This sermon is part of a series called
Faith in Action as we are going through the Letter of James.
James wrote this letter to the exiled Jews
who are scattered. James is writing out of concern for their spiritual
well-being, and the letter is a set of practical instruction on how to live out
their faith amid trial, sufferings and uncertainties.
Last sermon we saw James giving instructions on how not to deceive themselves by becoming only hearers and not doers. In today’s passage, he is helping them understand the difference between true and false religion.
In verse 26 he writes “If anyone
thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart,
this person’s religion is worthless.”
You may ask why James is talking about the
speech as he is referring to the tongue. To know this, we have to understand
the context in which James has been brought up and is living.
James lived in a religious culture,
predominantly a Jewish culture which was primarily headed by the Pharisees and
the Sadducees. And even though some of them may have been genuine, they were
mostly known to be as cold, legalistic, prideful, arrogant and talkative.
They were just like our politicians, who
make big promises before the elections but after the election fail to keep the
promises. Politicians generally are also known as people who are good at
talking, but when it came to acting upon real issues that people go through,
they shut themselves up.
Therefore when Jesus was on earth, he was
very hard on these people and even called out their sin in public. You can
imagine the influence of these people when you hear how they treated Jesus and
put him to death by badly influencing the Roman government at that time.
Here, in our passage, James writing to a
group of people who seem to have been influenced by such a religious culture
and therefore now acting like them. Basically all TALKS and no ACTION.
And, therefore, in verse 26, he is writing
to them that if you think by talking only that you become religious and that
God is ok with that, then you are mistaken. He says, this kind of religion is
worthless.
Brothers & sisters, at this point it’s easy for us to think about this group and condemn them for their attitude and action, and completely ignore that fact that we too behave in a similar manner, and sometimes even worse.
We too behave cold, legalistic, prideful –
performing Godly activities as a sense of duty to show ourselves good
externally – showing people how good of a Christian we are using words only,
minus the action.
James goes on to explain what true religion
should look like. He says in verse 27, true religion is that which shows
genuine care and concern for the people and a life that is not stained by the
cultures of the world.
In James’s times, the orphan and the widows
were the most needy ones and therefore he is mentioning them to make a point.
It doesnt mean that we now make add charity towards orphan and widows by
donating some money and doing some Christian activities around them to make
ourselves feel better and more religious.
We must catch the heart of what James is
telling us. The needy in our context could be different. In fact, in the city
of Mumbai, we can find all kinds of needy people with various types of need.
And apart for just the necessities, what they also need the most is the Gospel.
Therefore tur religion is more than just
giving big talks about what is right and wrong, holy and unholy, right and wrong. True religion is that which
even compels us to do something about it in actual action.
And true religion is one that is unstained
by the worldly patters and traditions and way of life. Its the one that truly
seeks God and His Kingdom.
Brothers & sisters, here’s the truth. In our natural being, we can never live out such a perfect life on own, our natural tendencies will always yield us to become people who talk and do nothing. Why? Because we have a problem.
The day we were created by our heavenly
Father, he didn’t mean for us to become like this. He wanted us to look perfect
in all ways, holy just as He is Holy, but in the Garden of Eden we messed it
up.
We used our gift of free will, and instead
of walking in obedience to God, we rebelled and sinned, and the result was
separation from God. And because of that separation, we all are broken inside.
The reason we all behave in selfish ways is that Sin has corrupted us, and even
though our hearts desire to live to please God in all manners, our flesh pulls
us away from seeking a Godly life.
And the only way to fix this problem is to
repent of sins and trust on the Son of God who is the only one who didn’t just
talk and make big promises in the air but fulfilled each of His promises to
save us from our wretchedness and restore that broken relationship with God the
Father.
Christ left His heavenly Glory to reach out
to needy people like us, people who needed hope, peace, joy – which only a
restored relationship with the Father can grant us.
Jesus lived the perfect life, exercised true religion, one that was acceptable to God and earned His righteousness for our sake and then exchanged it with our unrighteous and sinful lives, taking the penalty of our sin upon himself and in giving us total freedom from Sin and captivating our hearts with His Love and compelling us to know to live a godly life by the help and power of His Spirit in us.
Therefore, our response today towards this
passage is primarily to look to Jesus and His saving grace – captivated by His
Love, affections and forgiveness He grants us. And we do that; His love will
compel us to people who are not just talkers but doers of His words, living a
Godly life that is truly acceptable to God.
As a child of God, the question we need to
ask daily is not how good a Christian I be, but how good a Jesus lover I am.
Because loving Jesus day-by-day will automatically produce the fruits of true
religion in us. We won’t have to strive to look like a good Christian, Christ’s
Love will automatically compel us to show genuine care for the needy and will
also protect our hearts from becoming stained by the world.
Good morning, church. How are you all doing this morning? How I long for some response from you guys like a normal Sunday we used to have – seems like long time ago now.
We hope and pray that God would open doors and do a miracle in getting us all started once again – like days of old.
As a church, we have been going through the first letter written by Paul to the Thessalonians and today we end the series on “Abiding faith” as we meditate on the final words of Paul in this letter from 1 Thessalonians 5:22-28.
22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. 25 Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
The story is told of a young girl who accepted Christ as her Savior and applied for membership in a local church. “Were you a sinner before you received the Lord Jesus into your Life?” inquired an old deacon.
“Yes, sir,” she replied. “Well, are you still a sinner?” “To tell you the truth, I feel I’m a greater sinner than ever.” “Then what real change have you experienced?” “I don’t quite know how to explain it,” she said, “except I used to be a sinner running after sin, but now that I am saved.
