As you can see from the board here, we were shaped for serving God. Thats going to be the purpose that well be examining this morning: Shaped to Serve. Have any of you ever called for an appliance repairman or somebody to repair something in your home? [Have you ever called] someone to fix your car or paint something in your house? It ended up being worse than when they started? You know that whats on their business card should probably not be what theyre doing because theyre not that good at it. Has anybody ever had that experience? You hire somebody to do something for you, and you say, I could have done a better job than that one person? Wow! Can I have your references afterwards because Ive had some bad experiences? Thats what they say theyre good at, but really theyre not that good at it. When that happens in the church, thats frustrating. Its frustrating for the people around you. Its frustrating for you. If youre in a ministry, and its a drudgery, and you dont get motivated to do it; you cant wait until its over with; and when its over with, youre glad its done, youre not in the right place. When you are using your spiritual gifts, it should energize you. It should energize those who listen, and it should build up the Body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:7 (page 1136 of the pew Bibles), Paul says, Now to each one… Now if you have your own Bible, you might want to circle that-each one, because youre an each one. To every person, not one is left out. If its a church Bible, dont circle it. Its not your Bible. If you have your own Bible, circle the words each one. …the manifestation of the spirit is given for you to look good? No, its given for what? The common good. The common good. Do you know whats so unique about the giftedness of the Holy Spirit? Normally, when you get a gift, it has your name on it, and its for you. The gift that God has given you is for everybody but you. Everybody but you-its for others. If I have an ability to communicate, I dont go home and preach a sermon to myself. If you have a gift of mercy or whatever it is, whatever that gift is, its for the Body of Christ. Verse 27 says, Now you are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Youre a part; you belong. Somewhere God has made you to be a 10. Its your job and our job as a church to help you find that and to plug in and serve the Lord. When we have the right people in the right place for the right reasons, things go well. When we have the wrong people in the wrong places for the wrong reasons, things dont go so well. Right now were going to watch and see if young Derrick has found his purpose. Hes going to begin hospital ministry. (This drama was produced by Pastor Michael Powers. If youd like to see it, you can contact him.) Pastor Rick has an acrostic in his book called Shape. God has a shape for you. Im not going to spend a lot of time talking about this because the book does a very good job with it. GPS class tomorrow and today will do a good job talking about it, but I did want to mention it. He said, The S is for spiritual gifts. God has given you a spiritual gift. Every gift is different. For some, its encouragement; some its mercy; some its help; some its leadership; some its faith. It just depends on how God has wired you, but you have a spiritual gift. The H stands for heart. That has to do with your passion. Not all of us share the same passion. For some of us, its world missions; for some its youth; for others, its the elderly; for some its childrens ministry; for some, its a tech team; some its the arts, and on and on the list goes. God has given you a passion for something. A stands for abilities. God wants to use your abilities too, your talents. That is not a spiritual gift, but its a gift that God can use. Maybe youre a craftsman; maybe youre mechanical, artistic, or athletic. Whatever your abilities are, God can use them. P stands for your personality. How has God wired you? Are you a structured person or an unstructured person? If youre a structured person, we dont want to put you in an unstructured ministry and say, Hey, do whatever you feel like because youd go oh, I need some structure! I need some help. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? If youre an introvert, we probably shouldnt put you in charge of the welcome center or being a greeter, right? Its probably not the place for you. So whats your personality? How has God wired you? E stands for experiences. What are your life experiences? What about your background, other things that youve done in your life? Those together form your shape and will help you determine where to fit in the Body of Christ. One of our jobs as a church is to help you to know where to fit. Id like us to turn to the Book of Mark 10. Were going to see servanthood modeled for us. Before we see servanthood modeled for us, were going to see an example of the exact opposite of what servanthood is. In Verse 35 (page 1002), I want you to notice the heart of James and John here. Talk about its not about me. These two men are so full of oozing of servanthood, its unbelievable. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. Teacher, they said, we want You to do for us whatever we ask. Its all about me. There are some people that think that is whats Christianity is about. Thats what God is here for. Hes here for you. God I want you to do for me whatever I ask. As long as you have that kind of mentality, you will never truly be a servant. You will never fulfill Gods purpose for your life because you dont understand the basis of why youre here. You dont understand the basis of what Christianity is all about. Its not about you. Its about Him. What do you want Me to do for you? he asked. They replied, Let one of us sit at Your right and the other at Your left in Your glory. Exalt us! Make us important! Make us prominent! Make us the envy of all Disciples. We know were Your favorites! We know were the best. Put us in a place where everybody can see and say what great guys we are. Their motivation was in the wrong place. When we do ministry, it is never for the praise of men. Its never to exalt ourselves or to show off our