What Keeps People from Serving in the Local Church - Sermon Outline
REASON 1 - SATAN’S TRICK
You must determine you want to live for God.
Now that may sound very basic.
But it isn’t as basic as we’ve been led to believe.
Our society teaches us that what it means to be a disciple of Jesus’ is to attend a worship service once or twice a week, and to make sure that we don’t do bad things and that we do a couple good things, and then we can rightfully call ourselves “Christians” (Christ’s followers).
Being a disciple has been presented as a part of a person’s larger identity.
That faith is just an addition to a person’s life.
That it’s just one factor among many that guide a person’s decision making about the future.
That you can love and live for Jesus while loving and living for other things simultaneously.
That there is equal space in your heart for loving Jesus along with your hobbies, your job, your friends, and your other interests.
That they can all take up equal space, and there is plenty of room for all of them.
If Satan can’t keep us from seeing the importance of Jesus, he will present what it means to follow Jesus in this way. He will pervert what it means to follow Jesus.
“Ok, you want to follow Jesus, just make a little time for Jesus on Sunday, maybe 15 minutes of Bible study a week, and just leave it at that. No reason to get crazy.”
“No reason to change your whole life over this.”
Unfortunately, many people have been convinced that just adding a little bit of Jesus to their lives is what it means to be one of His disciples.
Unfortunately, that recipe, that formula was never approved by Jesus Himself.
Jesus’ instructions on how to become a disciple were very different.
A young man once came to Jesus and told Him…
“Lord, I attend synagogue, I keep the commandments, I haven’t killed anyone, I haven’t coveted anyone else’s stuff, I listen to the instructions of the rabbis, I try to love my neighbor as myself, I keep all the Jewish feasts… will I inherit eternal life? Will I go to Heaven?
What would you say?
Do you know anyone like this? Attends church, keeps God’s commandments, hasn’t killed anyone, hasn’t coveted, listens to their elders, tries to love their neighbor’s well, participates in church activities???
You may be tempted to think, “That person is definitely a genuine disciple! They are definitely on their way to Heaven.” They are one of the best people at our church.
Don’t let the world’s standards convince you you’re a disciple… go to Jesus’ words and hear from Him.
Listen to what Jesus told the young man who asked Him.
“One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Why? I mean, Jesus didn’t command all of disciples to do this?
Why is Jesus telling him to sell everything and give it to the poor?
Because Jesus could see through all of the external obedience and could see into this man’s heart.
What He saw there concerned Him.
The Bible tells us that this man was very rich.
On one side, He saw a love for God (a genuine love).
On the other side, He saw a love of money.
Love for God was part of what impacted His decision making.
But his love for his money was another part.
Do you remember how Jesus responded (didn’t)?
He said, “Oh that’s fine, being my disciple is just part of the larger identity you’ve created for yourself.”
“There is plenty of room in your heart for me, for your money, and anything else you’re passionate about.”
vi. If I remember right, that isn’t how Jesus responded.
Jesus looked at the rich young man and said, “Give me your money.”
“I’ve seen what’s in your heart and I want all of your money right now!”
“Go sell everything and give it to the poor.”
Why did Jesus tell him to do that?
Because a true disciple’s heart only has one supreme affection.
He wanted to know what God expected of His followers, so Jesus told him.
God wants your WHOLE HEART!... and He does not accept those who give Him less.
It is implied that those who give God less, will not inherit eternal life!
It is not enough to make a little space to fit Jesus into your heart.
It is not enough to love other things as much as you love Him.
vii. Your heart must love God to a greater degree than anything else on earth.
God must be the primary factor in all your decision making.
All of the other factors of your life, your job, your hobbies, your friends, your family, your other interests… must be viewed in light of God and under His governance.
And rather than viewing God as part of the identity you’re designing for yourself; you must see God as the designer of your identity.
When you become a disciple, you give your heart to God so He can transform it and make you into a new creation.
You will not be the same person before and after that process.
You will have a new identity.
The affections of your heart will be different.
But who better to give you your identity than your Creator.
He made you.
He knows who you truly are.
He knows the purpose for which you are made.
But you must give Him the throne of your heart.
