SERVICE: Motivated Expextation II

Video Clip = continuation of the Hoosiers movie story (arriving at the state championship arena). [Just needed to show you all this clip after the one last week and the reference to this scene, too…It’s the picture of service amid any context—Hickory’s gym or the field house in Indianapolis…]

Recap:

The Expectation = Matthew 4.10 “Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.””

The Motivations = Obedience (Calling)…Gratitude (Thankfulness)…Forgiveness, not guilt (Salvation, et al.)

Romans 12.1 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.”

[‘your true worship’—your reasonable service; your spiritual service; your spiritual worship; your spiritual service of worship; your true and proper worship]

[[We’ve talked about obedience, gratitude, and forgiveness. Now let’s look at…]]

MOTIVATED BY...

GLADNESS

Psalm 100.2 Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Illustration: The courts of ancient kings…don’t look sad in his service…the circumstances of Nehemiah...

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life Motivated by Gladness

In the courts of ancient kings, servants were often executed for nothing more than looking sad in the service of the king. Nehemiah, in 2:2 of the book that bears his name, was grieving over the news he’d heard that Jerusalem was still in ruins despite the return of many Jews from the Babylonian exile. As he was serving food to King Artaxerxes one day, the king said to him, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” Because of what that could mean for him, Nehemiah writes, “I was very much afraid.” You don’t mope or sulk when you serve a king. Not only does it give the appearance that you don’t want to serve the king, but it is a statement of dissatisfaction with the way he’s running things.

Nehemiah 2.2 so the king said to me, “Why do you look so sad, when you aren’t sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” I was overwhelmed with fear

How can we not ‘serve the Lord with gladness?”

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life Motivated by Gladness

Something is wrong if you can’t serve the Lord with gladness. I can understand why the person who serves God only out of obligation doesn’t serve with gladness. I can understand why the person who serves God in an attempt to earn his way to Heaven doesn’t serve with gladness. But the Christian who gratefully acknowledges what God has done for him for eternity should be able to serve God cheerfully and with joy.

Psalm 84.10 Better a day in your courts than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than live in the tents of wicked people.

HUMILITY

[[Every time I hear the word humility, I’m reminded of another movie—which was actually a play first—Camelot (starring Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero {Lancelot}). In the movie, Lancelot initially has no understanding or use for “uuumeelahteee.”…]]

Philippians 2.3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.

Our example and Lord and the one who empowers us to humility (Jesus)...

John 13.12-16 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you. “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him.”

Matthew 11.29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

[[What this looks like for us...

Romans 12.3 “For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.”

Romans 12.13 “Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.”]]

LOVE

[[So, we have Gladness, Humility, and the final motivation for us to acknowledge…and a rather important one (save the best—a really good one—for last)…]]

Galatians 5.13-14 For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Luke 10.25-29 “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”” [Veggietales…]

Luke 10.30-37 “Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.””

[[For us...

2 Corinthians 5.14-15 “For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.”

Hebrews 13.16 “Don’t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.” ]]

CONCL—

“Preponderance of evidence” is a phrase we often hear (especially in recent days…SBC).

I hope that this Sunday and last have shown us that we have evidence all around us of several factors which are sufficient to motivate our service for our LORD...

Obedience…Gratitude…Forgiveness…Gladness…Humility…& Love!

[[NOW IN TWO WEEKS… We will talk about how we are equipped to fulfill our calling to the habit of service.]]

Next Sunday (06/19), Kevin Barnes will be preaching while Rhonda and I will be with our extended family as we recover from Jay and Regan’s wedding!

Matthew 4:10 CSB

Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”

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