talents and abilities. Its always to glorify the Lord. So Jesus saw this as a tremendous opportunity for a teaching moment. In Verse 42, it said, Jesus called them together and said, You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Have you ever been in a situation where somebody has loaded over you? Theyre the boss, and they want you to know it? Maybe its a coach; maybe its a teacher; maybe its an employer; maybe its a co-worker; and they just think you know what? Youre going to listen to me, and what I say goes no matter what. Anybody ever been in that situation before? Its frustrating, isnt it? That doesnt really motivate you to serve. You just feel like its overbearing. One of the most important jobs I have at our church-we have ten other staff at our church, employees-is to make sure their jobs, their goals are fulfilled. Theyre not here to serve me; Im here to serve them. I want them to be the best they can at what they do because when their ministry succeeds, my ministry succeeds. Maybe it (the experience of the overbearing person) was at a church, a pastor situation, wherever it might be-in a home or a family… When somebody is overbearing, that just wears you down. Jesus said, Its not to be that way with you-not so in the church. Verse 43, Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of… those who can pay them back? …must be the slave of… those who have money and power? Nope. It says, …must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man… Even Me! The top banana, the big man, even Me! …the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. When God took on flesh, the two dominant characteristics of His life were serving and giving, serving and giving. Well, how about us, His creation? Sometimes the two most dominant characteristics of our lives are we want to be served and we want to take. God came and He served and He gave. This isnt the world; its a rat race. Its dog eat dog, and every man for themselves, survival of the fittest. He said its not to be that way in the church. Were called to serve one another and love one another. Years ago in my home, I had a war going on up in the ceiling. I would hear squabbles during the night. I didnt know whether they were chipmunks or what they were, but they would be making noises and scratching the walls, running. Sometimes it sounded like people were fighting up in my roof. I was thinking, How in the world did those things get in there, and when are they going to leave? It would be late at night when the house was quiet. Youd hear them up there running around. One night, whatever was up there came down, and it was stuck in my wall. It was jumping up in the wall trying to get out. It sounded like it was kind of big, and I wasnt sure what it was. I cut a hole in the wall, and I put a laundry basket over it to try to catch whatever was inside my wall. I sat down to watch some television, and I heard a commotion in there, and sure enough, I had caught a flying squirrel-a little gray squirrel, skinny, scrawny. Most of its fur was gone; it was very disoriented and very weak. I thought, What in the world is this flying squirrel doing here? I took him outside and he stumbled off the deck. I named him Rocky. I thought flying squirrel, Ill just name him Rocky. Over the course of the night, more squirrels came. Every squirrel that came was stronger and quicker than the squirrel before. I began thinking to myself, How many Rocky movies were there? One, two, three… This could be a long night. It was a long night. I was catching squirrels for the longest time. Finally, I said, If theres a Rocky five, hes going to be tough to catch. About midnight, you could almost hear the music (Pastor is humming the Rocky theme); he comes out like you took care of my brothers, man. Im going to take care of you. I finally caught him, and he was like a flying squirrel on steroids. He was in the laundry basket with his face right here (in Pastors face), and Im carrying him out. Hes chomping on that thing, and he almost chewed through it. He was like, Im going to kill you. I have to get this guy outside, I was thinking. He went flying into a tree. He was the top of the food chain. He was the Big Kahuna inside the walls there. How were they getting food? They were climbing through a hole where our exhaust used to be for our dryer and getting some sunflower seeds that were on a top shelf. When I plugged that hole, they lost their food source and got desperate. Thats how they ended up in the walls. Thats the world. The strongest gets the nuts, the most powerful or whatever it might be. Jesus says, Thats not what the church should be like. The church needs to invert that. The greatest shall be the servant of all. He is going to model that for us in this passage in Verse 46 (still in Mark 10) as we read on. [There will be] an opportunity for Jesus to serve. Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and His disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me! Thats what faith does. Faith is tenacious. Faith does not let go of Gods promises. He just kept pressing on. Jesus stopped and called him and they called to the blind man, Cheer up! On your feet! Hes calling you. Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. Can you just see the excitement and enthusiasm? Faith anticipates. Faith expects. If you truly are walking in faith, it energizes you. There is an expectation of God answering prayer, so he gets up and he just cant wait to come to Jesus and see what He will do for him. Verse 51, What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. You and I cannot begin to imagine the exuberance and the joy of being able to see for the very first time. We cant even imagine what that man experienced. We see in Jesus here the model of what a servant does. If youre taking notes, I want to tell you some things a servant does. Again, when Im giving a message, even thought its based on the chapters were reading during the week, its not from the book. Its not like Im just parroting back something Pastor Warren has said. I hope some of you whove taken notes will capture some of these things because theyre important. What does a servant do? The