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,
all together, nice and strong on that first verse.
in the song.
Ever glorious is God's perfect peace.
자
Well
Song number 401 set my soul to fire
All together nice and strong on that first verse
Said my soul
be heard. Millions grope in darkness in this day and hour. I will be your witness. Fill
And 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
Romans chapter number four. Romans chapter four in 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 sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not
reckoned of grace but of debt, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him
to justify it the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also described with the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God imputed through 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.
Come at this 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 of seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had
yet being uncircumcised. That he might be the father of all of 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 become the father of many nations, according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be.
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about
a hundred years old, and 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, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform.
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.
It 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 Me here 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 gonna come back to that towards the end of the sermon
And if you can go with me if you would to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 5 2nd 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 gonna 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 wanna 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 merit.
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 gonna 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 gonna mean anything
when it comes to the judgment seat.
the white throne judgments, 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 them much because Jesus tells them,
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 five,
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 five
with the apostle Paul 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,
you know, 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, you know, 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 saying, you know, you're not 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 loveth my father, and I will loveth 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 gonna 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 that 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 gonna serve God because I don't love the Lord as I should
Therefore I'm not gonna serve God, you know we serve God obviously because we feel the 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 yesterday year,
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 it's when the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 that I keep under my body and bring it into
Subjection less by any means when I've preached to others I myself should be a cast away
What is he referring to there? He's referring to the fact that we serve God with our body
Okay, our members
And he's saying there that when he's preaching the word of God,
lest 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 does Romans 6 say?
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 just I'm just not in the spirit today
Yeah, but what'll get you in the spirit is actually reading the Bible though
So it's kind of like you know a this vicious cycle of well
I'm not gonna 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
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 your desires are closely tied
into the way you think too.
Like I don't feel like loving God, maybe I don't love God.
Right, yeah, I don't feel like loving God therefore. Oh, you know what?
Maybe I don't love to 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 a 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?
You know, I'm kind of experiencing that some little right now.
Or 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 gonna skip Saturday.
I'm gonna skip this leg day.
I got more important spiritual things to do.
This stuff is vain anyways.
I'm gonna get a resurrected body.
You know, just come up with all kinds of reasons
why not to lift, 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 gonna think to yourself, I'm glad I went.
You know, oh man, I just don't feel like going so many, but then you take yourself so many
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 game my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it
Because if I didn't 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 so many 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 gotta 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 sowning 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 2nd 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, you know,
just discovering the things of God, reading the Bible,
they get a fresh new start.
It's that babe in Christ type of thing
that's season, that honeymoon stage, and that's great.
But you know, as the years go by, it does wane.
You know, 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?
You know because none of us love God a hundred percent 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
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 are 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,
And that you 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 into 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 gonna go because I know someone is depending on me.
Or I'm gonna go because I wanna see brother so-and-so.
I wanna see sister so-and-so.
I wanna see this family.
Or they wanna 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 gonna benefit from your presence.
They're gonna 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.
What's wrong with 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. I'm just kidding. No, it's just true though
Brother Marks. Amen is very well merited there. That's a fact because we're humans, right and humans annoy other humans
They irritate them. They you know, they offend them, you know, 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 brother and 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, we those relationships deep and even further.
Look what it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
Now, loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, I would say, is actually pretty easy, right?
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.
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 loss
We don't want them to go to hell
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse number 8, it says,
We are confident, I say, in 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.
Look at verse 11, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord,
we persuade men, the Bible says.
So, what is the tear of the Lord?
Hell is the tear 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 and 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 you know 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 went to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 1st 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 may 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.
It's just, 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 thirties in their forties and someone's been saved since they're 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 sense
If they grew up in a Christian home, they grew up in church, they grew up around preaching,
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 wanna 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, you eat or drink, or whatsoever you 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, you eat or drink.
Do all to the goal whatsoever you 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 winning. No, you're always on the clock. You are on call
24 hours a day as a Christian
Like where 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.
And 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 saying well
You know when I come to church, I just want to do so when he 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 if 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 drink 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 as the service of God is only a 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 six, if you would, Romans chapter six.
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 also 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 in 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 luster 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 it we're referring to when he talks about 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.
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 three, if you would.
Colossians chapter three.
Colossians chapter number three.
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, you don't know this then you're not quite seasoned on now are you?
This is a lot of this is going to be for newer Christians because you know newer Christians think well no serving God
It's just been 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 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 gotta 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, 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
He's supposed to serve God with your entire life
and
More specifically 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.
It says in 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 is 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 hen pecked 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 hen pecked 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 roles that God has set forth in the Bible and you're not serving God
But the Bible's 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 so many pastor and most of the time the ones asking this or who the singles
Because they got all the time in the world to go so
So they're like, oh for sure so many 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 and one pond. He gives us many fishing poles and just says fishing 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 sowning as much as them.
Like, oh man, I must love God more than anybody else
because I sown for like eight hours a day
and look at these guys, you know.
What are you doing, serving your husband, you know?
But you know, the wife is actually increasing
her rewards if she goes soul 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 two the single guy only has access to one pond to
fishing 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
Because as you serve your children, you are also earning rewards.
So if we want to get really specific, or if we 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 gotta keep in mind that the wife is at home
with her kids 24 hours a day.
And remember, whatsoever 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,
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'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, 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.
It's true.
I'm just trying to teach you how to serve God.
