"What's in it for Me?"

Life in general is always in survival mode for most folks and rightly so. This is the reason we will hear the question so often asked, “What's in it for me?” when approached to do something for or with someone. People want to know what they are getting into and how it is going to benefit them. To a certain extent there is nothing wrong with wanting to know the blessings or consequences of your decision making. After all, what we are today is due to what we did yesterday and what we are tomorrow is due to what we do today. Makes sense, right?

Here is a prime example of self preservation. A devout believer in astrology, French king Louis XI was deeply impressed when an astrologer correctly foretold that a lady of the court would die in eight days' time. Deciding, however, that the too-accurate prophet should be disposed of, Louis summoned the man to his apartments, having first told his servants to throw the visitor out of the window when he gave the signal. "You claim to understand astrology and to know the fate of others," the king said to the man, "so tell me at once what your fate will be and how long you have to live." "I shall die just three days before Your Majesty," answered the astrologer. The shaken king canceled his plans! [Today in the Word, July 16, 1993.] 

 

It wouldn't hurt for us to remember the words of Warren Wiersbe dealing with preserving oneself. “Self-preservation is the first law of physical life, but self-sacrifice is the first law of spiritual life.” So are we thinking with the spiritual or the carnal mind when it comes to self-preservation? Good question to ask ourselves on a regular basis. The apostle Paul struggled with the flesh/carnal mind and this is what he had to say about it. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:5-8) Surely all of us want to be pleasing to God and it is required of us to do so if we love Him and want to keep His commandments.

Paul further tells us in 1 Cor. 3:3, for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? So, do you have any of these problems? Remember, to be pleasing to God we cannot have a carnal mind. We must never forget that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. (2 Cor. 10:4) We all have those nagging strongholds in our life that need to be destroyed, mainly because they are carnal, not spiritual. With God's help these strongholds will be destroyed once and for all. The question is, “Are you willing to let Him do it?”

Goodness of God

...not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 

One of God's faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior. Despite his troubles, he said, "While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me." In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, "I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God." [Allen Gardiner]

Surely we can identify with Mr. Gardiner that God is good. We've even made the statement, “God is good,” more than once ourselves. We read in Exodus 34:6 where Moses proclaimed that the Lord was abounding in goodness and truth which tells us that His goodness is abundant even for us today. The psalmist lets us know that His goodness is great as well. Oh how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You...(Psalm 31:19a) The psalmist also writes that God's goodness is enduring, satisfying and universal. Why do you boast in evil, O might man? The goodness of God endures continually (Psa. 52:1). Blessed is the man whom You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house (Psa. 65:4). The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Psa. 145:9). So God's goodness is described as being abundant, great, enduring, satisfying and universal.

We see God's goodness manifested in several things too. Take for instance material and spiritual blessings. Matthew 5:45 is a prime example of His material blessings. “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” And how about His willingness to forgive sins? For You, Lord are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You (Psa. 86:5).

Maybe you can relate to God's goodness through this story. Often I have heard people say, "How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!'" Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. "No, Corrie," said Betsie, "He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: 'For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.'" Corrie concludes, "There is an ocean of God's love available--there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love--whatever the circumstances." [Corrie Ten Boom]

If we found ourselves in Corrie and Betsie's situation, would we have the same attitude as Betsie about God's goodness? If one truly knows and loves God, then and only then will they realize God's goodness no matter what their circumstances are in life. Amen? We need to come to grips that God is still in control and He wants nothing but good for His creation. It is and has always been man that has messed up His plans. 

 

Can you be counted on today to start looking for God's goodness? If so, can you also be counted on to help others find it too? Just think how much better off the world will be if we all have Betsie's attitude in life! God's goodness does abound and I'm sure we have already witnessed it today. Keep looking for it and see how your life will be changed for the better and how every day will have a silver lining, not a rain cloud. This is what happened in the life of Ezra. Let's see how!

Service

Most people wish to serve God -- but in an advisory capacity only.

Quoted in Sunday Express, London.

Franklin Roosevelt's closest adviser during much of his presidency was a man named Harry Hopkins. During World War II, when his influence with Roosevelt was at its peak, Hopkins held no official Cabinet position. Moreover, Hopkins' closeness to Roosevelt caused many to regard him as a shadowy, sinister figure. As a result he was a major political liability to the President. A political foe once asked Roosevelt, "Why do you keep Hopkins so close to you? You surely realize that people distrust him and resent his influence." Roosevelt replied, "Someday you may well be sitting here where I am now as President of the United States. And when you are, you'll be looking at that door over there and knowing that practically everybody who walks through it wants something out of you. You'll learn what a lonely job this is, and you'll discover the need for somebody like Harry Hopkins, who asks for nothing except to serve you." Winston Churchill rated Hopkins as one of the half-dozen most powerful men in the world in the early 1940s. And the sole source of Hopkins's power was his willingness to serve. [Discipleship Journal, Issue 39 (1987), p. 5.]