first thing a servant does is a servant sees. A servant lives in a state of awareness, awareness of our environment, awareness of the needs that are going on around us. I heard a friend recently talk about being somewhere where they were talking about meeting the needs of the poor. Somebody said, I just try to pretend like those people dont even exist. Thats like living life with blinders on. [Thats like] focusing on myself and my needs and my concerns. Thats not what a servant does. A servant is aware of the needs that are around him or her. Secondly, a servant stops. Notice what Jesus does when He hears of a need. He stops. A servant is willing to be interrupted. Servanthood does not fall neatly into your schedule. If you want to be a servant, you dont schedule servanthood. Notice how many times Jesus was going about ministry, going one city or one place, and somebody would interrupt Him. What did He say? I dont have time for you. I dont have time for your need. Im doing this over here. Is that what Hed do? No. He was going off to visit this person, and the woman who needed healing touched Him, and He stopped. Zacchaeus was lonely and an outcast, when He walked under the tree and looked up. Always, Jesus was stopping. He was willing to be interrupted. This week, I had needs, and I had to be served, and I also helped to serve. Do you see those things as interruptions, or do you see those as opportunities? A servant sees those as opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ. Do you stop? Are you willing to be interrupted? Because servanthood will not fit in to your schedule. The third thing a servant does, if we look at verse 51, is a servant seeks. A servant inquires. A servant tries to find out what the answers are, how to meet the needs, and what the needs are. So Jesus asked an open-ended question. He said, What do you want Me to do for you? Obviously, the man was blind, but maybe he didnt want healing. Maybe he wanted food; maybe he wanted money or shelter. Maybe he didnt want the responsibility of being able to see because then he was going to have to work. So Jesus says, What do you want? Jesus was the Son of God, and heres this man who is a blind beggar. He was the lowest in society at that time, a blind beggar. He had no power, no clout-nothing. Heres God in the flesh, and what is God going to do? God is going to reach down, and Hes going to serve. He says, What can I do for you? If you are a servant, you seek answers to questions. So before you just jump in and do something, you inquire. You seek out. What are the needs, and how are these needs best served, best met? So a servant sees, a servant stops, a servant also seeks, and a servant starts. A true servant initiates. Jesus says, Bring the man here to Me. Let Me minister to him. Servanthood is not a passive thing. We dont decide, Well, I think Id like to be a servant of God and go home and wait for the doorbell to ring or the phone to ring. Just sit at your couch and watch TV, and you say, Well, nobody called and said, Hey, can you serve me today? I guess Im off the hook for today. Thats good. I had a busy schedule anyway. Thats not a servant. A servant does not passively wait. A servant initiates. [A servant] sees the need and initiates a response to that need. In Verse 52, He meets that need. He had the ability to meet the need, so Jesus met the need. The last thing a servant does is a servant shows and demonstrates the love of God. A servant finishes the job. A servant sees the need and responds to the need and meets the need. The Word of God says in 1 John 3:16-18 that when we love, dont just love in word and in deed, love in action and truth. Put muscle behind that. Put effort behind that. Follow through with what you say youre going to do. When my son and I were vacationing in Key Largo, we took a father/son trip. We were on our way from Key Largo to Key West. It was a hot day. We were more thirsty than hungry. We stopped at a restaurant. Our food came, and the waitress saw that all of our waters were gone. She looked at my son, and she said, Are you thirsty? He said, Man, am I thirsty! She said, How about instead of refilling your glass, I bring you a whole pitcher of ice water. Would you like that? He just looked and thought that would be great. Id love a pitcher of water. Thats what Im going to do. Im going to bring you a whole pitcher of water. And that was good. So far, she was aware, she stopped and inquired, and shed taken initiation. The problem was she never showed up. She never came back. We sat there for almost an hour, and nobody ever came back to ask, Hows your grilled cheese? How are those French fries? Have you enough water? She left us. She just showed up to give us a bill. We had to stand up and seek her out to get that. We left a really good tip on that one. Do you know what? When we fail to show up and serve, when we fail to find out our spiritual gifts and use them for Gods glory, somebodys missing out on some water. Somebody is missing out on a blessing. You are that important to the body of Christ. Each one of you has a part, and when you fail to fulfill that mission and fulfill that call, and you fail to serve, somebody is missing out. Youre missing out on the blessing of serving. Those who God called you to serve are missing out on the blessing of your using your gifts to serve them. We have an important part to play in what Gods doing. Where do you fit in in this scenario? Would you say in your life at this point in time, do you resemble James and John? Lord, heres what I want You to do for me. Exalt me. Notice me. Is that you? Or would you say you more resemble Jesus in this story? If youre a servant; if youre fulfilling this purpose; its your shape to serve God; that you are all the time finding out more about your shape; you are seeing needs around you; youre aware; youre stopping-youre willing to be interrupted as you go about your day; youre seeking and inquiring how you can meet those needs; youre starting; youre initiating; youre taking action steps; and youre showing and demonstrating the love of Christ by following through and carrying it out, I hope that is the case in your life.