In all the work you are doing, work the best you can (or with all your heart). Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord, which he promised to his people. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23,24
Abraham, a wealthy man, with many servants goes out of his way, personally to run to and serve 3 strangers passing by. He shows due respect, he goes above and beyond what was expected, he is the servant of servants.
But WHY? Why would he do this? Why would we do this? Why do we do this? WHY SERVE?
I have called the philosophy of serving, SERVOLOGY – why not?!
1. SERVOLOGY knows who it serves
Abraham hears God, leaves his home land and begins a journey to a new and unknown place. God’s great mystery tour. His love for and trust in God was sufficient – he did not need all the detail. He had an inner motivation to please God.
Paul tells us n Colossians that we serve Jesus, not people. The way we do that is to serve others of course. But our motivation is to please Him. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord. We serve from our devotion to Christ, we want to please Him and see His purposes unfold.
2. SERVOLOGY knows it is simply the highest honour
In all the work you are doing, work the best you can
It mattered to Abraham how he did it, because he was serving God. He wasn’t simply working for an earthly boss or cause – He was serving the King, and so of course how he served mattered – no wonder he ran to serve, served diligently and excellently, looked for ways to go above and beyond.
When our hearts are caught by the King we will naturally want to do the very best – place our service before many other things we do.
Here is the amazing thought about servology – no one else can do your job. You are unique and your service is an expression of your devotion to Christ – so He requires YOU to do it – it can’t be done by another. Someone else doing it would be 2nd best. You are first best.
God should be our measure on how well we serve.
3. SERVOLOGY has the privilege of ownership
with all your heart
Because Abraham was devoted to serving God, God’s vision & expansion had caught his heart. He was taking the land, multiplying his flocks, and servants. When you serve God and activate that in His House, the Church, your heart gets caught by the vision of that House. You carry it as your vision. AND you find your future or vision unfolds because you are serving the vision of the House. Abraham owned the vision of God to multiply and bring His presence and kingdom here on earth.
Ownership motivates us to be a self-starter, proactive, to look to what we can do above and beyond.
Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord.
Ownership actually empowers you and gets the best out of your life whilst also lightening the load of the leader. Because you get the fact that we are all serving a bigger picture.
with all your heart – this is ownership
Ownership is that thing where we don’t just look at a job and say well thats their job, but rather how can I help them succeed, can I help fill in when something is not done?
4. SERVOLOGY is our connection to the purpose of God
You are serving the Lord Christ.
God’s primary purpose – bringing new life to every person in our city and helping them flourish in that life. So from the handshake in the car park to the altar call – all of this is the altar call!
Everything we do contributes to the main thing. So THE main thing becomes MY main thing. Remember how you 1st felt when Christ impacted your life. Remember the things that contributed to it. Be that for others. You plug into purpose. Every servant wants to know they are plugged into purpose.
5. SERVOLOGY has that sweet spot attitude
Sweet spot gifting is a wonderful thing – when you find that thing you do which is your sweet spot. It is so important functioning in your gift. Its like wearing the football shirt and it’s your name on it, not the name of your favourite player. However, there is another level of service …
Work as if
This is a sweet spot attitude – this is wearing the shirt but its not your name on it – you can buy one in the store of your favourite club – it will have Klaassen on the shirt but you are being him.
A sweet spot attitude is one that doesn’t matter what it does but it does it as if it is it’s sweet spot.
Servology. Why serve? It takes our lives to another level. Anyone can wear their shirt not everywhere can wear a shirt for someone else. Serving is The king of all qualities. Servology is the queen of all ‘ologys.
We serve because we grow, find ourselves, bear fruit, its our calling, it maximises our impact.
What can you do today to live out SERVOLOGY?