The church is not serving me!

Mark 10:35-45

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?"

"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Introduction: “THE LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP!”

Explain that my whole life is split into three categories!

1.    The Great stuff! (The Stuff you find time for!)

2.    The Necessary (The stuff you could do with out, but will do at a push to get along!)

3.    The Laborious! (The stuff you would rather forget about!)

Serving people isn’t something that many of us put in the “Great Stuff” Category in fact more like one of the other categories.

So is serving the Church is even worse in our opinions or should it be serving us?

We are made to worship and to serve:

Luke 4:8

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

1.    By worshiping God we place him at the centre of our lives. We express our love and devotion to him and give him the opportunity to be lead by him.

2.    Then and only then once we place him at the centre we learn how to serve him!

3.    Coming to God and church and expecting to receive all the time is not a good attitude to have because we will only get disappointed. (Reflect on passage!)

Why should we serve?

1.    The same reason you help a friend or a relative. It shows how we care and enables us to communicate our love.

2.    The church is Christians sharing, caring and worship God as a body!

3.    To serve God and put him at the centre is to serve his interests and his interest are everyone who walks this earth.

To be served is to serve:

1.    James and John expected Jesus to do anything for them. Do we have that same expectancy!

2.    Jesus response was what would you like me to do! He then talked about you choosing to place yourself first now but by putting yourself in that place you will be last when it counts!

3.    Using Jesus as an example we read through the Gospels how he served his father and how as a result served the whole of mankind.

4.    Jesus’ willingness to serve his father enabled amazing things to be done.

Out of service comes spiritual maturity:

1.    To serve anyone requires sacrifice and to serve God requires sacrifice.

2.    God places no demands on anyone to serve him and his church.

3.    Being willing to serve shows a willingness to God that you want to grow closer to him and you will

Conclusions:

God doesn’t expect you to serve him! In fact I no of no circumstance where he has forced people to follow him.

1.    Build a relationship with him through worship.

a.    Building a relationship with God is something we choose to take action on. This is done through worship expressing our love to him through song, word our actions and prayer.

2.    If we are serous about God then God will equip you.

a.    When we do this how he wants us to serve him will become apparent. He will equip us with Gifts and show us the way ahead.

3.    Sacrificing yourself shows your seriousness.

a.    Finally serving him shows God that we are taking him seriously and as a result he will take us deeper into his Love

Your worship of God is not to be limited to the Sunday sing-along. Nor is it about being entertained or "being fed" (Jesus said His food was in DOING the will of the Father). Serving God should be a integral part of our lifestyle.

We need to learn to be the Church, not merely go to church.

The real SERVICE of the Church occurs AFTER the Church service.