| "I Will Serve Thee Because I Love Thee!" I've always loved that beautiful song, written by Bill & Gloria Gaither, and it's one of my favorites to sing in church. It expresses loving the Lord with a heartfelt devotion, and serving Him out of that love! What is your reason for serving the Lord? Do you think of your Bible reading, prayer and church attendance as duties you must perform, or do these come simply out of your deep abiding love for the Lord? Do you consider His needs? How He longs to be worshipped and praised? David wrote that God inhabits the praises of Israel! I heard Kenny Bishop (of the former Southern Gospel trio "The Bishops") say once at a concert, that if we feel empty inside, it could be because we aren't giving God anything to inhabit! What is your purpose for serving Him? Is it so you can be blessed and get all you can out of God like a Heavenly vending machine? I have been convicted so many times by the message "Ten Shekels & A Shirt" by Paris Reidhead! * If you haven't heard this timeless message, please listen to it! It will change your life and forever alter the way you think about your service to God! We should serve Him because we love Him, so that He can receive the honor and glory that He so deserves from our lives! I would like to illustrate the only true reason for serving Jesus, with a touching story I heard Paris Reidhead relate many years ago. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes as I think of what my Lord did for me! "Many years ago, during the California Gold Rush, a young man came over from England to make his fortune in the gold fields. After many months of successful panning, he started out for New York to return to his homeland. He traveled by stage, taking the southern route, and stopping off in New Orleans, decided to visit the slave markets where people were bought and sold with ruthless abandon. An auction was in progress, and he watched as a beautiful young black woman was led to the block. Two men standing nearby, joked coarsely about what they would do with her if they purchased her. The young Englishman's blood boiled with rage that any one could even think of treating another human being in such a fashion! Finally, he could take it no longer! Stepping forward, he called out a price double what had just been bid. Everyone gasped! No one had ever paid that high a price for any slave on that block! The auctioneer asked him if he had the money and he said he did. After the sale was closed and he had paid the price, he walked to the block to claim the woman he had purchased. As she stepped down to his level, anger burning in her dark eyes, she spit full in his face and hissed through clenched teeth, "I hate you!" He said nothing, just took out his handkerchief and wiped his cheek, taking the rope that was looped around her neck. He silently led her down a maze of streets, stopping to ask directions, before continuing on through a little alley and finally stopping before a small building. Telling her to wait for him, the Englishman went inside and said something to the man behind the desk. The man protested, but the Englishman insisted and reluctantly the man handed him a paper. Returning to the woman, who still hissed through her teeth, "I hate you!", he put the paper into her hand, saying, "Here are your manumission papers. You're free to go." "I hate you!" was her vehement reply. "Didn't you hear me?" he asked. "I said, 'Here are your manumission papers! You're free to go!'" "I-I-I don't understand!" she sputtered. "You paid more for me than has been paid for any other slave on that block, and now you're saying I'm free? Do you mean that you bought me to set me free?" "Yes!" he replied, "I bought you to set you free!" Tears welled up in eyes that had known only hatred for so long, and she slipped down on her knees and wrapped her arms around his feet. Laying her cheek on his muddy miner's boots, she sobbed, "Oh, sir! All I want to do is serve you for the rest of my life! Because you bought me to set me free!" That is what Jesus Christ did for me! He bought me to set me free from the slave markets of sin! All I want to do is serve Him for the rest of my life because He bought me to set me free!! * This message can be read on this site by accessing the Messages page, or downloaded from Sermon Index. |
| Why do you serve Him? |
| December 15, 2003 |
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