Lifestyle of Serving God - New Hope International Church

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Pursuit of Spiritual Growth

A love story

A slave girl was about to be auctioned. Two men were bidding for her, and the price was going up. Both were evil men, and the slave girl knew she would suffer no matter who purchased her. She was scared and weeping. Suddenly, a third man showed up and out-bid the first two men. After this man purchased the slave girl, he broke the chain and declared her free. He said, “I did not buy you to be my slave, but to free you.” Then he left. The girl was shocked and could not believe what had happened. After a few minutes, she came to her senses and ran after the man and said, “From this day forward, I will serve you.”

The Lord Jesus also set us free from the bondage of sin. Once we realize what He has done for us, we will also offer ourselves to serve Him. Our service to God should be based on love: the love God has for us, and our love for God.

Introduction

Joshua 24:14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.”

Judges 2:19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

In Old Testament times, the Israelites understood that serving and worshiping went hand-in-hand. Even though they went back and forth between serving the true God and idols, they understood that serving and worshiping were practically the same thing. Today, we should realize that worshiping God is not just singing songs, but also involves serving Him. Since we worship God as our Lord, we should also have a lifestyle of serving Him.

All Christians should serve God fully, not just the pastor or caregroup leaders. When Jesus established the church, there were no distinctions between clergy and laity. Everyone served God fully in whatever role they were called to at that time. After a while, however, people began to change the nature of the church so that ordained priests performed religious service while the laity’s

Establishing a Lifestyle of Serving God

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Lifestyle of Serving God

activities were limited. Today, many Christians have become programmed to think it is unnecessary to serve God or that serious serving should only be done by ordained priests.

The Bible paints a picture where all believers are called to serve Him and participate in the functioning of the church body. It is very important that we stick close to what the Bible teaches. In the end times, God is revealing His truth to the church, washing it with the water of the Word. As we obey the Word, God prepares us to become part of the glorious universal church that will fulfill His purposes.

All believers are called to serve the Lord

1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

Matthew 20:28 … just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Revelation 1:6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

We are precious to God. God the Father valued us enough to send His Son to die for our sins. Through the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus, God has bought us back from Satan and made us a holy priesthood worthy to serve the Lord of lords, the King of kings. Our situation is just the same as that of the slave girl, who was bought back from slavery and set free. After we are set free, we are called to follow in Jesus’ steps.

In the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter the most holy place and commune with God. The priesthood was a necessary requirement to draw near to God’s presence in the temple. Today, this principle of priesthood is still true because serving God (as priests redeemed by Jesus) helps us to draw close to Him.

This is a privilege reserved for born-again Christians alone—to serve the God of the universe, not because we are worthy, but because we are redeemed. God’s grace allows us, who have the sinful nature, to draw near His

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throne. When we experience God’s love, we will love God and voluntarily and unreservedly offer ourselves to serve Him. We will serve Him with the new life He has given us.

Exodus 19:6“… you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.

Romans 11:29… for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

1 Peter 2:9 ...But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, we see God’s will for His people to serve Him has never changed. God desires His people to serve Him, not because He has an ego problem, but because He wants to truly be our God and us to be His people. God is a jealous God and He loves us too much to let us fall back into serving false gods, such as money, position, an easy life, or other things.

God’s eternal purpose is for us to be completely His

Romans 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

The world would like to deceive us and make us think that we can be free. Many TV commercials entice us by saying we are free to focus on our own wants and desires. If it feels good, then do it. But in reality, we are actually a slave to sin when we follow after our own desires instead of following after God. People who think they are free to follow their own sinful nature are actually badly mistaken. Living according to our sinful nature is like being trapped on a sinking boat; it is easy to ignore the situation at first, but eventually you will find your situation more and more inescapable and dangerous. God offers us an escape because He loves us, but it is our choice whether we want to accept it or not.


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Revelation 18:11-13 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more—cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.

Luke 4:5-6 Then the devil took Him up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time [in the twinkling of an eye]. 6And he said to Him, To You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will. (AMP)

Money is often representative of the world and everything it has to offer. This is what the devil tempted Jesus with in Luke 4:5-6. In those verses, money represented “all the authority and splendor of all of the kingdoms of the world.” Many people would agree that people themselves can be bought with money. Judas fell into temptation because of money; he watched over the group’s money and was indignant that a woman had used expensive perfume to wash Jesus’ feet. Many people in the Bible were tempted with money, including Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Jesus spoke about money several times, and warned clearly that people could not serve both God and money.

Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Jesus told us to store up treasures in heaven, which are eternal treasures. We do this by serving Him. God knows what is best for us. One day, all the material things that we have here on earth will either belong to someone else or be destroyed—anyway, we will not be able to take them with us. God wants to deliver us from being enslaved to money by having us serve Him.

God’s eternal purpose is for us to be His sons and daughters who have a healthy and lovely relationship with Him. He wants us to be mature and to have

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an intimate relationship with Him where we hear His heart cry. God chose King David because he “was a man after God’s own heart.”

Jesus is the perfect example of the obedient Son who obeyed the voice of the Father.

Galatians 4:4-7 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Romans 8:14-17... because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Just like Jesus was made perfect through suffering, we are made mature sons and daughters by our continuous and progressive service to God. When we serve the Lord with obedience and the leading of the Holy Spirit, our flesh will suffer, but our spirits will share in His glory and sonship. The Holy Spirit is grieved to see Christians still immature and fleshly after many years! The root problem is that these people have not offered themselves to serve God. Instead, they have been deceived by the devil’s lies and not understood that the path to sonship is through serving God.

The outcome of serving

God’s plan is to prosper us, not to harm us. The purpose of serving God is for our own benefit and for the benefit of the Kingdom of God. Romans 6 talks about the personal benefits we receive from serving God. Romans12 speaks about the benefits to God’s Kingdom; the accomplishment of His will.


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Romans 6:22 …now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

From a personal viewpoint, we are delivered from sin and made slaves to God—in order to bear spiritual fruit and live a holy life. Serving God puts us on a path to holiness. Day by day, we reap the fruit of fellowshipping with and obeying God. Step by step, we grow closer to Him. The life of serving God is an overcoming life. Joy, peace and abundance will be ours everyday, even in the midst of trials.

Romans 12:1-5 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

From a Kingdom perspective, our service will help us understand and appreciate the will of God. First, we must consecrate ourselves to God. (“Consecrate” means dedicate to a holy purpose.) When we give ourselves to God, our minds will be renewed and we can see things differently. Instead of struggling to understand what God wants, we will be able to understand and feel God’s heart. The degree to which we consecrate ourselves to God determines the degree to which our minds are renewed; the more we give ourselves over to God, the more we see things through His eyes. In the church, this means each consecrated Christian will understand their calling and role in the coordinated body of Christ (verses 3-5). A consecrated person is a coordinated person in Christ.

1 Peter 2:5 …you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to

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God through Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 16:15-16 You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it.

As we serve God, we are like living stones that are built up into the house of God. God chooses people who work faithfully in the church to become servant leaders. Just like stones near the bottom of a building support those added on top, Christians who serve faithfully are the foundations of a growing church body.

Revelation 5:10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on the earth.”

We will reign as heirs of God when Jesus returns.

We need to make a decision

Joshua 24:15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

Jesus’ blood is the payment to redeem us. The day we accepted Jesus as our Lord, it is like we signed a legal contract with God to serve Him. In experience, however, we become His slaves only after we have made a decision to offer ourselves to Him. We belong to God, but He does not force us to do anything. God waits, until one day we say, “God, I am Your slave not only because You bought me, but also because I want to be Your slave willingly.”

Romans 6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.


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Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

God wants all of us. Not only should we offer our hearts (our plans, attitudes, etc.) to God, but also our bodies. God does not just want what we have or what we plan to do, but He wants us ourselves. Once He has us, He will have everything that is ours, including our future plans, loyalty, and love. When we place our bodies on the altar as a living sacrifice, our bodies become holy instruments of righteousness. From that time on, our hands, mouths, ears, eyes, and all the parts of our bodies belong to God to use for His will.

Hebrews 10:5-7 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.’”

We need to make a decision to give all of ourselves over to God, not just what we have or what we can do. When we give our tithe to God, for example, we are not giving money because God needs our money, but to show that everything we have is God’s. In the same way, God does not need our acts of service, but our service is the result of our being entirely His.

We need to serve God with the right understanding and attitude

Romans 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

In every work of service, we need to be clear about the means and the ends. Both our means—the way we do things—and our end goals should be spiritually inspired. As means to reach our goals, we need to serve with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit, but also with the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Our goals require us to work together and do our part until “we

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all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

1 Peter 4:10-11 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

When we serve God, we are actually serving His body. Therefore serving God is to bring blessing to others.

Service to God should be initiated by God, empowered by God, and bring glory to God.

Although each of us makes an individual choice to respond to the call of God, working together in the church body requires cooperation and coordination. Hence it is very important that we submit to the leading person and cooperate with others.

God leads His church through His delegated authorities, so we should listen to what they say and follow them, as they follow Christ.

When we decide to serve God, it is important to remember that obedience is better than sacrifice. To illustrate: If God asks for plain rice soup, we should not prepare a full-course meal. When the Holy Spirit guides His church, we must not add or subtract to what God wants. If we hear the voice of God personally, then we should obey Him entirely. For example, if the Holy Spirit prompts you to share the gospel now, you should not wait until tomorrow night. Similarly, if God is guiding His church through the leadership of the church, then we shouldalso do as we are instructed.

A story of serving:A master has a maid who is responsible for his meals. One day he wanted to eat something light and asked her to cook some plain rice soup for lunch. However, she felt that plain rice soup is not nutritious enough so she added some meatballs and served it with two scramble eggs. When the master saw the meal, he became furious because that was not what he ordered.


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By God’s grace, our service is acceptable to Him. But we should not abuse grace by disobeying God or doing things our own way. If we insist on doing things our own way, we could end up struggling for a long time with God without any benefit at all.

1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

1 Peter 5:2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve;

God established the church as the place where Christian servants are nurtured and trained. We should all have roots in a local church body and allow ourselves to be taught and trained by our leaders, who have responsibility for us as servant leaders, even as we ourselves learn to teach, train, and serve others. The local church is the starting point for serving God, and we should all serve God within our local church.

Throughout the Bible, we see many Christians serving in a local church body before they are sent out. For example, Philip served as a deacon in Acts 6 before he was sent out as an evangelist in Acts 8. Paul also spent time in the church at Antioch as a teacher before he began his missionary journeys.

Another thing to understand about serving God is the importance of not yoking ourselves to non-believers.

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

In these verses, Paul warns against entering into partnerships where our service to God is dependent on people who are not Christians. For example, if we want to start a business or non-profit organization that has a ministry focus, we should not expect non-believers to agree with us on how the organization is run. If we are thinking about marrying, we should remember that an unbelieving spouse would mean many compromises in terms of our service to God.

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When relating to non-believers, we can show God’s love to them, but we should always remember that we are called by God to be only His. Oftentimes, we may involve non-believers in serving in order to have closer fellowship with them. If we do this, however, we will eventually run into problems because our non-believing friends do not share the same goals and vision.

Ephesians 6:7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men …

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men …

It is easy to serve God when there are no people around. As soon as we introduce people into the picture, problems will arise because everyone is still imperfect and has a sinful nature. We may have problems with the people we are ministering to or have misunderstandings with our co-workers. The devil tries to use misunderstandings and offenses to stumble us. Therefore, we need to remember that God wants us to serve wholeheartedly, all the time—even though it means loving imperfect people. We should ask God to enlarge our capacity to forgive and understand other people.

The important thing is that we are serving the Lord regardless of who gives us trouble or who gives us praise.

Final Remarks

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (NKJV)

In the New King James version of the Bible, it describes our life sacrifice as a reasonable service to God. When God’s mercy and grace touches our heart, we will want to offer ourselves fully to God. In fact, we will also realize that everything we can possibly offer God is nothing compared to what we have received from Him. God has given us the two most precious gifts ever: His son Jesus and His Holy Spirit. In other words, God has given us everything He has. We should feel privileged that God accepts our service.


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You need to make a decision regarding your relationship with God.

• Are you willing to serve the Lord from now on?• Are you willing to give God your best?• Listen to the Holy Spirit. Where should you start in your service to

God?

Prayer (Please pray together with your spiritual helper.)

Holy Father in heaven, I thank You for Your love and all the things You have done for me, so that, in Christ, I can have a victorious life. Father, let me serve You according to Your perfect will so that Your holy name, Your kingdom, and Your people will be blessed. I pray that Your Holy Spirit will teach me, guide me, and empower me so my service is pleasing and acceptable to You. Thank You and I pray in Jesus’ name.

Lifestyle of Serving God - New Hope International Church

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