Your actions
“For we are his work, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God has prepared beforehand to walk in them” (Ephesians 2. 10).
- We were created by God to glorify Him and rejoice forever in Him.
- One way to make these calls is to serve God with the gifts and talents He has given us.
- We have been called to service.
- Called by God to serve Him by serving the Church and our neighbor.
“I have served one another, each according to the gift received, as good administrators of God’s multiple grace” (1 Pet 4:10).
We are made in the image of God to worship Him, therefore our joy will be to walk according to this image. We worship the Lord through our service. And think, because our service is done for the glory of our Lord, at some point someone can say, “Am I already doing too much?”Of course, I don’t defend any form of idylather activism here; but many do little and, because they don’t get paid, they think they’ve already done too much. Do you understand the quality of dedication involved in doing things for God’s glory?You will never do much for the Church of Christ. And yet your service with your gifts and talents will always be necessary for the body, and especially for yourself, to make you more christlike.
We were made to serve and we must always be aware of that, but the fall stole that desire and changed our mood.
What happens in the fall is that we seek to be served
Selfishness is that you consider your needs above those of others. Immediately after Adam and Eve’s sin, everyone ran for protection. Adam blamed the woman and Eve blamed the serpent. Some suggest that by saying “The woman you gave me,” Adam even blamed God himself, and immediately began to think of themselves and not of others.
“Remember not all of you, but each also what belongs to others” (Philippians 2. 4).
The results of not paying attention to others are numerous, but here I will illustrate five sinful and selfish reactions that you might have before the service, I will address you, and not us, so that you can even continue to evaluate. your heart reading each of these elements:
1. When you have in your heart that you have been made to be served and not to serve, you stop offering your gifts and talents because you believe that the service should be rendered, so you treat the service even with resentment that you did. Don’t feel served in what you could use. Examples: “I’m not going to welcome the brothers well, because when I arrived I didn’t get the attention I think I deserve!?;” I won’t get there sooner to help with the church assembly, because there are few people who do that. “If you have more of an attitude of “what can the church do for me?”that an attitude of ” what can I do for the church, ” that shows that you have a heart focused on being served.
2. A form of service is with our offerings and tithes. The purpose of this text is not to delve into the many biblical reasons for tithing, we can do so at a later time. However, I brought this point here mainly for the moment we live in social isolation. The fact is that the accounts of the church and the missionaries continue. Unfortunately, however, we see that many churches experience financial difficulties because the brothers have stopped contributing to tithing because they no longer go to church because of social isolation. Does this happen when you think you can stop paying tithing if it doesn’t work for you?Near the church on a Sunday. You know, there are several illegitimate reasons why you stop decimating, do you understand the result of selfishness in thinking that we should be served?Pastors are fired, missionaries are out of support, the monthly bills that keep coming are suspended.
3. As we have seen, the offering you make, tithing, gifts and charity, is a way of serving, however, this does not exclude other necessary services from your gifts and talents, from your time, whether to advise, prepare the show, music, nursery or projects. God did not say to offer OR serve with our gifts and talents. For some people, giving with their money is much harder than dedicating their talents to siblings. For others, on the other hand, It is much easier to put tithing and offering on the bank automaton and its difficulty is even to devote time to service, with its gifts and talents. The money comes from hard-earned work, but it’s also very hard and exhausting. devote time and attention to each other, don’t you?To evaluate the heart at this point, it is worth wondering how he would manage if the pastor told him, “We are fine with the money, I need you to dedicate every Saturday to take care of the brothers. “
4. You can worship service when you do not for the glory of God, but for your own glory. Your service can be rendered for the wrong reasons, for selfish reasons. Can you think about that?To have recognition, to feel power, to be closer to this infatuation, to be highlighted, to be seen, to show one’s knowledge?The service can be idolatra. There are people who love service more than God. Making ministry an idol is very common, even among pastors and musicians. One question to evaluate your heart here is, “Do you want to keep doing what you do if no one finds out?”
Committing to a particular service in the church and not honoring it is also a selfish reaction to service. When you take responsibility for fulfilling a task, of being there, there are many brothers who trust you. prioritize this job, someone else will have to do it for you. Of course, unforeseen events occur, but can you assume before God that these were really legitimate reasons?Evaluate your heart.
Know that in all these cases in which I have described the false statement, it is precisely that it has diverted God’s attention. Our sin makes us look at each other all the time and not our Lord.
The solution is not to stop serving, but to serve for the right reason.
How do you do that?
The answer lies in Christ Jesus, who descended from his throne, the King of kings, with all his power, greatness, majesty and glory became man and when he came, he came not to be served, but to serve and give his life. Save for many? Mark 10. 45 Jesus came to serve and you became more like him.
As children of this wonderful Lord, we must reflect his light. God is using his children and working through them so far. What an honor and what a joy it is for God to give each person a gift that is to bless the body of Christ. May it be with your hospitality opening your home to the family of faith; with your beautiful voice to adore you; with his ability to do something difficult like play instruments; with his gift so difficult that it is to be someone really attentive to the needs of the brothers; with his wisdom to exhort the brothers with love; with all the dedication and affection that you give your time and knowledge to advise; with the force to place chairs; with your delicacy in choosing flowers for the pulpit; with his patience and dedication in preparing the days to teach in the EBD classes; with her affection for being there, missing the service to care for the babies and allowing other mothers to attend the preaching; with the hours he spends preparing slides or editing videos and audios so that the brothers can later listen to the preaching.
Do you know who sees everything you do?
He sees. He knows.
God only knows.
And you know that God offers you many opportunities for service, do not ignore them.
It is important to remember that service is not optional for the believer. Nor is it the “bad and boring part of the Christian life. “It is a God-designed way to make you look more like Him. Jesus did not wait to do things for him; left and was exhausted by others. He, in love, gave himself up for his well-being. Serving is an obligation, but more than that is the privilege of the believer. It’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be a delight, too. In a world where more and more people rush to “each for himself,” the work of the believer is “one for all and all for one. “
The body of Christ must take care of oneself by serving one another and those outside. We bear witness of Christ to the world, because it is out of love that we are recognized. And if you’re wondering what the benefit is for you of serving, your advantage is to become more like Jesus.
Author’s note: This text served as the basis for a conference I gave to the women of the Presbyterian Church of Jardim, you can access it here.