Serving Christ Alone

Ah, foundations that fortify the family Week number 11, this is it, we're done And you know, it's always sad for me when I come to the end of a series, whether it's a book series, a topical series Because I think back of the weeks, or sometimes months, even years that it takes us to get through a book or a topic or a series or whatever the case may be, and realize there are so many things that I didn't say That I wish I could have said

So I could go back and preach the same thing again and preach them completely different because there's so much to say about either the book or the series or whatever it is we've been covering And so But whenever I come to the end, it's always sad for me But I'm always glad to begin something new, realizing that it's fresh and it's an opportunity for us to grow in our walk with the Lord So I'm curious: how many of you have been here every Single week Now, before you raise your hand, remember the last people who lied in the church died in the church

Ananias and Z. we don want you to lie, okay? Don't have to call the paramedics over here, try to revive you So make sure You tell the truth How many of you didn't miss a week, but were here every single week? You've been here 11 weeks in a row You never missed? Raise your hand One, two, three, four, five, six Wow All right Thank you Thank you That's great You know, I wish all of you could have been here every week All right, but for those of you who have endured for 11 weeks, okay, I want to thank you You know, think about it this way

The series is over, but the opportunity you have to apply the foundations is never ending It's going to take the rest of your life Even as we speak on this day, I am always looking for the opportunity to make sure That every crack in every foundation is filled in my home because it's never-ending It's that constant process of discipline and diligence and determination to make sure that God is honored and God is glorified Now, in your notes, I didn't give you the outline because I'm going to give you a little bit of a quiz

Okay? Just a little bit of a quiz, not a big quiz, just a little bit of a quiz So if you have notes from previous weeks, You can cheat, okay? That is allowable But if you don't have notes from previous weeks, you're on your own, okay? So just for the sake of humoring me this evening, I want to begin with you with foundation number one Who knows what foundation number one is? A forgiving spirit. A forgiving spirit

Okay? Now, do you know what the principle with the forgiving spirit is? Without reading your notes, the principle of the forgiving spirit is the principle of what? Alliance, because you align your life with God's life, right? You are more like Christ when forgiveness is at stake than at any other time in your life So when you have a forgiving spirit, You are aligning your life with the God who is good and ready to forgive All right? That's foundation number one

Foundation number two, which is in the order of foundation, is an O, which is, who knows? Okay, you can't yell it out. I got call on you, okay? This is, okay, this is, this is, I know, this is like college, all right? You got wait to be called on, all right? What is it? Overarching prayer And what is the principle for overarching prayer? Reliance The principle of rel, right? Why? Because you are relying upon the Lord You, you know, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it So, therefore, you must learn to rely upon the Lord for every single thing that you do

And the way you show that is that you're on your knees before the throne of grace All right, ask God to bestow grace upon you and your family because prayer is that umbrella that over everything It is that which should encompass all that you do You should never live a life without prayer Prayer is the breathing exercise of the believer And so over prayer is foundation number two All right? Now, foundation number three is, let me call on you, all right? No, you can't I can't call on you That would be cheating Oh, you have your hand up? Oh, you had the wall written down already? It's cheating

Oh, I did it tonight Oh, you did it tonight? Oh, okay Understanding mind Understanding mind And the principle that goes with understand mind is compliance Why? Because I am compliance Compliance with everything that God says in His Word, right? I want to make sure that my life is aligned with whatever God says in His Word because by understanding. A house is established It's fortified It's taking that which is leaning over, causing it to stand erect So you can't do that without an understanding mind

You must be in the Word, you must be saturated with the Word, so you're able to understand what God God says about His will, His way, so you follow it Okay? Well, it se us to foundation number four And foundation number four would be what? A non-compromising life. A non-compromising life And a non-compromising life has a principle The principle is def Defiance. A prin Of def, right That you no intercepting, that's cheating Wow, I have a church full of cheaters, man, and everything Wow, okay, it's it's defiance. I defy everything that is again the word of God. I defy sin

And I want to live a life of integrity And I want to live a life that honors the Lord So there's a non-compromising life That I live so that my integrity is not called into question, so that the credibility of my life is seen by my wife and my children, and they never have to question the motives behind why I do what I do because My life is pure, true, and honest before them, right? All right, that leads us to foundation number what? Number five Foundation number five is Demonstrating faith Demonstrating faith That's right

