Willing to Serve?

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you…”

(1Peter 5:1-2 ESV)

The work of the church involves many different people. Some of them are staff. Some of them are paid for their service. Here at Prince of Peace, we have the pastor, the youth pastor, the secretary, and the custodians. But the vast majority are volunteers.

Some of the volunteers are appointed by the church to a position of leadership.  Perhaps they are an officer, a deacon, or a trustee. Perhaps they serve on the Christian Ed board or hold office in the women’s ministry.  But others simply serve. They teach Sunday School. They serve meals at funerals. They run the sound booth during Sunday worship.

Regardless of where we might fall on this continuum, we can have many motivations for our service. And, to be perfectly straight forward, most of them are not good. Many of the motivations we possess for our service are less than upright.

There are those who serve for personal gain. This might mean the money they make for their service. But it can also mean other things as well.

We might serve for the honor and the prestige it gives to us. We might serve simply that others will think highly of us. Instead of seeking to glorify God, we’re seeking the approval of man.

In a similar way, we might serve in an effort to erase a bad reputation. Perhaps we’ve made some serious mistakes and have earned a bad name. And now that we realize what we’ve done, now that we understand the shame we’ve brought upon ourselves, we’re seeking to correct it.

We sometimes serve in our effort to earn God’s blessings. We fall into the false gospel of works righteousness. We think that, if we do enough good, if we put forth enough effort, God will overlook our mistakes and grant to us his salvation.

Quite often, we serve out of guilt. We know that we’ve been called to serve God. We know that we’re to use our gifts to serve both the Lord and the church. But our heart isn’t in it.  We really don’t want to do it. Yet we do so out of this sense of responsibility.

In the above passage, Peter shares with us the proper attitude for service. It’s directed primarily to pastors (elders). However, it’s a principle that applies more broadly. It’s a truth that applies to us regardless of our area of service.

We’re to carry out our calling not under compulsion. We are to do so willingly. We are to gladly give of ourselves to carry out the task God has assigned to us.

If our service is not freely given, we must search our heart. We must recognize that, perhaps, we’re holding to a false gospel. And we must ask God to forgive us, looking to Jesus in faith.

We must also ask God to change our heart. We must ask the Lord to turn our heart toward him. We must ask him to help us to love as he loves.