Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

If you have your Bible, you can open it up to Ephesians 2. Your attitude determines your altitude. Throughout this series, we’ve said that God’s plan for us is to fly high in our lives and in our church. But to achieve those higher altitudes, we have to have the attitude of Jesus.

In this series, we’ve talked about five key attitudes that will allow us to go to higher elevations. Our attitude about God, our attitude about sin, our attitude about God’s Word and prayer, our attitude about each other, and our attitude about lost people. In this last message in this series, we’re talking about our attitude about ministry.

Several years ago, a 33-year-old truck driver named Larry Walters made national news. Now, Larry’s usual life wasn’t newsworthy. He spent his weekends sitting in his Los Angeles backyard in his favorite lawn chair staring at the houses around him in his subdivision. You wouldn’t see that on CNN or Fox News.

But one day, boredom got the best of Larry Walters. He bought some balloons and a tank of helium. He figured on tying the balloons to his lawn chair, filling them up with helium, and floating up for an aerial view of his neighborhood. He figured that he wouldn’t fly higher than 100 feet, but just in case, he had his BB gun loaded and ready. If he flew too high, he would use his BB gun to shoot out a balloon or two.

So Larry secured his lawn chair to the ground, then he filled 45 big weather balloons with helium. You can see where this is going. One by one, he tied the balloons to his lawn chair. He sat down in the chair and instructed his neighbors to cut the ropes that were holding the chair on the ground. They did and he took off.

But he didn’t go up 100 feet. He went up 16,000 feet! As he rocketed upward, his BB gun was useless because he was using both hands to cling to his chair for dear life.

Larry flew straight up into the landing pattern for the Los Angeles Airport. The pilot of an approaching Continental DC 10 reported to the control tower that he had just passed a man in a lawn chair. Eventually, they sent helicopters to rescue Larry. They closed the airport and diverted all landings and takeoffs at LAX while they played tag with this fellow in a lawn chair at 16,000 feet. When they finally got him down, he was surrounded by TV crews, the police, fire and rescue squads, and plenty of curious people. This had turned into a major event.

One of the reporters asked Larry, “Were you scared?”

“No, not really,” Larry replied.

Another reporter asked, “Are you going to do it again?”

“No,” said Larry.

And then the question that was on everyone’s mind was finally asked. “What in the world made you do it the first time?”

Larry Walters thought about it for a minute, and then he said, “Well, you can’t just sit there.”

A surefire way to limit your altitude is to be content to just sit there. And yet that is the attitude of countless Christians. To just sit. They view Christianity as a spectator sport. They come to church to watch others perform. They’ll put some money in the plate if they liked the show that day. If the performance wasn’t up to their standards, they’ll be sure to criticize it. They smile, shake a few hands, and they leave with their religious buzz for the week.

God has a different idea for our lives. He has different plans for his church. This morning we’re going to use one verse from the book of Ephesians to illustrate how God’s idea is radically different from the attitude we just described.

Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (NLT)

God’s idea is for us to do something. His plan is for us to do good things or good works. In other words, his plan is for us to serve. To do ministry. So why is this attitude of servanthood so noticeably absent in the lives of many Christians?

Because serving is not natural. Serving is absolutely backwards from the way our culture acts and thinks. We live in a Burger King culture. Burger King’s slogan is, “Have it your way.” With that slogan, they’re appealing to our selfish nature. “Have it your way” sounds pretty good to us. I want it, and I want it my way. It appeals to the core of our selfish nature.

And this attitude of our culture has slithered its way into the church. The attitude is what can I get, not what can I give. People want to know what the church can do for them, not what they can do for the church. That’s a corporate American mindset that has become firmly entrenched in the church. Let’s check out this short video.

One phrase that I’ve used time and again in this series: it’s not about me. And this idea of serving, of doing ministry, is the apex of this whole concept. Because if you’re serving, you’re not wrapped up in mc church. You’re not wrapped up in what you want. You’re not focused on having your needs met because you’re meeting the needs of others.