And that principle is the principle of app. I'm applying, okay, everything about what God has said To my life, so that I am living out what I say I believe How important is that, right? We all need to live out what we say we believe And so, a demonstrating faith is the kind of faith that shows that I'm a doer of the word Not just a hearer only What's he just the foundation number? Six, which is Leadership Awe-inspiring leadership, which is the principle of, I won't throw it at you What? Suppliance Suppliance, right? I am supplying for my family everything my family needs through my leadership

Because I'm leading them in a way that honors the Lord, and they need to understand where they're going And so I am going to supply that for them by living a righteous life, living a reverent life, so they understand What that means for them Okay? What se this to foundation number seven, which is Thirsting for Christ? Thirsting for Christ, right? A thirsting for Christ Why? Because, excuse me, let me kind of squeeze right through here There we go Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you. I'm like the guy in the movie theater, always interrupting your popcorn, right? In your movie

All right? It's a thirsting for Christ And the principle is Allegiance, right? You get your computer there? Oh, wow, look at you Oh, high-tech and everything Wow The principle of allegiance, right? Right? Because I am loyal to God In Jeremiah chapter 2, what did God say? God says, my people have forsaken me the well of living water to dig out for themselves cisterns that hold no water So, therefore, they weren't loyal to the Lord anymore They were loyal to something or someone else

And there needs to be a thirsting for the Christ, a desire to know more about the Christ, that I might represent the Christ, that I might love Live for the Christ Okay? What teaches the foundation number? What? Eight Foundation number eight is. I'm looking right at you Oh, it just w blank and I'm have to look like this It 's like overcoming evil when that's Dominoes Is that the next one? No Instilling the title That's the one right before that one Okay Instilling the local truth Yeah Which is the principle of Guidance Guidance, good for you Okay You were one step ahead of me

The principle of guidance We need to instill biblical truth in the lives of our family Okay, I do that as a father. I live truth. I model truth. I teach truth so that my children, my wife, know how to live in truth. I need to guide them in the ways of truth, right? And so, therefore, instilling biblical truth allows me the avenue through which I can guide them in that direction, right? Which leads us to foundation number nine, which is Overcoming evil with good Overcoming evil with good That's one of my favorite ones Overcoming evil with good, which is the principle of It's the victorious life

Yeah, dominance Good That's right Dominance So, why do we, and I know my wife laughed at me the other day What do mean? What kind of principle is that? Dominance Well, that's because, listen, you overcome evil with good All right, so if you let evil overcome you, you're a victim But if you overcome evil with good, then you're the victorious warrior And that's the dominating spirit that needs to happen in every one of us We need not to be dominated by evil We need to dominate evil With good

That's why it's the principle of dominance, which leads us to what we called about last week, which was Never end love, right? Which is the principle of? Significance Significance You are no more significant than when you are like the Lord and the love of God is Patient, the love of God is kind, and therefore you are the most significant when you are us and living the kind of life that God wants you to live-that love life-because that love never fails Are always significant when you never fail, and you never fail when you love the way God wants you to love Okay? Those are the first. 10 found

Okay? And now we come to foundation number 11, which, for some of you, will be the most difficult Okay? Because foundation number 11 is ser Christ al Serving Christ al And the principle for this one is the principle of Preference That is, you prefer others always above yourself Now, why is this one the most difficult? Well, let me say it to you this way: Acts 20:3 says, It's more blessed to give than it is to receive Now, that is a verse that we love to recite But it's not a virtue virtue we love to reflect It is a verse we love to recite But unfortunately, it's not a virtue we love to reflect

Why? Because we love to receive We would all like to agree that we're givers We would all like to say that there's nobody who gives more than I do More energy, more time, more money, more effort, more love, more anything We would love to say that we are the givers, but we by nature are takers We don't like to serve anybody but our Now, how do we know that? Well, because the Bible says so, right? But let me show you an illustration If you've got your Bible, turn with me to the book of Philippians for a second

In the book of Philippians, in the second chapter, there is an illustration given to us Through two men's lives The first one is Timothy And listen to what Paul says to those at Philippi about Timothy Verse 19, chapter 2 of Philippians But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare For they all seek their own interests Not those of Christ Jesus Paul says, I was looking for somebody to send to you

