yakima evangelical church

     This upcoming Sunday we will be looking at faith pouring into action. We will look at the natural act, through the power of the Spirit, of serving in response to the supernatural act of Jesus saving and restoring us. However, because of sin scarring the beauty of perfect creation, there are times where serving is not a natural response, but a hated duty. How does serving (godly) turn into slavery (ungodly)? I believe there are at least five things that cause this:

Poor Priorities (Me and mine over Him and His) – Sometimes serving becomes slavery simply for the fact that we make the less important king in our life, and the most important things trivial. So the natural response of serving in the name of Christ becomes an add-on or a fill in when we have time. This will lead to slavery 9 times out of 10, because we aren’t dealing with the core issue that God wants us to deal with. Put Him first and everything will fit from there. If you try to put him last, or in the middle, it just does not work. It is sad that you can tell a man’s priorities by looking at his calendar or checkbook. If this is true, what is your first priority?

Poor Power Source (Mine not His) – We try to do what God says, without the power that God gives. This is a perfect recipe to turn the godly (serving) into the ungodly (slavery). We are in over our head, yet we won’t take the life preserver thrown to us. We will be stressed, tired and irritable. Are you trying to accomplish God’s call in your life, without God’s Spirit in your life?

Poor Position (Wrong fit of ministry) – Sometimes we are operating with the right priorities and the right power, but we just hate the area that we are serving in. Sometimes in church we just make people fill a spot without any thought of his/her gifting or passions. If you stick a woman who loves to be hands on with kids and have her serving in parking lot detail, you are going to have a person who is not finding joy in serving. If you put a man who likes to work in his shop by himself or one or two other guys, and you have him teaching the 4^th and 5^th grade girls, you are going to have a bad ministry fit. If you are serving in an area presently, do you feel like it is the right fit?

Poor Purpose (Trying to earn Heaven) – Many of us can fall into this trap. We find ourselves trying to earn the acceptance of our Heavenly Father through our deeds. It’s just like a son or daughter trying to earn his/her parents’ love through accomplishments in school or in an athletic endeavor. Each situation ends with the individual burning out during his/her pursuit to be “good enough”. The reality is we are “good enough” only through the work of grace in our lives. If we serve to earn, we will flame out in slavery. If we serve in response, we will serve out of the Father’s joy in our lives.

Poor Partnerships (No teammates) - Sometimes we just try go “Lone Ranger”. We try to do it all by ourselves. In our culture it is great to be independent; we don’t have to rely on others. But in Kingdom living, God calls us to be interdependent. He designed us to rely on Himself and others in order to accomplish His will. To try to accomplish everything by your self is not noble, but disobedient. Some of us say that I would love help, but no one is willing to come alongside me. Jesus knew that there was a shortage on help when he said, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”. But even with that, we know that God wants to bring teams together for ministry. He may say “the workers are few”, but He also says, “You have not, because you ask not”.  For those of us that are struggling to find teammates, ask yourself these four  questions: