Why Do We Serve God?

Matthew 7:13 says “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many may enter through it.” There are a lot of reasons why people take the wide and easier path in life. Here’s a few possible reasons:

• W need rest on Sunday
• I had to go to church as a child and now I want to choose my own path.
• We are too busy earning a living, watching football games, and kids to do anything elseGod is not popular anymore. People make fun of religious fanatics.
• I’m a good person who doesn’t need to waste time in church to learn what is right.
• I’m not important enough for God to care about so why should I care about Him?
• This is the 21st Century and it is time to take a new course.
• Need to believe in things that are real that can be proved by science or the TV newsI’ll start thinking about God after He proves to me that He exists.

The Bible instructs us to serve our Lord with joy, gladness, and our whole heart. (1 Chronicles 28:9) We need to acknowledge God, and serve him with devotion and with a willing mind. God searches our hearts and understands our motives. If we seek God, we will be able to find God.
Now, why do we serve God? The Bible is full of examples of people who choose God when it wasn’t easy. A good story is of Daniel and his friends when they were taken into slavery by the Babylonians. They were taken away from their home, their family, and their friends. Daniel was young enough to be trained and to learn the Babylonian ways, wisdom, and gods. Daniel and his friends were even given new names to go with their new lives, but they decided to serve only God. Daniel had a strong prayer life and the support of faithful friends.

God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace. (Daniel 3:28 NIV) Then King Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

It is a wonderful story to tell our children. It is also a strong example how childlike faith can serve us as adults, too. Deuteronomy 11:13-15 says “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 oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.”

A lawyer asked Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life? The lawyer realized that the answer was “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all of your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:25-27) Jesus told him that he answered correctly and Jesus said, “Do this and you will live.”
Part of the search for Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior requires us to understand the spiritual gifts that God has given us to better serve Him. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, teaching, preaching, gifts of healing, encouragement, and so much more. All of these gifts are the work of the Holy Spirit and he gives them to each one of us just as he determines.

There’s so much we can’t do on our own. We start growing in our relationship with God when we admit that we are not enough on our own. I love the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians where God said to Paul, “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. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:8b-10)

It’s okay to admit to God that we are afraid and that we need him to lead us. Jesus knows the way when we are lost. God picks us up. God fills us with the Holy Spirit and enables us to do so much in the name of Jesus Christ, that it is hard for us to imagine that it could’ve been possible. The impossible becomes possible when we let God into our lives.

I was afraid to go to Tamale, Ghana in February 2007 because I was afraid of the Muslims and the stories that I had heard about a chief and his elders who were beheaded in 2000. The central mosque is in the middle of town. The city is about 80% Muslim. We are taught to be afraid of people who are different from ourselves on the evening news reports. We hear about terrorists who kill in the name of Allah. I was afraid to meet these people, but I asked God to protect and watch over me. Now, I realize that so much love would not have been shared, if I had allowed my fear to overcome my faith.

There’s power in God’s word. We have to open up the Bible and start learning about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we could live life abundantly here on earth and have eternal life. God gave his only son for us on cross. We were also given the gift of the Holy Spirit so that God would be with us every day as our helper, our redeemer, and our strength.

Today’s scripture reading from Matthew 25 tells us how to serve God. Each servant is given five talents, two talents, or one talent of money. The talents represent any kind of resource we are given such as our time, our gifts, our love, or our money. The first servant who was given five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more talents. The first servant was not afraid to serve God. He served with joy, gladness, and his whole heart. The first servant thought that if he tried to serve God that God would help him accomplish his goal. He was right. The second servant doubled his two talents so that they become four talents.

The third servant who received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. The third servant is like the person who hides God’s love under a bushel basket and doesn’t share God’s love and light to the rest of the world. The third servant was afraid of trying to serve God so he decided not even to make an attempt.

The master asked the servant with one talent how he had done. The servant blamed his lack of trying on the statement the master is a hard man. He told the master that he was afraid and hid the master’s talent in the ground. We will be judged whether we shared God’s love with our fellow man. There’s no limit to God’s love, compassion, and grace. It is definitely a sin to hide God and not share God’s spiritual gifts, love, and talents with others.

It is my hope that God will one day tell us “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” My hope is that others will see the love of Jesus Christ in me as I am serving them.

As we serve God by helping those in need, we learn the secrets of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also experience the grace of Jesus Christ in our lives. We don’t serve God to earn our way into Heaven. We serve God out of gratitude that he has blessed our lives with love, family, and friends. Jesus showed his love to us by teaching, preaching, healing the sick, and caring for the least and the lost. Jesus showed us how to serve God by setting the example. Let’s learn how to love directly from Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior.