve, to learn to be like Jesus Christ.

Folks, 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 (Pastor holds up a “do not disturb sign”) on the door of our heart, do not disturb. “Don’t disturb my heart. 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.” Self-centerdness!

Number two Barrier…materialism. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money” (Lk. 16:13). I’m telling you, you have to declare what’s going to be the #1 in priority in your life! You cannot serve both God and money. It’s an impossibility. You see, you get so busy taking care of things; you don’t have time to take care of people. And that’s a problem.

The most important decision you’re going to have to make in life once you become a believer is “Am I going to be a kingdom-builder or am I going to be a wealth-builder?” Materialism is a barrier to serving. You have to remove that barrier. No one can do it for you. It has to be a conscious act of your will.

Serving means being available. You know what else it means?
Serving also means, serving like Jesus means being GRATEFUL. To serve like Jesus, we have to serve gratefully, grateful that we get the opportunity to serve.

The Bible tells us in John 11:41-42 “Jesus looked up and said ‘Father, I thank You that You heard me. I knew that You always hear Me but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here.’”

“I want them to know that I am grateful that you heard Me”. 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 apostle Paul was grateful. He said, “I thank Jesus Christ because He trusted me. He gave me this work of serving Him”. And the Bible talked about our attitude of gratefulness in Psalm 100:2 - “Serve the Lord with gladness”.

Now, as human beings we tend to trip over ourselves on the way to serving God, on the way to this attitude of gratefulness. There are some things that get in the way.

One of the barriers is criticizing. When you criticize others, that is a barrier that gets in the way for all of us of being grateful. The Bible tells us over in Rom. 14:4,”Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The Lord will determine whether His servant has been successful.” We’re all His servants. Who are you – who am I to criticize the work some one else does for the Master?

When you think about it, we’re on the same team. We have the same goal. We’re trying to make God look good to the world, let the world see how good He really looks. And He’s given us different abilities, different tasks. And to think that somehow we can compare or criticize in that is pretty ridiculous.

The second barrier is our own wrong motivations. The Bible talks about this in Matt. 6:1, Jesus said “When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven”. The wrong motivation of showing off. Listen folks, self-promotion and servant hood don’t mix, but it’s easy to get them mixed up.

A lot of our service, let’s just be honest, it can be self-serving at times. We need to be honest with ourselves about that. 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 and You take care of me here”. All kinds of wrong motivations.

We’re serving but we’re thinking about how noble we are. Let me help you discern in your life - if you have a wrong motivation in serving? Gratitude. This very attitude. Do you have an attitude of gratitude? If not, you’re serving with the wrong motives. And before long you’ll quit, because wrong motives never 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.
There’s a third thing. Serving like Jesus means being FAITHFUL.!

Faithful. Now what does that mean? It 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, He said “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work” circle that “completing the work” “that You gave me to do”. 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’re never retiring from ministry. You’re never retiring from service. Because God wants you to serve the rest of your life. As I’ve said, nobody just gets to coast on through life. God wants us to be giving out.

The Bible says, (1Cor. 4:2) “The one thing required of servants is that they be faithful”. So what motivates us to keep on going? How do we stay faithful? What ‘s the proper motivation for serving God over the long haul?
John 5:30 says “By myself I can do nothing; … for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” Never forget who you are serving.

What will the goal of your life be? Service and sacrifice or comfort and security?
Look at this verse, (Matt. 25:21) “Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things so; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness”. You know, family, more than anything else I want God to be able to say that about you. dedicate your life to serve God and others.

JANUARY 24 - Colossians 3:17, 22-23: What's our motivation to serve?
JANUARY 25 - Philippians 2:1-11: Who's example are we to follow as we serve?
JANUARY 26 - Luke 9:23: What has to happen in us if we are to serve?
JANUARY 27 - 1 Peter 4:8-11: Where does the strength come from to serve?
JANUARY 28 - Proverbs 3:28: When should we serve?
JANUARY 29 - Matthew 25:21: What's the reward for serving?

I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE!


I have dedicated my life so that when you stand before God one day, that God will look into your eyes and He’ll 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!

Question - Is God going to be able to say “well done” to you? “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.

One day Napoleon pointed at a map of China and he said “There lies a sleeping giant. If it ever wakes up it will shake the world.” Every weekend I look at the COV Church family and I say, “There is a sleeping giant. If everybody who came here served here, what kind of enormous, spiritual, nuclear reaction would we see in the San Ramon Valley and California and the world?” 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.

Let’s bow our heads. Would you pray this?

Father I realize that I was shaped to serve You by serving others. Forgive me for the times I’ve put a “do not disturb” sign on my heart. Help me to see the interruptions as opportunities to serve. Help me to make time for what matters most. You’ve been so good to me. I want to give something back. I want to serve You freely and gratefully and faithfully, and I want to practice before I get to heaven so one day I can hear You say “Well done, good and faithful servant”. In Your name I pray, Amen.