Now let's examine two types of service and try to determine which one best describes us when it comes to serving God and our fellow man.

Self-righteous service comes through human effort. True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside.Self-righteous service is impressed with the "big deal." True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service.Self-righteous service requires external rewards. True service rests contented in hiddenness.Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results. True service is free of the need to calculate results.Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve. True service is indiscriminate in its ministry.Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims. True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need.Self-righteous service is temporary. True service is a life-style.Self-righteous service is without sensitivity. It insists on meeting the need even when to do so would be destructive. True service can withhold the service as freely as perform it. Self-righteous service fractures community. True service, on the other hand, builds community. [Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, "The Discipline of Service."] 

 

God's word reminds us that...

“You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24)

“And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:27,28)

...but through love serve one another. (Gal. 5:13)

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Col. 3:24)

 

One of the best ways we can serve God and our fellow man is to become very acquainted with God's word and be willing to share it when the opportunities present themselves.

Preaching for God's Glory or Self Glory

When it comes to preaching we know that Jesus was the greatest of all preachers. He was definitely one that heralded God's message. Another would be the apostle Paul. Paul saw himself as Christ's herald. When he describes himself as an appointed preacher of the gospel (2 Tim. 1:11), the noun he uses means a herald, a person who makes public announcements on someone elses behalf. When he declares "we preach Christ crucified," the verb he uses denotes the herald's appointed activity of declaring abroad what he has been told to make known. When Paul speaks of "my preaching" and "our preaching" and lays it down that after the world's wisdom had rendered the world ignorant of God "it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe," the noun he uses doesn't mean the activity of announcing, but the thing announced, the proclamation itself, the message declared.

Paul, in his own estimation, was not a philosopher, not a moralist, not one of the world's wise men, but simply Christ's herald. His royal master had given him a message to proclaim; his whole business was to deliver that message with exact and studious faithfulness, adding nothing, altering nothing, and omitting nothing. And he was to deliver it not as another of people's bright ideas, needing to be beautified with the cosmetics and high heels of fashionable learning in order to make people look at it, but as a word from God spoken in Christ's name, carrying Christ's authority and authenticated in the hearers by the convincing power of Christ's Spirit (1 Cor. 2:1-5). [James Packer, Your Father Loves You,  Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.] 

 

Today we find a lot of preachers preaching what people “want to hear,” not what they “need to hear.” This reminds me of an episode in the life of Theodore Epp, founder of Back to the Bible radio ministry. He had been used to receiving critical mail from the sermons he preached. One day he realized something was wrong when he stopped receiving this type of mail. He was convicted that the was not challenging the flock enough so he changed his preaching. He stated, "I'm afraid that when I'm pleasing everybody, I'm not pleasing the Lord," he later said, "and pleasing the Lord is what counts." Every preacher needs to evaluate his messages to make sure he is striving to please God, not man. This, in and of itself, is a real challenge for any preacher, but something that must be done in the course of his ministry. This is not to suggest that a preacher is only successful when he is upsetting people! But he must not be apologetic either when this occurs when preaching the truth of God's word. A preacher must first and foremost be faithful to the One he serves because he is fulfilling a divine commission through his messages. Therefore, before a message is delivered, it should be laid at the foot of God's throne with one question: "Is it faithful to You, my Lord?"

There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: "I wish you would explain to me something." "Well, what is it? I don't know that I can explain anything to a preacher." "What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all." Macready's answer was this: "This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction." [G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, p. 36.]

 

What Macready told the preacher could be very true of many preachers today. It can be even true of the pew sitting Christian. If we believe the truth of God's word but are not willing to live it, then we can see why we are not filling the pews in our church building. Are we living a fiction or non-fiction life when it comes to heralding the word of God? Something to give credence to for sure!

Doing Your Part In Doing What Is Right

Doing what is right is on most people's agenda for any given day. Of course there are those who have determined to upset the status quo by doing what is wrong. We don't want to go there this morning. Instead we want to talk about doing what is right. In doing so, we have to consider others in the equation, just as Jesus did. We know that in John 17 Jesus prayed for unity and we truly should be seeking to know what this unity is and why it is so important. It definitely has to do with doing what is right in the sight of God.

Let's first take a look at what Paul says about keeping unity in Ephesians 4:1-3. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We, as Christians, are urged to live the moral and spiritual life which is characteristic of true religion. We are to be united! The things that unite Christians are the one body, the one Spirit, the one hope, the one Lord, the one faith, the one baptism, and the one God and Father who is over all. Christians grow to be full-grown when they are involved in the work of the church. We all have different abilities, but we all have ability to work in the church.

