Purpose 4: You were Shaped for Serving God

Day29 – Accepting Your Assignment

God's fourth purpose for your life is Ministry, or Service.

You were created to serve God.

It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus, and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.(Ephesians 2:10 LB)

You were saved to serve God.

"It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work, not because we deserved it but because that was his plan."(2Timothy1:9)

God redeemed you so you could do his "holy work." You're not saved by service, but you are saved for service.

It cost Jesus his own life to purchase your salvation.

"God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God."(1Corinthians6:20)

We owe him our lives. Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured.

The apostle John taught that our loving service to others shows that we are truly saved. He said, "Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life."(1John3:14)

When Peter's sick mother-in-law was healed by Jesus, she instantly "stood up and began to serve Jesus," using her new gift of health.

We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved to serve, not to sit around and wait for heaven.

Once you are saved, God intends to use you for his goals. God has a ministry for you in his church and a mission for you in the world.

The Bible says every Christian is called to service.(Ephesians4:4-14 ref)

Your call to salvation included your call to service. They are the same.

Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service.

Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling.

In some churches in China, they welcome new believers by saying "Jesus now has a new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to help with, and a new heart to love others with."

One reason why you need to be connected to a church family is to fulfill your calling to serve other believers in practical ways.

"All of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.”(1Corinthians12:27)

 Your service is desperately needed in the Body of Christ, just ask any local church.

You are commanded to serve God.

Jesus was unmistakable, "Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life.”(Matthew20:28)

It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came "to serve" and "to give"

Serving and Giving sum up God's fourth purpose for your life.

Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! We grow up in order to give out.

We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe.

Impression without expression causes depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation.

We are only fully alive when we're helping others. Jesus said, "If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live."(Mark8:35, Mattew10:39)

 This truth is so important that it is repeated five times in the Gospels.

God wants to use you to make a difference in his world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it.

Not how long you lived, but how you lived.

Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid.

That is quite a variety of misfits, but God used each of them in his service. He will use you too, if you stop making excuses.

Day30 - Shaped for Serving God

God formed every creature on this planet with a special area of expertise.

Some animals run, some hop, some swim, some burrow, and some fly. Each has a particular role to play, based on the way they were shaped by God.

The same is true with humans. Each of us was uniquely designed, or shaped to do certain things.

"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works."(Ephesians2:10)

 Our English word poem comes from the Greek word translated "workmanship."

God deliberately shaped and formed you to serve him in a way that makes your ministry unique.

Not only did God shape you before your birth, he planned every day of your life to support his shaping process. David continues, "Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."(Psalm139:16)

God never wastes anything. He would not give you abilities, interests, talents, gifts, personality, and life experiences unless he intended to use them for his glory.

HOW GOD SHAPES YOU FOR YOUR MINISTRY

Whenever God gives us an assignment, he always equips us with what we need to accomplish it.

Spiritual gifts

Heart

Abilities

Personality

Experience

SHAPE: UNWRAPPING YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS

God gives every believer spiritual gifts to be used in ministry.

"Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit."(1Corinthians2:14)

You can't earn your spiritual gifts or deserve them that's why they are called gifts! They are an expression of God's grace to you. "Christ has generously divided out his gifts to us."(Ephesians4:7) Neither do you get to choose which gifts you'd like to have, God determines that.

Paul explained, "It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have."((1Corinthians12:11)

Because God loves variety and he wants us to be special, no single gift is given to everyone. Also, no individual receives all the gifts. If you had them all, you'd have no need of anyone else, and that would defeat one of God's purposes to teach us to love and depend on each other.

Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for your benefit. The Bible says, "A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church."(1Corinthians12:7)

An unopened gift is worthless.

Sometimes spiritual gifts are overemphasized to the neglect of the other factors God uses to shape you for service. Your gifts reveal one key to discovering God's will for your ministry, your spiritual gifts are not the total picture. God has shaped you in four other ways too.

SHAPE: LISTENING TO YOUR HEART

Your heart represents the source of all your motivations, what you love to do and what you care about most.

