First Works Baptist Church, let's all find our seats.
As you find your seat, grab a songbook, turn to song number 43.
Song number 43, we're marching to Zion.
Let's all stand together for this first song if you're able.
Song number 43, we're marching to Zion altogether.
Nice and strong on that first verse.
Come without the blow and let joining glow
is God's perfect peace.
Song number 401, Set My Soul to Fire.
Together, nice and strong on that first verse.
Set my soul upon the fire.
Wonderful singing, at this time the ushers will come forward to receive the offering.
You can turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 4.
Romans chapter number 4.
Chapter number 4, Romans chapter 4 and the Bible reads.
What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found?
For if Abraham were justified by works he hath were of to glory, but not before God.
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the Lord not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also described with the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying,
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Cometh his blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also.
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision?
Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised.
And he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised,
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also.
And the father of circumcision, to them who are not of the circumcision only,
but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith. For they which are of the law be heirs,
faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.
Because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Therefore it is of faith that it might be of grace.
To the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law,
but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
As it is written, I have made thee the father of many nations.
Before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not, as though they were,
who against hope believed in hope, that he may have become the father of many nations.
According to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be.
Being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, when he was about an hundred years old,
neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God,
being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform,
and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,
but for ours also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
Let's pray. Dear Lord God, just thank you again for this opportunity to be in your house,
and just ask that you would bless Pastor McGee with your Holy Spirit now as he preaches your word,
and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Amen. Okay, we're in Romans chapter 4 this morning,
and hold your place so we're going to come back to that towards the end of the sermon,
and if you can go with me if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter number 5,
2 Corinthians chapter number 5.
The time of my sermon this morning is serving Jesus Christ.
Serving Jesus Christ.
We as Christians should endeavor to serve the Lord all the days of our life,
and I hope to inspire you this morning to serve Jesus Christ today, tomorrow, this month, this year, and from here on out.
I have three points this morning about serving Jesus Christ.
Point number one is going to be the motive for serving Jesus Christ.
Point number two is the manner for serving Jesus Christ.
And point number three are the merits for serving Jesus Christ.
The motive, the manner, and the merits.
This morning, I want to exhort you as a church to continue to serve Jesus Christ,
or if you haven't started serving Christ, that you would begin today with the right motive,
in the right manner, and for the right merits.
So let's start off here talking about serving Jesus Christ with the right motive.
Serving Jesus Christ with the right motive.
What is the right motive to have when serving Jesus?
Well, let me just say this is that we serve Jesus Christ because we love Jesus Christ.
And the wrong reason to serve Jesus Christ would be the reasons why a lot of churches
who don't believe in the right salvation serve Jesus,
and that's because they're afraid that they're going to go to hell if they don't serve Jesus Christ.
And quite frankly, that is a wrong motive for serving Jesus Christ,
and people who labor and work for Jesus Christ,
or in the name of Christ, doing it for salvation,
it's not going to mean anything when it comes to the judgment seat,
the white-thrown judgment, it's actually going to work against them according to the Bible.
And in fact, when you look at the example of the man in Matthew chapter 7, verse 22,
when he talks, when he's before God,
he's giving all the reasons why he should be given eternal life.
He lists all the services that he did for God, right?
He says that he cast out demons in his name, he prophesied in his name,
and just in general did many wonderful works.
Well, that didn't help him much, because Jesus tells him,
"Depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you."
That's the wrong reason to serve the Lord,
it's because you want to earn salvation, you want to earn eternal life.
The right reason, as a Christian, someone who's saved,
we serve God because of the fact that we love the Lord, okay?
We don't serve God out of a fear of hell,
we serve God because we love the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in fact, look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14,
it says, "For the love of Christ constraineth us,
because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead."
That's a wonderful phrase there in 2 Corinthians chapter 5
that the Apostle Paul is stating here that it's God's love that constrains us
essentially to serve Him, to be in the house of God,
to win souls to Christ, to read our Bibles,
essentially to encapsulate our lives with the service of God,
it's the love of Christ that constrains us to do so.
It's not because we're afraid we're going to go to hell.
It's not because we're afraid, we're not sure about our salvation.
It's because we have a love for the Lord.
And you know what? Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments."
So how does the Lord Jesus Christ interpret love for Him?
I'll tell you how by you obeying the commandments of God.
Obeying His commandments, obeying His word.
He goes on to say in chapter 14, stay there in 2 Corinthians.
Chapter 14 verse 21 says, "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.
And he that loveth Me shall be loved in My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him."
Now here's the thing is that when it comes to loving the Lord,
you know a lot of it does have to do with emotion, right?
You know we have a great swelling joy of emotion and love for the Lord.
And that's biblical because the Bible says to love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, right?
So there should be some emotion involved.
But let's just be honest here.
Not all of us have an emotion to love God 100% of the time.
And so when you don't feel that emotion of loving God,
well keep doing His commandments and God still interprets that as love.
You're like, "Oh man, I just feel like I don't love God."
But hold on a second, are you keeping the commandments of God?
Yes, then according to God, you do love Him.
Because that's how we've used your love for Him.
Now, obviously, we're going to have instances where we feel that emotion,
where we feel that joy, and where we say, "Yeah, I love the Lord, I can feel it in my heart."
But let's just be quite honest here, there's instances throughout our lives where we don't feel that way.
But we keep keeping His commandments because God says that that's a manner in which we love Him.
We serve God because we love Him.
Now, let me clarify something, and that is that this doesn't mean that if you experience a season
where you lapse in your faith and your love for God, and for others, you know, it doesn't mean you don't love Christ.
You're like, "Oh, man, I just don't feel that love for Christ right now.
I don't love God right now, and so, you know, therefore I'm not going to serve God
because I don't love the Lord as I should, therefore I'm not going to serve God."
You know, we serve God obviously because we feel love for Him.
But, you know, when that love wanes, we should just keep serving God until that desire returns.
The worst thing you could do as a Christian is only serve God when you feel like serving God.
And if people only serve God when they felt like serving God, they probably wouldn't serve God a whole lot
because our emotions just, you know, fluctuate throughout the week, throughout the month.
And the Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked, who can know it?
We all know that we go through seasons of carnality, maybe we're fleshly,
and we don't feel as spiritual as we did yesteryear,
but at the end of the day, we should keep serving God until the desire returns.
And this is what I believe the Bible means when the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9,
that I keep under my body and bring it into subjection,
lest by any means when I preach to others, I myself should be a castaway.
What is he referring to there? He's referring to the fact that we serve God with our body, our members.
And he's saying there that when he's preaching the word of God,
unless he should become a castaway, he's going to continue to serve God with his body,
bringing his body into subjection, making his body go to church,
making his body read the Bible, making his body preach the gospel,
making his body and the members of his body do what it's supposed to do.
