SERVE: The Motive of a Servant

Why do you serve? Here are a number of reasons why people serve in a church. Maybe you’ve heard yourself say one of these? Why do you serve?  Some might say, “I serve because that’s just what you do in a Church, its expected of you.” Someone else might say, “I serve because somebody asked me to” or “I serve because I like to serve.”

Maybe you might say, “I serve because somebody’s got to do it.” Then again some of you might say, “I serve because I like to be involved” or “I serve because it’s a great way to meet new people.”

Or maybe you say, “I like to serve because this is something I’m good at”or “I like to serve because this is what I’m passionate about” or “I like to serve because its rewarding.”

There are all kinds of reasons people serve and most of them are good, although there’s a few that are not so great. But for the most part we have decent reasons for serving.  But did you know that all the reasons I’ve just listed could be given by someone who doesn’t believe in God? This is why I’ve asked the question “Why do you serve?”

There’s really only one motive that stands out as the core or central motive of why we serve. Maybe you’ve already guessed it, but just to be sure, let me draw your attention to what God’s Word reveals as the central motive for why we serve.  That motive is found in Romans 12:1. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of service.

God’s mercy to us is why we serve!  We serve because God first serve our greatest need. If we were to read the first eleven chapters we would be reminded that because of our sin, we didn’t have a leg to stand on before God. Our sin was inexcusable.  And God’s Word is clear. He declares that every single one of us were in the same boat: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12

The lie of this age is that we are all basically good people. You go to a funeral, this is the line you hear. He was a good man. She was a good woman. We want to paint a rosy a picture as possible. Why? Because we don’t want people to feel bad. We don’t want to speak poorly of the dead. So we perpetuate that all people are basically good.

But God’s Word says what no one else wants to say today. We’ve become so sensitive that we want to defend God and say stuff like: “That’s not what God’s like. He loves everyone.” And that second statement is true. God does love everyone. But God is also holy, just and fair. That means He must treat all sin and all sinners the same. God doesn’t judge on a sliding scale, as if some people are good enough for Him and others are not. No, He says, “there is no one who does good, not even one.” And what that means is that every single one of us needs mercy. Because if we’ve all sinned, God must treat every sinner the same. He would not be a fair God if He played favorites.

It’s important for us to feel the weight of our sin occasionally, not so that we feel guilty or bad, but so that we can understand the mercy of God. Because this is where Jesus comes in. This is where the good news really becomes good news: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8

Here now is the mercy of God: He saved us from our sin. He saved us from the punishment that our sins deserved. His death provided justification before God. In the shedding of His blood, Jesus made it possible for us to stand before God completely righteous and good. Not in our own goodness but the goodness of Christ. He removed our condemnation. He removed our punishment. He removed our shame. And then He gave us what we did not deserve: He gave us forgiveness. He gave us His Holy Spirit. He gave us life and hope and peace. And He made us His children. And none of this came from us. As Paul it all up for us in Romans 9:16, by saying all our salvation came from Him: It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

This is why we serve. We serve because God first served our deepest and greatest need. We needed a Savior and He gave us His Son. We needed forgiveness and His Son gave us His life.

Offering my life to God is the heart of a Servant: A servant gives herself to God because God gave everything for her. A Servant gives himself to God because God gave everything to Him. A Servant places His life on the altar as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is our spiritual act of service. This is where servanthood begins.

But what does that entail? This offering of your life? What does that look like? If you were here last week, we looked at the mind of a servant from the life of Jesus. And we saw: He emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. He made himself a nobody so he could serve anybody. We saw that He humbled himself through His obedience. That he gave up His will to do the Father’s will.

Jesus willingly laid down His life for us. That’s the picture Paul gives us: To willingly lay down our lives – to offer ourselves. This picture was very clear for those immersed in sacrificial culture of first century Judaism. They would come to the temple to offer sacrifices. They would bring their offering and place it on the altar. They would then stand by their altar and watch as the animal was identified as their own. Then it was slain, its blood poured out, and finally it was burned on the altar and ascended in the flames to the deity they worshipped. This striking piece of imagery was meant to communicate one thing: When we offer ourselves to God, we give Him our all. We hold nothing back…

That is why we are called to be a living sacrifice: We give Him every part of our lives. We give Him the life we live in the body: Our sleeping, our waking, our working, our playing life – all our relationships, all our activity, all your life.

That is why we are called to be a holy sacrifice: When we place our lives before Him we do so with a sense of dedication. We are set ourselves apart for His service.   Now when we serve, you see, it’s not for the needs of the Church, its not just to be involved or to receive a rewarding benefit for serving. It’s so that we can serve and worship God.

That is why we are called to be a pleasing sacrifice: I love this final description, because this describes the “want to.” And it is this “want to” that shows God you love Him. This is why God does not force us to give ourselves to Him. He leaves it in our heart to respond. And when we do this, Paul describes this as our “spiritual act of service.”

This then sums up the answer to our question: Why do we serve? We serve because we love God and want to give our all to Him to do with as He pleases.