What Happens When We Serve God?
Contributed by Sarah Lye, Damansara Utama Methodist Church
Our church is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020. We are all really excited and gearing towards next year’s theme which is IMPACT2020. At the same time, some of us may be apprehensive as we still do not know what we can do or how we should act in order to make an impact on people’s lives. However, we are encouraged to have a consistent conversation with God: to listen to Him, to know what God is saying to us personally and to tell Him about our fears and concerns. We are challenged by Senior Pastor Chris Kam to do three things to chase the lion in preparation for IMPACT2020:
- Think of something that we have never tried before.
- Do something that we have never done before.
- Go somewhere we have never been before.
All this requires faith in the Lord and of course we need to be determined and courageous to do so because we are being pushed out of our comfort zone. We need to be always prayerful so that we can engage with the Lord on a daily basis. We need to be doing the right thing, being at the right place at the right time/season.
Serving God requires us to use our gifts/talents that He has given us so that we can be a blessing to the people around us. Serving God also means that we need to carve out time to do what God wants us to do. When we serve God, we need to surrender and give our best to Him. We would have to sacrifice something in order to serve Him. It could be our time, our finances, our hobbies, family or loved ones.
What happens when we serve God?
Serving God enables us to know, discover, and develop our spiritual gifts. There are many kinds of spiritual gifts.
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.” (1 Cor 12:4-5 6)
When we serve God, we will experience His joy and peace that comes from being obedient to Him. We will feel His peace comforting us because we know that we have obeyed God in what He has required us to do. We will also experience joy when we serve Him. There is joy in serving the Lord. There is also heartache when we serve God. This is because serving God means we are to deal with people and managing people can be challenging. Thus, we need to depend on God’s grace to sustain us each day. But rest assured that God’s grace is immeasurably sufficient for us.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor 12:9)
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so 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.” (1 Pet 4:10-11)
When we serve God, we become more and more like Jesus. We are supposed to be more humble, graceful, and forgiving. That is the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Serving God also paves the way for us to experience miracles. Serving God is never easy. When we face trials or challenges in the midst of serving, we need to be immovable and steadfast, knowing that God will carry us through and we will receive breakthroughs and miracles in God’s timing.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Col 3:23-24)
Our faith will be tested and will increase. Serving allows us to go beyond our comfort zone. And when we are out of our comfort zone, our faith will be put to the test and will increase as we continue to trust in God in the midst of uncertainties and unprecedented challenges.
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor 15:58)
When we serve God, we do not do it on our own. We work together as a team. Hence, we are surrounded by fellow Christian brothers and sisters who can help and encourage us to follow Jesus.
Hebrews 10:24-25 says: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Serving God is good for our soul as it helps build our confidence and strength. Serving also encourages our devotion in using our gifts and stirring up our passion. We do not look at ourselves only but we look to the interests of others.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Phi 2:3-4)
There are many biblical examples where God uses His ordinary people to accomplish His purpose. For example, God raised Moses to bring Israel out of slavery. God’s hand was upon David’s life – David killed a giant and became a king. Saul who used to murder Christians was changed by God dramatically. He was renamed Paul who then preached the gospel to many people around him. Eventually, Paul became a history maker in the Christian church.
God is looking at two things: our heart/availability and our obedience. When we surrender to God our desires and avail ourselves to Him, we will be obedient to our calling, i.e. to do what He wants us to do. The end result is we will be able to see the impact we are making in due course!
Deuteronomy 11:11-15 says: “But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. So, if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”
In summary, God promises that when we faithfully love Him and serve Him with all of our heart and soul, He will bless and enable us to chase the lion in our lives. So, let us go forth and be ready to be used by God as a vessel to serve the community and make an impact for the glory of God! Let’s chase the lion for Him!
About Damansara Utama Methodist Church
Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) is widely respected as a church for all generations—an exciting community of families, senior citizens, young adults, teenagers, and young children, doing life together. Its primary purpose is to build passionate disciples of Jesus Christ, summed up in their tagline ‘Love God, Serve People, Make Disciples’. To find out more about them, visit their website at http://dumc.my/
