I. Introduction

A. Illustration – In a sermon, Pastor Craig Barnes shared, I was asked to conduct the funeral for a man who had helped develop the famous Boeing 747 aircraft. After the service, I spoke with the widow and commented on how remarkable it was that her late husband had helped build that marvelous machine. She said, "The truth is, he worked on one little switchbox smaller than a loaf of bread. That's all he worked on for 15 years. But when that 747 lifted off the ground for the first time, it was the happiest day of his life." He worked on one small switchbox for more than a decade. Yet the huge plane couldn't have lifted off without this man's contribution. (NEW SLIDE) Often we see only our seemingly small efforts and feel we aren't very important. But when the great Kingdom of God "lifts off," we'll be thrilled to find out that all of our efforts were essential (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

B. This man’s approach to his job is exactly what the spiritual discipline of service is all about. This morning as we wrap up our series on spiritual disciplines we’re focusing on one that we love to talk about but we also love to do little about. I’m not trying to be negative here, and I certainly appreciate all those who use their spiritual gifts for God’s glory in the life of our church. But it is also true, as it’s been for years, that in the American church, including ours, twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work. Obviously, many of us are missing out on the joy of service. Not just the joy of doing God’s will, but also the joy of receiving God’s approval. Jesus speaks to that in Luke 12:35-40, so let’s read it together, and I’m reading from the NIV.

C. Luke 12:35-40 from the NIV – (NEW SLIDE) “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. (NEW SLIDE) 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. (NEW SLIDE) 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. (NEW SLIDE) 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

II. Service Is a Matter of the Heart

A. Service is more than what we do. It’s more than our attitude about serving. It’s about Who we’re serving and the wonderful things He has in store for those who serve Him. Look at verse 35 - “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.” The idea here is to not fall asleep on the job but to live and to serve like the Master could return at any time. We’ve allowed ourselves to fall asleep on the job – we don’t live like we really believe that Christ will return someday and that He will reward us for serving Him according to His will. (NEW SLIDE) We don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking that any service we do ostensibly for Him counts – it’s only what we do that’s according to His will. And His will is to find us on the job and ready when either He returns or He calls us home. Wedding banquets in Jewish culture could begin in the middle of the night and last for days on end, so servants never knew when their master might return. Jesus is saying that His servants will be blessed IF they are ready for service and act immediately at His bidding.

B. But then Jesus turns the tables a bit. Verse 37 – “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.” Serving the servants is not normally what masters do at any time. But Jesus is saying that if we’re watching and waiting and doing His will when He returns or takes us home, He will bless us. He will reward us. (NEW SLIDE) If we’re serving Him according to His will, even though it seems to be taking Him forever to come, He will pour His blessings out on us. Nighttime was divided into four watches of three hours each. So even if the master returned between midnight and three a.m., the servants had better be ready. Even if Christ’s return seems to be greatly delayed or if we think we’ve got lots of years left on this earth, we’d better be ready if we want to receive the heavenly rewards He has for us.

C. We’ve talked before about the fact that Christians will be judged and only what they’ve done according to His will will survive the blast furnace of His judgment. None of our time is our own. Remember – we learned about that when we learned about the doulos, the bondslave. Everything we are and have belongs to the Master, including our time and our resources and our energy. (NEW SLIDE) The cost of being in a love relationship with Jesus Christ is great, but the rewards are even greater. What could be greater than receiving the blessing of our wonderful Lord and Savior?! What could be greater than hearing His voice say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into your Master’s happiness!”?

D. Jesus emphasizes his point in verse 39 – “But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Jesus isn’t comparing God with a thief, He’s telling us that we’d better be ready when He chooses to act. He’s saying that it’s easier to be patient when we know when something’s going to happen than it is when we’ve got no idea when to expect it. In spite of that, we’ve got to be diligent and serve Him like He’s coming back or calling us home today, even though it may be decades from now. (NEW SLIDE) He Who created us calls us to serve according to His will so that we can receive all the blessing and reward He has for us.

E.Illustration – Warren Wiersbe wrote, If life is to have meaning, and if God's will is to be done, all of us have to accept who we are and what we are, give it back to God, and thank Him for the way He made us. What I am is God's gift to me; what I do with it is my gift to Him (as cited on PreachingToday.com). Refusing to serve is a rejection of God’s will for our lives. So let’s add this equation up – relationship with Jesus Christ plus obedience in serving according to His will equals His reward and blessing. Relationship with Christ plus refusing to serve according to His will equals judgment. Relationship with Christ plus serving but not according to His will equals judgment. Seems to me like the only way we win is if we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, obey Him in serving according to His will, and receive His reward and blessing. That’s also the way we’re happiest and most fulfilled, because it means living the way God created us to live. (NEW SLIDE) If we come to Him with an attitude of obedience and service, and then we follow through on that, we will know the blessing of living the way we were created to live.

