Serving Without a Strategy
Called: to Serve — Loving God Without Leverage or a Strategy
Why do we serve?
For many of us, service can quietly become strategic. We serve faithfully, give generously, and stay committed — often believing, even subconsciously, that our obedience will secure blessing, protection, or favor from God.
In Serving Without a Strategy, Pastor Wes Smith challenges that way of thinking by walking through the story of Job. This message confronts the deeply ingrained belief that God operates on a transactional system: If I do the right things, God will make my life go right.
But the book of Job reveals something far deeper.
Big Idea
We don’t serve God to get something from Him — we serve because His love has already changed us.
God’s love is not strategic, calculated, or conditional. And when that truth reshapes how we see Him, it transforms why and how we serve.
Message Summary
Job begins his story as a righteous, faithful man who seemingly does everything “right.” Yet suffering still comes. When it does, Job’s friends rush to explain it with bad theology — insisting that pain must always be earned and blessing must always be deserved.
When God finally speaks in Job 38–41, He doesn’t explain Job’s suffering or reward his obedience. Instead, He reveals who He is.
God points to wild, untamable parts of creation — creatures that offer Him no advantage, no productivity, and no return. And yet, He delights in them. This revelation dismantles the idea that God’s love is earned or strategic.
When Job truly encounters God’s character, his posture changes. He stops trying to leverage obedience and begins to trust. From that transformation flows a new way of living — marked by humility, generosity, and love.
Serving, then, is no longer about earning favor.
It becomes about becoming the kind of people who love like God loves.
Key Scripture Reference
Job 1:1–5
Job is introduced as righteous and faithful, yet his story immediately challenges the idea that obedience guarantees ease.
Job 2:7–13
Suffering enters Job’s life, exposing the limits of transactional faith.
Job 4–11
Job’s friends express a flawed theology — assuming suffering must be the result of sin.
Job 38–41
God reveals His character, highlighting His love for creation that offers Him no benefit or advantage.
Job 42:1–6
Job’s encounter with God leads to repentance, humility, and transformation.
Job 42:10–17
Restoration follows, but Job’s greatest change is internal — a reoriented understanding of who God is.
Why This Message Matters
If we serve with an agenda, service becomes exhausting.
If we serve to earn, service becomes fragile.
But when we see God clearly — a God who loves freely and without strategy — serving becomes a joyful response, not a spiritual transaction.
The local church isn’t just a place to be useful.
It’s a place where God forms us into people who love without leverage.
Next Step
Don’t let the beauty and power of the local church pass you by.
Step into serving — not because it benefits you, but because it’s shaping who you are becoming.
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