The Beauty and the Beast of Serving | Marcus Mecum | 7 Hills Church

Second Corinthians four I promise I have something to say I think for we do not preach this is second Corinthians four verse five for we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord everybody said amen and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus sake I want you to notice Paul's emphasis here what we're about to look at is serving in the kingdom of God we do it we give of ourselves to you for Jesus sake is what he said for it is God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness and this same God has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ they notice this but but this is an important part we have this treasure this treasure that we just read about it's in earthen vessel the X that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us Paul says we are your servants but it's not for your sake it is to you you benefit from it but the goal is is that it's for Jesus sake it is to his glory into his advantage that we serve others and the way Paul says this works is for the same God go back to Genesis that looked into the darkness he looked into the chaos and the void and he said let there be light and the darkness had to go that same God shined in our hearts and he gave us this light this knowledge this glory that's in the face of Jesus Christ but it has been put in this earthen vessel what Paul is beginning to help us see is that there is a blessing and a cursing a curse to serving there's the bitter and there's the sweet there's the power of serving God but there's the peril there's the beauty and there's the beast and that's what I want to talk to you about the beauty and the beast of serving I believe everybody is called to serve I believe everybody is called to give this light this knowledge this glory that God has given you I believe everybody is called in some way or another to give of that to the benefit of the kingdom of God I don't believe there are any exceptions there might be seasons of exception but we've all been given time and talent and out of not out of need necessarily but out of obedience because the verse here says that we do this in the face of Jesus Christ the face speaks of favor it speaks of his attention his blessing that when he came alive in your heart and he shined that light in your

heart what came with that was light and knowledge and the glory and we're called to serve not necessarily for just the people you look at or for the role that you fill or for the specific job that you do but you give of that in the face because God favors God's attention is on people that don't just take what he's given them and keep it to themselves but they know that there's a responsibility now to give that through serving and he says that when you serve God when you do this for others even though it's for Jesus you're going to be exposed to certain things you'll be exposed to light which means you'll see things that other people do not see just because you serve God you'll be shown things that other people are not shown you will have God speak to you things that other people do not hear he'll tell you things he'll reveal things to you you'll have a measure of light that other men and other women do not have but you have it just simply through serving you'll know things that other people do not know he said you'll have this knowledge you'll understand things You'll be aware of things. You will be exposed to things that others are not exposed to. You will have revelation given to you that is veiled to others, but God will unveil things. He'll open your eyes to things. You will witness things. You'll have access to restricted areas. In the things of God, you'll be shown secrets, if you will. You'll be given keys to doors that others do not have, and the point is, this is the beauty of serving, that Christ is shined in your heart, the same God that said, let there be light. He's shined in your heart,

and our job is to give this light, to give this knowledge, and to give this glory in the face. We're doing it because we know God loves people that give of themselves, because we're never more like Him. He favors that. He blesses that. It gets His attention when we do something, not for our sake, but for Jesus' sake. There's beauty in it, but there's also the beast of serving. You might remember the Michael Jackson trial. Some of you are old like me, and when the prosecution begin to call witnesses, they didn't call another celebrity. They didn't call a record producer. They didn't call some important person in the music industry. They called to the stand those who were behind the scenes, a maid, a butler, a chauffeur, a guard. They called those people to the witness stand because they understood if they want an inside look into the life of Michael Jackson, you have to go to the people that are on the inside, that see things that other people don't see, have light that other people don't have. They know things that other people do not know just by the nature that they're serving on the inside. You and I would know the outside of Michael Jackson.

You and I would know his talent. You and I would sing his songs growing up. Come on, just beat it or Thriller. You name whatever your favorite Michael Jackson song is. You and I would know of his wardrobe. Anybody in here have one of those silk sequins gloves or what about one of the leather jackets with the studs on it? You know what I'm talking about? Maybe it was red leather. Y'all don't wanna admit it. Well, I don't either, but it may or may not have happened. We know his dance moves. Come on, anybody do the moonwalk. My shoes are sticky. I can't quite work it out. You know, you need the smooth shoes, right? So just give me a break. But they called not the people that had the outside knowledge. They wanted the people that took his trash out, cleaned his bedroom, maybe emptied his pockets before they took his clothes to the cleaner. They wanted people on the inside that maybe overheard a conversation or saw something in passing. They needed people on the inside. And in this is the beast of serving. Again, this is not maybe a spiritual example, but the point is simply that the prosecution