"As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the person."(Proverb27:19)

 Your heart reveals the real you, what you truly are, not what others think you are or what circumstances force you to be. Your heart determines why you say the things you do, why you feel the way you do, and why you act the way you do.(Matthew12:34 ref)

Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects you feel passionate about and others you couldn't care less about. Some experiences turn you on and capture your attention while others turn you off or bore you to tears. These reveal the nature of your heart.

God wants you to serve him passionately, not dutifully. People rarely excel at tasks they don't enjoy doing or feel passionate about. God wants you to use your natural interests to serve him and others. Listening for inner promptings can point to the ministry God intends for you to have.

How do you know when you are serving God from your heart? The first telltale sign is enthusiasm.

The second characteristic of serving God from your heart is effectiveness.

Whenever you do what God wired you to love to do, you get good at it. Passion drives perfection.

The highest achievers in any field are those who do it because of passion, not duty or profit.

The Better Life - Serving God in a way that expresses your heart.

When you are doing what you love to do, no one has to motivate you.

Point to Ponder: I was shaped for serving God.

Verse to Remember: "God works through different men in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purposes through them all.”(1Corinthians12:6)

Question to Consider: In what way can I see myself passionately serving others and loving it?

31Day - Understanding Your SHAPE

You shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13 (Msg)

SHAPE: Applying Your Ability

Your abilities are the natural talents you were born with.

All of our abilities come from God.

Since your natural abilities are from God, they are just as important and as "spiritual" as your spiritual gifts. The only difference is that you were given them at birth.

Part of the church's responsibility is to identify and release your abilities for serving God.

Every ability can be used for God's glory.

God has a place in his church where your specialties can shine and you can make a difference.

It's up to you to find that place.

For God's glory.

 First, realize your ability came from God and give him the credit.

Second, use your business to serve a need of others and to share your faith with unbelievers.

Third, return at least a tithe (10 percent) of the profit to God as an act of worship.' Finally, make your goal to be a Kingdom Builder rather than just a Wealth Builder.

Your abilities were not given just to make a living, God gave them to you for your ministry.

Peter said, "God has given each of you some special abilities, be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God's many kinds of blessings."(1Peter4:10)

SAHPE: Using Your Personality

It is obvious that God loves variety, just look around! He created each of us with a unique combination of personality traits. God made introverts and extroverts. He made people who love routine and those who love variety. He made some people "thinkers" and others "feelers." Some people work best when given an individual assignment while others work better with a team. The Bible says, "God works through different people in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purpose through them all.”(1Corinthians12:6)

The world would be a very boring place if we were all plain vanilla. Fortunately, people come in more than thirty-one flavors.

It feels good to do what God made you to do. When you minister in a manner consistent with the personality God gave you, you experience fulfillment, satisfaction, and fruitfulness.

SHAPE: Employing Your Experiences

It is this last category, painful experiences, that God uses the most to prepare you for ministry. God never wastes a hurt! In fact, your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest hurt.

"He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us."(2Corinthians1:4)

The very experiences that you have resented or regretted most in life -the ones you've wanted to hide and forget- are the experiences God wants to use to help others. They are your ministry!

For God to use your painful experiences, you must be willing to share them.

You have to stop covering them up, and you must honestly admit your faults, failures, and fears.

Doing this will probably be your most effective ministry. People are always more encouraged when we share how God's grace helped us in weakness than when we brag about our strengths.

Only shared experiences can help others. Aldous Huxley said, "Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you." What will you do with what you've been through? Don't waste your pain; use it to help others.

I hope you have a deeper appreciation for God's sovereignty and a clearer idea of how he has prepared you for the purpose of serving him. Using your shape is the secret of both fruitfulness and fulfillment in ministry.

Day32 - Using What God Gave You

What you are is God's gift to you; what you do with yourself is your gift to God.(Danish proverb)

God deserves your best.

He shaped you for a purpose, and he expects you to make the most of what you have been given. He doesn't want you to worry about or covet abilities you don't have. Instead he wants you to focus on talents he has given you to use.

Spiritual gifts and natural abilities are always confirmed by others.

If you want to know if you have the gift of leadership, just look over your shoulder! If no one is following you, you're not a leader.

The more mature you become, the more likely you are to manifest the characteristics of a number of the gifts.

You may be serving or teaching or giving generously out of maturity rather than because it is your spiritual gift.