I’m a sinner running from sin!” she was received into the fellowship of the church, and she proved by her consistent life that she was truly converted. Beloved, I want you to think about this statement today morning – “I am a sinner running from sin”.
This is the calling with which God has called us – that we may be holy and be like His Son Jesus Christ – even though we have the sin nature active in our hearts.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 says it clearly – “For this is the will of God – your sanctification”. But we live and walk among broken glasses. Our own sin and the sins of people around us make us feel that sanctification is too difficult and slow and too demanding and sometimes, our recurring sins and sins which so easily ensnare us keep following us like a leach – sometimes making us think that sanctification is impossible.
Even though God calls us to a life of holiness and demands a life of purity – we still continue to fall in sin – and struggle with a slow and difficult process of sanctification.
Doesn’t our thoughts, our words and actions yesterday or even today morning show us that we are so far from being like Jesus? When our so-easily ensnaring sin refuses to let go and when sanctification seems tough and impossible, what do we do as a Christian?
Brothers and sisters, I want to encourage you this morning to look unto God – our sanctifier – as we meditate on our passage for today.
I want to title my sermon – “When sanctification seems difficult…” and I pray that you would remember these 3 points when you feel like giving up on God’s process of sanctification.
1. Do not give up your fight against sin! 2. Remember someone is praying for you! 3. Remember God is faithful to complete what He has promised!
1. Do not give up your fight against sin!
Before Paul goes on to talk about God – our sanctifier and perfecter from verse 23 – Paul commands the Thessalonian believers in verse 22 – “Abstain from every form of evil”. What kind of word is that?
Paul is just about to bring about an amazing truth of Christianity – that it is God who is faithful to sanctify you and keep you blameless until Jesus comes again. But, before you and I think that “Because God sanctifies me, I have no part or responsibility in being holy”, before we think that, Paul says that “Abstain from every form of evil”.
Brothers and sisters, if our view of God’s sovereignty and faithfulness lead us into a lifestyle of sin and laziness and sloth – we haven’t understood God’s ways of sanctification yet.
So many of us lose hope too soon in our battle against sin and many of us let go of our arms and ammunitions thinking there is no point of fighting against my sin. And few of the reasons that some of us give are –
“It is God who sanctifies, let Him do it – I could very well go ahead and spend some time netflixing.” Or another reason that we give is – “Brother, I have tried and struggled and done everything possible to fight my sin but I am still not able to overcome it.
I think I cannot fight anymore. I think I am born with this infirmity. I am going to make peace with it and accept it as my weakness. Main jaisa hun, main vaisa hi hun – main badal nahi sakta.”
Beloved, this school of thought has led many to think that holiness is simply impossible to have and if I strive for holiness, then I can possibly never get an assurance of my salvation – because I will always see my failures and my sins and doubt my assurance.
And today – more and more, we see churches and Christians and even ourselves – somehow narrowing down this call to holiness and watering it and diluting it to a great extent.
Why? They simply can’t believe that complete sanctification is possible. It is true – Beloved – that we do not attain practical perfection in this life – but then sometimes – Christians think that no degree of obedience or holiness or purity or goodness or love or repentance or transformation is required for entering heaven.
They decide to make peace with their sin. They then begin to look for ways and means to justify their sinful lifestyle. For eg, I am justified in Christ – I am accepted in Him – so no matter what I do, I am forgiven and I am a child of God. Or another similar justification given is God’s Grace – “We are living in an age of Grace, brother?
If God really wanted us to be holy, then why would He give us Grace and Mercy?” Beloved, so many times, we use the same doctrines that were meant to help us for our sanctification as justifications for our sin. The hidden sin that we fight with and we struggle against are not there to make peace with.
God’s Grace is what we tap into not just for our forgiveness but also for our sanctification – for overcoming that one sin which you are battling against since months. Even the justification with which God has justified us in Christ Jesus is the solid ground and foundation for the life of sanctification and holiness that God has called us to.
And that is why, Paul says, “Abstain from every form of evil”. Do not put down your arms and ammunitions. Do not be bogged down by your constant failures and think that there is no point of us fighting this fight against sin. At the end of His life, Paul says – “I have fought a good fight.” Paul says to Philippians – “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 – “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
Does that sound like resting and chilling out? Beloved – do not forget this – GOD SANCTIFIES US THROUGH OUR OWN STRIVINGS AGAINST SIN! God works in our hearts both to will and to do and we work out what God works in. If our theory of sanctification has no element of us striving to holiness – we are not in sync with the sanctification of the Bible.
Hebrews 12:14 says – “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” So, what am I trying to say? Beloved, no matter how much you feel like a failure and no matter how difficult sanctification looks like – Do not give up your fight against sin? My son is learning to stand on his own.
It is so beautiful to watch him do that. He strives to stand up – catching hold of our legs, hands, ears, nose – he stands up – he leaves his hands and then balances himself on his feet – you should see him struggling to balance with fear but with such a joy and smile on his face on his accomplishment that he can stand without holding on to anybody.
And then after a few seconds, now he stands upto 1 minute – but after that, he falls down. What does he do? You think he will stop? Naa. He stands back again and then falls again. And again he stands and again he falls. I would not be exaggerating to say that he has done this a 1000 times already but he doesn’t lose hope.
He will stand again and again and again and again until he stands without falling. Oh my dear brothers and sisters – sanctification is like that – do not let go off your hope because you failed – because you fell down – because you sinned – no – no – no – one day you and I will be perfect like Jesus Christ.