And you must dismiss any rival affections.
viii. The rich young man in the story couldn’t let go of his money.
He walked away from Jesus.
And Jesus let him go.
Because when it comes to pursuing God’s will for your life… It’s all or nothing.
This is what Jesus required of His followers…
It’s a lot different than what the devil will tell you.
It’s a lot different than what many modern churches will expect of you.
Are you ready to make that kind of a commitment?
To love God more than anything?
To surrender everything else?
To allow God to define you?
To let Him shape you?
If you expect God to show you His will for your life, you must be 100% committed to His guidance.
And you can’t be 100% committed if part of you is guided by something else.
This is one major reason why people don’t serve the Lord, they’ve bought into Satan’s perverted form of discipleship.
Why do we see churches full of people, but those people don’t seem to have any interest or energy to serve God, beyond sitting in their pew for an hour on Sunday?
It’s because those people have misunderstood what Jesus requires of them.
Sitting to receive the words of God is not the mark of a disciple (have you ever thought about that).
Many people attended Jesus’ sermons on discipleship
The Sermon on the Mount.
The Feeding of the 5,000.
Attendance at those meetings was not the distinguishing factor between those who were right with God and those who weren’t.
God’s Kingdom is not built by people attending a worship service or hearing a sermon, at least not exclusively.
God’s Kingdom is built when people take up their cross and follow Jesus.
When the words they hear in the pew motivate them to take actions.
A genuine disciple is one who hears Jesus’ words and does them.
Who bears the fruits of the Spirit.
Whose faith overflows out of a pew.
10% of the Christian life is lived in a pew.
That’s why Satan is so determined to convince Christians that the pew represents discipleship.
There are lost souls to reach.
There are leaders to train for the next generation.
There are idols in our lives to tear down.
There are things in our lives to sell because they have become rivals in our hearts to Jesus.
There are programs to support.
There are families to raise.
There is support to give to those affected by sin.
If Satan can convince us that giving 10% is enough, the Church will diminish in our area.
There is so much more to do than the pew… that’s part of the reason Jesus demands 100%.
REASON 2 - FEAR AND INADEQUACY
I thought that we might focus on two other influences that keep people from working in the Church, but we’ll lump them together.
And I chose these 2 because I think a lot of people struggle with them.
These 2 emotions are somewhat universal.
And the degree to which we allow these feelings to affect us can drastically change our lives, and what we accomplish in God’s kingdom.
These 2 emotions are inadequacy and fear.
Inadequate = lacking the quality or quantity required; insufficient for a purpose.
Closely related to inadequacy is fear.
We fear when we feel inadequate for the task or challenge ahead of us.
We fear when we feel inadequate to protect ourselves against a threat.
I want to talk about the feelings of inadequacy and fear from a Christian perspective.
Maybe you see something that needs done in the Church or something that needs to be done to reach the lost, and nobody is doing it, but you’re fearful of taking that responsibility on yourself because you’re worried you may be inadequate.
What do you do then?
Do you give up on that idea?
Do you give up hope that that need will ever be met?
Because you feel afraid and inadequate, does that mean that it isn’t God’s will for you to undertake that task?
Let’s talk about why your inabilities and inadequacies are not always a reason to give up.
And why you shouldn’t consider them all that important when you think about the ways God might use you in His Kingdom.
The 5,000
There were 5,000 men standing in front of Jesus.
He turned to His Apostles and asked them how they planned to feed them all.
The Bible doesn’t record their response, but they must have been shocked by Jesus’ question.
So what did they do?
They immediately started taking an inventory of their resources.
Joh 6:8-9 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
They assessed what they had on hand and immediately concluded they didn’t have enough food or money to feed 50 people, much less 5,000.
Jesus had asked them to do something seemingly impossible, they had evaluated their resources, and concluded it couldn’t be done.
Jesus Knew.
But, of course, Jesus already knew the Apostles weren’t going to be able to feed all the people.
So… Why did He ask?
John 6 tells us Jesus asked to “test” His Apostles.
When God wanted them to do something big, to whom would they look?
The text tells us they looked to themselves.
What about you?
Maybe there has been a time in your life when you’ve recognized a need, something God would want you to do, but you evaluate the problem, you realize it’s too big for you and your resources to accomplish.