But the only one I could really find that would genuinely be concerned about you is Timothy Because everybody else was truly concerned about their own interest That would be like Paul saying, you know, I wanted to send somebody from Christ's commun church To minister to those of you in Uganda or to Russia or wherever we go on one of our mission trips But I really couldn't find anybody else but Joby because everybody else was so consumed with themselves except Job He was the only one that was genuinely concerned for your welfare So I chose to send J and no one else Think about that

Now I know when I talk about this, in the back of your mind, you're thinking, he's not talking to me If that's what you're thinking, be sure I'm talking to you Be sure of that Do you know that on the average, as Americans, Just by how you know that we really are self-absorbed, that we spend on average Three hours and thirty-five minutes a day just on our cell phones Now, this is by average So, you got to take the older generation That doesn't have necessarily smartphones, as well as the younger generation, add them both together, and you come up with an average

Of about three hours and 35 minutes a day Which, if I'm between the ages of 18 and 24 and I'm a woman, that means I'm spending about 90 hours. A month just on my cell phone If I'm between the ages of 18 and 24 and I'm a male, it's about 80 hours a month And if I'm over 45 years of age, It's only about fifty-four hours a month That does not include the use Of other devices Because if you add those together, you spend on the average per day. A little over six hours on your electronic device on average In 20, the year we are in now, according to the study just taken in June of this year

Can you imagine spending over six hours a day doing any at all? Let alone being on an electronic device, whether it be my smartphone, whether it be my computer, whether it be my tablet, whatever it may be And what are we doing on those ele devices? Are we using them for work? No We are using them to do what? Tell everybody else about what I'm doing Because for some reason, I really believe You all care And so I'm going to spend all this time making sure you know what's happening in my life But yet I will sit in church and say, But I genuinely am concerned about what's going on in your life

You see, we live in a day in which we have become so self-absorbed, we don't even know it or recognize it anymore It's quite interesting Do you know that you will spend more hours in a lifetime? On your electronic device, so much more so that you will spend more hours on your electronic device than you will ever spend Grooming yourself So, some of you need to switch that around a little bit Okay? Do you know that you will spend more time on your electronic device? In a lifetime, than you will ever spend eating and drinking in that same lifetime

In fact, you will spend more time on your electronic device in your lifetime than you will eating Drinking, grooming, socializing, and doing laundry all together Can you imagine that? Think about that You will spend more time on your electronic device than all those other things put together That's how out of whack we are in America

And we need to take a step back and ask ourselves: what are we doing on those devices? And why is it I need people to affirm me and applaud me and to recognize me and to see what I'm doing? And that's why serving Christ alone is going to be very difficult for the majority of us because we really are self-serving in our lives So, if that illustration in Philippians 2 didn't get your attention, the very next one will, because it says this. I thought it necessary to send to you Ep

This is verse 25, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need, because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard That he was sick He was distressed That you heard he was sick It wasn't the fact that he was distressed because he was sick On the contrary, he was distressed because you just happened to be here That he was sick And not that he had a cold, or the sniffles, or the flu, or an earache, or pneumonia Paul goes on to say he was sick and he almost died Think about it

He says, verse 27, for indeed he was sick to the point of death The guy almost died That's how sick he was But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow Therefore, I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again, you may rejoice Rejoice, and I may be less concerned about you Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard Hold guys like this way above everybody else that you know Take this guy and put him so far above everybody else because there's nobody like this guy

And he says this, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life or gambling his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me This guy was so concerned about serving Christ, he almost died serving him And that's the kind of guy you need to hold in high reg because they're few and far between Now, you think about that You see, if we're sick, we somehow got to let everybody know we're sick If we're going to the hospital, we got to somehow let everybody know I'm going to the hospital

Why? Now, I know there's balance here, so please don't hear me say one thing when I'm not really saying that There is balance True balance Because there are people who love you, who are your friends, who want to know what's going on in your life, and they ask about you, and you want to tell them that But, you know, so many times We really want others to know about our physical ailments We really do. A number of years ago, I'd use this as an illustration And no sooner had I left the auditorium

That this lady who is no longer in our church, so don't try to figure out who she is, okay? She's no longer in our church She came running up to me with her husband, Pastor, Pastor Lance, Pastor Lance. I said, Yes She said, I need you to pray for me. I said, okay You know, they pay me to pray around here, so I think I can do that for you And she said, I need to pray because I'm going into the hospital this week For surgery. I said, You are Yes, I'm going in for surgery So I said, Okay