Do not let go off your guard – do not lose hope in this battle – sanctification is slow, painful and difficult – but a day will come when there will be no more sin to fight against – no more wars to battle.
What a day that will be! 1 John 3: 2-3 says
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
Are you a child of God? Are you struggling with your sin?
Hold on to your fight, Beloved! Because God sanctifies us through our own strivings against sin!
But let me go on to my next point –
2. Remember someone is praying for you
Some years ago – this thought gripped my heart and I was excited – someone is praying for me!
Look at verse 23 – Paul is praying that God would sanctify the Thessalonian Believers. And in verse 25 – he asks them to pray for Paul as well. “Brothers, pray for us”.
When the way of sanctification gets tough, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember – someone is praying for you! Maybe it is your spouse, your parents, your friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ, your elders or someone you do not even know of.
There is someone battling on his/her knees for your sanctification – and if you do not know of anyone who is battling for you – I want to turn your eyes to someone who is definitely interceding for you at the right hand of God the Father – and who is that – the man Jesus Christ!
The same God who became flesh and battled against temptation, sin and the like – as a man – He has compassion on you and me! He prays for you! He prays for me!
Let me give you a few examples of his prayers when He was on earth. In John 17:19, when Jesus prays to the Father – He prays – “For their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they may also be sanctified through the truth” and in verse 11 – He prays – “Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one”.
And he asks the Father in verse 15 to keep them from the evil one. The Lord Jesus in his incarnation as a man on this earth sanctified Himself (lived in perfect holiness) in order to sanctify His people who would believe in His name.
And he kept praying that God would keep them and preserve and make them one just as God the Father and Jesus Christ were one. Perfect unity is possible only among sanctified disciples.
Jesus prays for us that we may be sanctified and united so that we would then in turn pray for one another and bear each other up. The best thing that you can pray for someone is that God would sanctify them and make them holy.
Let us look at another instance when Jesus prayed for his disciples. In Luke 22:32 – When satan asked Jesus permission to sift Peter as wheat – Jesus said to Peter – “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”
He prays for us! He prays that our faith may not fail! He prays that we may be sanctified and holy. He prays that we may be one! He prays that we may love each other as He loved us.
If you and I have anything to boast about regarding our holiness – it is just that God sanctified you through the prayers of His Son and through the prayers of the saints whom you are surrounded by!
When you struggle in your walk in holiness – remember this dear child of God – Someone is praying for you! But let me go on to my last point which is my most important point to hold on to when sanctification seems tough – because if that didn’t exist, points 1 and 2 were useless! And that is –
3. Remember God is faithful to complete what He has promised!
In verse 24 – He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Beloved, sanctification is not a process (prakriya) that you have begun but it is God! It is God who decided to take a man – who was full of sin and evil – and cleansed him and washed him and made him clean and whole and justified in Jesus Christ and made him a child of God!
It is God who decided to do it! It is God who started the good work! And then He decided to place this man back into the same broken world – with sin and evil and darkness – and decided to keep him and preserve him in Jesus Christ and make him more and more like Jesus.
Well, it was God who started it. And it is not becoming of Him to leave it half undone. He has never done that! He will never do that! He has counted the cost – and He paid the price – and that was His only Son – Jesus Christ! Paul binds our sanctification to His faithfulness! Brothers and sisters, I want you all to find the roots of your sanctification.
Where does sanctification spring from? We have a small hint in verse 24 – “He who CALLS you”.
Beloved, much before our sanctification – there was a calling with which He called you. It was not an ordinary calling.
It was not a general calling. It was a particular – effectual – and personal calling – when He commanded very strongly into our hearts – ‘Follow me’ – and we left our all and followed Him.
Much before our sanctification – came God’s call to our hearts personally. But this is much clearer if we will read Romans 8:29-30 – “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified”. Glorification is when we become completely and perfectly like Jesus and that is the holy calling that we have, Beloved – being conformed to the image of His Son! But it all began with God’s foreknowledge – He loving us even before the foundations of the earth.
He then predestinated us to become like Jesus! Those whom He predestined – them He also called and those whom He called – them He also justified and those He justified – them He also glorified. I don’t know if you are able to imagine this picture with me – those whom God loved before the foundation of the world – them He predestined – not even one left out.
Those whom He predestined – them He also called – not even one left out. Those whom He called – them He also justified – not even one left out again! And those whom He justified – them He also glorified – not even one left out till the end! There is cycle from foreknowledge till glorification and there is not even one lost out in the process!
There is not even one separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus in this process! Ah! That is what Paul is talking about in 1 Thessalonians when He binds our sanctification to His faithfulness! Let me repeat that once again – The certainty of our sanctification rests on God’s faithfulness! He hasn’t lost even one during this process of sanctification.
Jesus says in John 6: 39 –
“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
Even when we fail, even when it is dark, even when we feel nothing is working out – we can rest on the faithfulness of God – who promises to complete what He has begun. And this is the assurance that we get from the Word – “HE WILL SURELY DO IT”.
I thank God for the “wills” and “shalls” of the Word of God. If He says, that He WILL – you can rest assured that He WILL do it. Our assurance of salvation doesn’t come by minimizing the need for holiness or sanctification or by focusing on the measure of our holiness – our assurance comes by placing our trust on the measure of God’s faithfulness to do the sanctifying work that he promised to do.
Let me end my sermon here by showing you how committed God is to complete the work of sanctification in our lives and that commitment is much more than mine or yours. The aim of God in the death of His Son was your holiness. Jesus died that you may be holy.
I want to read to you Ephesians 5:26 and it says,
“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her”
—make her holy. Your becoming holy is as sure as God’s invincible purpose in the death of his Son.