One of the reasons Paul was used so greatly by God was that he refused to be distracted by criticism or by comparing his ministry with others or by being drawn into fruitless debates about his ministry. As John Bunyan said, "If my life is fruitless, it doesn't matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn't matter who criticizes me."

In heaven we are going to serve God forever. Right now, we can prepare for that eternal service by practicing on earth. Like athletes preparing for the Olympics, we keep training for that big day, "They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally."(1Corintians9:25)

We're getting ready for eternal responsibilities and rewards.

 Day33 - How Real Servants Act

You can tell what they are by what they do. (Matthew 7:16)

We serve God by serving others.

Jesus measured greatness in terms of service, not status.

Even Christians want to be "servant-leaders," not just plain servants. But to be like Jesus is to be a servant. That's what he called himself.

Real servants make themselves available to serve.

Servants don't fill up their time with other pursuits that could limit their availability. They want to be ready to jump into service when called on. Much like a soldier, a servant must always be standing by for duty

Servants see interruptions as divine appointments for ministry and are happy for the opportunity to practice serving.

Real servants pay attention to needs.

Servants are always on the lookout for ways to help others. When they see a need, they seize the moment to meet it

"Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers."(Galatians6:10)

We miss many occasions for serving because we lack sensitivity and spontaneity.        

Do these little things as if they were great things, because God is watching.

They have believed the lie that serving God is only for superstars. Some churches have fostered this

myth by making "excellence" an idol, which makes people of average talent hesitant to get involved.

At Saddleback Church, we practice the `good  enough" principle: It doesn't have to be perfect for God to use and bless it. We would rather involve thousands of regular folks in ministry than have a perfect church run by a few elites.

Real servants do every task with equal dedication.

You will never arrive at the state in life where you're too important to help with menial tasks. God will never exempt you from the mundane.

"If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody."(Galatians6:3)

Great opportunities often disguise themselves in small tasks. The little things in life determine the big things.

Can you be counted on by others? Are there promises you need to keep, vows you need to fulfill, or commitments you need to honor? This is a test. God is testing your faithfulness. If you pass the test, you're in good company: Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Daniel, Timothy, and Paul were all called faithful servants of God. Even better, God has promised to reward your faithfulness in eternity.

Real servants maintain a low profile.

Joseph is a great example. He didn't draw attention to himself, but quietly served Potiphar, then his jailer, then Pharaoh's baker and wine taster, and God blessed that attitude. When Pharaoh promoted him to prominence, Joseph still maintained a servant's heart, even with his brothers, who had betrayed him.

You have several prominent features on your body that you could live without. It is the hidden parts of your body that are indispensable. The same is true in the Body of Christ. The most significant service is often the service that is unseen."

In heaven God is going to openly reward some of his most obscure and unknown servants-people we have never heard of on earth, who taught emotionally disturbed children, cleaned up after incontinent elderly, nursed AIDS patients, and served in thousands of other unnoticed ways.

Knowing this, don't be discouraged when your service is unnoticed or taken for granted. Keep on serving God! "Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort."(1Corinthians15:58)

Day34 - Thinking Like a Servant

My servant Caleb thinks differently and follows me completely.(Numbers 14:24 NCV)

Service starts in your mind.

To be a servant requires a mental shift, a change in your attitudes. God is always more interested in why we do something than in what we do. Attitudes count more than achievements.

Real servants serve God with a mindset of five attitudes.

Servants think more about others than about themselves. Servants focus on others, not themselves. This is true humility.

"If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life."(Mattews5:41 MSG)

Servants think like stewards, not owners. Servants remember that God owns it all.

Servants think about their work, not what others are doing. They don't compare, criticize, or compete with other servants or ministries. They're too busy doing the work God has given them.

It is not our job to evaluate the Master's other servants. It is also not our job to defend ourselves against criticism. Let your Master handle it.

Servants base their identity in Christ. Because they remember they are loved and accepted by grace, servants don't have to prove their worth.

Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. They enjoy helping people, meeting needs, and doing ministry. They "serve the LORD with gladness."(Psalm100:2)

Day35 - God’s Power in Your Weakness

“For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise We are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you”(2Corinthians13:4)

God loves to use weak people. Everyone has weaknesses. In fact, you have a bundle of flaws and imperfections: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.

