It's turned to his word, 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 through 10 in Mark 10, 45. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we add among you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. For even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life. As a ransom for many. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. O Lord Jesus, you have made the gospel known to your people and you're doing so even this day. Father, the news we receive that's so good is that Jesus came and he served all the way to death, even death on the cross but he's alive. He's the true God. He reigns as our king and he's coming again and so Lord while we wait, lift our eyes and we might see in Holy Spirit, turn in our hearts a passion for you that is for you and nothing else. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Churches have reputations and this church, the church and Thessalonica had a reputation. Paul tells us that their reputation was sounding forth. In that Greek, that means it's like a a clap of thunder. This incredible noise about the faith that they have in Jesus Christ. This incredible sound going forth from their life, a life of these people who were faithful Jews and pagan Greeks and some prominent women who turned, as I said last week, to God. They turned to God from the idols and they served him and this morning we're going to focus on this simple phrase, they served the living and true God. I'm going to frame the sermon with these three thoughts. One, I'm going to talk about the master. Second, the motive and lastly, the model. And as we move through it, the call is going to be for us as God's people, just as it was for those people in this very early church to serve God. It's going to be convicting, I promise. It's been very, very convicting in my own life as I consider what it means to be a servant of the one who so faithfully has served me. So let's begin with the master. If you look at the text, once again as we saw last week, this group of people upon hearing the gospel in word, in power, or the Holy Spirit with full conviction, they turned. They didn't turn to give greater concentration on their idols and trying to stop having idol worship. They turned to God. And as they turned to God, the things of earth, the idols that they were serving when they grew strangely dim and the light of his glory and his grace. But it doesn't say that they just turned. It says that they begin to serve. Who? The master. The master in this passage is described as the living and true God, the living God. This is important because they were not serving a living God. They were serving idols that are not alive. Those things that man has made that have ears and eyes and hands and feet, they give the appearance that they could hear and see, the appearance that they could act, but they couldn't. They're dead. They're not alive. But here they heard the news of Jesus Christ. Some were tempted to believe that he was dead because of the news of the cross. But Jesus is alive. Jesus rose from the dead. He is the living God. And he's alive now as he was then reigning as our king. And so they were captivated by the master. The second thing it says is that he was not only the living but the true God. You see, mankind really since the fall has been seeking to present God's is if they're the true God. And then the idea that well, there are many true God's. There's not just one true God. It's foolishness. There is one true God. He claims to be the true God. If he's not the only true God that he himself is not the true God and he's not even telling the truth, these people were called to serve the living and the true God. And it's the same God that you and I, if we're in Christ, have turned towards away from these idols. We this day are seeming to a God, the God, the one living God, the one true God. He's the same God who is moving these people. Let's talk about the motive of their service. This is very important. And I am going to spend most of my time this morning in this, this heading, the motive. What was their motive to serve the living and true God? First, I want to talk about identity. This phrase that they were turning to God from idols to serve comes from the root delus. This phrase means bond servant. This is not a motivation for any other reason except out of this profound identity that they now have. Here's what it means. They were serving a master or masters before. These masters, these false gods, these idols, they were enslaved to. But then they turned. They turned as the gospel came to them in word and power and the Holy Spirit and full convictions. It's all there in First Sicilian's one. But as they turned from these masters, they turned towards the master, the one who is Christ, the King. They became slaves no longer of these gods of these idols, but slaves, bond servants now of the living true God. And so they're desired to serve God. The news of them serving God throughout the region is that noise sounded forth. Is that loud clap of thunder about their faith went forth? It was out of this identity, a new identity in Christ. Jesus said in his word, as he spoke about masters. You remember what he said? You can only serve one. And so they are no longer serving these masters, but they're serving the one out of this new identity. Paul said it in his letter to Corinthian church. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come. So now their service is motivated first and foremost out of a new identity. This is who they are. This is who they want to serve. This is who they get to serve. Not who they must serve, but who they get to serve. There was just a profound identity. But also their motive had to do with not just their identity, but a new calling. And the calling of service to this one master was a calling of a service of worship, of love, of ongoing continual service that the grammar here is important, because it speaks in the present infinitive. And what it means that this life of service that they have to God, the living and true God, is a life of continual. This is important. continual and complete and wholehearted service to God, service to God and worship and loving him and in advancing the gospel. That's what their life was about. Having turned to God from these things, now serving this one master, it was a service of love, affection, of worship and of making the good news. That which they had just heard in word, in power, in full conviction, and in the Holy Spirit, they wanted to advance the gospel. They wanted to advance the kingdom. There's what's amazing. That mission, born out of their new identity, is the same exact mission we have today. Every Bible believing church, whatever way they want to articulate it, they're really articulating the same message. We talk about extending the transforming presence of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every church that's in Christ, that is a word centered church that believes in the Bible, they say it one way or another. That's the mission. We're to advance the gospel in our service to our God. But sometimes we think that that service to God really is just a church. It's in mission opportunities that are easy to see. I want us to think a little deeper about this. You see, we're called to advance the gospel in every arena of our life. This is where it gets difficult. We're called to advance the gospel in our family, at work, in communities, and in the church. I'm going to talk about this for a few minutes. Service, this idea of continual, complete, and whole-hearted service is to make up all of our life, every day of our life, not in certain categories where you say, well, now I'm serving because I said I would. I signed up to work in the nursery. Or I'm serving in this one aspect of work. No, no, our whole life is to be a life of service to God. Our whole life is to be about advancing the gospel in every arena of our life. There's no escape of that. And this is where it gets hard. You see, it's really easy for me to serve when other people are watching, sir. It's really easy to see the areas of service as a minister that I'm to be a part of, but it's a lot harder at home. You know, when I walk in to our bedroom, maybe 10 o'clock at night, which isn't too far from the laundry room, and on our bed is a pile, maddening pile of laundry that needs to be folded. I don't like the thought of serving.
When one of our children is doing something that, frankly, I'm not that interested in or into, but I know I need to go and support. I'm not that into serving. In the family, we are called to advance the gospel. Husbands, you are called to serve your wives. Isn't it easy? I mean, really? What's the big deal? How hard is it really to lay down yourself and to think of them is better than you? Ladies, you're called to serve your husbands. Isn't that fun? I know it is for my wife. She loves it. From the moment she wakes up until she goes to bed, she loves serving me. Your marriages are in real trouble, aren't they? In the church and outside the church, marriage is hard. It's hard because it's hard to serve. It's hard to advance the kingdom and the closest relationships we have because in the closest relationships we have, we're closest to sinners like us. And don't you see your spouses sin? Isn't it easy to point out the sin that's in them and they and you? Service is hard. Advancing to gospel with grace and mercy towards one another is difficult. What about at work? It's one thing to serve at work when you're maybe on the low part of the ladder, but as you advance, maybe even have your own company become an employer or boss. Are you still known at work as a servant? Now, I know many of you say, well, I'm a Christian, so I'm a servant leader. There's a big difference between saying I'm a servant leader and being a servant leader. There's a big difference between saying I believe that I should serve the way crisis called us to serve and actually being a servant. There's a big difference in believing in the downward mobility that Christ preached. It's one thing to say it. It's quite another to believe it, to lay down your life for others. What about in the church? You know, every time someone joins the church, Wolf Communicans join next week, which would be beautiful, as they come forward for communion and are received into this church and as we per take, they're going to hear those questions, those five questions. And the fourth question is going to talk about their commitment to the church. Do you promise to support the worship and work of the church to the best of your ability? And what are they going to say? I mean, wouldn't it be refreshing if one of them said, you know what? I'll support the church, but it will probably never be to the best of my ability. Let me be honest. I'd be able to be refreshing and honest. And in a way, that's one of those questions that we know outside of God's grace, we could never do it. But it should be our desire. I want to ask you a question. If you have ever said this, I'm a charter member of PCPC. Raise your hand. Watch this. Raise it really high. Be proud. You're proud at other times. Be proud now. Okay. Are you charter