wanted people that had light that other people did not have. And so the accuser of the brethren knows how to target people that serve because you have light, you have knowledge, you have something that you are, be aware of, you become a witness of, and all of that has been given to you and the enemy knows that so you face unique temptations, you'll face unique attacks because you're serving God. And when you serve God, the beauty is he gives you light, he gives you knowledge, he gives you his glory, he gives you his favor, his face. But this knowledge that we have, this light that we have, there is the beast side of it. For example, if you worked in the Pentagon or the CIA or the FBI, you would know that you would be exposed to things that other people are not exposed to. You would have knowledge that other people do not have, you would have access to top secret things, you would have the highest level of clearance, and because of all of this light that you have. have, you would be vulnerable to the pressures, maybe on the inside. Maybe you were mistreated. Maybe someone didn't appreciate you. Maybe somebody passed you by. Maybe it's pressures on the outside. Maybe it's something at home. Maybe it's some money problems. And because you have this light, you have this knowledge because you're on the inside. You are vulnerable to the adversaries that want to come in and, and you're also vulnerable. This is the beast of selling out those secrets and becoming a traitor to your nation. We know this happens because we know names like Benedict Arnold, who plotted to help the British.

The Rosenbergs who were executed in 1951 for spying for the Soviets. Robert Henson of the FBI, Aldrich Ames of the CIA, Edward Howard, who defected to the USSR in 1995, we could go on and on and list these names there. The numbers are, are staggering of the people that were entrusted in those arenas to a certain level of light and knowledge. But inside of that, all of that information goes into what Paul calls this earth and vessel that it's given to this weak, fragile, frail earth and vessel. And we're all in a place when we serve God, there's the beauty of it, but then there's the beast of it. And the beast of it is that our vessels are prone to break under the pressure. We're prone to crack in our character. Uh, areas potentially will be revealed that, that are not where they need to be. Maybe it's a loose tongue. Maybe, maybe it's a overinflated sense of, of your opinion of things. Uh, it could just be that you are hurt or wounded or offended. We have this weak earth and vessel, and that is the beast. And the beast of serving is that the enemy knows how to discourage you, how to hit you, how to attack you, how to knock you off course in some way to give up the reasons why we do this. And Paul said, so let me make it clear to you. I serve you for Jesus's sake. It is about him. It's not about me. It's about him. It's not about you, because if I make it about you, at some point I'll detour, I'll run, I'll throw in the towel. I'll talk about how hard it is. I'll talk about how discouraged I am or disappointed I am. And so I've got to keep my eyes that I'm doing it for Jesus sake. He shined his light in my darkness. He gave me the light. He gave me the knowledge and I give it to you, but there's the blessing and the curse. There's the beauty and the beast of serving. When Jesus came on the scene in John chapter two to perform what we would know the Bible calls the beginning of miracles. He's at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. And the Bible says that they run out of wine. Jesus's mother comes to him and says, listen, they've run out of wine. I need you to do something about it. After a bit of debate, Mary tells the servants, whatever Jesus tells you to do, do that. So Jesus says, I want you to go get six water pots that the Bible says are about 20 to 30 gallons each. So this is not like a little cup of water that they're going to get. This is, this is a massive task. And so Jesus at this point perform no miracles, no blind eyes have been opened. No dead have been raised. No paralytic has been given their ability to walk again. No miracles at this point have happened, but in blind obedience,

they do what Jesus says to do. They go down to a well, they draw the water out. They see the water. They know what the water, they put it in these vessels. And I don't know if you know how hard it is to carry water, but 20 to 30 gallons of water in the middle Eastern heat, sweating, it's backbreaking, hands are blistered, probably saying to themselves, we're out of wine. What are we doing at a water? Well, surely There's a wine cellar around here somewhere. They don't get his instructions. They don't know what he's planning to do. They get the water there and then he tells the servants, I want you to draw out that water and give it to the master or the governor of the feast. And they watch the very water that they saw drawn out of the well in those water pots, they watched it as they drew it out, turn into ruby red wine. They take it to the governor of the feast and what does he say? The Bible says he calls for the bridegroom and he tells the bridegroom in every other wedding I've ever been to, they serve the best wine first and after everybody's a little tipsy, they get a little intoxicated. They're not thinking much about the quality of things anymore. Then they serve the least or the cheaper wine, but you save the best wine for last. And the Bible is explicit in that chapter that it says that the governor did not know where the wine came from.