But we have to recognize that this does not come naturally. We are not born with a servant attitude. When my son Ryan was born, he didn’t come out of the womb and say, “Hello mother. Hello father. How can I serve you today?” No way! He came out and he instantly began demanding things. He demanded to be fed, and he didn’t want to wait. He demanded his diapers be changed. He demanded that we meet his needs, morning, noon, and night. We are born with an automatic bent toward selfishness, and our culture does nothing but reinforce this attitude as we grow older.

Because we are not born with this idea of servanthood, God saw that we needed to be born again. For us to become servants, God had to “re-create” us. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10, NLT) God created us anew. When Jesus died for our sins, that gave us the chance to start all over again. The Bible says that, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV) One of the “new” parts of this life is serving. We are re-created in Christ to serve.

Serving is not natural. Serving is spiritual. Our verse in Ephesians says that we are “God’s masterpiece.” The NIV and the KJV say that we are “God’s workmanship.” And as God’s workmanship, as God’s masterpiece, we are re-created to serve. That makes this a spiritual issue.

Our culture has a really messed up idea of what is spiritual. If you want to do something spiritual, you don’t have to consult Oprah. You don’t have to fly to Tibet and find some wise old monk to teach you the meaning of life. If you want to do something spiritual, serve. Serving is God’s idea of true spirituality.

I love the way Rich Mullins said it. He said, “A spiritual thing is folding your clothes at the end of the day. A spiritual thing is making your bed. A spiritual thing is taking cookies to your neighbor that is shut in or raking their front lawn because they are too old to do it. That’s spirituality. Getting a warm, oozy feeling about God is an emotional thing—there’s nothing wrong with it—I think there is nothing more practical than real spirituality.”

Serving is spiritual. Doing ministry is God’s loftiest ideal for our lives. Wayne Smith said, “God didn’t save you to be a sensation. He saved you to be a servant.” The key is to fight against what is natural to achieve what is spiritual. I will fight against what is natural to achieve what is spiritual. Say that with me. I will fight against what is natural to achieve what is spiritual. One more time. I will fight against what is natural to achieve what is spiritual.

How do you do that? How do you conduct this fight? Well, you don’t do it with words. You do it with actions. You don’t talk about serving. To put it bluntly, you just shut up and serve.

Every person who calls the Amelia Church of Christ their church home is expected to serve our church family in some way. And I chose that word on purpose. Service is expected. Far too many people look at the church’s paid staff as THE ministers. The fact is, we’re all ministers. We’re all called to be servants. The church always has and always will run on volunteer power. Even churches who have hundreds on staff require thousands of volunteers. Volunteer service is the lifeblood of the church, so let me take a word out of your vocabulary right now. I want to take out the word “just.” I get so tired of people saying, “Well, I’m just a volunteer.” You’re not just a volunteer. You are a servant. You are a minister. You are vital to your church’s ministry.

Do you realize how high our church could fly if all of our people were involved in ministry? Let me give you an example. One of the toughest things to do in any church is staff the children’s ministry. If all of our parents served in our children’s ministry for one month a year, we would have more than enough staffing. That’s 4 Sundays out of 52 each year. This is just one example. I could go on and on.

For the ministry of our church to continually improve, grow, and expand, it will require every member to adopt a ministry attitude. An attitude that says, “It’s not about me. I’m all about serving God and serving others.” We need our people to use the gifts God has given them in ministry. The Bible tells us plainly that everyone has been gifted by God in different areas. But he didn’t dish out those gifts for us to just sit on them. He wants us to unleash our gifts in service and ministry. Are you using your gifts and talents for the Lord? If there is something that you are passionate about, something that just gets your juices flowing, find a way to take that and use it in service to Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever want to have to stand before God and try to explain why I allowed the gifts and talents he has given me to go to waste.

And beyond that, God needs us to be willing to get out of our comfort zones to serve. Yes, we’ve all been gifted in certain areas, but there are secondary gifts as well. Areas where you may not be the most talented, but an area where you can still fulfill a need in your church. Some people just say, “Well, it’s not my gift to serve in this area,” when really they just don’t want to be stretched or inconvenienced. God didn’t give us our gifts and talents for us to use them as a copout to not serve in other areas.