And I You know, tried to be kind and sweet and gentle, all those things that are the opposite of my true personality, and say, Okay, what are you going in for surgery for? Okay? Because I tried to act legitimately concerned And she said, I'm going in for cosmetic surgery. I said, uh I said, did you just come out of the same auditorium I came out of? Hearing the same message that I just pre? About Ep And her husband 's kind of behind her, kind of doing this kind of thing, you know, like this

And she says, Yes, I was in there. I said, okay, did you hear the point of what we were trying to communicate about Being concerned about other people's interests above yourself and being concerned about what's going on in other people's lives, and making sure that you weren't so self-absorbed that everybody had to know what was happening in your life. I said, listen, I'm glad to pray for you concerning whatever ailment that you have going on. I'd love to do that But

Cosmetic surgery? Are you kidding me? We have people in our church who are really, really sick, and you're asking me to pray for cosmetic surgery? Needless to say, they're no longer in our church And, you know, I have a tendency to have that effect on people But the bottom line is, you know, what are people thinking? What are people actually thinking? They hear one thing, but it doesn't apply to them The pastor's not talking to me, he's talking to my spouse

The pastor can't be talking to me. I know he's talking to that guy over there because I know about his life. I hope that guy over there is listening He must not be talking to me That's exactly what we think But if you think that, please be assured I am supremely talking to you Because every one of us needs to hear this We need to be in a particular mode of ser Christ al That doesn't mean that you're not serving Christ if you ask someone to pray for you That doesn't mean that if someone knows about your situation, that you're really not serving Christ

But there's a reason Epaphroditus is held in the high esteem Because here's a guy, he was about to die or almost died, but wasn't distressed because he was going to die He wasn't even distressed he was sick But he certainly was distressed that everybody else knew he was sick because he really didn't want anybody else to know And I think that we need to begin to adopt that mentality Not that we don't want people to know what's going on in our lives That's not the point And there is a balance here that you have to strike

You have to be able to weigh in your own heart, in your own mind, where you are at Because I can't weigh your motives God does that, God weighs the motives. I don't do that My job is just to help you understand how you might serve Christ alone Because, in all reality, this becomes a supreme foundation in your home Can you imagine if everybody in a home couldn't wait to serve everybody else in the home? Or everybody in the church couldn't wait to serve everybody else in the church

Can you imagine the dynamic of the church? Can you imagine what would be happening in the church? That I was such in service mode That there was nothing about my physicality There would be nothing about my em There'd be nothing about what was going on inside of me that would obstruct me from serving you because I was so into serving Christ alone Could you imagine the body life? Can you imagine your family life? But we get to a point where we truly want others to notice us And when they don't, we begin to use all these manipulative techniques to get them to notice us

Because, in all reality, we are serving ourselves And not serving Christ So, I'm going give you seven words tonight, okay? Seven words that will help you understand whether or not you are serving Christ alone All right? Because if you're serving Christ alone, number one, word number one is this: ser Christ alone Truly is our priority Okay? Word number one, priority Serving Christ alone must be your priority Absolute, essential priority Now, the Book of Mark, great book The book of Mark is about the humility of the Christ, right? About Christ and his servanth

And so many people don't understand the book of Mark There's a reason why Mark's gospel is the shortest gospel First of all, it begins immediately with the service of the servant in Mark chapter 1 And Mark doesn't spend any time going through the genealogy of the Christ The answer to that is because nobody cares about the genealogy of a slave And Christ is the ultimate slave So it begins right in with the servanthood of the Messiah Also, there's a key word in Mark's Gospel It's used 45 times Anyone know what the key word is in the Mark's Gospel? 45 times the Jews Anybody know? Immediately

Good for you Immediately That's the word Straightforward Immediately Use 45 times Why? Because the characteristic of a servant is that he is always Immediately serving his master He is not delaying in his service You ever ask your kids to do something? What do they do? They delay Why do they delay? Because their agenda Is more important than your agenda You serving them is more important than they ser you That 's why they delay Oh, they'll use the excuse. I didn 't hear you You ever heard that excuse before? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you Although they heard

