Serving for the Joy of It

Have you ever been asked to serve to the point in which you felt pressured or pushed into it? I have. It doesn’t feel right, does it? In fact, I’ll admit it...I’ve been on the other end, too. At times, I can remember myself being so desperate to find someone to serve that I’ve actually almost begged people to help.

This isn’t God’s vision for serving.

The first thing we need to realize about a theology of serving is that God doesn’t need us to serve Him. Think about it. God’s sovereign and can do whatever, whenever. We shouldn’t think for a second that He needs us to do anything for Him. He’s completely, one-hundred percent self-sufficient.

But, God chose to let us serve.

Why? Well, we get to serve because it’s part of our worship.

Psalm 100:1-2 says:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into His presence with singing!

This Psalm portrays a song of worship to the Lord. Note that verse two says, “Serve the Lord with gladness!” This proclamation to serve is included here because serving is part of our worship to God.

If this is true, we shouldn’t serve out of obligation or guilt. We should serve because we enjoy serving. Look at the text. It says, “Serve the Lord with gladness!” We’re called by God to serve with gladness, with joy.

At Gateway, we don’t want you to serve out of guilt or obligation. We want you to experience the gift God has given us as a church: the joy of serving.

If you call Gateway your home church and you’re not already serving the body of Christ here, you’re missing out.

You’re missing out on the joy of being the body of Christ, in which we all get to use and share our gifts with one another. You’re missing out on the joy of blessing others through serving and meeting needs.

God pours out His endless grace on you—which overflows like a continuous faucet, pouring into a small cup. And if you don’t serve, you’re missing out on the opportunity to release and express the overwhelming joy in your heart to others.

If you’d like to begin to experience the joy of serving others in the body of Christ at Gateway, you can sign up on the Serve page of Gateway’s website .