A Good Church serves and supports

A Good Church • Sermon • Submitted 3 months ago • Presented 3 months ago

0 ratings

· 1 view

Notes

Transcript

Handout

We are going to look at what it means to serve. But by the end of this message the goal will not be simply to say, everyone should serve.

The way in which we show and see what Christ is like in our lives is through service

By the end of the message I hope you will see all that we have been assured about as Christians. And then knowing just how much we have, the command is not to keep it but to offer it. And what we have is offered to a people and to a place. Your role as a follower of Jesus is to offer what God has given you to a people and to a place.

Service is a picture of what God is like

Let’s look at what’s happening through this passage.

Matthew 25:14–15 ESV

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

The Scripture states that this is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

Who does it start with. A man who is going on a journey. The kingdom of God doesn’t begin with the church, or action, or activity, or identity. It begins with one person. IN this case the person is Christ. This parable is about God.

And everything we know about the parable centers around Christ. Service then is not a mad grab for power or influence or relevance.

But the parable begins with Christ. And this is the good news about serving. We receive from Him and we serve according to His work

We don’t have to spend our lives attempting to make meaning, we are given incredible meaning in Christ. Our goal is to live well enough to invest what is given into others.

But if we are going to serve we are first called to receive.

to receive means we learn that serving doesn’t revolve around us. We often want to make it about us.

We live in a culture that is ripe with virtue signaling. I will not only tell you what I am doing but how I am doing it and how many time. That is not service. That is performance.

we have turned everything into performance and consumption of that performance.

And we need to be saved from the need to perform. This is a grace found in Christ. To be assured of who He is and who we are. To be secured in Him that we don’t perform, we serve.

We have become consumers not receivers. The church is called to learn to receive first and then offer.

These are antidotes to consuming. And here’s why.

IN consuming, we remain in control of what it is we are consuming. We choose, pick type, tap our way into consuming and choosing what it is we think we want.

if we come to beleive we control our own worlds it’s an easy assumption to believe I control your world as well. We don’t grow toward charity this way, but control and aggression.

Service begins with receiving because in order to truly serve, to offer, we need to remember that we are receivers ourselves.

We are not in church to consume. It rather receive. Can you receive God’s offer of grace this morning? to recognize that we are not completely independent but dependent on another?

We are each given something from God. Talents in this parable. But each of us has something to offer another. Something that was given by God Himself. That is where we begin.

Service is an encounter with the God who is present

Matthew 25:16–18 ESV

He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

The question we can be asking of this text is why didn’t the Master of the house just invest the. Money himself? He is successful, he probably knows his way around making money work for him. Why didn’t he just do it himself?

GOd has entrusted people to make investment. Notice He doesn’t put it in a bank Himself, He asks His servants, His own people to do the work.

Because the issue is not how much but more so, who

The Master is concerned about who will do the work, not how much.

This means the focus is on the person, not the activity or the material.

If God Himself isn’t focused on how much but rather who, we as a church should be called to who. We don’t need to worry about how much. But rather who it is we are as believers and who it is God is calling us to serve.

This is about giving what we are for others. That act is a divine encounter. And people need a divine encounter.

The good news is because Christ is at the helm. Because He is driving and giving away the talents. Our role is not to have to drum up more things to do. It is to find opportunities.

Let’s look at vv 19-23.

Matthew 25:19–23 ESV

Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Now each of the servants go out and they work with what was given. Notice the 3 different amounts. 5 talents, 2 talents, 1 talent. This story is set up for you to think that the 5 talent guy will get the best prize, the favored prize.

But the issue is not how much, the issue is what did you do with you you have.

The answer is the exact same whether it’s 5 or 2 or 1 talent. Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful, here is more. Enter into the joy of the master.

The outcome is the same: I will set you over much. So the issue isn’t how much you got, the issue is what did you do with what you got?

As we close let’s look at verse 25

Matthew 25:25 ESV

so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’

What an interesting note. It seems the most noble thing to say. I am returning back to you what is yours. I kept it safe. It wasn’t stolen or unnecessarily risked. But this was the worst thing that could be said to the Master.

Because the Master’s interest wasn’t in the talents, it was in the servants.

While divine material, invaluable material is given, the Master isn’t interested in that, only in what the servant did with that.

Service is participation with what God is doing in the world

If you follow Christ this morning, you are bearing more meaning than you can know.

Serving is about willingness. Are you willing to serve? Not about how much you have or about what you have or about where you are or about who you are.

Are you willing to serve?

As we close the message, because our service begins with receiving from God, it is best to return to Him.

There are three possible responses to this message:

I am serving

I want to serve

I don’t know where to serve

if you don’t know where to serve:

- Ask Him where you need to receive this morning.

Our best model of service is found in Christ. He is the One who has served. We receive from Him. Do you need grace or forgiveness this morning? Ask Him.

Or maybe you are interested in the idea of God. Maybe you aren’t entirely sure

It isn’t about being grand, it is about being willing.

- Maybe you want to serve but don’t know how.

You don’t need grand gestures to serve. You just need another person. Serve someone this week. Offer something as a means of a divine encounter. Buy a coffee or a meal, make some tea for someone, allow someone to go ahead of you in line. These are all opportunities for encounter.

Use the next step card and let us know you want to serve. We want to help you to serve in your work, at home and as the church.

- If you are serving:

pray for opportunities to serve this week.

The world around you is in need of a divine encounter. God has literally given you enough to serve those in your sphere, to offer what God has given you to others.