This message is closely related to my message last week: “A Call to Excel unto Excellence”. If you have not already done so, please read last week's message before you continue.
In order to be fruitful it is essential that the believer serves God with the right attitude. One of the attributes of man given by God is the freewill to choose. For example we can choose to fear God:
“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:28, 29, NKJV, emphasis added).
We have the power and ability to choose. We can choose to fear God. We can choose to praise God and to worship Him. On the same basis we can choose to serve God with the right attitude.
The Right Attitude
Our attitude when we face a task or an event will say one of two things: “I want to do this” or “I have to do this”.
But the majority of our attitude in life is on the “I have to” basis. It is quite a natural thing to do. We are in the habit of saying, “I have to go to bed, I have to go out, I have to go to Church” and so on. But if we choose to approach everything from “I want to” attitude it will be far more advantageous to us. When we say "I want to" we are not under compulsion to do anything. Instead we are set free to make our own choices.
“I want to” attitude generates opportunities
When we say “I want to do it” in any situation we will have the opportunities to do things otherwise seem impossible. This was the attitude of the apostle Paul:
Paul said, “… we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3, 4, emphasis added).
Paul wanted to “glory in tribulations” because by doing this he had the opportunity to cultivate godly character.
Paul also said, “There I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10, emphasis added).
In other words, when Paul was weak he had the opportunity to experience God’s power.
An opportunity to demonstrate the grace of God
Jesus said, “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also” (Matthew 5:39).
Certainly it is not an easy thing to do. No one likes to be slapped by anybody! But, the situation gives an opportunity for the person who is slapped to offer the other cheek. The fact is that you cannot turn the second cheek until someone hits the first one. Whether to turn the second cheek or not is your choice. By offering the second cheek you demonstrate the grace of God!
Opportunity generates enthusiasm
True enthusiasm is not jumping up and down with excitement. It is not just doing something eagerly and with great zeal. Enthusiasm is measured by two major factors – conviction and belief.
As an example, a salesman is enthusiastic if he has a deep conviction and a belief in the product that he is selling. In other words, he is totally persuaded and totally convinced that you need what he has to offer.
You will never “sell” Jesus Christ to any unbeliever unless you are enthusiastic for Christ. By enthusiastic for Christ means you are totally persuaded and convinced and believed that unless that person receives Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior he is going to end up in eternity of hell and damnation! The major reason why many Christians are reluctant to get involved in personal evangelism is because they lack true enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm develops creativity
Creativity means the discovery of new ideas and visions. A creative person has the courage to walk into undiscovered territories. A creative Christian is seeking after new visions while everyone else is hunting for "success" methods and formulae. The Christian who desires creativity would wrestle with God until there is a breakthrough in the realm of strategy in new concepts, new ways and new ideas – until the fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit brings forth new visions. In other words, he must be a prayerful person. His desire is to bring forth "Isaac" and not "Ishmael". Notice that "Isaac" is the product of God, but "Ishmael" comes from the "flesh" or if you like, the product of man's carnal nature.
Methods and formulae will not work because this is not how the Holy Spirit would work in the life of a local congregation of believers. In a large degree a lot of believers dropped out of Church life because to them it is boring and dull. Mostly, the false lies on their sides. They did not pray; they did not keep their own vision sharpened; they did not keep their spiritual sensitivity alive. The humdrum of routine and traditionalism in worship services affects their enthusiasm. What we need is the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit to lead us in the realm of creativity out of true enthusiasm. The key to have the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit comes from prayers and waiting upon the Lord. We may have to spend long hours on our knees to seek the Lord. We need to go through many "Gethsemane" experiences! There is no short-cut.
As mentioned earlier, it calls for a change to the right attitude in serving God. It goes from the “I have to” attitude to “I want to” attitude. Everything becomes an opportunity which will develop enthusiasm which will bring forth further creativity and good results which are pleasing to the Lord.
