WE SERVE OTHERS...
We have been both secured by Jesus’ service to us and equipped with gifts, that we might freely serve both the church and the world. Our members are called to pour themselves out in a variety of ways, as well as to consider their entire lives to be spiritual acts of service.
"To serve the present age,
my calling to fulfill,
O may it all my pow'rs engage
to do my Master's will!" Charles Wesley, A Charge to Keep I Have
SERVANTHOOD:
1. In all that we do, we live out of the understanding and application of the grandeur of the gospel of grace (Philippians 3:7-11).
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—" Philippians 3:8-9
"Run, John, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands,
Far better news the gospel brings:
It bids us fly and gives us wings."
John Bunyan, Run, John, Run!
2. The past is in the past…not living in the land of “if only”(1 Corinthians 15:8-10).
“But let us realize that to dwell on the past simply causes failure in the present. While you are sitting down and bemoaning the past and regretting all the things you have not done, you are crippling yourself and preventing yourself from working in the present, (for the glory of God in the advancement of the gospel and your own will and your own happiness)." D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure
3. We respond (“good stewards of the manifold grace of God” 1 Peter 4:10).
"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and STRAINING FORWARD TO WHAT LIES AHEAD, I PRESS ON toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14
4. We imitate and we lead.
"Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us." Philippians 3:17
"What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:9
5. We joyfully anticipate.
"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself." Philippians 3:20-21
“When I began to look into this matter I was shocked to find such different Christians as Milton, Johnson, and Thomas Aquinas taking heavenly glory quite frankly in the sense of fame or good report. But not fame conferred by our fellow creatures–fame with God, approval or (I might say) ‘appreciation’ by God. And then, when I had thought it over, I saw that this view was scriptural; nothing can eliminate from the parable the divine accolade, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant.' With that, a good deal of what I had been thinking all my life fell down like a house of cards.” C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
APPLICATION:
1. We live out of the gospel every day and should joyfully remind ourselves of that every day (thus avoiding the error of Galatians 3:1-3).
2. We are to live beautiful lives which are beneficial to others and bring glory to the Lord.
3. Discipleship requires effort, mental doctrinal precision, and joyful sacrifice.