He did not know how it showed up. The Bible says, but the servants knew. So notice there are things that servants know. There is light that servants have. There is knowledge that servants have that the governor does not have. They were the witness to the miracle. They were not the special invitees. They didn't get the little wedding invitation with their name written with a calligraphy pen. They didn't get the little tissue when they opened it, the nice little wax tissue that comes out of the envelope. They didn't get special seating at the wedding. They didn't get their little table with their little name plate on the table. They didn't get any of that. These were the servants that were working in the kitchen. And the Bible says they were the ones behind the scenes, no names, and they saw, they witnessed the miracle. That is the beauty of serving, that you get to see things, experience things. You get to watch life change. You get to watch God do things like he did in our children this week, like he did with our young people or our college students. You get to see life change. You get to hear the stories that we heard this week. One of them by a mom by the name of Megan who has a special needs son, Elijah, and Elijah was called and invited.

He was given a buddy to walk him through every single part of it. He rode the rides. He had the great, he had all, and the mom was astounded because her son came home every single day like his face lit up, more excited than he's ever been. My point is that young man that gave up his week for that young boy, he got to witness the miracle. He got to experience the blessing. He got to experience the face, the favor, the attention. He got that knowledge. He enjoyed the benefit of all that. And when you are a servant, you know things, you have light that other people don't have. You have knowledge that other people do not have. You are aware of things that other people are not aware of because you serve. But the Bible says the governor called the bridegroom and said, I got to compliment you. This is the best wine I've ever had. Man, I don't know who you are. I don't know all the details about your life, but you do things like the credit went to the bridegroom who had no idea. He didn't carry one water pot. He drew no water. He didn't have one drop of sweat coming off of his brow. He didn't have to carry those water.

He didn't have any of that going on, but he got the credit. That's the beast. The beast of serving is that, but there's a tendency because this is a weak vessel. It's a frail vessel. Well, we're the ones that did the work. We're the ones that did the effort. We're the ones that did the service. We're the ones that did the effort. Why don't we get the attention? Where is our appreciation? I'm not saying that we should not appreciate one another. I'm saying that you have to be careful that you're looking to get that because you're doing it for others, but you're not doing it for their sake. You're doing it for Jesus' sake because he shined in your heart. The same God that said to the darkness, let there be light, he saved you. He redeemed you, he restored you, and now you give of that light and that knowledge and that glory in his face, with his attention, with his eyes on you, whether you ever get the attention, ever get the credit, ever get the appreciation from man, you've gotta seal it up in your heart. I've gotta keep looking at the beauty of it and not allow the beast that this vessel is frail and weak and we'll make it about something that it's not.

Servants must be satisfied knowing God will get the full glory. But if there's enough pressure put on the servant, if there's enough pressure put on this weak, frail vessel, then we can break or we can sell out under that pressure. And this is where we're vulnerable to it. You see, when it comes to serving, we don't see that risk. I mean, everywhere you look anymore, everybody's got, and there's terrible things that happen and there's horrific abuses. And if you serve God in any way at all, for any time at all, you have been on the receiving end of that. And if it's been here, I'm so sorry. My heart breaks for that. Just people, just people, just broken people trying to do things. But this is what I want you to catch. As much as that is an issue, we have an issue because we don't understand there is risk. There is risk of being hurt. There is risk of feeling this weak vessel gets pressure on it. And then we justify certain things. You see, if you went to a rodeo this afternoon and you saw a bull rider getting on some, you know that he knows the risk. You don't have to be a genius to know. You get on a creature like that, it's not designed for pleasure riding.

You're gonna break something probably. You're probably gonna end up needing brain surgery or something in a wheel. You're not gonna, it doesn't take a genius to tell the person that's going to remove asbestos from an old building that there are risk in that. If you work in an oil rig out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico or you end up having to get on some shipping, fishing vessel in the Arctic to find crabs so people can eat their little crab dinners, you know there's risk. When you sign up, if you wanna be an astronaut, when you sign up, you know there's a risk. But we spiritualize serving God and we come up with these ideas that it's supposed to be safe. There's not supposed to be risk. There's not supposed to be danger. And in that mindset lies the danger. That you don't see the danger, that you don't see the risk, that you attach to it that this is risk-free. But when you serve God and you say, God, I'm going to serve you because of all you've done and I'm doing it for your sake. I'm doing it in your face with one concern and that that is that you see what I'm doing and who I'm doing this for. No matter how insignificant, no matter how trivial the activity or the job or the assignment or the role may be, I'm doing it for you.

When you are like that, when you live that way, the beast that wants to try to find its way into your life is the beast that says, man, if you're serving him, if you're really giving your life to him, why this attack or why this person didn't say thank you or why people driving through the parking lot, the way these guys are treated, the way some of y'all treat these guys out there, who they're out there, rain, snow, you name it. It's a beautiful day today, but they're out there when it's not beautiful. Drop your babies off in the nursery. They're doing beautiful things, but there's the beast side of it. I seen them drive in here for last 10 years. Never one time seen them lift a finger. That's the beast side of it. You just gotta say, I'm doing it for him. I'm doing it for his glory, and I'm doing it for his honor. It is a beautiful thing to serve God. You're never more like Jesus than when you serve. He will show you things. He will expose you to things. You'll be eyewitness to things and others, but remember in serving, there is pressure. There are dangers. It is high risk. There are hazards. Your flesh will scream, I'm above this.