In electing you, His purpose was that you may be holy. In calling you, His purpose was your holiness. He who chose you is faithful. He who called you is faithful. He who justified you is faithful.
He who sent His Son to die for you is faithful. He who sanctifies you is faithful – He will surely do it! He will surely do it! He will surely do it! If He doesn’t do it, God will become a liar and that is just not possible!
So, my beloved brothers and sisters, when sanctification gets tough, when holiness seems difficult, when practical Christ-like living seems impossible, remember the faithfulness of God bound to your sanctification – bound to your holiness!
2 Thessalonians 2:13 says, “God chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification”
—not apart from sanctification. Salvation comes through sanctification, and no other way.
We have a great and glorious ground of assurance not because holiness is not needed, but because God is faithful to preserve us and make us holy and blameless like His Son Jesus Christ. He will surely do it!!!
My name is Jinson Thomas and I am one of the pastors at the Gathering Community Church. I’m humbled at the opportunity to share God’s Word with you all on this Good Friday.
One of the questions that many people including Christians are quite perplexed with is the question
“Why is it called Good Friday?”
How can it possibly be good if Jesus was murdered on this day? “It’s not good but bad Friday” some would say.
On top of that, some of you would say – how can this be Good Friday with all that is happening around the globe due to COVID-19?
How can it be Good Friday when I’m locked up at home? So this evening I’d like to give us 3 reasons for why Good Friday can be good for us!!
1. God’s forgiveness is available for all sins (v34)
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do.”
What is astonishing is that Jesus is pleading before
the Father for people who were responsible for putting Him on a cross!! And I
think sometimes we are so used to seeing a cross on a church building or
sporting it as a fashion accessory, that we forget what it meant in Jesus’ time
to be crucified.
The cross wasn’t used to symbolize a religion or a fashion statement but instead, the cross symbolized condemnation and humiliation! It was a death row for the worst criminals who committed the most heinous crimes in the Roman world.
It was also done publicly to make an example of the criminal so that no one would even think of following the footsteps of the one who was killed. In fact it was so cruel and inhumane that even Roman speakers of the time would criticize it by calling it “the most cruel and disgusting punishment”.
The Son of God (Jesus) who committed no sin faced the horror of “the most cruel and disgusting punishment”.
Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.
Just to give you a picture of the pain that Jesus
endured:
i) It involved immense Physical Pain: The pain was so unbearable, intense and agonizing that they made a word to describe it – “excruciating”. It wasn’t instant death but slow & painful death!
Victims would have to endure extreme pain for long periods of time before they eventually suffocated and died. We can never downplay or minimize the physical pain that Jesus experienced on the cross.
ii) Not only did it involve Physical pain but also Psychological Pain: That’s the last thing that you would want to face while already dealing with the immense physical pain.
The only voice that Jesus heard all around him were insults from the very people He came to save. V34 says that they cast lots to divide his garments which tells us how his garments were stripped off him making him vulnerable & adding to his humiliation.
iii) However, more than the Physical & Psychological Pain – what affected Jesus the most was the Spiritual Pain: AlthoughJesus was like us in every way, yet He was unlike us because he was without sin.
He was the only person to live a life of perfect purity and sinlessness. But on the cross for the first time, he experienced the massive weight & guilt of sin. “He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21)”.
Not only did He experience the massive weight of sin but He was also being punished for our sins. No one like to be a scape goat for anyone and here we see Jesus becoming the scape goat for the entire world.
The passage from Isaiah that we just read earlier
today is a reminder of the same thing:
Isa 53:5,6 – But he was pierced for our
transgressions;
he was
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that brought us peace,
and with his
wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have
turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity
of us all.
I want us to understand that Jesus wasn’t treated as a criminal merely due to wicked Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers of that time. He was treated as a criminal because you and I have committed numerous crimes against the One True God.
We are the very ones responsible for putting Jesus on the cross. Brothers and sisters, my intention is not to guilt us or over-emphasize on the gory details of Jesus’ agony and suffering but I want us to realize this truth that
Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.
God absolutely has the authority to forgive sins but
because He is also a just judge, a payment has to be made. Someone has to pay.
I came across a beautiful story that spoke about forgiveness and justice being displayed in the courtrooms in UAE a few months back. An Asian couple found themselves in the middle of a huge legal problem because they overstayed their visa for a number of years.
They were asked to pay an enormous amount as a fine (around 12 Lakh rupees). When the judge asked them to pay the fine, they weren’t able to pay it. Now even though the judge had compassion on the family, he couldn’t write off the fine because it would cause an uproar and protest against the whole justice system of the UAE.
For some reason, the judge asked them the name of their son. The parents replied that they’ve named him “Zayed”. Now Zayed also happened to be the name of the founder of the country. On learning this, the judge said Zayed shouldn’t have to pay the fine. But justice requires someone to pay. To everyone’s amazement the judge himself paid off the entire amount (12 Lakh rupees) to close their case. Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.
When God saw that we weren’t able to pay the enormous
mountain of a debt due to our sins, He provided a way for us to be forgiven
through the perfect sacrifice of His Son Jesus so that the payment is made for
people who cannot pay for themselves.
Maybe some of us as we are hearing this are finding it hard to believe. You’ll say “brother, I know what you’re saying but you have no idea what I’ve said and done in the past few weeks. You have no idea how ugly my past is. I’ve done so many things that I’m ashamed to even talk about”.
The amazing truth is that because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross, if you come to Him and surrender yourself to Him because of His perfect sacrifice, forgiveness is available for all your sins no matter how many they are & how worse they are.
That’s amazing news for us even in a time of lockdown and uncertainty – to know that irrespective of what happens tomorrow that God can forgive all my sins. He can look at me and say “You are not guilty”. That’s great news.
But not only is Good Friday good because God’s is able to forgive all my sins but also that :
2. God’s grace is extended to the lost, the last and
the least (v43)
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Within the event of Jesus suffering on the cross, there is a mention of a small incident of two criminals who are hung on either side of Jesus. One of them dishonours Jesus just like the crowd beneath, but the other one honours Jesus as King.
The first one doesn’t even acknowledge his sin while the other one confesses his sin – he acknowledges “we are receiving the due reward of our deeds”. The first one didn’t have any hope of being saved, while the other one even at the last moments of his life trusted that Jesus could save Him.
And Jesus does save him in v43 – “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Wait a minute! First of all, this is a guilty criminal out here. He’s done some really bad things and messed up his life. Upon his own admission, he knows that he deserves the punishment he is receiving.
And plus he lived his whole life in wickedness and now at the final moments of life, he is asking Jesus to save him? I mean there are the other “not so bad” people that need to be saved first, right? This guy is the least likeable guy. He is the back-bencher in morality.
No one expects him to be saved. Why fill up God’s kingdom with people who don’t appear to be cut out for it? Why should Jesus even bother?
In our judgmental hearts, this is a crazy thing to digest mainly because we don’t understand God’s passion for those that are the lost, the last and the least. In Luke 15, Jesus talks about the parable of the Lost Son.
God is pictured as the loving Father who when he sees his lost son returning from a distance, runs and embraces him who wasted all of his father’s inheritance on his selfish pleasures.
Time and time again throughout Scripture we are told of this storyline – it’s not the powerful, the rich, the super talented, the influential that God choses and saves. It’s none of those but the total opposite.
Why? Because people who understand their sickness and infection are the ones who will go to a doctor and ask for help. People who understand their weakness and brokenness in sin are the one who will turn to Jesus desperately for help.
Sometimes people who have known me for just a few years presume that I’ve been a religious, pious, nice guy all my life. But the truth is quite far from that. In my teenage years I remember thinking that God & religion wasn’t something I was cut out for mainly due my increasing sin patterns. Even when I did go to church, I went for all the wrong reasons.
I was that guy sitting at the last bench because I didn’t think I was worthy of sitting right in front. For a person like me who had continuous evil thoughts running through my mind, I had mouth filled with cuss words and lifestyle of being an enemy of God, I knew I couldn’t reach God so I stopped trying.
I was so lost in my sin that I thought I was beyond help. But I thank God that He didn’t give up on me but rather pulled me out a deep pit through Jesus’s sacrifice. The amazing truth is that Jesus came looking for me even when I wasn’t thinking about being found.
I was lost, the last and the least among those that people expected to be saved and yet that happened by God’s grace.
And so I share my story to let you know that if you feel like you’re far away from God, if you don’t see yourself as a typical religious churchgoer, maybe you look at yourself and think you’re the last person that God would think of…let me encourage you to know that Jesus is nearer to you than you think. The scope of God’s grace isn’t limited to people who are at a certain level of good. God’s grace extends to those that are lost, the last ones and the least ones.
But not only is God’s forgiveness available for all,
not only is God’s grace extended to the lost, the last and least but also
3. God’s presence is accessible by all who believe
(v44-46)
It was now about the sixth hour,[d] and there was
darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light
failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out
with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And
having said this he breathed his last.
Jesus’ commitment to complete His work on the cross has ensured that we now have full access to God as our Father. And this was highlighted by the curtain or the veil of the temple tearing in two.
The curtain in the temple separated the Most Holy Place from every other place in the temple. The Most Holy Place is where God would dwell in. No one was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place except for the High Priest and that also once a year on the Day of Atonement.
On the Day of Atonement he couldn’t enter it in any manner he wanted. He needed to wear special priestly garments, offer a sacrifice for his own sins and then burn an incense to cover the whole room – and only then would his life be spared! That’s a big deal! God’s presence is a serious thing.
By ourselves if we went into the presence of God, we would be totally consumed. We would die. And now the amazing news is that Jesus has opened the way for us to freely and directly access God’s presence! It’s not limited to one day a year. It’s not limited to only the High Priest.
It’s not limited to going to a single location. God can reveal His presence to us no matter where we are.
Even in a season like COVID-19 where we are locked up at home & quarantined– the amazing truth for believers in Jesus is that we can experience God’s presence in a very scriptural and personal way.
I was encouraged by the interview of a woman who recently recovered from COVID-19 where she testified to being all alone in a hospital room.
Even the medical professionals had kept their distance to avoid receiving the infection. In a room which no one could enter, Jesus was there with her. While she was reading Scripture on her bed, in a very personal way Jesus reminded her of His presence – “Never will I leave you.
Never will I forsake you (Heb 13:5)”. Wait a minute! But I thought Jesus died and was buried? How can Jesus still be with her 2000 years later? If Jesus’ story ended with him being buried in a tomb, it wouldn’t give us any assurance of His everlasting presence.
Instead we know that Sunday is coming. Sunday is coming when Jesus would rise victoriously from the dead & that’s why He can make the most audacious promise to never leave us nor forsake us and still keep it!
Brothers and sisters, let me encourage you to know that Jesus Christ can be present with you right now through His Spirit. Jesus Christ cannot be locked up. No lockdown can stop Jesus from meeting you in your loneliest of times.
Would you come to Him and cry out to Him today?