And guess what? The desire will eventually return to serve the Lord once again.
Let me read to you from Romans chapter 6. Hold your place there in 2 Corinthians.
Go to Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs chapter 16.
Romans chapter 6 verse 19 says, "I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded
your members servants to uncleanness
and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members
servants to righteousness unto holiness."
What is Romans 6 saying? Romans 6 is essentially telling us or teaching us
that God wants us to subject the members of our body
to serve the Lord. And just as your members were subjected to serve
sin, to serve uncleanness, to serve iniquity, God says
you should also put in that same effort to serve the Lord with your
body. And you know we all go through seasons where we just don't feel like doing what we're supposed
to be doing. We all go through seasons where we don't really feel like loving God
and serving God. But here's the key folks, make your body do it
anyways. Make your body do what it's supposed to do.
Keep the commandments of God even when you don't feel like
doing it. You know, a lot of times Christians fail in their Bible reading because they don't read
their Bibles because they don't feel like it. It's just like, oh I just don't feel like, you know, I'm just
not in the Spirit today. Yeah, but what will get you in the Spirit is actually reading the
Bible though. So it's kind of like, you know, this vicious cycle of, well
I'm not going to read the Bible that will get me in the Spirit because I'm not feeling in the Spirit.
Well, that's why you need to read the Bible to get back in the Spirit. And so it's important for us
as Christians to mature, you know, as believers, recognizing that there's instances where we're supposed
to do what we're supposed to do even if we don't feel like doing it. And you'll realize
that once you commit yourself to doing those things, eventually your desire returns.
Because, you know, your desires are closely tied into the way you think, too, you know.
Like, I don't feel like loving God, maybe I don't love God, right? You're like, I don't feel like loving God,
therefore, oh, you know what, maybe I don't love. So you come to these conclusions based upon how you feel.
But look what Proverbs 16 and verse 3 tells us about that. Proverbs 16 verse 3 says,
"Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established."
So according to the Bible, when you commit your works unto God, you do what you're supposed to do,
your thoughts end up leveling out. They end up establishing themselves in the present truth, right?
This is teaching us that don't serve God only when you feel like it.
You should do it even when you don't feel like it. And in fact, especially when you don't feel like it.
Here's a very carnal example. Going to the gym. Lifting weights.
You know, a lot of people, a lot of people don't feel like lifting weights.
They don't feel like going to the gym. A lot of people, okay?
Myself included, you know? You got a heavy leg day?
I'll be honest with you, I don't feel like doing heavy leg days. It's not fun.
Sometimes you got to squat really heavy and do Bulgarian split squats. That's not fun.
But you know what? You do it anyways. And there's times when the weight is just moving really good.
You got your protein in. You're just making a lot of progress. And you just can't wait to get under that bar.
But what about the days that it's just not going as well? I'm kind of experiencing that a little right now.
Where it's just like the weight's not moving as good. I feel a little weaker because of the caloric deficit.
And it's easy for me to just be like, you know, I think I'm going to skip Saturday. I'm going to skip this leg day.
I got more important spiritual things to do. This stuff is vain anyways.
I'm going to get a resurrected body, you know, just come up with all kinds of reasons why not to live, right?
But the point is I do it anyway. You get under the bar, you complete your sets and your reps and you go to failure
and you make sure that you live even when you don't feel like it. And then by the end of the workout, you feel pretty good.
Why? Because when you commit your works, your thoughts are established and the same goes for the spiritual life.
You know, you think to yourself, I don't feel like going to church today, but let me just say this.
By the end of the service, you're going to think to yourself, I'm glad I went.
You know, oh man, I just don't feel like going soul hunting.
But then you take yourself soul hunting, you end up preaching the gospel to someone, you get someone saved,
and then you think to yourself, man, I'm glad that I went.
And then you start realizing, damn, my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?
Because if I didn't go to church, I wouldn't have heard that spiritual truth that would have helped me.
If I didn't go soul hunting, I wouldn't have led someone to the Lord.
If I didn't do what I was supposed to do, I wouldn't have experienced the blessing of doing
and committing my works into the Lord, now your thoughts are established.
This is a very mature verse to teach us that the formula to getting your mind right,
thinking about the things of God, is you just got to do what you're supposed to do
even when you don't feel like doing it.
The point that I'm making here is that just because you don't love God today
doesn't mean you should stop serving God.
Just because you don't feel that desire today doesn't mean you should stop going soul hunting,
you should stop going to church, you should stop reading your Bible,
commit your works into the Lord, your thoughts will eventually be established
and they will level out.
Go back to 2 Corinthians if you wouldn't.
So what is the motive for serving God?
I'll tell you what the prime motive is, is because we love the Lord.
And this is a lot easier for a lot of brand new Christians
who are just in that new phase of just discovering the things of God,
reading the Bible, they get a fresh new start,
it's that babe in Christ type of a thing that sees in that honeymoon stage,
and that's great, but you know, as the years go by, it does wane.
It goes up and down, up and down, there's an ebb and flow to our love for God.
And thank God that we don't have to love God to be saved, right?
Because none of us love God 100% of the time, we have the flesh that wars against us,
so we do serve God because we love Him.
But you know what, we also serve God because we love people, right?
A good motive to serve God is because we love Him,
but another motive to serve God is because we love the people that we're around.
We love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We love the lost.
We love our children.
Let me read to you from Hebrews chapter 6 and verse number 10.
It says, "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love,
which He has showed toward His name,
and that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister."
First Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 9 says,
"But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you,
for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another."
So according to the Bible, you know, when you get saved,
you begin to develop and cultivate a love for other people.
And it starts off first with this nucleus of people that you're surrounded with
known as your local New Testament church.
You develop relationships with the people in your church.
You begin to develop a love for them and to cultivate an affection towards them.
And this ends up operating as a good motive to serve God.
Because you want what's best for your brethren.
You develop these deep relationships within church.
And you think to yourself, I don't feel like going to church today.
But I'm going to go because I know someone is depending on me.
Or I'm going to go because I want to see brother so and so.
I want to see sister so and so.
I want to see this family.
Or they want to see me at church so I need to make sure that I'm there.
So you essentially, you know, forego certain of your selfish pleasures.
Because of the fact that you know someone's going to benefit from your presence.
They're going to benefit from your service.
This is why you serve God.
And if you think to yourself, well, I don't serve God because I love people.
Then get right with the Lord then.
For all of you.
Now, just like the first point though.
We're not always going to love the people around us.
What do you mean amen?
I'm just kidding.
It's true though.
Brother Mark's amen is very well merited there.
That's a fact.
Because we're humans, right?
And humans annoy other humans.
They irritate them.
They offend them.
And so we don't always love each other as we're supposed to.
And you say, "Well, how do I love my brethren once again if I don't have love for them?"
Well, the same thing goes with you loving God.