That discouragement can cause us to quit before we get started.
But in doing that, we reveal that we need to learn the same lesson the Apostles needed to learn in John 6.
The Apostles needed to know where their sufficiency was going to come from in their future work in the Church.
The 5,000
Jesus instructed the 5,000 men to sit down on the grass before proceeding to feed them all.
The text tells us the 5,000 had “as much as they wanted.”
At the end of the meal, Jesus instructed the Apostles to gather the leftovers.
Jesus started with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
The Apostles ended up with 12 baskets full of leftovers.
Before this meal, when Jesus asked the disciples how they were going to feed the crowd, they immediately pointed out to Him their inadequacy.
But at the end of the meal, they found themselves picking up 12 baskets full of bread meant to remind them of Jesus adequacy.
It would have been a lesson to them that God could take something that seemed insufficient and make it sufficient.
The product that God starts with is of no consequence.
God uses inadequate people
This is a lesson that is taught all throughout the Bible.
God used many men to do great things… men who initially thought themselves inadequate.
Moses – had all kinds of excuses for why he wasn’t the right guy to free the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery.
Gideon – was the least of his family (Manasseh) and he didn’t believe he would be able to free Israel from the oppression of the Midianites.
The Apostles may have believed themselves insufficient to be leaders in the Kingdom, the Kingdom that their leaders had waited on for thousands of years.
They were right!
What else did these Bible characters have in common, other than feeling inadequate.
Well, for one, they were right to feel inadequate.
It wasn’t just a feeling it was the truth.
This wasn’t some show of humility.
They weren’t up for the job.
Moses couldn’t free the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, God had to send the 10 plagues.
Gideon couldn’t free the people from the powerful Midianite army, God had to miraculously orchestrate that victory.
And the Apostles were inadequate to lead the early Church, God had to empower them through His Spirit.
They were all incapable and they were all underqualified.
God was the one who gave them the ability to accomplish what they accomplished.
Is the precedent still true?
And the question for application is, did this precedent end with the Apostles?
Is God done using inadequate people to accomplish amazing things.
I don’t see a reason to believe that.
Maybe Jesus still places seemingly impossible tasks in front of us for the same reason He did it to the Apostles, to test us.
To discover where we believe our sufficiency lies.
Is it in ourselves?
Or is it in God?
Maybe if we could learn the lesson Jesus was teaching the Apostles here, we would be slower to calculate the odds based off our resources… and quicker to evaluate them based on our God!
Maybe it’s more about being willing than being adequate.
Maybe God is looking for men and women who will start, so that He can accomplish and finish great things through them.
That’s what He was looking for in Moses.
That’s what He was looking for in Gideon.
That’s what He was looking for in the Apostles.
And maybe that’s what He’s looking for in you?
When Jesus called you into His Kingdom, He did it knowing all your weaknesses, and yet He still said there is a place for you and a role for you.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
He doesn’t say, “Oh that Luke, I know he’s a Christian now but he just doesn’t have any useful skills. I guess he’ll warm the pew.”
How do you think Moses became Moses? The man Moses that we esteem as a spiritual leader?
Do you think he was called that way?
He got to work serving God only after all his skills and talents were fully developed?
No!
The story of Moses isn’t about how great of a leader Moses was and how God just had to prod him a little to get him to use his skills.
He grew to be the man he was through the challenges that God walked Him through, the challenges he wasn’t ready for.
Those challenges matured him into the Moses we look up to.
The Potter shaped Moses into the man we admire because Moses was open to being molded.
How do you think you’ll grow into the potential God has instilled in you?
It won’t be by sitting around waiting to take action until you’ve received infinite skill and ability.
It will be by opening yourself up to being shaped by the Potter.
It will be by maturing through the challenges God will walk you through, the challenges you think you’re not ready for, because you’re probably not, but God will walk with you and help you become the person you need to be to complete them.
A church full of people willing to let God develop them in spite of their weaknesses, is a church that can turn their neighborhood and community upside down.
It’s a church that has passed the test of Jesus when He asked His disciples to feed the 5,000.
It’s a church that’s aware of their inadequacy and looks to God for the power to accomplish the mission.