That’s what makes this and every Good Friday good! Because of Jesus, God’s forgiveness is available for all sins (every bit of them), God’s grace is extended to the lost, the last and the least. God’s presence is accessible to all who believe.
Good morning Church, It’s a beautiful Sunday and I am super excited to connect you through Facebook, I believe you all are spending quality time with your family and friends and I hope you all are doing great and I am sure you all are taking good care of yourself.
As we know, the world is going
through excruciate pain and suffering because of Covid-19 Pandemic, people are
living in fear, anxiety and uncertainty,
This pandemic disease is out of control, many people are dead and many people are fighting for life in a sickbed, many people are jobless, many people are living in hunger and thirst.
In these chaotic circumstances, the church can play a vital role by showing Christ love to the people around us, by showing Christ care and kindness to all the people and most importantly let us point the people around us to Christ, showing them that Christ is the saviour of the world and He is the answer for all our life problems.
Last week I came across an
encouraging quote from the scripture,
I want to read out for all of us.
“If God could Close the
lion’s mouth for Daniel,
Part the Red seas for
Moses
Make the sun stand
still for Joshua
Open the prison for
Peter
Put a Baby in the arm
of Sarah
And Raise Lazarus from
the dead
Then, He can certainly
take care of you
Nothing you are facing
today is too hard for Him to Handle.”
Shall we look to God in prayer:
pray….. Amen
As we enter passion week, we shall
look to the passage related to each occasion, since today is Palm Sunday we
shall meditate from Palm Sunday passage`
Our book study from Thessalonian will
continue in the following week.
Would
you open your bible with me to Matthew 21:1-13?
1.
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of
Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go to the village
ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by
her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the
Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to fulfil what was
spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say
to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”[a]
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had
instructed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and
placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.
8 A very large crowd spread their
cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread
them on the road.
9 The
crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosannato the Son of David!”
“Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[c]
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city
was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the
prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13 “It is written,” he said to
them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are
making it ‘a den of robbers.
Before we see the main 3 points let’s see
What is
Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday marked the start of what is called “passion week” the final days of Jesus earthly ministry, it is the day we remember and celebrate the triumph entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem as Saviour and king.
Palm
leaves: Signifies victory / Triumph
Jesus riding on a donkey: When a king rides on a Donkey it symbolises peace. And we know from the scripture that Christ is the prince of peace.
Hosanna: Save us
now/ Deliver/ Rescue us.
Crowd: The crowd shout hosanna because they saw Jesus performing lots of miracles, heal the lame and blind, turn the water into wine, feeding 5000 people with 2 fish and 5 loaves, raise Lazarus from the dead and because of this great
They expect that He can rescue them politically and free
them from Roman rule.
But Jesus mission was to save mankind from the slavery of sin and gave mankind eternal life. When the crowd expectation was not met, it was the same crowd who shout crucify Him on Good Friday.
These are a few things I would like to remind before we enter our main points.
I would like to entitle my sermon as
“Your
King is coming”
I would like to bring 3 very important points from the
above passage.
1. Jesus
Enter Jerusalem as a king, who will save mankind from the bondage of sin.
Matthew 21:5. “Say
to Daughter of Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Matthew quote this verse from Old
testament Zacharias 9:9.
Prophet Zacharias prophesy 500 years
prior to the Jesus arrival in Jerusalem.
As Jesus enter Jerusalem the crowd
threw their cloaks on the road, they took the palm leaves and began joyfully
praising God in the Loud voices for all the miracles they have seen.
And they were shouting
“Blessed is the king who comes in the
name of the LORD,
Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest.
Purpose of Christ coming to this world: before that let’s see the
condition of mankind.
1. Christ our king came to this world as a Passover lamb. (Exodus 16).
(Moses told Israelites to pain their
door with the blood of a lamb so that the spirit will Passover your house and
your family,
In the same way if we wash our heart
with the blood of Jesus, His blood will cleanse us from all sins.) he came as a Passover lamb.
2. Christ our king came to this world to give us Eternal life. (John 3:16)
3. Christ our king came to reconcile our broken relationship with the
Father. (Rom.5:1}
(Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.)
4. Christ our king came to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John
14:6).
5. Christ our king came to this world to free us from condemnation of
sins. (Rom.8:1).
(There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.)
5. Christ our king came to take us to heaven. (John 14:1-3.)
(1.Let not your heart be troubled,
you believe in God, believe in me also.
2. In my fathers house are many
mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I will go and prepare a place for you.
3. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and recieve you to myself, that where I am, there
you may be also.)
Application:
Beloved church
Christ has redempt us, His love has
captured us,
Even though if we go through this
corona virus pandemic, facing all kinds of life difficulties and challenges, He
promised us He will never leave us nor forsake us,
His everlasting love is with us.
Roman’s 8: 35.
35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or perils, or sword.
38. For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39. Nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is our bless hope and our
Assurance in Christ Jesus.
He is our beautiful saviour our Lord
and our King.
2. Jesus enter and cleanse the Jerusalem temple.
Matthew 21: 12-13.
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove
out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the
money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13 “It is written,” he said to
them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are
making it ‘a den of robbers
Jerusalem
temple was like thieves’ market, all kinds of cheating and lying and betraying
business was going on in the house of the LORD.
Jesus enter and chase them out and
remind them that this house is the house of prayer.
Paul also Remind us in 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the
Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your
own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God
with your bodies.
The scripture clearly taught us that our Heart is a Temple
of Holy Spirit.
But sadly, many people entertain their heart with sin like
those people in Jerusalem temple.
From this passage we know that God and sin can’t dwell
together.