member still serving the church as you did in 1991 with that same zeal and enthusiasm? I told you it's going to be convicted. And it didn't matter if you joined this church in 1991, 95, 99, 2009, 2004, or if you're about to join. The temptation is for us to not believe that this do-loss, this bond servant is continual, ongoing, whole-hearted service to God. If you join the church in the last class of members, are you this day engaged? Are you saying, where can I serve when an announcement is made? Do you think how might God be calling me to get engaged? Chances are, for most of us, it's a real struggle. I'm going to give you several reasons why as I head into the model. I'm going to categorize these as enemies of service. Maybe another way is saying it is, these are noise cancellation techniques that the enemy uses, so that that would sound forth from our church would not be this church serves. Let me give you several. I want you to write these down and think about them. One of the great enemies of service first is the illusion of dual allegiance. What do I mean by that? The illusion of dual allegiance is that man or a woman, a child saying, I can be that system. I can do what Christ said cannot be done. I can have dual allegiance. I actually can serve two masters, maybe even more. I have dual allegiance. I am going to show my allegiance to mana, to money, to other things that seek to bring me security, and I am going to have allegiance to Christ. It's not that complicated. It's the rails of my life. It's going to be dual allegiance. The reason I said it's the illusion of dual allegiance is many people think they can do that. Their theology becomes Jesus plus something else. That's why with great intentionality these hymns today we've been seeing speak of all for Jesus. You can't beat Jesus. You can't try to prove Jesus wrong. You can't have dual allegiance. My friends you are either serving the one master or you are not. There is no other allegiance. It doesn't mean that you don't seek to be a great employer, a great employer, a great worker, a great father, a great husband. It doesn't mean that, but it does mean that you can have your allegiance to only one master. And this master Christ, he is the one that influences the way in which you're involved in every other area of your life. But there is a real, a real enemy in the church that seeks to help people or cause people to believe that they can have the dual allegiance. You can't. So my encouragement to you today is this, are you serving the one master? Have you surrendered your life to him and him alone? If so, praise God and continue to seek his face. If not perhaps today is the day for the first time you admit I have never really surrendered my life to the one master. This means that this will be the day of your salvation. Come, come. And what's what happens is he blesses your relationship with him. Another enemy of service in the church is the deception of self-righteousness.
This is a killer. Self-righteousness, legalism is where people serve, but they're not serving out of a deep profound sense of God's love and wonder and offer them. They're serving out of a sense that though they may talk about and sing about the love of God, they're still moving out of a system that says, I must earn God's favor. And I'll serve because it makes me have a better standing before God. They continue to see that they're justified by their acts of service and not his one act of perfect righteousness. People who are self-righteous in the church, you know, what they do, they keep score. When we have a service event, they notice who's there and who isn't. Why? Because it elevates their sense of esteem of who they are. And dangerously, they think it changes God's view of them. It does please God that we serve him. But we're not justified by those acts of service. And so if you're motivated to serve out of self-righteous attitudes in that pride, oh, he knows it already, but come to him. Tell him. That's a temptation for most. Tell him and let him do work on you in that area. Another enemy of service is being paralyzed by the search for pure motives. In other words, some people would say, you know, Mark, I used to have that legalism that self-righteousness stuff, so now I don't serve because I don't want to do it out of impure motives. So I'm waiting, that's why I use the word paralyzed to serve until I get the right motive. Well, when will you get the right motive? This side of heaven, it's very doubtful, it will ever come. You'll grow. Imagine this. Imagine me on the way to church this morning. I see a house on fire. I'm the only one who sees it. There's people inside. I stop my car. And I begin to run inside to save the people who are there screaming for help. And as I enter in, I realize, wait a minute, I've got bad motives. I'm going to be seen as a hero. My name is going to be in the paper. And so I leave, get back in my car and drive to church. We will never have this side of heaven the purest of motives. Don't be paralyzed by that. Instead, tell the Lord that your motives are confused, that you want attention for this. He knows it already. Let him do the work. Another enemy of service is clocking out because of time served. Time served. How many of you, if you're honest, as you've advanced into years, either years into faith or years in life, or both, you've said, you know what, I did my time down there. I wiped bottoms into the nursery. I was a middle school volunteer. Actually, you know what, I almost can give you grace. If you're a middle school volunteer, that's like, that's