Thoughts from Pastor Dave

ARCHIVES
June 2005 article

This article originally appeared in the July 2005 Gold Canyon Lifestyle

DON’T JUST GO TO CHURCH...

Two sides of the same coin! The Bible describes the Christian life, at times, in glowing terms. There is a joy that can’t be taken away. There is life, fulfillment and satisfaction readily available to God’s children. There is a peace, no matter what the circumstance, that is beyond understanding and ours for the asking. However, there is also another side to the promises. Jesus describes the Christian-life as one of a cross-bearing, burden-carrying, yoke-wearing lifestyle. Jesus said the path to maturity and the process for godliness is on the road of suffering. You can see why He said there is a road to life, and only a FEW find it.

Probably the biggest obstacle on the road to life is the innate tendency to seek comfort and happiness. We think that our main priorities in life should be wrapped around our happiness and doing those things that ensure our happiness. I once counseled a mother who was having problems with her teen-age daughter. This mother’s advice to her own daughter was to have her “follow her heart”. Sound like good advice? It does until you remember that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. I think the best advice for our kids is to have them follow God’s heart. Let our passions be God’s passions. The very things that make God’s heart beat, should make ours beat as well.

It is when you are on the path of following hard after God that you begin to realize you may be no where near the vicinity of following your own heart and its desires.

Case in point: I hear time and time again how hard it is for churches to find volunteers to serve within the church. The old adage still holds true: 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Whether it is busyness or lack of time or energy or a bad past experience are all good excuses to stay in the pew and stay away from serving. Those who do not serve others may be missing out on a few things. They are missing out on being exhausted (Jesus slept like a baby on a boat during the middle of a huge storm because He was tired from serving!); they are missing out on being hurt (occasionally the sheep you serve bite you!); they are missing out on being under-appreciated; they are missing out on being taken-advantage of. However, the biggest thing non-servers miss out on is LIFE!

Jesus described a servant this way in Mark 10:45: “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve; and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Jesus’ definition of a servant: A Life-Giver. One who truly serves like Jesus gives their whole life. Nothing left-over; no excuses; no rationalizing; ministry pain is a privilege; being under-appreciated is wiped away because servants realize they are serving God and their reward is coming (Eph. 6:7-8). Servants expend their whole being in serving God and others - like Jesus.

Divine contradiction: I stated above that non-servers are missing out on LIFE. True servants are giving up their whole life. How then can non-servants be missing out on the very thing that true servants give up? It is the very “life” people attempt to protect by half-hearted commitment to Christ that they miss out on. True satisfaction and fulfillment comes when we give up all of our lives - so then we have no life and Jesus smiles and says “perfect!” He then rushes in with His promise: “whoever loses his life for my sake will FIND IT” (Matt. 10:39). In Jesus’ scheme of things: a servant is a life-giver. A life-giver is a life-finder. A non-servant misses out on life by not taking His yoke and learning life from Him. Serve others until you breathe your last, and find real life!