One of the greatest servants I’ve ever known is a guy named Leo. Leo was an old, retired farmer. He wasn’t an upfront, on stage kind of guy. He didn’t have a lot of flash or charisma. But he was a servant. If I needed something done, I always knew that I could call Leo. One day, Leo was at the church building doing something. I’m not even sure what he was doing, but he was there serving in some way. And I pulled him aside and said, “I just want you to know how much I appreciate all you do for our church family. We don’t thank you often enough.” Leo smiled and said, “Well, the truth is, I’m not doing it for your thanks anyway. I’ve got a crown in heaven waiting on me.” Leo had a great understanding of serving. Ministry is not done to receive a pat on the back from other people. It may be nice to get that pat on the back every now and then, the ultimate reward will come from God. He sees your service that is done in secret. And a true servant will choose anonymity over recognition every time.

Serving is not natural. Serving is spiritual. And serving is vital. We’ve already said that service and ministry are expected in the lifestyle of a Christian. The reason God expects it is because it is vital to our spiritual growth. Some of you are struggling in your faith. You’re stumbling. You’re just having a hard time. You’ve lost your passion for your relationship with God. Some of you may even be a little bored with the whole thing. Your faith is just not the dynamic force in your life that it used to be. Can I tell you something that you probably don’t want to hear? Typically when you’re struggling and stumbling in your faith, your faith is too self-consumed. Your faith is all about you. What am I getting out of this? The antidote for spiritual apathy is service. If you are spiritually struggling, then you’re probably not serving. Doing ministry is vital to our spiritual growth.

And it is also vital to our witness for Christ. Service is key to impacting our community for Christ. People in our community are met face-to-face with selfish, self-serving people everyday. And as you know, it really gets old. A great way for us to stand out in our community is to serve. God’s idea is for us to serve inside the church walls, but also to take our ministry and service outside to impact and influence our community.

I was driving home one day this week and I knew I was going to be teaching on this. So I thought, “I wonder how it would work if I drove my car all the way home with a servant attitude.” Guess what? It really changed the way I drove. I allowed people to change lanes in front of me when I could have blocked them out. I didn’t ride on the bumper of the little old lady in front of me who was going 15 miles below the speed limit. It totally changed my perspective on driving. But it required a conscious, intentional decision on my part. Serving is not natural, so it has to be intentional.

The challenge is to leave here this week and intentionally serve other people. To serve intentionally at home. To serve intentionally at work. To serve intentionally at school. Serving intentionally simply means that I decide everyday to fight against what is natural to achieve what is spiritual. It may not be easy, it may not be natural, to invite your neighbor to church, but will you serve God by doing so? It may not be natural to treat your co-worker with respect even though he’s a total jerk, but will you serve God by doing so?

Serving is vital because it can have a powerful impact on people who are outside of Christ. It is so outside the norm of our culture. It is so absolutely backward from the way our society functions. And that is exactly what can make it attractive to someone who doesn’t know the Lord.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10, NLT) The word that our Bibles translate as “masterpiece” or “workmanship” is actually the Greek word for “poem.” Literally, this verse says that we are the poetry of God. And God is calling us to be poetry in motion, not poetry that sits on our hands and watches other people do all the ministry.

This is a tough concept to digest because, like we’ve been saying all along, it just goes against the grain of what is natural and what we’ve been taught. One preacher said that serving in our culture is like trying to walk down an up escalator. It’s not easy because you’re going against the flow. Our culture says that to be happy, you need to be served. But God knows that this kind of life proves empty and unfulfilling. He’s calling us to against the grain and follow the example of Jesus. Jesus said that he didn’t come to be served, but to serve. And therein lies the key to a more fulfilling life. It is a more fulfilling life because it is lived with an eternal perspective. If you have found our culture’s way of life empty and you’re ready for a new start, that’s what God offers you. His ways seem backwards at times, but they lead us to a life that is more than we could have imagined. If you’re ready to accept his free offer of eternal life, we invite you come. And even if you’re ready to recommit yourself to a life that serves him instead of self, he’s waiting to give you another chance.

Mike Edmisten