You may also have uncontrollable circumstances that weaken you, such as financial or relational limitations. The more important issue is what you do with these.

We think that God only wants to use our strengths, but he also wants to use our weaknesses for his glory.

"God purposely chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful." (1Corinthians11:27)

Your weaknesses are not an accident. God deliberately allowed them in your life for the purpose of demonstrating his power through you.

He is drawn to people who are weak and admit it. Jesus regarded this recognition of our need as being "poor in spirit." It's the number one attitude he blesses.

The Bible is filled with examples of how God loves to use imperfect, ordinary people to do extraordinary things in spite of their weaknesses.

A weakness, or "thorn" as Paul called it, is not a sin or a vice or a character defect that you can change. A weakness is any limitation that you inherited or have no power to change.

Admit your weaknesses. Own up to your imperfections. Stop pretending to have it all together, and be honest about yourself.

Two great confessions in the New Testament illustrate what we need for healthy living. The first was Peter's, who said to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."(Matthew16:16)

 The second confession was Paul's, who said to an idolizing crowd, "We are only human beings like you."(Acts14:15)

 If you want God to use you, you must know who God is and know who you are.

Be content with your weaknesses. Paul said, "I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ's good, I am quite content with my weaknesses."(2Corinthians12:9-10)

Contentment is an expression of faith in the goodness of God. = "God, I believe you love me and know what's best for me."

Our weaknesses also prevent arrogance.

God often attaches a major weakness to a major strength to keep our egos in check.

 A limitation can act as a governor to keep us from going too fast and running ahead of God.

Our weaknesses also encourage fellowship between believers.

While strength breeds an independent spirit ("I don't need anyone else"), our limitations show how much we need each other.

our weaknesses increase our capacity for sympathy and ministry. We are far more likely to be compassionate and considerate of the weaknesses of others.

Your greatest life messages and your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts. The things you're most embarrassed about, most ashamed of, and most reluctant to share are the very tools God can use most powerfully to heal others.

God specializes in turning weaknesses into strengths.

Moses' weakness was his temper. It caused him to murder an Egyptian. Yet God transformed Moses into "the humblest man on earth." Abraham's weakness was fear. Not once, but twice, he claimed his wife was his sister to protect himself. But God transformed Abraham into "the father of those who have faith." Impulsive, weak-willed Peter became "a rock,"  the adulterer David became "a man after my own heart,"  and John, one of the arrogant "Sons of Thunder," became the "Apostle of Love."

Honestly share your weaknesses.

Of course, vulnerability is risky. It can be scary to lower your defenses and open up your life to others. When you reveal your failures, feelings, frustrations, and fears, you risk rejection. But the benefits are worth the risk. Vulnerability is emotionally liberating.

Opening up relieves stress, defuses your fears, and is the first step to freedom.

Humility is not putting yourself down or denying your strengths rather, it is being honest about your weaknesses. The more honest you are, the more of God's grace you get. You will also receive grace from others. Vulnerability is an endearing quality, we are naturally drawn to humble people.

Pretentiousness repels but authenticity attracts, and vulnerability is the pathway to intimacy.

This is why God wants to use your weaknesses, not just your strengths.

Glory in your weaknesses. Paul said, "I am going to boast only about how weak I am and how great God is to use such weakness for his glory."(2Corinthians12:5)

 Instead of posing as self-confident and invincible, see yourself as a trophy of grace. When Satan points out your weaknesses, agree with him and fill your heart with praise for Jesus, who "understands every weakness of ours," and for the Holy Spirit, who "helps us in our weakness."

Sometimes, however, God turns a strength into a weakness in order to use us even more.

One night Jacob wrestled with God and said, "I'm not letting go until you bless me." God said, "All right," but then he grabbed Jacob's thigh and dislocated his hip.

God touched Jacob's strength (the thigh muscle is the strongest in the body) and turned it into a weakness. From that day forward, Jacob walked with a limp so he could never run away again. It forced him to lean on God whether he liked it or not. If you want God to bless you and use you greatly, you must be willing to walk with a limp the rest of your life, because God uses weak people.