God hate sin but He loves sinners, he like to clean all
our sins as He clean up the Jerusalem temple.
Beloved church how are you all maintaining your heart?
Illustration: Garbage story
You know there are times I forgot to dispose kitchen
garbage, when the garbage keeps for so long it smells horrible and the garbage
smell the whole room.
In the same way, if we didn’t confess our sin and didn’t
dispose them, this stinking sin will poison your whole life and even killed
you.
The garbage we store in our heart can be.
(Laziness, cheating, lying, selfishness, bribing, sexual
immorality, drunkenness, pornography,
Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life)
We should not let these things rule and control our heart.
Romans 6:23 says. For the
wages of sin is Dead but the gift of God is eternal life.
Application:
How are you maintaining your heart and your life?
Is it God please with the lifestyle you are living today?
Beloved Let us examine ourselves right now and if there is
any sin in our life and if there is anything hindering us to love Jesus. Let us
confess our sin and make right with Him.
1 John 1: 9. “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I strongly believe that the
solution for this corona pandemic is in the hand of God,
The world need to turn to God
and repent for the forgiveness of sins.
May God have mercy on us.
2 Chronicle 7:14.
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
3. Jesus enter and wept for Jerusalem.
Luke 19: 41-44.
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over
it
42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this
day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build
an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children
within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because
you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Jesus foresee the heart of the people; he sees their
miserable future;
He knows their hopelessness; He know that these
people will never make it to His kingdom. Knowing all these Jesus cry for them.
In
Noah days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, they all miss the
opportunity to be to be in
the ark. Everyone perish in their sin.
In the same way people of Jerusalem lose the golden
opportunity.
Jesus was weeping over the tragedy of lost
opportunity,
the Israelites that assembled in Jerusalem for
Passover miss the opportunity to be saved from both earthly and eternal
destruction.
They were visited by their saviour but they didn’t
know it,
instead of receiving Him they killed Him.
Illustration:
I would like remind with the familiar story from the
bible, the rich man and Lazarus
(Luke
16:19-31).
Rich
man.
God bless him with riches: He misuse his wealth in a wrong way. (partying)
God gave him beautiful life: He waste his beautiful life.
God gave him enough time to live on earth: He misuse his opportunity
He never remembers God in his entire life but he
remembers God in hell fire
but it was too late for him.
Whereas
Poor
Lazarus Know the true living God, he makes use of every
opportunity and he ends up his life in eternal heaven.
God gave time
to all of us to come to him before iti is too late.
Application
How Jesus may be thinking of you right now?
Is he weeping of you? Like He weep for Jerusalem?
Or Is he celebrating because you are his child?
Our
life on earth is short let us make use of every opportunity.
God
is an omniscience God He know the pain and suffering we are going through right
now.
He
know our financial struggles, he knows our life challenges and life struggles.
The
cool part is we are not facing all these complications alone. He promised he
will take care of us. If He takes care of the birds in the air and Lily in the
field, he will surely take care of us.
Matthew
11:28-30.
28 “Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. 30 For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Finally
I wanna close with this beautiful song lyrics.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]What does it mean to walk alongside Jesus? – Mark 10:32-52
Our passage for today is from Mark 10:32-45. [READ]
As we read this passage, the first thing we notice is James and John approaching Jesus and trying to reserve a prominent place next to Him, one on his right and one on his left, in his glory.
If we are honest, the request that James & John makes shouldn’t be a surprising one for us. Because, if given a chance we all like and desire to have a special place next to the person we love and admire. Won’t you agree?
We like to be the special child to our parents and have a special place in their heart, we like to be the special employee at work – have a close rapport with our managers and bosses, we like to have a special place at church – a close rapport with the leaders, we also love the idea of been associated with famous people, etc
I see my sons Jairus & Amaze often battle with each other to sit or sleep right next to mom & dad.
Likewise, even John & James desired for a special place next to their Lord whom they loved dearly. In the last 3 years, they walked with him, talked with them, also fully convinced that He is the promised Messiah, the son of God.
When Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”. They were so compelled by His love they immediately answered with a ‘Yes’, saying ‘we can’, they loved him so much that they were willing to do anything to be close to Him, however, I don’t think they fully understood what that meant.
What we see here is that their desire to be and walk alongside Jesus was a good desire, but the motive and the approach wasn’t right.
Among all the people that were following Jesus, he had 12 who were close to him, but even among the 12, there were 3 that were closest to him.
Peter, James & John.
What we see James and John doing is that they were pushing themselves to get pre-eminence over others, even pushing Peter out of the circle. In Matthew 20:20 Matthew writes that they got their mother to come to Jesus
and request him to allow her boys to sit next to him.
Looking at what John and James did, in verse 41 Mark writes “When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.” In other words, they saw it as a cheap stunt to get ahead of others in the group.
If I have to put that in the church context, it’s like us wanting to follow Jesus, wanting to come to church, have fellowship with brothers and sisters, wanting to participate in worship, listen to the word – all because we genuinely love Jesus and his people.
But the approach in which we do it could be by performance before God and others & even trying to push ourselves ahead of others
We often do that without even really understanding the truth of what it really means to be called a believer and to walk alongside Jesus.
I believe what this passage teaches us today is ‘What does it really means to walk alongside Jesus’, what does it mean to know Jesus as our Lord and saviour and walk in his paths. Three important lessons to remind ourselves.
To walk alongside Christ, we need to have the mind of Christ.
The number one lesson this passage teaches us is that “To walk alongside Christ, we need to have the mind of Christ.” Let’s read through (v32 to v37)
32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, the place where he will be delivered over to the chief priest, condemned to death, handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, spat on, and hanged on the cross.