When it comes to God's word we definitely want to be following it as closely as possible. Of course none of us know everything about God but we should be trying our best to know what He requires of us to live a successful and joy filled life in Christ Jesus. In order for this to happen, we sometimes need the help of others who have learned truths that we are now ignorant of and need a push in the right direction so we will not remain ignorant. This is remnant of the Ethiopian eunuch who needed the help of Philip to understand his reading of the scriptures from Isaiah 53. Once he was taught the meaning, he went on his way rejoicing and now an Ethiopian Christian (Acts 8:31, 39). It is simply amazing how the truth of God's word can help us do our part in doing what is right. If we were to keep all these truths to ourselves, we would be doing a grave injustice to our fellow man.

Can we now see how important Bible studies can be to assist us in doing good. If we continue to assemble with believers (Heb. 10:25), we will more than likely stay in the Word and continue to do what is good and acceptable in the sight of God (Rom. 12:2). Of course if we choose to leave the company of believers and allow ourselves to get back into the world, expect bad things to happen. Staying in close contact with those who believe like you, worship like you, have compassion like you and are convicted like you, will help you do your part in doing what is right. Make sense? Absolutely!

We should all be encouraging each other to do our part in doing what is good. God wants what is best for us, therefore we should be seeking to do those things which are pleasing to Him. Reading God's word, as well as reading devotionals, on a daily basis are excellent ways in seeking out what you should be doing to aid you in staying on the path leading to the straight and narrow gate which will lead you to eternal life (Matt. 7:14). Since so many are choosing to travel the broad way leading to destruction, we can clearly see the need for us to do what is right. Just remember that we will reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7). Let's make sure we sow to the Spirit so to the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:8b).

Paul further encourages us to do our part in doing good by saying this, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith (Gal. 6:10). Are you doing your part? If not, why not? This morning we will learn how to determine if we've done our part where baptism is concerned. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Prov. 14:12). Do right and no worries!

Are You Self-Righteous?

Is it possible to be self-righteous and not even know it? Are you self-righteous? How many times have you ever been asked that question? For some of you this will be the very first time. Self-righteousness is usually a very bad attribute to have but just like everything else, there are some exceptions.

According to Wikipedia, self-righteousness (also called sanctimoniousness, and holier-than-thou attitudes) is a feeling or display of (usually smug) moral superiority derived from a sense that one's beliefs, actions, or affiliations are of greater virtue than those of the average person. The term "self-righteous" is often considered derogatory particularly because self-righteous individuals are often thought to exhibit hypocrisy due to the belief that humans are imperfect and can therefore never be infallible. 

 

So far you are probably thinking, “I sure hope I'm not a self-righteous person, because those folks don't sound like a good group to hangout with.” Well you would be absolutely correct about that! No one likes a hypocrite and will try to avoid them anyway they can. We all know at least one person we would consider to be this way and most likely we are not calling them up to see if they want to hang out with us.

Moses reminded the Israelites of their rebellion in Deut. 9:4-6 when he said, “Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. Here we see that self-righteous can be described as objectionable. 

 

In Job 9:20 self-righteousness is described as self-condemned. Thou I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; thou I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. We see that self-righteousness is condemning because it cannot make pure. There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness. It is condemning because it cannot save. Jesus said, For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Now this is some serious business! Lastly we can see in Rom. 10:3 that self-righteousness rejects God's righteousness. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. So self-righteousness is condemning because it is objectionable, self-condemned, cannot save and rejects God's righteousness. Do we need to say more? Are you self-righteous?

Let's continue. God's word continues to describe self-righteousness as unprofitable. I will declare your righteousness and your works, for they will not profit you. Isa. 57:12 It is also as filthy rags. But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isa. 64:6 Most self-righteous people do not realize these things about themselves. Remember the Pharisee in Luke 18:11, 12? He prayed thanking God that he was not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even like a tax collector. He reminded God in his prayer that he fasted twice a week and gave tithes of all he possessed. This type of self-righteousness would be described as boastful. 

 

We should all come to the same conclusion as Paul in Phil. 3:4-9. He saw that no matter how he saw himself and what he had accomplish in the name of God, it was very much insufficient. He counted everything but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ his Lord, not having his own righteousness, but instead that which is through faith in Christ. Are you still feeling self-righteous? Let's hope not!

Area-Wide Sing

 Area-Wide Sing

 

COME ONE - COME ALL

Just a heads up to let all of you know about the area-wide sing on January 26th at 7 pm hosted by the Ridge Avenue church of Christ in Tifton, Georgia.  Join us in singing praise to God and His Son Jesus Christ.  You will be so glad you made this a part of your weekend activities.  The address is 1625 North Ridge Avenue Tifton, GA 31794.  Phone: (229) 382-2737