What's the point? Your flesh, this earthen vessel will scream, they're just using me. I'm not appreciated. You'll be disappointed. You'll grow weary. On top of all this, the devil will be there, the accuser of the brethren, looking for every opportunity to discourage you, and so you have to teach this vessel. That's what Paul was doing here. You have to teach this vessel, this weak, frail vessel. Don't you run from serving. Don't you hide when it hurts. Don't you crack under the pressure. Don't you walk away when you should be pushing through. Don't you do that because you have to be aware that this vessel will crack, and what did he say? So I do all of this that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. The Bible says beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. There's a lot of beautiful things in the world, and I'm just gonna say, I don't think feet are one of them. It's beautiful. That's the good news. That's the light. That's the knowledge. That's the glory. That's He's shining in your heart.

That's the beauty. The feet, that all that beauty is carried by this earthen vessel. That's the beast, the feet. Notice he didn't say much, it's feet. That's what he called you and I. Feet. That's the beast. It's the beast. It's the beauty in the beast of serving. What the disciples tell Jesus, they came back after an amazing ministry, missions trip, and they came back and they say, we healed the sick. We cast out demons, all those things that you said. We saw it, we did it at our hands. We laid hands on the sick and we saw them recover. And he said, do not rejoice that the demons obey you and that the sick are healed, but that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. Don't you ever make it about that. Make it about things which are eternal. Because if you make it about that, the moment that demon don't come out or that person's not healed or that person doesn't get saved or that person doesn't come through or whatever, then you get discouraged. So you have to keep the idea, I'm gonna serve God, I'm gonna serve others for his sake. My name's written in the Lamb's book of life. And at some point, the Bible is clear.

Every reward, I don't give a cup of water away to a child and he doesn't see it and promise a reward for it. Sons of Thunder, remember James and John, remember how they did it? Who's gonna sit on your right? Who's gonna sit on your left? We need to know where this serving is going. We need to know where it's heading. We need to know at what point will this all earth and vessel get the ego boost that it's supposed to. And what did Jesus say? These things are for my father to give away. That's my father to decide. I'm not getting into that. But if you wanna know what greatness is, it's serving. But the beast is, we see it as something that's beneath us or we're too busy for it or let somebody else do it or what's it really matter? I don't see the importance in it. And that's the beast You have to manage this weak earthen vessel And the way you do it is you just keep saying it's for Jesus's sake It's for his namesake. It's for his glory. I hope people receive the light and the love that I did Somebody loved me somebody served for me. Someone worked for me. Someone gave for me someone someone did They managed the beast of serving and I benefited from it In one week we go serve our community Heart the city happens tomorrow night summit begins I'm not tell you what to do

You can leave you can attend this church for the rest of your life and never do a thing slip in slip out But the face of Jesus He said is on the people that serve others for his sake And I want his favor on your life, I want his favor on your family I want his favor on this church And his face does not shine on places that spectate and people that just clap for everybody else to do it Every person has a gift Every person has a role every person has something to offer. I Don't even care if you're saved or a Christian you can be involved in heart to city. You can go paint a wall You you can go spread out some you can go serve I love this scripture Did you know that the Bible says Paul said that God counted him faithful by putting him into ministry? In other words Paul said God put me into ministry before I was even faithful He just counted it. He's like, hey, I'm just gonna give him this little chance. Just go ahead and just just do some ministry He didn't prove his faithfulness he just did it So sometimes your first step is Quit waiting on something to come to you and just start stepping into it Start stepping into giving of yourself and helping others and loving others and being around other people that do the same thing And his face will shine on I Believe one of the reason God's face has shined on this church the way that it has in his face shines on others But is it years ago years ago we made a decision this will be our 19th year of heart to city Serving our community And The truth of the matter is I feel more burdened now than I ever have to say God, where are the hurting? How can we reach more? How can we love more? How can we serve more? How can we do more? There's more addicts that need to be delivered there's more broken homes that God needs to restore and And we serve others for his sake amen, can we stand up on our feet? And the thing I love about serving is It's not a posture of the heart You go out and get those water pots You go out and carry those gallons of water

Whatever he tells you to do is what Mary said Do it and let's watch God do a miracle with it. Amen Let's watch God do a miracle praise the name of Jesus