Okay? There was just something else going on that was more important to them at that time than what you were saying as their father or their mother But Christ immediately did this, immediately went here, went there, did this And in Mark's gospel, there's a unique emphasis on the hands of Jesus, the feet of Jesus, the fingers of Jesus, and the touch of Jesus Why? Because servants always use their hands They're always touching and moving and rapidly moving from place to place It's just a fascinating gospel

All the gospels, in their own right, are unique and fascinating in and of themselves, but Mark's is fascinating because it emphasizes the servant and the serving All right? And so you know the story in Mark chapter 10, in verse number 35 If you've got your Bible, you can turn there with me if you would Mark 10, verse number 35 And it says this, you know the story James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you This is almost, if it wasn't sad, it'd be hilarious

We want you to do for us, okay? As if Jesus is the sl and they are his master You ever done that? Jesus, we need you to do this Lord, we need you to answer prayer Lord, we need you to work right now as if Jesus is your servant But we were the slave of the master But they go to Jesus and they ask a question Now, you got to read Matthew's account because Matthew says they bring their mother with them Okay? James And John, sons of thunder, were really kind of not too thunderous, okay? Because they had to have their mom ask the question Jesus, we want to know We want you to do this

Of course Jesus says, what do you want me to do for you? And they said, grant that we may sit on your right and one on your left in your glory Now, the context is very important because up in verse number 32 and 33 and 34, Jesus is speaking about his impending judgment That he is going to suffer, he is going to die, he is going to rise again three days later But you see, they're not interested in that They're not interested in Jesus telling them the reason behind his suffering and death

They're not interested in Jesus telling them about the resurrection that's going to follow his suffering and death They're not interested in Jesus telling them about the redemption that's going to come through the ransom that he's going to pay that they may live They don't ask those questions Why? That's irrelevant to them What's relevant is the right hand and the left hand of Jesus What's relevant is their prominence What's relevant is what's going to happen to them It's all about them You see, serving Christ alone is not their priority, but for Jesus, it was his priority

And of course, as the story goes on, Jesus says, You don't know what you're asking Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Are you baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? Or, in other words, are you able to take in the fullness of my wrath? In the wrath, because the cup is a symbol of the suffering and the wrath of God Are you able to be able to handle those things? And they said to him, We are able And Jesus said to them, Oh, the cup that I drink, oh, you shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism of which I am baptized You have no idea what she just said

You have no idea what's going to happen to you But instead of my right, on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared Hearing this, the ten began to feel indign with James and John Why were they indignant? Because they didn't think to ask the question They didn't have a mother to come to Jesus and ask the question That's why they were indignant But you see, James and John really believed that they deserved that place of honor After all, they were on the Mount of Transfiguration

They got a glimpse of the glory of God, right? Wow, we were on the Mount with Jesus And we were on the mount with Jesus, and we saw him unzip his flesh, and we saw the glory of the Lord We deserve to say one on your right and one on your left Right? That's what they're thinking And earlier in Mark's Gospel, in the ninth chapter, Peter said to him, Behold, we have left everything and followed you. I mean, that we're loyal We have left everything, Jesus, and we are going to follow you We deserve right-hand, left-hand seats

How many of us believe we deserve something? We go through life thinking, I deserve a better job. I deserve a better husband, a better wife. I deserve a fuller family. I deserve more money. I deserve a better house. I deserve a better church. I deserve this. I deserve something better Listen, whenever you think you deserve something, you have ceased to make serving Christ alone as your priority Because slaves deserve nothing Nothing But for some reason, we think we do And so we begin to put demands upon the Lord because we deserve something better than the cards that have been dealt us

And we think That Jesus needs to step up and answer prayer and do something for us That's not the case That's when it goes on later in Mark chapter 10 and says, Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served But to serve and to give his life a ransom for many This is my priority Even the Son of Man, even the one that stands before you today, I did not come here to be served. I didn't come here so that you would serve me. I came here to give my life away. I came here to serve you

Listen, if this was Christ's priority, why can't it be our priority? If this was the priority of Jesus Christ our Lord Who didn't think that equality with God was something to be grasped, right? And so, what did he do? He took on the form of a servant, Morph, we get the word DNA from He actually became a servant, right? And how did he do that? He emptied himself, the great kenosis And we told you this before: that remember, when a Roman centurion went into war, a Roman centurion was the leader of a hundred men When he went to war, he would strip himself

