Serving Successfully Among the Saints, Part 2b

The attitude of humility is very important in service, isn it? That's why our Lord would say back in the Gospel of Luke, the 22nd chapter. These words. He would say, and there arose also a dispute among them as to which Of them was regarded to be greatest. He said to them, The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest and the leader as the servant. For who is greater?

The one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as one Who serves? Our Lord was one who served. Our Lord was one who came alongside of people and ministered to their physical and material needs. That's what he did. And so this gift of service has a certain, what's the word I want to use? Certain clout to it, doesn't it? Angels serve. Our Lord was one among us who served. He came as a servant. He says, The greatest among you is the servant of all.

And so we see the importance of the gift. Ep, we'll look at him in a moment, he was one who served. I want you to notice something though that this gift is also an off.

The diac, the deacon in the church. Is a servant leader in the church. And 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1 talk about the qualifications of those who are deacons in the church. See? Who serve in that kind of capacity? The servant leaders of servants in the church. So it even adds more clout to the special gift of service in the body of Christ. Let me give you one more illustration.

I know I'm spending a lot of time here, but I think that you need to get the picture of what's going on here. Look at Luke 4 for a second.

It helps you understand whether or not you had this gift. Because I know some of you are saying, well, I wonder if I got the gift of service. You know, I wonder if I'm in that capacity. The Lord was a servant, the angels served, On was a bringer of prophet. I wonder if I'm the kind of guy that brings profit to people. I wonder if I'm that kind of person. Well, I got one verse and one illustration to show you whether or not you are or you're not. And when we read this verse You'll understand. Luke chapter 4, verse 38.

He arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's home. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they made requests of him on her behalf. And standing over her, he rebuked the fever and that left her. Here it is. And she immediately arose and what? Waited on them. How do you know you have the gift of service? You know you have the gift of service. When you just can't wait to serve somebody. You can't wait. It's got to happen. And when Peter's mother-in-law was healed, what did she do?

T some time to recuperate. These are the time to sit back and want and get some rest. Had a high fever. Maybe I should sit back and have some people wait on me, watch a little bit of TV, kind of take it easy, and I won't go to church this week, maybe not next week, but maybe the week after until I'm fully recovered. She couldn't wait to get back up and serve her fellow man. That's how you know you got the gift. You just can't wait to serve. You can't wait to do it. You're excited about it. And nothing holds you back except for this fever, which, as Mark accounts, says he was nearing to death.

See? You know, I have the gift of pastor-teacher. I have the gift of teaching and exhortation. I can't wait to exercise my gift. I can't wait. I can't wait till Wednesday. I'll go home tonight, I to bed, I can't wake up tomorrow, I can't wait till Sunday. I live from Wednesday to Sunday, from Wednesday to Sunday, from Wed To Sunday. My whole life was built around two days of the week, Wednesday and Sunday. And if I go on vacation, I am a miserable man to live with. I am. I've got to find somebody to preach to.

I got find somebody to open the word of the Lord with. There's gotta be somebody around here that will listen to a sermon for 10 minutes. So when I come back from vacation, I'm excited. I'm fired up. I can't wait. I speak so fast, I can't even tell what I'm saying. Because I can't wait to get it out. Well, the same thing is true with the gift of service, the gift of helps, the gift of leadership, the gift of giving. The gift of giving, you can't wait to give. You can't wait for the offering basket to come by.

That's the highlight of your week. Oh, here comes the offering basket. Yee-hoo! This is fantastic. That's how you know you got the gift. See, when we think that, you know, I got tell you this, you know, you know, when God gifts you, you, He's not gonna give you something that you just, oh man, He's gonna give me the gift of evangelism. And I gotta go talk to the Muslims, and I gotta go talk to the Jewish people, and I gotta go talk to the Mormons, and oh man, oh, I don't want to do that. See, God doesn't do that.

Not at all. It's like when you give a gift to your wife at Christmas. Are you going to give her something she's not going to like? Of course not. You're going to give a gift to your kids that something they're not going to like? No, you want to give them something great. You want to surprise them with the best gift you could possibly give them! So when El doesn't say, oh man, this is exactly what I've always wanted. I can 't believe you thought of me. I can 't believe you did this for me. And don't you feel good inside when you say, oh, I know, man.

That's the right gift. I'm so excited for you. That's where the Lord is. Oh, that was the right gift. That was a right gift just for you. And I want to help you use it for the glory of the Lord. For the glory of me, he says. So when you exercise it, man, you're just, oh, Lord, thank you for this gift because now I can use it in the body and people will be min to. They'll know the Lord because of it, and I'll be able to help other people bring profit to their lives. I'm going to serve them and minister to them.