where, well, that's a place where you suffer sometimes. I know lock-ins, things like that. But guess what? God doesn't give us the freedom to say, I'm checking out. Time served. I've done it. You know, this is not, the church is not like your high school student who has to get service hours. We don't give each member a list of expectations that say, as long as you do this many hours by the time you hit this age, you are checked out, you go. Enjoy my friends. The call to serve in the church, in this community, in the world, it's, it continues, so the day the Lord calls us home. There in His presence, we will serve with absolute perfection and beauty. Couple more, enemies of service. One is rationalization based on the lack of the spiritual gift. This is important. Service and acts of service is mentioned in the list of spiritual gifts. There have been times in my life I wanted to say, you know, I see that there's a lot of work to be done, but I don't have that gift. I don't think I have the gift of folding laundry. So, Christina, honey, I'm going to spend some time praying for you while you fold the laundry. I do have the gift of teaching. So, you know what? I'm going to go write a sermon about the importance of folding the laundry. That's what I'll do. You know, it doesn't work that way, does it? Just like those who say, I don't have the gift of evangelism. So, I don't have to ever tell somebody about Jesus, it doesn't work that way. We do have gifts and we should use those for his glory, but the gift of service is one that we all are called to and the people in the church with us and I could got it. There's more I could say. I could talk about laziness and selfishness. I think those are the easiest perhaps to understand, but I need to move on to the model. The master is the one we serve. The motivation is our identity in Christ and His calling in our life. And the model is Jesus. When we struggle to serve and we all do in different ways at different times, we must find a way to wage war on those enemies of service. And the way to do that is just what I said last week, you keep looking at the cross. You focus on cross-centered service. You continue to look at the one who came. In March, chapter 10, this simple verse that I had us read this morning, Jesus says, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. What does that verse follow? That verse follows two of Jesus's followers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which means thunder. So the sons of thunder had thundering from them. This idea that they wanted to sit in Christ's glory on His right and on His left. I understand something of that desire, don't you? That pride that's present there. And so they went forward to ask Jesus. And then the other disciples heard of it, and they became indignant. And then Jesus began to teach, and this is what He says, and Jesus called them to Him and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles, they lorded over them, and their great ones exercised authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. These are Jesus's words, and they're radical. It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man, God, the living and true God came not to be served. He deserved it. He deserved all service from all people from all time, but He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. What that means is this image of Christ going to the cross. His model is our model in those moments when we have a deep desire to serve Him already, but also in those moments when we don't. And if we're honest, those enemies of service that I mentioned waged war on us, often gaining ground. And when we try to overcome them, when our service is more out of us, I must do this as opposed to, I get to do this, I may do this, sometimes we focus on ourself trying to muster up that kind of desire. Don't. Focus on the model of Jesus. That's when we become captivated again by His service for us. There's a book written in 1870 by Hannah, what else Smith? She was a quaker. The title of the book is the Christian Christian's secret of a happy life. It's a wonderful book. Listen to what she says. God's way of working is to get possession of the inside of us, to take control of us, and to work His will and us. She writes on, what you need to do then, dear Christian, if you were in bondage in a matter of service, if you were in bondage to any of those enemies of service that I mentioned, what you need is to put your will over completely in the hands of our Lord, surrendering to him the entire control of it, say, yes, Lord, yes, to everything, entrust him so to work in you, to willless to bring your whole wishes and affections into conformity with his own sweet and lovable and most lovely will. My friends, the church must serve. The church must continue to serve her master, who is Jesus. Our motive must always be our new found identity in Jesus, and in the calling that He has given us. We have one model, we have one perfect model, and He serves continually, completely, and whole heartedly, so much so that He died for us, because in our flesh we can't serve Him continually, we can't serve Him completely, we can't serve Him wholeheartedly until He takes us home. Between now and then, we look to our master. We review the cross, and we surrender time and time again, our will to His. Here's our prayer, Christian. Take my will and make it mine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart. It is thy own, and it shall be thy royal throne. It shall be thy royal throne. Let's stand and sing this prayer together. Take my life and let it be.