It's called the kenosis He would strip himself of all of his medals, everything that would distinguish him as different from his men He would strip himself of all those things so that when he went into battle, he would look exactly like the rest of his men He never ceased to be the leader He never ceased to be the general He never ceased to be in charge He laid aside those medals He laid aside those markings of achievement So that he could look just like his men when he went into war The great kin of Christ is that He emptied him

He took those attributes, those divine attributes, he set them aside He could take them up whenever he wanted to take them up, but he will set them aside That he might serve his fellow man, and that he might be able to come alongside of them and sa them from their sin That was his priority And yet, for some reason, it's very low on our priority list to become a servant of the Christ And to serve those that we say we love For us to truly Serve Christ alone It must be our priority Number two, it must be our responsibility That's word number two: res

One of the great passages in all the Gospels for me is Luke chapter 17 When Christ talks about stumbling blocks and how they're going to come, they're inevitable They're going to come your way And it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown to the sea than That he would cause one of these little ones to stumble Be on guard If your brother sins, rebuke him If he repents, forgive him If he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times, saying, I repent, forgive him And the apostle said, Oh Lord, increase our faith

Now we talked about this. 11 weeks ago We looked at this as an illustration about the responsibility we had to forgive See, the disciples didn't want to take responsibility to forgive We don't want that response, but we need more faith Got to have more faith We don't necessarily verbalize it this way, but we think, well, I can't live in the family I'm living in. I need more faith No, you don't need to be more faithful You just got to be responsible Okay? And Jesus tells him that

He says, if you had the faith like a mustard seed, You will to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you In other words, you don't need more faith You got faith You don't need fourth All you need is a little bit of faith And you got that Don't need more faith He says, Which of you having a slave plowing attending sheep? And say to him, When he has come in the field, come immediately and sit down and eat But he will not say that to him

Prepare something for me to eat and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterwards you may eat and drink He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded, you say, We are un slaves We have done only that which we ought to do To have done. I mean, I read that, and the more times I read that, I think to myself, we think ourselves so worthy Look what I have done for you, I have forgiven you of your sins, I am so worthy of praise. I am so worthy of recognition

And Jesus says, on the contrary, when you have done that which is your duty to do as a slave, you are still An unprofitable servant He wants you to make sure you don't think of yourself too highly than you want to think Because you have a responsibility to obey the commands of God That's why Samuel told Saul to obey is better than sacrifice That's why Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 13: ser the Lord your God, cling to Him, do not move away from Him Why? Because obedience to God is everything That's your responsibility Why? Because you see, he's the master, and we are the slave

Those great Pictures, metaphors in Scripture Remember, he's the bridegroom, we are the what? Bride You still awake out there? Yeah? We're the bride He's the bridegroom Okay, he's the vine, we are the branches, right? He's the head, we are the body He's the master, we are the slave See? We like the head-body thing, like the bridegroom-bride thing, even like the vine-branches thing But the master-slave thing, nah, we don't like that too much But you see, that's exactly what we are We have been, according to 1 Corinthians 6, bought with a price Our body is no longer our own Wow

Your body isn't yours, it's God's And if God chooses to riddle you with cancer, it's his body, not yours Can you remember that? If he chooses to do anything to your body he chooses to do, it's his body It's not your body But see, we get into this mode that it's all about me and it's all about mine It's not. I have been bought with a price And I am His. I'm at His disposal. I am at His beckoning call When he speaks, I listen When he says run, I run When he says, jump, I say how high Whatever you want, Lord, I'm here for you

You know what the great thing about that is? Even though we're slaves, he doesn't treat us like slaves He treats us like sons and daughters because we are sons Oh, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us That we should be called the children of God We are children of the living God Oh, yeah, we've been bought with the price Yeah, He owns us Our body's His But we're His sons and we're His daughters We are children of the living God Serving Christ alone is and needs to be our priority because it is our responsibility Number three, it is our Identity

Our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are ser of the living God We are his slaves Listen In Philippians 2, when he took on the form of a servant, He became a man He emptied himself He became obedient even to the death of the cross Okay? We now, as His children, become partakers of His divine nature And this we have reiterated throughout the whole series: we can love because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts, and He is the God of love, and we are Partakers of the divine nature

We can overcome evil with good because why? We serve a good God and we are partakers of a God who is good of His nature Well, we are partakers of the nature of the living God, who, according to the book of Isaiah, is God the Father's servant Messiah, my servant, he is called in Isaiah 53 He is a servant of the living God Well, we, because we are partakers of the divine nature of God, we now, by nature, are So, this is our identity This is who we are And listen, when we don't serve Christ alone, we have an identity crisis We have a problem Our world falls apart

If I'm into serving me, my world is going to fall apart If I'm into serving someone else other than my God, primarily, my world is going to fall apart Because my identity is wrapped up in the fact that I am a servant of the living God, and when I serve Him first, boy, my identity is so clearly seen and so clearly in focus and so easily Read by others That's my identity That's who I am No need ever for us to have an identity crisis Because we are servants of the living God When Christ said, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and gentle In spirit

It speaks of the characteristics of the servant because that's who he is That's why in Romans 8, 28, 29, it talks about us how we are being predestined to be conformed to his image, that we might better look like the Christ Speak like the Christ Live like the Christ Serving Christ alone is and needs to be our priority Our responsibility because it simply is our id Number four, it is our min This is our min In Matthew 6, verse 24, no man can serve two masters, right? Because you're going to love one, hate the other, be devoted to one, despise the other You can only serve one

So your ministry must be in serving the Christ Now, the uniqueness about that is that that ser, because you're a partaker of the divine nature, because you're a child of the living God It's a part of who you are So let me illustrate that for you Turn me in your Bible to Matthew 25 Matthew chapter 25 If you've been to Israel with me, we talk about the great sheep-goat judgment in the Ki Valley, right outside the eastern gate of the City of Jerusalem We stand on top of the Mount of Olives, look down at the Kid Valley, the Valley of Jehoshaphat

It's called the Valley of Decision, right? And as we look at this, we talk to you about the great sheep judgment because that's where it's going to happen Matthew 25 It says in verse 31, But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats And he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left

Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, and I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in Naked, you clothed me Sick, you visited me Prisoned, and you came to me Then the righteous will answer him Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to eat, drink? Excuse me

And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? The king will answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, You did it to me Now, listen carefully This portion of scripture is Power punched with the most basic truths of the servant Notice the ministry of the servant, the ministry of the servant Is always challenged by simplicity It's challenged by simplicity It's in the food, the clothes, the drink The visit

That's what it's about It's not about the great accomplishments It's not about the big things It's not the biggies Because servanthood is not about the biggies, it's about the simple things in life And so the ministry of the servant is challenged by simplicity But more than that, the ministry of the servant is committed to selflessness It's committed To selflessness In other words, they did this not to the rich, not to the popular, but to the nameless The people that no one knows and no one cares about And that's why servanth is so beautiful because it's committed to selflessness

Challenged by simplicity, committed to selflessness, it truly is characterized by spontaneity It says, very simple, when did we do this? They had no idea When did we see you thirsty? When did we see you hungry? When did we see you in need? When did we see you in prison? You see, it's all about spontaneity It's not planned out That's the beauty of the servant The beauty of servanthood is that you do it supernaturally, yet naturally Because you are a partaker of the divine nature, you are always in servant mode

And so they say, Well, but wouldn't we see you hungry? Thirsty, if we'd have known it was you, Jesus, we'd have been there But we didn't know it was you So, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or naked or in prison? When you did it to the least of these, my brethren Because you see, they didn't see him, they didn't know And that's why servanthood is such a beautiful thing because you're not looking for any kind of applause or recognition because you don't even know you're doing it to the Lord Because it's part of your nature just to serve

And then, on top of that, it is truly controlled by submission Why? When you did it to the least of these, my brethren, when you did it unto the nameless few, that no one else ever saw You did it as unto who? Me See, the servant is always submissive to the master He is so submissive, she is so submissive to the master, that in the simplicity of life, the spontaneity reigns supreme They just do what they do because that's what servants do And so, when you reverse it to the goats, what does Jesus say? To the goats, he says, When I was in prison, you didn't visit me

When I was naked, you didn't close me When I was hungry, you didn't feed me Thirsty, you never gave me anything to drink When did we see you that way? If we would have known it was you, Jesus, we'd have been there Right? See, he didn't do it the least of these my brother and wife, because submission to me was irrelevant to you Spontaneity? Yeah Why? Because it wasn't a part of your inner nature to be that way You see, the believer is uniquely marked out from the unbeliever by his submission to his master, by the spontaneity of his service

Because he truly is selfless in the way he lives his life With an unbeliever, he's selfish, not selfless He wants to do it to the biggies Because in doing to the biggies and the rich and the powerful, he gets recognition He gets praise See? But not the believer They're different. I must hurry Although I don't want to hurry, I must hurry Truly, serving Christ alone is our credibility You want credibility? Credibility comes through your living out your identity And that identity is seen in your ministry And that gives you automatic credibility

Not that you're looking for credibility. I love what the Lord God said through the pen of Jeremiah, Jeremiah: Do you seek great things for yourself? That's the question Answer: Do not seek them Isn't that great verse? Need to memorize that verse Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them Don't do it But credibility In the stories of John chapter 13, remember John chapter 13? The eve of the crucifixion? There is a dispute that arises among the men again, yet again about who's the greatest in the kingdom, right? And what does Christ do? He takes a slave apron

What does he do? He washes the disciples' feet He tells, I've set you an example That you should do as I have done unto you And we told you before that the example is not about washing people's feet And that's not the example The example simply is this: that Jesus said, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have lo you Loving one another as you love yourself is no longer good enough It doesn't meet the standard Because I'm the standard And what's the standard? How do you love as Christ loved? Very simple We said this to you many times over the years

And we sit, and we sit in the upper room, in the upper room In Jerusalem, and we preach on John chapter 13 to get people to know one thing: that they leave Israel with one truth Leave with this one That when you are in the most amount of pain, and you are the most lonely you have ever been in your entire life And you're isolated on your own with no support system, serve, serve your fellow man Because that is the epitome of credibility in the mind of Christ That's what he did It was the most shocking night It was the most sorrowful night

It was the most significant night because what no one cared about, no one said, hey, Jesus, we know you're going to die tomorrow for us Can we come around and pray with you for a little bit? Can we talk to the Lord about you? We want to pray with you Lord, what can we do for you? No one asked the question because you were so self-absorbed No one cared So, what did Jesus do? Oh, come on, guys Oh, man Don't you care a little bit? Come on, guys Can't you pray with me? Did he whine about it? No What did he do? Amidst their arrogance, amidst their pride, he just served them

He washed their feet. I've left you an example What's the example? When you are at wits end with nothing else, no support system, no help, no love, no support, what do you do? Do you cry about it? No Do you talk about it? No You serve your fellow man When you do that, now you're living like a servant Now you're living out your true identity Now your ministry is going to begin to flourish like never before because the credibility you have is Christ's credibility See that? Wow, I'm way over time Next, real quick, this is your acc Matthew 25, 21 and 23

Christ says to the faithful servant, Well done, thou good and faithful servant What is it required of a steward that he be found faithful, right? And one day you hear the words, Well done, thou good and faithful steward, because those in the parable of the talents were the ones who took the opportunity God gave to them and they served the Lord That opportunity He says, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord What commendation! What a promotion It's our accountability And lastly, it's our destiny It's our destiny Listen to this

Revelation chapter 22, verse number 3 When you get to heaven, there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his bonds will serve him Serving the L is your ultimate destiny When you get to heaven, people say, What am I going do? You go serve Jesus What does that mean? I have no idea But whatever is in the infinite mind of God for us to do for the rest of all eternity, He's going to say, This is what you do We're going to say, We'll do it You're going to serve the king This is our destiny This is where we're moving toward

Wouldn it be good to get practice in now while you can? Practice all the time, all the while you can on earth, because this is where you're going You're going to do nothing but serve Christ alone throughout all eternity Just won't get used to it right now What better time than to serving those in your family? I conclude with this Book of Colossians, third chapter, twenty-second verse Slaves, that's us In all things, obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart Fearing the Lord

For whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord, rather than for men Know this, that as you begin to build those foundations, do you work heartily as for the Lord? Because it's Him that you ultimately serve May we pray with you Father, we thank you for tonight Truly, Lord, you are great Truly, Lord, there is so much for us to learn. I pray for all of us, Lord, because we all have that selfish streak in us that we want to be served But our prayer, Father, is that your Spirit would enable us To live for you and to serve you alone May that be our ambition

May we seek to please the Lord Jesus. I pray for everybody here tonight. I pray, Lord, that they would take these foundations And begin to build a home your way for the glory of your kingdom We pray in Jesus' name Amen.