That's how you feel about spiritual gifts. That's what it's about. That's why Paul says, don't be ignorant of them. Why? Because there's great joy in them. That's why. There's great excitement in using them. I'm spitting all over the place up here. I am so sorry, man. No, I know, but I know you got to sit up front. But that's the way it is. That's the way it is. You know? And when you find somebody like that, You know, in the gift of service, they just quietly go about doing what they do. Maybe you'll find them singing.

And they don't know you're listening to them sing, but you can hear them singing. And they're just enjoying what they're doing because they're doing it for the Lord. And that's how God's gifted them. That's how Peter's mother-in-law was. That's how Martha was. That's how Onis was. See? That's the gift of service. Next is the gift of help. The gift of helps. This is a very unique word. Used one time in the Bible. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Turn there with me, if you would, please. Entile. It's a very unique word.

It's a word that speaks of grasping something. Ant means in exchange of or in front of. L is a word that means to take hold of or to grasp. You go in front of someone to grasp something. You go ahead of them to grasp it because you want to help them through the process. That's the gift of helps. Now, It's so unique how the Lord injects this gift in 1 Corinthians 12. Listen to what it says, verse number 28. And God has appointed in the church. Now, stop right there for a second.

It's an appointment. Okay? God in the church appoints people with gifts. Okay? So it's not by accident that you're a Christ community church. It's not by accident you just have to show up here or you're a member here. No, God appoints in the church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, then what?

Help help prophets, apostles, miracles, healings. Helps. Wow. See what God thinks of it. See, we think of miracles and healings as those grandiose gifts, man, those humong sign gifts that were. The confirmation of apostolic authority. You think of apostles and prophets as the church was built upon the foundation of the apostle. You think, man, this is man, these guys are great. And it goes help right in there. Just to let you know that help is just as significant as prophets and apostles. And miracles and healings.

See that? The Holy Spirit is just so incredible. And how he puts it all together for us, that we can be able to see how all these gifts flow from one another. A gift with no public recognition Designed to support the apostle, the prophet, the one with the gift of healings and miracles, the guy with the gift of help. Supports. Isn that good? I wonder if you have this gift. I know some of you are saying out there, boy, I hope I don't have that gift. I hope I have one of those big gifts. The point is, they're all the same size.

You know, at Christmas, you know, you get all these different gifts. You ever been there? Of course you've been there. Every Christmas, you get gifts, something big. Some are small, some are real small. Okay? But just because it's in a big box doesn't mean it's going to be a great gift, right? Some of the greatest gifts come in very, very, very small packages. Some of the most significant gifts come in packages that are almost invisible. That they're there. You know, and my kids, you know, they're always thinking that when they come down on Christmas morning, the biggest gifts have got to be the best gifts.

Look at my gifts. Look at what you got. They're all small, but look at my big ones over here, man. These are great gifts. You've got nothing. I got everything. That's their mentality. You know? But the reality is, it's not true at all, is it? Same way it's true when it comes to spiritual gifts. The gift of help is the ability to to bring immediate support and help to someone In the performing of a task in order to relieve his burden and responsibilities. To relieve their burden and responsibilities, because you are able to exchange what you're doing for what they're doing.

You're able to get a grasp of that and to come alongside of them and to relieve them of their responsibilities. That's the gift of helps. I wonder if you have that gift. Acts 20 Paul was speaking to the Ephesian elders. And if I was to take you the verse, most of you would be able to quote it. That is the last part of the verse. But most people don't know the first part of the verse.

Acts 20, verse number 35. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner, you must help the we. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that He Himself has said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. You see, we know Acts 20:3 when the words of the Lord Jesus it is more blessed to give than to receive. The context is helping the weak. Helping those that can't help themselves. Relieving them of responsibility that they can't handle because you want to carry their burden for them.

That's the gift of helps, you see. You know people like that? Are you one of those people? One of those people right alongside the apostle, the prophet, the gift of healing, the gift of miracles? Because you're so valuable to the functioning of the body. Look over in Romans chapter 16. Verse 3 says, Greek Prisca and Aquil, my fellow work or help in Christ Jesus. who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. These are my fellow help.

Fell help who are willing to risk their lives. See, there we go again. See, the whole thing with Otos. They're willing to risk their life. You see, the essence about getting this is about when you have the opportunity to use your gifts. It doesn't make any difference what anybody else is going to do or what anybody else really thinks. Because you're going to do it unto the Lord, even if you've got to risk your life to do it. That's so great about it. And when you understand your gift in this, you want to risk your life.

Because you're serving the Lord. And Paul says, these are my fellow helpers. Verse number 9: Greet Urbanus. Urbanus, our fellow helper in Christ. There's another one. Who's Urbanus? I don know. But Paul knew he was a fellow helper. He was one who would relieve burdens and responsibilities. You know, the motivation for this gift appears to be the desire to help someone to relieve them of heavy burdens and responsibilities. The gift of helps. Valuable gift, isn't it? Valuable gift. I guess if I had to sum this gift up, I would do it this way.

