The church is filled with dedicated volunteers.\u00a0Many of you give weekly hours and hours to the work of the church.\u00a0You are involved in multiple ministries.\u00a0You always arrive early and make sure to stay late.\u00a0You help collect tithes and offerings.\u00a0You serve on the worship team. And not to mention your involvement in a small group and various committees.\u00a0Let\u2019s just put it this way: you are a Church-serving machine.<\/p>\n
God is proud of you for serving the local Church.\u00a0He is applauding you for all your hard work, and the angels are rejoicing over your blistered hands and dirty clothes.<\/p>\n
But at the end of the day, will that alone sustain you?\u00a0Will those precious acts of service bring affirmation towards salvation?\u00a0And will those blistered hands alone grant you entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven?<\/p>\n
See, it\u2019s very easy for us to stand in the entrance of a crowded church, with our lanyard placed perfectly around our necks, and feel like we deserve to be there.\u00a0As if something we did granted us access into this \u201choly of holies\u201d position.\u00a0Secretly expecting the entire church body to stand in recognition of our audacious servant-hood and spiritual presence.\u00a0Yeah, I said it because most are thinking it.<\/p>\n
I believe that the church of today is facing an epidemic.\u00a0One of false security and an even greater sense of false salvation.\u00a0It\u2019s called serving. And while that might sound a little silly, I want you to examine your heart with me for a moment.\u00a0Don\u2019t get me wrong, I am not necessarily questioning your salvation;\u00a0I am questioning where you are seeking it from\u2026<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my point: Just because you serve, doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re saved.<\/p>\n
Matthew 7:21-23 – Not everyone who calls out to me, \u2018Lord! Lord!\u2019 will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, \u2018Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name. But I will reply, \u2018I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God\u2019s laws.\u2019<\/p>\n
There is more to the church than serving. And until you realize serving is an addition, not your foundation, you are headed down a road paved by a false sense of security.\u00a0I know plenty of people willing to serve the church, but who aren\u2019t willing to seek God. Believe me, there have been times where I used to be one of them.<\/p>\n
Romans 16:18 – Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.<\/p>\n
Now, don\u2019t get me wrong, serving your local church is incredible.\u00a0I believe that the local church is the hope of the world.\u00a0But my heart goes out to the people who feel that their relationship with God peaks and completes with serving.\u00a0I mean, c\u2019mon really? God is bigger than a plastic lanyard, fake security t-shirt, and a youth group pizza party.<\/p>\n
This post is to open your eyes to the greatness of God\u2019s divine wisdom and direction.\u00a0Can some of these attributes be found in the beauty of serving?\u00a0Yes, but that alone will not sustain you for the road ahead.\u00a0Serving alone will not plant the roots of your faith deep into the love of Christ.<\/p>\n
Colossians 2:7 – Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.<\/p>\n
God is looking for more than servants.\u00a0He is looking for seekers.\u00a0People who go to extreme lengths to seek his face.\u00a0And although serving is an incredible catalyst in learning the importance of being a bond-servant, it is not meant to be your only avenue for divine wisdom.\u00a0It\u2019s meant to be an addition.<\/p>\n
Matthew 6:33 – Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.<\/p>\n
So how do we take these truths from Scripture and apply them to our lives?\u00a0The first thing we need to do is check our heads.\u00a0Are we serving for self-satisfaction, or God-breathed wisdom?<\/p>\n
Secondly, we need to check our heart.\u00a0Are we serving to further God\u2019s kingdom, or to further our own agendas?<\/p>\n
Lastly, we need to check our hands.\u00a0Are we serving to build the kingdom, or to build our own spiritual resume?<\/p>\n
God is looking for more than servants.\u00a0He is looking for men and women who are seeking after Him and following His Word.\u00a0Don\u2019t let the false security of servanthood get in the way of your relationship with God.\u00a0Heart work is just as important as hard word.\u00a0With God, attitude matters as much if not more than action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The church is filled with dedicated volunteers.\u00a0Many of you give weekly hours and hours to the work of the church.\u00a0You are involved in multiple ministries.\u00a0You always arrive early and make sure to stay late.\u00a0You help collect tithes and offerings.\u00a0You serve on the worship team. And not to mention your involvement in a small group and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[10,429,428,238,427,119],"class_list":["post-3136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflection-2","tag-faith","tag-hands","tag-head","tag-heart","tag-save","tag-service","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3136"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3139,"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions\/3139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecbchurch.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}