Vision and not ambition
Vision is God centered but ambition is self centered. An ambitious person will walk over people to get what he wants. It does not matter who he hurts and who he wounds as long as he gets what he wants.
A Biblical example is Absalom, David’s third son. In fact he was David’s favorite son. His ambition was to overthrow his father’s kingdom. He was admirable, able to win people’s hearts. He had “personality plus” but he was proud. He had great skill in looking for short cuts to get what he wanted. He was a man of reputation.
Jesus Christ, in contrast, “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7, NKJV).
God will not use a self centered ambitions man!
Disappointment develops discouragement
Let us look at the negative side. If we lack enthusiasm and continue on with the “I have to” attitude, then, everything becomes a threat – a threat to our time, a threat to our money, our family, our business and our leisure. Then we become disappointed with our Church life.
What is disappointment? It is something we often experience in our family, business and Church life. Disappointment happens when people or circumstances fail to meet the appointment of our expectation – dis-appointment.
If we do not deal with disappointment it will lead to discouragement. If we do not deal with discouragement it will lead to resentment. Resentment will lead to bitterness. Finally, it leads to poor results in our walk with God. Poor results are the results of poor attitude and good results are the results of the right attitude. Your attitude will determine the results that you bring forth in doing God’s work!
God knows our ability
Some Christians may feel that they lack the ability, gift or talent to serve God. The qualities that God looks for are commitment, faithfulness, diligence, resourcefulness and obedience and not ability.
In the parable of the Talents Jesus said:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his good to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediate he went on a journey” (Matthew 25:14, 15, NKJV, emphasis added).
Jesus gave one person five talents because He knew this person could handle five talents. He gave one talent to another person because He knew he could only handle one talent. But the person who he gave one talent could not even handle the one talent properly!
You may say God is not a respecter of anyone or “regard the person of men” (Matt. 22:16). It is true in the area of judgment and acceptance. But when it comes to the delegation of responsibility God is a respecter of the person of men.
One of the reasons why we get discouraged is because sometimes we become competitive. We try to compete with the person next to us. The right thing to do is to do our best with our God given ability. Not many of us are called to be “mighty” man of God. Not many of us are great preachers. There is actually no competition in the Kingdom of God.
The Right Motivation
The thing that keeps us going in serving God effectively is having the right motivation. Motivation to a large degree controlled by attitude.
There are three forms of motivation:
1. Motivated by fear
Many Christians feel threatened and challenged when they are motivated by fear – fear of being punished if they fail to do something to “please” God.
They go to Church because they fear death, they fear hell, and fear punishment from God. There is nothing wrong with reverent fear of God because the Bible teaches us to fear God. But, some Christians have an unhealthy fear of God. They think that if they come to Church regularly, pay their tithes and serve God He will have mercy on them. They have the “give out of fear of poverty” attitude. Some of them are self centered givers – they give to get.
For example, many believers are motivated by this:
“There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty” (Proverbs 11:24).
2. Motivated by incentive (reward) system
This form of motivation is common in the business world. If you reach certain target in your sales and achievement you will get a reward in the form of a bonus or in the form of a free, all expenses paid, holiday. This is actually a form of professional bribery.
Motivation by fear and reward are often used by parents toward their children. It is common for a mother to say to her son, “If you are a good boy and eat up your vegetables you can have some ice cream”. Or the mother could say in a threatening way, “If you do not eat up your vegetables you will get no ice cream. The boy is being brought up and motivated to practice professional bribery!
Many Christians have a heaven-or-hell Christianity – heaven for reward and hell for punishment. If we are serving God just for a place in heaven the motive is wrong. If we are serving God to avoid hell the motive is also wrong.
3. Motivation based on love
Jesus had never used any of the above two forms of motivation. Instead He said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
Once again we come back to the “I want to” and not “I have to” attitude. We want to serve God because we love Him and we have a heart for Him!
The only right motivation in the Kingdom of God is the motivation that is based entirely on Love - Love for God, love for our own families, love for our fellow believers and love for our neighbors!
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