It's taking the immobile and making them mobile. Isn't that good? Taking the im and making them mobile. Taking those who can't move and making them movable. You're helping them on each step of the way. What a great gift! What a fabulous gift. Boy, I tell you, that's what we need, isn't it? Sometimes you get to those points where you think, what am I going to do now? How am I going to handle all this? You know, if we just celebrated 10 years together, you know, when our church began 10 years ago, This church began with a group of people who wanted to exercise their giftedness.

And they would exercise their gith week after week after week after week after week. And when I would sit back and every Sunday watch and see what the Lord was doing and how he was operating in and among people, it was a fabulous thing to see. That a lot of people, a lot of, not just a few of them, a lot of them were saying, you know what, this is what I can do. Let me help.

This is how I can serve. Let me serve here. Wow. You know, Christ Community Church truly is a lay-run ch. That is, it's run by the non-professional. It's run by the guy in the pew. They're the ones that make it happen. That's why we always tell you that if you want to be involved in a ministry. We want to fan your flame. We're not going to push you into a ministry. We're not going to give you a ministry. You need to lead in the ministry. You need to develop the ministry. You need to start The ministry, we'll fan your flame.

We'll do all we can to support you in that ministry, but as you take the initiative and lead in that ministry, it'll happen. But we're not going to force one on you or tell you what you need to be doing. Spirit of God needs to work in your heart to do that. And we've sat back and watched ministries develop. Our whole missions and advantages of ministry was developed by people who are non-paid professionals. They're people who just love the Lord and want to serve the Lord and want to serve Christ.

That's how it all functions. See? And that is so important to the body of Christ. People say, I'll serve here, I'll serve there. Turn me to Philippians 2. We'll close with this. Philippians chapter 2. Verse 25, but I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need. He's a minister to my need. It says, Because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard. That he was sick. Now think about that.

We get distressed if nobody hears that we are sick. He was distressed because they heard he was sick. Now that is the proper perspective in ministry. And he was upset. They know I'm sick. But that's not all. For indeed he was sick, Paul says, to the point of death. The dude almost died for crying out loud. The guy was on death, and he was concerned that someone was distressed, or he was distressed because someone had heard that he was almost dead. Maybe you wanted to die. Maybe you wanted to go home and be with the Lord.

I don know. But the bottom line is, it says that. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but also on me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I have sent him. All the more eagerly, in order that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less concerned about you. Therefore, Receive him in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him how in high reg. Because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.

Man, isn't that great? Wow, here is a guy who was so upset because someone knew he was about to die. He didn't want anybody to know. It wasn't important. What was important? That he was able to minister to people. And Paul says, I am going to send you this guy because you know what? This is how you need to be. Look at him as an example.

And you take this guy and you hold him in a high regard because this is a real man of God. Here is a real servant of the Lord. He is really all about God. He's not about him. He's not even about you. He's all about God. And because that's all he's about, hold him in high regard because there's hardly anybody else like him. Because he risks his life. To bring to me what you weren't able to do for me. See, you know why they couldn't do it for Paul? And Epaphroditus could. Think about it. Why is it they couldn't do for Paul what Epaphroditis could?

Because they were too concerned about them. And Epaphroditus didn't care about himself. See? You see, the more you care about you, the less you can do for who? For others, right? That's the bottom line. And the less you're concerned about you, the better you can serve your fellow man. And that's why Peter says, when you serve, You got to do it with the strength that God supplies. Because if you don't, it ain't going to happen. It's just not gonna happen. I wonder if you had that gift. I wonder if you do.

I hope you do. But don't forget, don't forget. You can never say Because they don't have the gift of service or the gift of help, so I can't help you. Can't say that. And the reason you can't say that is because within the scriptures, even though you might not possess the spiritual gift, you are not ever Unable to perform a task for someone in need. You see, the reason, one of the reasons God gives gifts to the body. Is so that when you see this person with the gift, then you can become convicted about how you need to help other people or serve other people.

Although you might not have the gift, because he provides the example for you, see. Epaphroditus is the guy with the example. Oluc is the guy with the example. Peter 's mother-in-law are the people with the example. Those are the examples we are to follow. I tell you, when I read about them, I'm convicted. I'm convicted. I'm at the point where saying, you know, I'm not like that. You know, if I'm sick, I don't want to get right back up and serve somebody else again. I don't want to do that. If someone is really in dire straits, and do I got to go take care of them?

Can't somebody else with the gift do that? Isn't that what God designed the body for? Sure it is. But, but, but.

The point is that when God gives you the opportunity, because of these examples, you know how you're supposed to be, right? May God give us the grace to accomplish His purposes in our lives.