Joy In Serving
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
“The greatest among you shall be your servant” Matthew 23:11
Eric Spaulding
Self-appointed title of Director of Digital Media
Follow Your Passion
Follow Your Passion
As a high school senior in 2002, I was challenged to find a college to further my education.
In reality, I was to find my future career. What I would do for the rest of my life to not only make the money I needed to survive, but to raise some future family that I didn’t know yet, pay for a home I didn’t yet break ground on, and save for a retirement that seemed like more than a lifetime away.
What guidance does a kid get to begin blazing this path for himself?
What are you passionate about? What do you love doing? Where do you see yourself is 5, 10, 20, 50 years from now?
As a stupid 18 year old, I wanted to see myself as a multi-millionaire, sitting on a beach, jet-setting around the world enjoying my time. I wanted to skip that silly work thing and move right to being rich and well connected and having the hot wife. Well, I’m not jet-setting around the world. I’m not a multi-millionaire yet. But I do have the hot wife. So that’s a big win.
Follow Your Passion: The Worst Advice to Give
Follow Your Passion: The Worst Advice to Give
This may be the worst advice to give a child, and yes, an 18 year old high school senior is just that, at least when it comes to making major life decisions, although I think it could be argued that we are all children, regardless of age, when it comes to making major life decisions. But thats for another time.
In fact, we’re warned repeatedly in the bible about following our passions.
Passion by its very definition is an intense and barely controllable emotion - neither good nor bad, but anything on the brink of losing control is probably dangerous. It leads us to places we don’t need to go and clouds our rational judgement.
And children, especially high school and college-aged kids, are, if nothing else, passionate.
King David was described as being passionate for God, and this may have been his downfall. We see a lot of David’s passions, for women, for power, for fame, and all of these things, while under the umbrella of serving God, and keep in mind, he was also described as being a man after God’s own heart. So we know he was favored and in many ways should be an example to us. But if he wasn’t so subjective to his own hot tempered passions would he have been a better king? Could he have actually achieved even more?
The Passion of Christ
The Passion of Christ
We also see the passion of Christ. The story of his trial, torture, execution, and the ultimate salvation of mankind. Here, we finally look at the root of the word passion.
When we translate Passion from latin, we see that the word derives Patior, which means to suffer, endure, to bear (as in pain), but it also means patients
Which, Christ, in his final days, certainly showed us a great deal of both suffering and patients.
The Passion of You
The Passion of You
Following your passion is terrible advice, even when it’s given with the best intentions.
Passions are short-termed, hot, burning desires for something - which is necessary, but not the foundation of finding joy or meaning in your life.
to find meaning in life, it would be far better to follow your curiosity. But follow it in the framework of how can I serve others?
Our service, our focus, our curiosity should be pointed towards the greater good, a higher purpose that is always to bring betterment to others. And in doing so, we better ourselves.
No one has ever become rich, strong, powerful, famous, talented, anything in a vacuum. And God has never instructed us to live or act in one either.
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers, you did for me. Matthew 25:40
And the king will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.’
Service to God, service to others is no different. It is the highest good we can achieve and should be the lens that we see all that we do.
If you want a fast track to a miserable life, live in a vacuum, pursue selfish pleasures and ignore your neighbors. Let your passions burn for worldly, self-centered things.
If you want joy, be ready for work. Be ready for struggle. Because it is only found in service to God and to others. For in giving, we truly receive.