He is literally walking towards his painful death, and he is, in fact, leading the way. The verse says the disciples were afraid and at the same time astonished to see Jesus walking towards Jerusalem where the Pharisees and the teachers of the law hated him and was waiting to kill and torture him.
Can you imagine what’s going on in Jesus’s mind as he is taking that route?
I believe, all he was thinking was about was us – the disciples, you, me and the numerous lost souls for whom he left his heavenly glory, emptying himself, taking the form of a servant, humbled himself to become God’s perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.
His mind was set on the purpose for which he came down to earth, sent by his Father in heaven. To set us free from Sin and death.
He seems so full of it that he ends up reminding them once again that the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
Now, What’s on the disciple’s mind?
Just as Jesus finished his statement, James & John immediately go to Him and says “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
Reminds me of a scenario in the office where the Manager just gave a presentation on the new marketing strategy and asks his team members to give feedback, and one guy raises his hand and says “Are we going to have Chinese for lunch today?”
It tells us two things about the guy, first, he wasn’t really paying attention to what his manager was talking, second, his agenda for the day was to have Chinese for lunch.
Is it possible for us to have a totally different agenda in our mind and be distracted when we come to church, when we approach Jesus in prayer, when we have fellowship with other believers? Yes, it is possible.
Is it right? NO
To walk alongside Christ, we need to have the mind of Christ.
Paul writes in his letter to Philippians 2:5-8
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Paul is urging the Philippian believers to set their mind on the eternal things, just as Jesus did.
If we truly desire to be with Jesus and walk with him daily, we have to change the way we think, we can’t fix our eyes on the earthly things. Money, possessions, positions, pride – we have to lose sight of all these distractions and fix our eyes on the eternal purpose of God in our lives.
We can’t desire to walk with Jesus and worry about tomorrow, what we will eat, drink, where we will live and what we will wear.
It’s easy to say I want to be with Jesus but let us also be willing to have the mind of Christ – our hearts, minds and soul fixed on the eternal purpose for which we were created. – TO BRING GLORY TO GOD.
To walk alongside Jesus, we have to embrace the Cross (v38 – v40)
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
When Jesus said, “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” Jesus meant to ask them, whether they are willing to carry their cross and follow his footsteps.
Just like in Matthew 16:24 where Jesus asks – “Are you willing to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me?
“Take up your cross and follow Me” means being willing to die in order to follow Jesus. This is called “dying to self.” It’s a call to absolute surrender.
Which means dying to our fleshly desires, letting go of our carnal dreams, letting loose the things of the world, the emotions attached with the world, the needs of this world. Where we are fully trusting in God’s provision and providence for us on this life on earth.
I remember when I was a young believer my Pastor, every time we went to a cemetery or a funeral, he would look at me and say “Saju, do you know that dead men don’t feel any pinprick”, He will point me to the graveyards and tell me no matter what you tell these dead men they will never react to you, because they are dead.
And then he would go on to explain what it means to die to ourselves in the Kingdom of God. He would tell me, nothing of this world should move you or distract you from trusting in God and fulfilling His purposes. Consider yourself dead to the world.
(Luke 9:24-25) – “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
On the other hand, we should be aware that Christian life is a radical life, we’re going the systems of this world, the human cultures and traditions and beliefs. You are going against the very foundations on which this sinful world is established.
In Matthew 5 Jesus said you will be insulted, persecuted, falsely accused, for my name’s sake. Our family will hate us, our close friends will reject us, our society will mock at us. But rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.
How can we endure these pain, persecution and hate? We can only do that when we are prepared to carry our cross and follow Jesus, dying to our self, denying the world & trust in God alone.
We can’t say that we enjoy the rains but don’t like the idea of getting wet.
In the say way, we can’t desire to walk alongside Jesus and don’t like the idea of embracing the cross & going through suffering for the sake of Christ. It is part and parcel of our Faith.
Sadly, every time Jesus would talk about carrying the cross his followers would keep reducing. Because even though they liked the idea of following Jesus they did not like the idea of letting go of the world.
Let’s check our hearts and see where do we stand?
To walk alongside Jesus, we have to be servants (v42- v45)
42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
When the other 10 disciples look down on James and John, Jesus turns to them and tells them about what it really means to become great in the kingdom of God, which is what probably everyone in the room desired for.
He says unlike the Gentiles “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be a slave of all.45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
No believer is called to sit on the pedestal and watch. We don’t follow Jesus or come to church just to be an audience, we are called to be participants in the Kingdom of God.
Nobody who claims to be a follower of Jesus should say that they love Jesus and love coming to church but are unwilling to serve in any manner. If our Lord whom we love and admire did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. We also ought to have a heart of a servant.
We don’t wait from someone to come to us and assign us a role to serve. Instead, we ought to look for opportunities to serve in small and big measures as per our giftings.
We shouldn’t come to church with a consumerist mentality, where it’s all about us wanting what pleases us. Music of our taste, preacher of our style, church building of our status, a people group of our mindset etc.
We ought to be servants in the Kingdom of God if we desire to walk alongside Jesus.
Yes, it is great that you love Jesus but how are you serving one another with the love of Christ, when was the last time we sacrificed our time, money & pleasure to bring joy and encouragement to another brother or sister in the Lord.
Conclusion:
As I conclude, I want to encourage you to desire more to be and walk alongside Jesus but let’s do it with the motive and approach. Fully understanding that to walk alongside Jesus, we need to have the mind of Christ, we have to embrace the Cross & we have become servants.