It's the same formula.
Love your brethren anyways.
Be a blessing to them anyways.
And then the love will once again develop and cultivate within your heart for the brethren.
And the Bible tells us here that we're taught of God to love one another.
It should come as second nature to a certain degree to love our brethren when we're in our local New Testament church.
Because we are social beings that interact with each other.
We share the same beliefs.
Sometimes, in certain instances, we even share the same experiences.
And when we serve God together, those relationships deepen even further.
Look what it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
Now, loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, I would say, is actually pretty easy.
Because all of us like to have friendships.
We enjoy the camaraderie and the fellowship.
And it's easy for us to just get along with one another, right?
Obviously, it's not like that in every church.
But in general, that's how it should be, okay?
And I think most of you, if not all of you, get along with each other, okay?
I hope. No, I'm just kidding. You know, I know you do.
But here's the thing is that, you know, we serve God by loving God.
We serve God. The motive for serving God is loving God.
The motive for serving God is loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
But it's also by loving lost people as well, you know?
One motive that we have to serve God is because we love the lost.
We don't want them to go to hell.
Look at 2 Corinthians 5, verse number 8.
It says, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
Verse 11, "knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men," the Bible says.
So what is the terror of the Lord? Hell is the terror of the Lord.
And because we have an understanding of that eternal damnation of hell, we want to persuade men, not for our benefit, but for their benefit.
Why do we go on to preach the gospel? I'll tell you why, because we love the loss.
We want to persuade them to believe the gospel because we don't want them to suffer the eternal condemnation of fire and torment for all of eternity.
So we serve God because of that. And you know, sometimes this actually even supersedes our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ at times.
Sometimes people come to church and maybe they're not getting along with people or maybe they're not feeling as interactive or social with others,
but they still have a desire to go and preach the gospel because they want to see people saved.
And that's still a great motive for serving God.
The point that I'm making here is that the reason we serve God are because of these virtuous things.
Because we love the Lord, because we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and because we love the laws.
Go with me if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians chapter number 10, 1 Corinthians chapter number 10.
What is the motive for serving the Lord Jesus Christ?
I'll tell you what the motive is, is that we love Him.
And you know, part of developing a love for God is obviously walking with God, reading the Bible.
But it's also just recognizing the amount of sins you've been forgiven, right?
You think of the story of the Pharisee that invited the Lord to dine with him.
And the Bible says that there was a sinner present at the dinner.
It doesn't say what particular sin she was guilty of, but she's wiping his feet with her hairs and her tears.
She's anointing him with an alabaster box of oil.
And the Lord ends up explaining to the Pharisee that she loves him more than the Pharisee
because of the fact that she's forgiven much.
And of course, he's forgiven little.
And the concept there is that, you know, people have the potential to love God more when they are forgiven of more.
And this is why sometimes people who get saved later on in life end up being a little more zealous than people who grew up in church.
It doesn't have to be that way, but sometimes it is.
You know, first generation Christians are often far more zealous and excited about the things of God.
They have a tendency to love God a little more than maybe a second generation Christian would.
But it doesn't have to be that way. We can raise a second generation of Christians that love and are zealous for the things of God.
I'm just saying, naturally, that's the tendency.
Now, here's the thing, though, is that all of us have been forgiven of a lot.
So even if a person got saved later on in their 30s, in their 40s, and someone's been saved since they were five years old,
guess what? The Lord saved that five-year-old, you know, not just from stealing cookies out of the cookie jar,
but just from a life of other sins, right? If they grew up in a Christian home, they grew up in church,
they grew up around preaching, you know, the Lord is saving that person from some pretty bad experiences.
And so that five-year-old, when he grows to be an 18-year-old, a 20-year-old, a 30-year-old,
needs to think upon the fact that God rescued that young man, that young lady from a life of sin
that could destroy their lives. And what does that do? That ends up cultivating a love for God, right?
And so the motive for serving God is we love the Lord. But let's talk about the manner of serving Jesus Christ.
What is the manner of serving Jesus Christ? Because, you know, a lot of churches out there
promote a manner of serving God that's not really serving God at all. And we want to make sure that as Christians that we get the most bang for our buck.
That we're actually serving God according to the biblical standard of serving God, okay?
We want a greater return on our investments. Now look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31.
It says here, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
Now what is this verse saying? It's saying that anything you do can count.
Anything? "Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
You know what this means? It means we're always on the clock.
You see, as a Christian, you don't just get paid when you're in church, spiritually speaking.
You don't just get paid when you're out soul hunting. No, you're always on the clock.
You are on call 24 hours a day as a Christian.
Where can I serve God? Well, obviously, the local New Testament church is the hub of service
where you get trained and edified. You are perfected for the work of the ministry, right?
But at the end of the day, when you leave these doors, you're on the clock still.
The point that I'm making is that we actually, there's not one specific way to serve God.
We actually just serve God with our bodies. We serve God with our lives.
You know, when you go home with your spouse, you're serving God.
When you're at your job, working for your earthly boss, you're still serving God.
When you're at your high school, your public school, and you're learning there, guess what?
You're still serving God.
When you're out and about, at the restaurant, just living your life according to the Bible,
you should do it to the glory of God. You are serving God at that point.
You know what? When you understand this particular concept, you live a little differently.
A lot of Christians have a tendency to compartmentalize God and compartmentalize the service of God
and say, "Well, you know, when I come to church, I just want to do so many. That's my service for God."
Ain't wrong. That's part of your service for God. But you serving God happens all the time, 24 hours a day.
Even in matters that don't necessarily have to do with spiritual things, you're still serving God.
Because, you know what, eating and drinking is not a spiritual thing, right?
Eating and drinking, we wish it was, but you know, it's not really a spiritual thing. It's not.
It's not a spiritual thing at all. But yet, God views it as, if you're doing that with your body due to the glory of God,
live your life to the glory of God. Don't compartmentalize the service of God.
Don't think, "Well, the service of God is only at church, but outside of these walls, I just kind of do my own thing.
I just kind of live a worldly life. I just kind of live a carnal life. I kind of live like a double life."
Wrong, folks. You're always on the clock as a Christian. You're always serving God 100% of the time.
Go to Romans, chapter 6, if you would. Romans, chapter 6. Our bodies should be used as members of righteousness.
That's basically what the Bible's teaching us here.
Whether therefore you eat, you drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.
What this is saying here is that our bodies should be used for the service of God in all matters.
Not just in what we would consider to be spiritual matters, in all matters.
Look at Romans 6 and verse 13. Actually, look at verse 12.
Romans, chapter 6, verse 12 says, "Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lustre of.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin."
And I want you to notice this, "But yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
What is he referring to when he talks about his members?
Talk about this right here. Your hands, your feet, your ears, your mouth, your eyes.
Everything that you have should be used as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Now, here's the thing is that we have corruptible flesh, and this corruptible flesh desires to sin.
That's why we need to bring it into subjection. This is why the Bible is saying that we have to
conscientiously think about these things and yield ourselves unto God.
Make your body do what it is supposed to do. Go to Colossians chapter 3, if you would.
Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter number 3.
Now, this particular point is for the newer Christians.
Obviously, I'm reminding a lot of the seasoned Christians.
And if you consider yourself to be a seasoned Christian and you don't know this, then you're not quite seasoned.
This is a lot of this is gonna be for newer Christians because you know newer Christians think well
No, serving God is just me preaching the gospel. Well, yeah, that is a service for God for sure
But that's not the only service of God
So, you know if you're and if you're so winning and winning people to Christ you're serving God
But you're doing yourself a disservice when the other times of the week you're living a sinful life. You're around sinful people
You're doing sinful things, you know, you're drinking you're smoking you're running with those that do by the way
If you are come and let me know and you know, I got to talk to you about some stuff here
You know, it's called excommunication if you don't get that right, but here's the thing is that sometimes Christians are like
They're like well, you know, let me just offset my service for God by soul winning
But the rest of the time I'm just gonna live a sinful life wrong folks
You know, you will be rewarded for the wind souls you went to Christ
But hold on a second you have a misconstrued conception of what it is to serve God
You're supposed to serve God with your entire life and more specific. Let me say this. We serve God through our
Biblical roles look at Colossians chapter 3 verse 17
It says whatsoever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus
Given thanks to God and the Father by him now
What is verse 17 referring to here?
It's referring to the fact that no matter what we do
Whether we speak the actions that we commit the deeds that we do
We should do it in the name of Jesus meaning for the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a verse 18
He gives us some examples here wives
Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. So folks according to the Bible
Women submitting to their husband is a service for God and if a wife refuses to submit to her husband
She is disobeying and not serving God now
What does it mean for a wife to submit to her husband? It means that the husband's in charge
Not the other way around, you know in this church from the Word of God
The Bible teaches that the man is the head of the household not the other way around
You know, God doesn't by the way, you don't please God by being a henpecked husband. You're you're actually doing a disservice
You're disrespecting the roles that God has established in the Bible
And if you're a pushover henpecked husband, you need to get right with God
Why because at the end of the day God commands your wife to be in submission to you
Not you in submission to your wife, you know
There should be no leash around your neck being led about of your wife. That is a reproach
That is an insult to the to the rules that God has set forth in the Bible and you're not serving God
But the Bible is telling us here that a wife a way that a wife can serve God is by submitting to her husband
Now this is important because you know one question that I get all the time is like what service gets me the most rewards though
You know, isn't it zoning pastor and most of the time the ones asking this are who the singles?
Cuz they got all the time in the world to go so they're like
Oh for sure so winning has to be the one that gets us the most rewards
But actually we don't know there's no chart in the Bible that tells us
You know what gives us the most bang for our buck and this is one of the reasons why God just says just serve God with
Your body he doesn't get just give us one fishing pole in one pond
He gives us many fishing poles and just says fish in every pond. Yeah, but which pond has the most fish though
I don't know just do it though
And so the reason I'm saying that is because you know a wife who is married she has children
She doesn't necessarily have the same amount of time as the single guy does
So the single guy could look down on everyone else who doesn't go so winning as much as them like oh, man
I must love God ever more than anybody else because I so win for like eight hours a day and look at these guys
You know, what are you doing serving your husband? Yeah, but you know the wife is
actually
Increasing her rewards if she goes so winning and if she serves her husband, you see the single guy only has one fishing pole
Though you see what I'm saying. Whereas the married person gets to the single guy only has access to one pond to fish in
Whereas the wife actually has a few especially if she starts having children
You got one in soul winning you got one for your husband and you got five for your kids
Because as you serve your children you are also earning rewards
So if we want to get really specific or if you want to navel gaze just a little bit
We can actually say that the person who's married actually gets more rewards than the single person. We don't know that for a fact
I'm just saying they have more opportunities to serve you say, you know, we're like, well, what if a single guy serves in church?
Absolutely, they get rewarded
But you also got to keep in mind that the wife is at home with their kids 24 hours a day and remember whatsoever
Whatever you do, so every time she's cleaning that diaper every time she irons the shirt every time
She's scrubbing the floors on her hands and knees. It's the only way you should clean the floors. Amen
Well, you got a problem with that anytime she cooks a meal
Anytime she cleans the house if she does it in the name of Jesus Christ
Chaching chaching chaching chaching chaching she's just earning more rewards
Hey when her husband says this is what I want and she does it and she submits to that she gets rewarded for that
You know, it just kind of blows my mind to let me just chase this rabbit a little bit
You know, it just blows my mind when women refuse to submit to their husband
Well, he's not worthy of it and they just completely negate the fact that she's doing it as unto the Lord
I mean, we know that we know that's what the Bible says, right when the Bible says for a wife to submit to her husband
It's not just like just submit to him period. It's as unto the Lord
Now, why does the Bible say that well because your husband is not as righteous as the Lord and so
God wants you to submit to him because even though your husband may not
deserve it all the time the Lord Jesus Christ does deserve it all the time a
100% of the time and when you choose not to submit to your husband and when you insult him and you
Criticize him and you put him down. Guess what? It's as unto the Lord you blasphemer true
I'm just trying to teach how to serve God ladies, you know according to the Bible. That's what you're doing
You're doing it as a that he takes that personal just put it that way when you serve your husband when you disrespect
Husband just mark it down. You're disrespecting the Lord Jesus Christ as well. Well, I don't mean that because I actually love the Lord
Jesus Christ
Yeah, but remember what Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments plain and simple now
Obviously we as husbands don't deserve submission a hundred percent of the time because we're like we don't deserve that
Maybe some of us do sometimes maybe we're good husbands. Sometimes maybe you know, we have a good streak
Maybe you're just a perfect husband not me
But at the end of the day, guess what? You know, we deserve to be served by our wives not because of us
but because of the Lord Jesus Christ and
God is saying here if you want to serve God and maybe you can't do it at the capacity of some of these younger men
Who are out soul winning just winning souls to Christ and they're essentially just taking care of things of the world how they may please
The Lord then you know what?
That doesn't mean you can't earn rewards because you can serve God at home every shirt you iron
Every towel you fold all the laundry do you do when you cook your husband your fit his favorite meal
When you teach your children when you change the diapers when you clean the house guess what?
You're actually serving God by doing that now if you're just kind of like
Then let me just be honest with you you're a feminist that could change though
You know is it is it like crazy to say you're a feminist is in the local New Testament Church where we believe the Bible
No, that's what the Bible teaches you know every woman has a little bit of feminist tendencies because we grew up in this era
right an era where feminism is constantly being promoted constantly being taught and we need to renew our minds and
Teach ourselves and bring ourselves into alignment with what the Bible says and look you enjoy
Submitting to your husband that much the more when you realize you're doing as into the Lord because you're like man
This guy does not he does not deserve this guy's just not Abraham
You know, he's just but I'm gonna do it anyways because the Lord deserves it
You know your realizes that when you do it as unto the Lord
It's like the first point you actually begin to realize actually my husband's not that bad
He's actually really good guy, you know, he begins to thank you for it
He begins to show you affection for it and then you realize like actually I love the Lord and my husband point that I'm making here
Man that went over like a screen door in a submarine
You know point that I'm making here is that the Bible's teaching us that the way we serve God is through our roles
Because God knows that not all of us can invest as much time as a single person who's able to serve the Lord
Just a hundred percent of the time in the service of God in the house of God and thank God for these single young men
By the way, you know, I am encouraged by the single young men in our church who are zealous for the things of God
They're not worldly. They love righteousness. They love souls and guess what they brought themselves to church
I commend that that is a commendable thing my friends when I was a young man
I didn't have anybody bringing me to church mom and dad weren't dragging me to church
You know what? Thank God for these young men who drug themselves to church
The only drugs they're into is drugging themselves to church
Amen come into church bringing people to church serving God and best in their times and the things of God
I commend that and we gotta pray for them to get married
Amen wives submit yourselves into your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord
Why because whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God goes on to say in verse 19
Husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them
so husbands this is the way we can serve God at home and that is by loving our wives and according to the Bible that means we're
Supposed to be forgiving towards our wives because sometimes wives can you know cause their husbands to become bitter towards them
Why because what is it men are from Mars women are for Venus or something like that. Yeah, we're just we're just two different people
We like things a certain way and sometimes our wives don't do it exactly the way we want it
Maybe our personalities clash a little bit. Maybe one's a little more passive one's a little more aggressive
You know, whatever may be you can it's easy for a husband to become bitter towards their wife
Because maybe they don't submit themselves as they should right? Maybe it was just like my wife doesn't submit to me
Okay, well be not bitter against them and you can serve God by doing that and by the way wives don't be like, yeah
Yeah, that's right. You know, don't be bitter against no you submit to your husband you worry about your role
But when it comes to the husband, you better make sure that you're forgiving you're loving you're dwelling with her according to knowledge
That you are kind to your wife tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you and you know
What if your wife does not submit to you you can still serve God in your home
Towards your wife by loving your wife as Christ loved the church. So basically I
Think what the Bible is telling us here is there's no excuse for not serving God
There's so many opportunities to serve God, you know wife does it by submitting to her husband making him his favorite meal
Husbands loves their you know, they serve God by loving their wife providing for their wife showing affection to their wife
You know not being impatient with their wife forgiving their wife not being bitter against their wife
Okay, and let me just say this real quick just so the young people in our church
Don't get this perception that marriage is just World War two all the time or something
I'm just explaining the things that you know, the challenges that come with marriage marriage is awesome. I would never want to be single
I just make that very clear. Okay, it sucks being single. Okay, I
Was single I was single. I just I know so I'm not down talking on being married because being married is great
And once you get married you realize like oh, yeah, this this pastor. He was right. This is awesome
But it doesn't mean that it doesn't come without its challenges
Which is why these commandments are here and when you get married you have less time to serve God in a local church
Does it mean you can't serve God in local church?
You just have less time to do so
But now you have all these other avenues by which to serve God in your home. Okay
So a wife does it with her husband a husband does it with his wife look at verse 20 children obey your parents in all things
For this is well pleasing unto the Lord. You're like, oh man
I'm a young person and I can't serve God at the capacity of some of these these adults do yeah
But you can serve God by obeying your parents, you know, a disobedient child is not serving God a disobedient
Rebellious scornful child is not serving God at all. They're actually disrespecting insulting and bringing a reproach upon God by
Hating their their their father and mother by disobeying father and mother
That's a disservice and look a lot of times people, you know, we'll bring this up and they'll be like, well, you know
How can I serve my wife though? She's not even a Christian, you know, like it's hard to get her to like submit
She's not even a Christian or something, you know, and it's just like well, you know, the last time I checked
Oh, man, this pen blew up the last the last time I checked it doesn't say husbands love your wives
Is she saved or why is it like oh, how am I supposed to serve my husband? He's not even saved
Well, the last time I checked it says submit to yourselves yourselves into your husband if he saved
No, it just says do it and you know what the same goes for kids serving their parents
Oh, my parents aren't saved, you know, and don't pull up the reprobate card either. I've heard that more times that I can count
Well, you know, they're just they're just reprobate. Oh why cuz they don't like you or something cuz they spanked you
Oh, why cuz they took away your Xbox, you know, the Bible's telling us here that we should obey our parents in all things
And this is not even referring to a Christian home necessarily
Obviously, it's being written to Christians, but it's applicable all across the board obey your parents in all things and you want that's how you can
Serve God is by not disrespecting your parents honoring them serving them taking out the trash when you're supposed to
Cleaning up your room honoring father and mother why because it's as unto the Lord
Look at verse 21 the flip side of this is fathers provoked now your children to anger lest they be discouraged
So fathers we serve our kids by not provoking them right by making sure they don't grow bitter against us
We need to make sure that we are a good example
to our children and raise them in the nurture and the admonition of
The Lord that is a manner in which we serve God in our household
So, you know teaching your kids in church is important
But let me just say what's more important teaching your kids at home talking about the things of God where you're at home
Making sure Christ is preeminent when you're at home. Look what it goes on the same verse 22
We're still talking about roles here. It's a servants. No, what's a servant? It's referring to an employee
Obey in all things your masters meaning your bosses
According to the flesh not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God
So I don't see anything about services in a church here
This is talking about like in the secular world
So, you know, you serve God by obeying your boss at work
You serve God by making sure that you're pleasing your boss
Well in all things not with eye service as men pleasers, but obviously by fearing God
This is what the Bible is teaching us here. Okay, and then he goes on to say verse 23
whatsoever you do do it heartily ask to the Lord and not unto men knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the
Inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. So what is it telling us?
It says when you fulfill these roles in its appropriate manner, guess what God views it as you're doing it unto me now
This this is important to note here and I thought I put it somewhere here and maybe I might mention it later
And that is you know, sometimes again wise may think well, I got a really lazy
Good-for-nothing husband. Well, let me just say you're a good-for-nothing wife for saying that about your husband if that's you
But let's say it is true
Okay, because there are some lazy good-for-nothing husbands out there and let's say husbands made and say this other wives are like, yeah
She's just a rebellious
cantankerous
Boisterous woman doesn't respect me doesn't submit parent kids to their parents might be like my parents are just not Christian and
They're just man. They make it so hard on me and they mock me for being a Christian
You know just think of the worst-case scenario regarding these relationships in these roles. Well, guess what serving God?
When you're in a situation like that is like working overtime in the spiritual life
It's like time and a half is that is that even still around it is right?
I hope you know people are looking me like what's the time and that you've never worked time and a half
You know time and a half is like you getting paid overtime double the pain. So think about it this way
I got ink on my hands here. So I think about it this way, you know when you serve God in a in a you know, a good
Environment with good parents with a good husband a great wife great children you get paid
right you you get paid by serving God in a
environment conducive to
Christianity obeying the Bible just everything just the chips fall in great places, right?
It's like it's easy to serve God
Well, guess what if you don't have this situation you actually get paid more if you are serving God while you're suffering
You actually get paid overtime go to Romans chapter 8 knew I had this verse we serve God by suffering and serving God
You know and this is important because sometimes people think you know, oh man, I'm suffering so I'm gonna take a break from God
No, no, you're gonna gain overtime if you keep serving God while you're suffering
You understand something like if you want to get paid overtime spiritually speaking you want to earn more rewards
Then you got to make sure you keep serving God even if you're in a bad situation
Because you could actually get paid more than the person who's serving God in a good situation
Look what the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verse 16
It says the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children then heirs and heirs of God and
Joint heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together
So the Bible is telling us here that we actually get rewarded for suffering
Wrongfully, okay
Suffering for the name of Christ and you know what if you have a really bad husband a lazy husband a good-for-nothing husband
But you're serving them as unto the Lord that would be suffering for the Lord's sake because you're doing it as unto Christ
So instead of coming up with an excuse as to why you shouldn't serve your husband because he's such a bad husband
Instead of coming up with an excuse as to why you shouldn't serve your wife because she's just such a bad wife
Just do it and get paid more because you get overtime when you serve God in a bad situation
What is the point that I'm making here?
This is the manner in which we can serve God the manner that we serve God is by what fulfilling our God-given roles
I want to help you to have a holistic understanding what it means to serve God and realize that serving God
Obviously is preaching the gospel, but it's also just fulfilling your God-given role
You know, well, I don't I'm not into any of those roles then if you're not married if you don't have kids
Maybe you're you're a little older in life. You're not in that type of situation
You can still serve God by helping others go back to the previous point
Just serving God with the members of your body looking for an opportunity to be a blessing to others
The point that I'm making here is that I want the couples in our church to realize that you are serving God when you go
Home today throughout the week. You're serving God and you know what husbands if you're not forgiving your wife
You're not serving God and you're like, yeah, but you don't know my wife
Yeah, but the Lord knows your wife though and you married her anyways
So, you know, we need to start taking responsibility for our actions here and stop blaming other people for the decisions that we make
And it's just like you married your spouse and then your spouse doesn't turn out the way you wanted them to and it's just like well
You said I do though
So saying I do is saying I will take the responsibility till death do us part because you're making a covenant with God
You know what?
Sometimes I gotta be a little rough like this because of the fact that too much of this is going around and you know
What we don't want the d-word to be tossed around in our church as if it's a normal thing
I'm not talking about damn
I'm talking about divorce divorce should never be an option in marriage the Lord hated putting away and divorce is for quitters
Okay for people who just don't want to serve God
They want to come up with an excuse as to why they made a bad decision
You know folks if you're married and you feel like she ain't the one she's the one now
She's the one now so take advantage of it and serve God in that situation isn't it?
Maybe it's not the best situation, but it's your situation
And you know what you can still honor the Lord Jesus Christ in your marriage
You can still honor the Lord Jesus Christ by serving your wife by serving your husband by serving your children
Keep serving God through your roles
But obviously what is the most conducive way that we all know to serve God and that's preaching the gospel
Because all of us have different roles in our in this church, right?
Some of us are married some of us are not some of us are married with kids
Some of us are not some of us are married with a lot of kids
Some of us don't have a whole lot of kids, but at the end of the day we can all preach the gospel
We can all go soul winning we can all give the gospel to someone that is a service for God
That extends all across the board no matter what role you find yourself in the Bible tells us in you don't have to turn there
Romans chapter I lost my place here Romans chapter 1 verse 8 first
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world
for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son that without ceasing
I make mention of you always in my prayers the Apostle Paul here saying that he's serving God in the gospel of
His son so we don't want to minimize the importance of serving God in the gospel because we have these other roles to fulfill
And we never want to have an unbiblical unbalanced view of our roles
Or it's just like well. It's all about the family and therefore. I'm not gonna go soul-winning. I can't do these things
I need to spend more time with my family. You need to do both now. Do you have the liberty to do?
So many as much as others maybe not, but you can still go once a week
Maybe you could go twice a week
But you can just go and serve God in that area because it's a responsibility that we all have as Christians and what it's one
of the best ways to
Serve God was the point that I'm making with this with point number two of the manner serving God is
Make sure you walk out of these doors today recognizing from here on now
I'm serving God no matter what I do when I'm at work and my boss tells me hey, I don't want you to do this
I'm gonna give you something else. That's not in your job description and you do it
You're serving God, you know
If your boss commands you to do something you don't feel like doing it and you don't do it or you do a haphazard job
Guess what? That's a haphazard job to the Lord as well. That's how God views it
But what if my boss cusses me out, you know
Do you really want me to tell you? Look if you're if you feel like getting cussed out at work
You just don't like that. Then you just get another job. But here's the thing is just that you know, maybe you deserved it
I don't know, you know
It's good to just build some thick skin and just be like, you know, I'm sorry
I'll never do it again and and you know what we we can't expect for our all of our bosses to be Christians
It's just not gonna happen. Okay, and here's another unrealistic expectations that young Christians can have is just like well
You know, I'm just looking for that one job. It has like a Christian boss or something like that
Let me just be honest more than likely even if you get a Christian boss
It's probably gonna be some Church of Christ of heretic or something
I just don't think you're gonna get a fundamental Baptist as as a boss. So just be happy with what you have
I mean we have people in our job whose bosses are just straight
atheist liberals just
Democratic atheistic liberals just on the far opposite side of the spectrum of what we would consider to be biblical
Conservative values and they they flourish in those environments
Why because at the end of the day, you know behind that liberal or above that liberal is Jesus Christ
And quite frankly, let's just be honest
If you're a good employee, you're a great person to get along with yes
Even the liberal might even like you I might even get along with you a little bit. Why because Christians are amicable
They're just people like them
If you if you're not a jerk if you know how to you know behave yourself if you're a hard worker
You're you're great to get along people who like you and then when you tell me you're a Christian
They might be like oh man, but the reason they're saying all man is because they're like man
I like you though like how can this be point that I'm making here is that don't look for a Christian boss
Just look for a job that gives you the money
Look for a paycheck, and if he just so happens to cuss you out. You know forgive him
He's a little he's he's under pressure
He has to work he has you to work with and if you really don't like it
Just go get another job point that I'm making here serve God with the members of your body
You know when you're a blessing to someone in our church, that's serving God when you provide for someone's need in our church
You're serving God when you give someone something a cup of water, you know
I always always joke around but it's actually true
But the more he's just racking up the points by bringing me this water every single service and it's not just water
It's a cold cup of water. Do you keep it biblical? He makes you will make sure that it's cold
You know, they're like really do you think you I promise you in the millennial reign?
He will be rewarded for that. He gets a prophets reward and you know, it's not because he's like no offense more
I don't think it's cuz he's like a servant. I think it's cuz he wants that reward
He's he's probably like I'm thankful. No one has caught on to this
Life hack in church, you know what I mean? And I'm grateful for it though. I'm grateful for it
But I'm I'm halfway joking but it's true
The Bible literally says that if you give a cup cold water to a brother you will receive a reward for it
You know what that means? That means God keeps receipts or the receipts. He has all the receipts, you know
More is you know more is gonna be at the judgment seat of Christ and be like God's gonna be like well
This first packet is just all water cold cup cold cup. That one's not cold
But we'll give you we'll give you something for that, you know
Oh look at oh, wow, you just racked up a lot of points right here. Hey, you actually believe that verse you'd be surprised
Hey, you know you buy a Red Bull for someone, you know, believe it or not. You get a reward
Oh, that's all unhealthy. Who cares?
The motive now I'm not saying go buy someone a cigarette or something like that
I'm just saying, you know when Adam brings Red Bulls to you guys, you know, you really think he does it cuz he loves you
I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. He does I know he does either that or he's just a Red Bull infiltrator
Who's just trying to get us all hooked to the Red Bulls or whatever. You know what though?
He's serving God by doing that though. He's bringing them
He's making sure everyone's stocked even though they complain all this one again, you know, you know Adam misses his service
You know, he's going to Brazil and and when he comes back, it's not like hey Adam. Good to see you
Thankful your bag. It's just like where you been? I had no Red Bulls since you could see even serve God anymore
Well, like where's your service for the Lord? Yeah, but you know, we're joking here, but that's actually true though
Hey, you buy your brother and sister in Christ a meal. That's a reward. You're serving God by doing those things
What so hey you clean the toilets in the church?
That's a huge reward because there's some suffering that goes along with that you mop anything you do
And this is how you got a view serving God
Recognizing no matter what I do it if I do it all to the glory of God just the receipts are just stacking up
The rewards are stacking up. All right, go to Matthew chapter 10 if you would Matthew chapter 10
Let me just briefly go over this last point here
We talked about the motive for serving Christ and that is because we love the Lord and if you experience the time when you don't
Love the Lord commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. You know, love the Lord again
But that's a prime mode is because we love God. We love others
we want to keep people out of hell the manner of serving God is that we do it with our bodies and
Whatsoever we do indeed or in word we serve God with the roles that God has given to us
We serve God by serving our wives. We serve God by you know, serving our husbands
We serve God by serving our children, you know
And obviously we serve God by winning souls to Christ
But let me let's talk about this last point and that is the merits for serving Christ and that is the rewards
Actually, I'm sorry go back to Romans 4 because this is this is the portion of scripture that I wanted to read here now in
Romans chapter 4, you know, we use it notoriously to refute a works-based salvation, right Romans 4 5
We've got all quoted by heart probably gonna use it today out soul winning use it this week where you're out soul winning
It's just something that's just ingrained in us, but because it's such a killer verse, right because it's just like yeah
But we're not saved by works, but if you don't work, you know, but but saving faith works
It's like yeah, but to him that work
It's not though but believe it's on him to justify at the end God that his faith is counted for righteousness
That's a fantastic verse but we often neglect the verse right before it
Look at verse number four actually to start verse three for what say at the scripture Abraham believed God and was counted into him for
Righteousness now to him that worketh is the reward
Not reckoned of grace but of debt. What is the same?
It's saying that this person who works is where a reward is given to him
Not because of grace but because it's owed unto him
So this is a great verse to help people understand that
Working for God doing works for God and the grace of God actually don't mix because a work merits a reward
Grace is something that you don't deserve whereas a reward is something that you do deserve. God doesn't owe you salvation
It's given to you freely by the grace of God after you're saved though
He owes you a reward if you work for him
The reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt and essentially God's saying like I owe you a
recompense a reward for your labor
But thankfully if you don't labor to him that work is not but you believe on him to justify the ungodly your faith is counted
For righteousness in other words, you're still saved
But if you want God to owe you a recompense owe you a reward you work for God
And you know, then you have spiritual people they're just like yeah, but we don't even deserve the rewards you get
Yes, that's what God says. He owes you that reward
That's what he says a reward is something you receive because of the work that you do and he's saying I owe you this
Which operates as a great motive and incentives to serve God
You see we all have a fear of loss and a desire of game
We don't want to lose rewards by not serving God lose out on the opportunities to gain rewards
And we have the desire to gain as well go to 1st Corinthians chapter 3 1st Corinthians chapter 3
Let me read to you from Matthew chapter 10 verse 32. It says whosoever therefore shall confess me before men
Him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven
But whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven the denial
There is not about salvation
The denial in its context is referred to a reward because verse 41 says he that received the prophet in the name of a prophet shall
Receive a prophets reward he that received the righteous man in the name of a righteous man
shall receive a righteous man's reward and here's brother Maury's verse and whosoever shall give the drink unto one of these little ones a
Cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say to you he shall in no wise
Lose his reward so he's not losing anything
He just racked up another point today and the Bible God is saying like you guys are all laughing
But you know what like he's he's not gonna lose this reward
It sounds to me like God keeps very detailed track of every work that you do as unto the Lord
Look at first Corinthians chapter 3
This is referring to the judgment seat of Christ and I don't have time to go into all of the chronology of how this takes
Place but it happens at the beginning of the millennial reign where there's a judgment for Christians not for heaven and hell
Because we're already saved it's a judgment as far as what rewards you're gonna receive because of the works that you did look at
Verse 11 for other foundation can no man lay that then is laid which is Jesus Christ now if any man built upon this foundation
Gold silver precious stones would hey stubble every man's work shall be made manifest
For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort
It is if any man's work abide which he had built there upon
He shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned
He shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet
So as by fire so the Bible saying if you labor as unto the Lord, you're gonna receive a reward
It's like gold silver precious stones
But if you use your members to do bad works, it's gonna burn up
But here's the thing you will be saved yet
So as by fire so it's shown us that even if you don't do good works, you're still saved
but you will suffer loss in the millennial reign and
Here's the biggest thing that we need to take away from this is you have to understand and believe that there is a millennial rain coming
The Bible says we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and sometimes we don't really think about that because it's so far into
The future but it's gonna happen where God pulls out all the receipts not for your sins
Not for the evil things that you've done to rub them in your face, but to say alright
It's time to cash in and let's just be real honest
There's gonna be Christians who go there and just like I put Christian in my bio
I put mama believer in my bio
That's how I preach the gospel and then they're you know, it's like okay put it all in the fire here
It's just like hey, at least you're saved next
That's what's gonna happen. And you know, they're just gonna be like, but you know that same person who suffers loss
They're gonna realize man. I should have done more when I was like on earth. I should have gone so and I should have served my husband
I should have served my wife
I should have taken advantage of serving God while I was there because now when it really counts now when I realize how important
This is it's just all gonna burn up. So let me quickly go over this. What are some of the rewards?
Well, first of all monetary blessings, you know, there's a there's a monetary blessing that comes with serving God joy peace
friendships character
Just God blessing you at your job. God blessing you and your family. God blessing you with sanity
God blessing you with good health. God blessing you with wonderful friendships
God blessing you with knowledge and wisdom to make the right decisions
Those are the monetary blessings that we receive right and that's worth it. But here's the thing is that we also get a better resurrection
Now, I'm not gonna have you turn through all these verses because I'm completely out of time
But the Bible talks about us having a better resurrection meaning that according to the Bible at the resurrection
Some people will shine brighter than others. How is that gonna look?
I have no idea
But the Bible seems to imply in Daniel chapter 12 that some believers will shine brighter in the firmament
Than others because of the souls that they've won to Christ, right?
The labor they put in for serving God which means that some people out there are just gonna be like little dim lights
They're gonna resurrect the body their bodies are delivered
The only difference is they're not shining as bright and then lastly go to Revelation 2 and we're done Revelation 2
so there's monetary blessings there is a better resurrection that we receive and
Lastly is authority in the millennial reign
Let me say this one last thing regarding the manner in serving God because you know, I think of someone like my father-in-law
You know, and he's not the only one there's plenty of Christians out there who are 100% incapacitated from serving God at any capacity
You know, they're just kind of laying there
They can't really do anything else you think to yourself like how can this person serve God because they're they're just they can't walk
They can't really talk. Well, you know, they can serve God in praying. So even something I don't want to say
Significant because it's not insignificant, you know, we would think insignificant in comparison to other ways of serving God, you know
God rewards people if that's all they can do is pray because he's rewarding you based upon what you can do
Right. And so again everything that you do look at Revelation 2 verse 26
He that overcometh referring to those who are saved and keepeth my works into the end to him
Will I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with the rod of iron as the vessels of a potter
Shall they be broken to shivers even as I've received of my father and there's an entire sermon that I've done on this
But what the Bible's teaching here is that if you serve God and according to the Bible you do this unto the end
You receive authority in the millennial ring meaning that you get the highest honor from Jesus Christ
Selecting you to rule over Russia or whatever nations that is out there according to the Bible
You will have power power means authority over the nations because when Jesus Christ returns for his millennial reign
He's gonna distribute authority to the believers who served him unto the end
So people who were the off scouring people who serve God, you know
They didn't you know try to become the mayor or the governor or whatever, you know
They put the millennial rain first and they're serving God for that future
Recompense and then you get to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years now right now you may think to yourself
Oh, that's not who cares about that though, you know, I don't know whatever that's not even that's not even a good incentive
Yeah, you say that now though, but once you're actually in the millennial reign, you're gonna be like, oh man
This actually is the business. Oh, man. This is
Legitimate. Oh, man. I wish I could be there and make no mistake about it
The Bible talks about those who are the least in the kingdom of heaven. That means you're saved
You just don't have any position. You're just like, you know sweeping the alleys or something. You're like, well, that's uh, you know
That's just a lowly position
No, take the lowly position now in order to be honored by God later
See God is not against you having a high position of authority is just when do you want it?
People who want it now don't get it now don't get it later on in the future
But if you you know, abase yourself and serve God at your capacity, you know
You might end up ruling your reign with Christ in a higher position later
Hey wife, you got a rotten husband serve him and you might even end up ruling over him in the millennial reign
Hey forgo trying to rule over your husband now stop trying to be a bossy wife now
And then later on in the resurrection you might end up bossing him later. Hey husband, you know instead of just
Ruling over your wife with just you know, like a dictator being a jerk just realize, you know
If she's putting up with your nonsense and you're not serving God
She might end up ruling over you in that millennial reign
Hey as they used to say McDonald's in the 90s, it can happen. It could happen. You know, let's just be honest here
And I'm done. Let's just be on it. Let's just be honest
There might be someone in this room who's gonna rule over all of us because they're serving God with the members of their body
They're abasing themselves and we don't know who the most spiritual person in here is. We don't know who has a stack of receipts
And typically it's not the person who brags about all the receipts that they have to by the way, you know
It's just someone who's just quietly serving the Lord. You just never know
It might be like some child in our church who ends up ruling over everyone because they're just faithfully served God all the days
Of their life point that I'm making is that let us serve God with our bodies serve God in your marriage
Don't see it as a burden. Don't see serving your wife that you're bitter at as a burden
That's a blessing you get paid overtime
Don't see serving your jerk of a husband as a burden see it as a blessing you get more overtime
You're doing as into the Lord don't see serving your kids as a burden. It's a blessing
Don't see serving your unsafe boss as a burden. It's a blessing don't see serving
You know by cleaning the toilets as a burden. Hey don't see giving on May 11th as a burden
It's a blessing you think that you God's gonna be in debt to you for that May 11th offering you think you're gonna outgive God
In that way, it's all about perspective folks serving. God is not a sacrifice. It's an investment serving
God is not a sacrifice. It may seem as a sacrifice, but in business terms
It's an investment because God will owe no man anything at all
He will recompense you in the end serve Jesus Christ. Let's pray father
We thank you so much for your word Lord
And thank you for the admonishments of the Bible help us to take these hard truths to heart and
Lord serve our spouse serve our children serve our boss serve in the church
Essentially use our bodies at every capacity to look for any opportunity to serve you
And I think all of us myself included sometimes we forget that when we serve others
You take it personal and I pray that you'd help us to remember that as we go about our days our weeks
as we
Just sing the hymns as we talk to one another as we go soul-winning
As we go back home lord help us to realize that we're doing it as unto christ
We love you. We thank you pray the things in jesus name. Amen least in your song books is song number
316
316 I have decided to follow jesus altogether nice and strong on that first verse
I have decided
To follow jesus
I have decided
To follow jesus
I have decided
Follow jesus
No turning back
Turning back
Though none go with me still I will follow go with I will follow
turning back
Be a cross before the cross before turning back
♪ Turning back ♪
Wonderful singing, you are dismissed.