{"id":3269,"date":"2016-01-12T09:25:01","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T14:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/?p=3269"},"modified":"2016-01-12T09:25:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T14:25:01","slug":"a-theology-of-serving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-theology-of-serving\/","title":{"rendered":"A Theology of Serving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With every passing year, people find more ways\u00a0than ever to fill their time. \u00a0Between work and family and all the extra-curricular actives that go along with that, there is very little time for anything (or anyone) else. For many Christians, just getting to church on Sundays is a major success. &#8220;Surely, God understands my schedule. \u00a0After all, I can only do so much. So, why should I serve?&#8221; That\u2019s the question we have started the year asking at <a href=\"http:\/\/GatheringChattanooga.com\" target=\"_blank\">The Gathering<\/a>. It\u2019s an important question and one that must be asked if we, as the Church and as individual disciples, must ask\u00a0(even for those who are already involved in life up to their noses). \u00a0This is perhaps most important\u00a0for the \u201cbusy\u201d since a failure to prioritize can often lead to a greater sense of busy-ness and decreasing levels of peace and joy!<\/p>\n<p>Recently, I preached on \u201cA Theology of Serving,\u201d attempting to answer that all-important question of, \u201cWhy should I serve?\u201d. I have presented four major reasons as to why we should serve, both within your church and in your community. These reasons form the basis of a theology of serving.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I serve because it fulfills my purpose.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Many people ask this question: What is my purpose. The answer is simple, but it might not be what you think. Many define their purpose with their job, be it a doctor, a builder, a homemaker, or an accountant. That misses out on purpose. There is a difference in calling and purpose. Calling is what you do (hopefully, based on your determination of what God has called you to do), purpose is what you ultimate accomplish by what you do. For a children of God, there may be hundreds or thousands of different callings, but all have only one purpose! That purpose is nothing more and nothing less than to glorify God! (Romans 11:36, Ephesians 2:10, Matthew 5:16, 1 Peter 2:12). So, in whatever I do, I am to glorify God in the way I serve.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I serve because it defines my identity in the Kingdom of God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I serve because I am a child of the King and to be a child of the King is to serve the King and to serve the King, I serve others. Jesus, Himself set the example by coming not to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28). As disciples of Jesus, our identity is found in Him. We serve because we are to be like our Master (Philippians 2:5-7). If you refuse to serve, you are refusing to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I serve to fulfill my role within the Body of Christ (the Church).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Every person who has been adopted into the Family of God (Romans 8:14-17) has been given both ability and responsibility to fulfill a calling within the local church. If God has called you here, to this specific church family, it is for a reason. You matter! If you are not serving in some capacity, then you are not accomplishing your calling and, consequently, are not experiencing the level of joy Christ has for you, and we are lacking in something that God has for His church that you are to provide (1 Corinthians 12:12-26).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I serve because to do so stands against the spirit of darkness and declares the existence and work of God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We are the \u201cImago Dei\u201d; the Image-bearers of God (Genesis 1:26). Since the fall of man in Genesis 3, we have preferred \u201cself-serve\u201d. \u00a0Sin has made us into self-centered creatures, living to feed our wants, our desires, our needs and our lusts. \u00a0Those who believe that there is no God and that the universe is simply a product of chance observes this tendency towards self-preservation and argues that we have a natural instinct towards the survival of the fittest; that we will only do that which assures our own survival or the continuation of the species. \u00a0All \u201cserving\u201d would then be utilitarian with the goal of serving our own interests. \u00a0When we give and serve, expecting nothing in return, we are declaring \u201cPURPOSE!\u201d \u00a0We are demonstrating the fact that we are made in the image of the living God, reflecting His character to a dying world.<\/p>\n<p>If we are going to call ourselves disciples of Jesus, there is no alternative. If we are not serving, we are not following. Look for ways to serve both your church and your community. Get involved in some of the ministry or pray about what ministry God may be calling you to start in 2016. Whatever it is, get off the sidelines and engage in the ministry you were designed to do!<\/p>\n<div class=\"twttr_buttons\"><div class=\"twttr_twitter\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=A+Theology+of+Serving\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-via=\"\" data-hashtags=\"\"  data-size=\"default\" data-url=\"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-theology-of-serving\/\"  data-related=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With every passing year, people find more ways\u00a0than ever to fill their time. \u00a0Between work and family and all the extra-curricular actives that go along with that, there is very little time for anything (or anyone) else. For many Christians, just getting to church on Sundays is a major success. &#8220;Surely, God understands my schedule&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"A Theology of Serving","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6,12,664,23],"tags":[81,685,288,420,421,450,694],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-QJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":112,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/catalyst-conference-day-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":3269,"position":0},"title":"Catalyst Conference, Day 1","date":"October 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I really don't know that I can adequately put into words all that I've experienced today.\u00a0 After a very challenging day getting down here and actually getting to the conference, I understood why things prior to the conference would come with such difficulty:\u00a0 God had some radical things to teach\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Church&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":696,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/2010-year-of-the-mission\/","url_meta":{"origin":3269,"position":1},"title":"2010: Year of the Mission","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I met with our Mission One:Eight Team this past Wednesday night and left so encouraged and excited about the coming year at The Gathering.\u00a0 God has moved in some pretty big ways over the last couple of months, removing the inward focus that largely characterized what this church has been,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Missions&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/missions1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4390,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/the-gathering-2019-theme-connections\/","url_meta":{"origin":3269,"position":2},"title":"The Gathering 2019 Theme: Connections","date":"April 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of weeks ago, I preached a message revealing and outlining our theme for the remainder of the year. If you weren\u2019t there (and especially if you are a covenant member of The Gathering), please take time to watch this message and begin to look for ways in which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Church&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/9036AAF4-8F43-403C-B058-18741393604E.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3618,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-decade-of-lessons-learned\/","url_meta":{"origin":3269,"position":3},"title":"A Decade of Lessons Learned","date":"December 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the video of my message from Sunday, followed by the article I wrote for our newsletter, RoadSigns. December 4, 2016, I walked into The Gathering for the very first time, excited with anticipation and hopeful for the future, but having little idea of what I was really walking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Proc_Lessons-e1541760115733.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1549,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-church-that-fails-to-pray-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3269,"position":4},"title":"A Church That Fails to Pray&#8230;","date":"March 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"(This post is re-published from the March edition of Road Signs, the monthly informational newsmag of The Gathering, Chattanooga.) A church that fails to pray, fails. I believe this statement and am coming to understand it more and more.\u00a0 How easy it is to become so busy that the very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Christian Living&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3682,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/welcoming-chris-petty-to-the-gathering\/","url_meta":{"origin":3269,"position":5},"title":"Welcoming Chris Petty to The Gathering","date":"December 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I have the privilege of welcoming a friend of mine, Chris Petty, to preach\u00a0at The Gathering this Sunday. \u00a0Chris is formerly the Pastor at Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Ringgold, GA, but has recently been called as a career missionary to Bolivia. \u00a0He and his family are planning on moving\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3269"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3274,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3269\/revisions\/3274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}