III. Getting It Right

A. One of our biggest hang-ups when it comes to serving is that we think that we’ve got to be perfect or professional quality at what we’re doing before we’re qualified to serve in the church. And unfortunately some Christians and Christian authors make us feel like that’s true. But it’s not. Gigi Graham Tchividjian wrote, For years I never felt I measured up to all I thought the Lord wanted me to be, or all I thought I should be. Satan convinced me that since I wasn't "perfect," I had no right to minister to others. Then one day, my children brought me a bouquet of flowers they had picked. I hugged each child with joy. As I tried to arrange the flowers in a vase, I discovered my children had picked no stems, just blossoms. I laughed--I had been blessed with their gift of love, however imperfect. It was then I realized we don't have to be perfect to be a blessing. We are asked only to be real, trusting in Christ's perfection to cover our imperfection (as cited on PreachingToday.com). She’s right. Getting it right doesn’t mean perfectionism. (NEW SLIDE) Getting it right means finding out what the gifts God has given you are, finding out where the church needs people with your gifts to serve or even what new ministry He wants you to start, and then serving out of love for Christ. That’s it. No standard of perfection, and if anybody tells you or tries to make you feel otherwise, tell them that’s not what the Bible teaches so it’s not true. All of us can please our Master and receive the reward He has for us by serving in our area of giftedness to the best of our ability and constantly striving to develop our gifts.

B. A key passage to this discipline of service is Ephesians 4:11-13. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. It is the responsibility of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers to train you and to keep training you to serve. That’s where God has called them to serve. (NEW SLIDE) It’s your responsibility to serve where God has gifted you to serve. And knowing this is the way God created us is comforting, because it means that we don’t have to worry about being something we’re not. If you’re not a teacher and you try to teach, it’s frustrating and draining and burns you out. If you’re not gifted with leadership and you try to lead, it frustrates you and those you are trying to lead because you wind up freezing the progress of the church rather than helping it move forward. If you’re not gifted with hospitality and you try to be the consummate host or hostess, you’ll only frustrate and stress out everyone involved. You get the point? (NEW SLIDE) Be who God created you to be, and don’t worry about what you’re not.

C. That’s been an incredibly difficult truth for me to grab hold of. Those who study such things say that if you spend more than twenty percent of your serving time outside of your area of giftedness, you’ll get frustrated and burn out and hurt your church. I know that’s true because I’ve tried it. That’s why I work to spend eighty percent or more of my ministry time leading and teaching and preaching, because those are my areas of giftedness and that’s where I feel most effective and fulfilled. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 helps us understand this. Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. 6 There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another he gives the gift of special knowledge. 9 The Spirit gives special faith to another, and to someone else he gives the power to heal the sick. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and to another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to know whether it is really the Spirit of God or another spirit that is speaking. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, and another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. That is a very powerful and yet freeing passage. (NEW SLIDE) God gives us the gifts we’re to use to serve in the church, so we’re free to serve as He created us to serve. When we use the gifts He has given us to serve Him according to His will, we’re like the servants awake and ready for His appearing.

D. Illustration – Oswald Chambers, in his book So I Send You, wrote, There are no such things as prominent service and obscure service; it is all the same with God (as cited on PreachingToday.com). One of the problems we face is that all of us want to be significant, which is okay, except that we tend to equal significance with prominence. We think that only those who are up front or in top leadership positions are significant. But as Chambers so eloquently tells us, all service that is according to God’s will is pleasing and acceptable to Him. Don’t you think that the One who treasures us enough to save us and to gift us and to allow us to participate in the salvation of the world will accept our gift of service back to Him? (NEW SLIDE) Serve according to your giftedness and according to His will and He will bless and reward you. And you will have the joy of knowing that you made a difference for Christ because you allowed Him to use you for His glory.

E.Illustration – Evangelist D.L. Moody, who God used to bring tens of thousands to Christ, wrote, I know perfectly well that, wherever I go and preach, there are many better preachers known and heard than I am; all that I can say about it is that the Lord uses me (as cited on PreachingToday.com). All of us can have the joy of knowing that God uses us for His glory. All of us can have the joy of developing and using our spiritual gifts and developing them some more. (NEW SLIDE) One of the great truths of having spiritual gifts is that we’re called to do whatever we can to nurture and develop them and to become better and better at using them for God’s glory. That’s not perfectionism – it’s the desire to become the person God created us to be and to be of greatest usefulness for His kingdom. That’s how servants operated. They wanted to be of greatest use to the master, so they did whatever they could to hone their skills and gifts so they could fulfill their potential. Last week, Southside Church of Christ had an interesting saying on their signboard – (NEW SLIDE) “There is nothing more common than unfulfilled potential.” In the church, that’s very true. Not because we have bad intentions, but because we don’t understand the truth that God expects us to train and develop and grow and use our spiritual gifts to bring the most glory to Him. Scripture compares Christians functioning in a church to a human body. Athletes spend a lot of time and effort and even money developing their bodies in order to bring glory to themselves. Think about how much glory we can bring to God by spending time and effort and money developing our gifts and using them according to His will so that the Body can be all He created us to be. That’s what the spiritual discipline of service is all about. And that’s what God is calling us to.

F. Illustration – Deborah Smith Douglas wrote, For many years, I have attended midweek Eucharists at St. Bede's Episcopal Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One thing I love is the hand-lettered sign that hangs over the only door into the sanctuary: SERVANT'S ENTRANCE. There isn't any way in or out of that church except through the service door (as cited on PreachingToday.com). May all of us have a serving heart and attitude and may we do whatever it takes to serve Him according to His will in the life of our church! Or, as Ignatius Loyola prayed: (NEW SLIDE) Teach us, Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do your will (as cited on PreachingToday.com).

IV. Conclusion

A. Please bow your heads and close your eyes out of respect for each other’s privacy. Let’s spend a few quiet moments listening to the Holy Spirit speak to our hearts about this spiritual discipline of service.

B. What has God been speaking to your heart this morning? If you’re willing to use your spiritual gifts to serve God in the life of our church, please stand now as a sign of that surrender and commitment. Let’s pray.