Ladies, you know, according to the Bible,
that's what you're doing.
You're doing it as, he takes that personal,
just put it that way.
When you serve your husband,
when you disrespect your 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 100% of the time,
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
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 all 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 favorite
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 kinda like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Then let me just be honest with you, you're a feminist.
Yeah, yeah.
That could change though, you know?
Is it like crazy to say you're a feminist
in a 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
This guy is just not Abraham.
But I'm gonna do it anyways because the Lord deserves it.
And you know what you realize is 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 a 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.
The point that I'm making here,
Man, that went over like a screen door in a submarine, you know
The point that I'm making here is that the Bible is 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 man 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 in the church bringing people to church serving God invest in their times and the things of God
I commend that and we got pray for them to get married amen
Why 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 it goes on the same 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 you're 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, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake
has 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's telling us here
is there's no excuse for not serving God.
There's so many opportunities to serve God.
You know, a wife does it by submitting to her husband,
making him his favorite meal.
Husbands, they serve God by loving their wife,
providing for their wife, showing affection to their wife,
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 II 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 pass from here is 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.
Doesn't mean you can't serve God in a 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 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, will 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
Wives I'm 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 yourself 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 than I can count. Well, you know, they're just they're just reprobate. Oh, why cuz they don't like you or something because they spank you oh
Why cuz it 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
Necessary that obviously it's being written to Christians, but it's applicable all across the board
Obey your parents and 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 provoke 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 to say in verse 22. We're still talking about roles here. It's a servant. So 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 surfaces men pleasers, but obviously by fearing God. This is what the Bible is teaching us here. Okay
And then he goes on to say in 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 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, we're 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 may say this of their wives
or like, yeah, she's just a rebellious, contankerous,
boisterous woman, doesn't respect me, doesn't submit.
Parents, 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 and these roles.
Well, guess what?
Serving God.
When you're in a situation like that,
it's like working overtime in the spiritual life.
It's like time and a half.
Is that even still around?
It is, right?
I hope, you know, people are looking at me like,
what's the time and a half?
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 gotta.
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 get paid by serving God in an 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.
But 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 eight.
Ah, I 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 going to take
a break from God.
No, no, no, you're going to 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 at 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.
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 wanna help you to have a holistic understanding
of 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.
And you're like, well, I'm not into any of those roles.
Then if you're not married, if you don't have kids,
maybe 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.
Cause you're making a covenant with God.
You know what sometimes I got to 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 divorces 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 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 though.
We can all go souling.
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, and you don't have to turn there, 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 is 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,
where 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.
No, you need to do both.
Now, do you have the liberty to do
soul winning 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 out. 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 half-hazard job guess what that's a half-hazard 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
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.
It's just like, well, you know,
I'm just looking for that one job
that 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 parodic
or something.
I just don't think you're gonna get a fundamental Baptist
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're not a jerk, if you know how to behave yourself,
if you're a hard worker, you're great to get along.
People will like you.
And then when you tell them you're a Christian,
they might be like, oh man.
But the reason they're saying, oh 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 happens to cuss you out, you know forgive him
He's a little 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 gift someone something, a cup of water,
you know, I 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 want me to keep it biblical?
He makes you he will make sure that it's cold. You anything like really do you think you I promise you in the millennial reign
He will be rewarded for that. He gets a prophet's 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 is 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 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 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 cold that was 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
Nah, 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
because he loves you?
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 stalked
even though they complain.
Oh, this one again, you know, Adam misses a service.
You know, he's going to Brazil,
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 see even serve God anymore,
or what, like, where's your service from the Lord, you know?
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's what hey you clean the toilets in the church? That's a huge reward
Because there's some suffering that goes along with that
You mopped up anything that 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 a time when you don't love the Lord, commit that works unto the Lord and
that thought shall be established.
You're going to love the Lord again.
But that's a primordial 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'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 could all quoted by heart
We're 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 he'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
And that's a fantastic verse
But we often neglect the verse right before it look at verse number four actually the start of 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 it saying?
It's saying that this person who works is 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,
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 your save though, he owes you a reward if you work for him
The reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt essentially God 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
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 gain
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 whose server 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 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 receive it the prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward
He that receive it the righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward
And here's where the Mori's verse and whose over 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 unto 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 going to 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 going to 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 build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, 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 hath 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 is 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,
that there is a millennial reign 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 going to 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.
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
There's a monetary blessing that comes with serving God,
joy, peace, friendships, character,
just God blessing you at your job,
God blessing you in 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 going to be like little dim lights
They get a 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 I think of someone
like my father-in-law and he's not the only one, there's plenty of Christians out there
You know, they're just kind of lame there. They can't really do anything else. You think to yourself like how can this person serve God?
Because they're they just they can't walk. They can't really talk. Well, you know what? They can serve God in praying
So even something I don't want to say insignificant because it's not insignificant
You know, we would think insignificant in comparison to other ways of serving God
You know God reward 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 unto the end,
to him will I give power over the nations,
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron
as the vessels of a potter, shall they be broken to shivers
even as I have received of my father.
And there's an entire sermon that I've done on this, but what the Bible is 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 are out there.
According to the Bible, you will have 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 reign 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.
I don't really know, you 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 sweeping the alleys or something.
You're like, well 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 as 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 a 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 in McDonald's in the 90s,
it can happen.
It can happen.
You know, let's just be honest here, and I'm done.
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, too, by the way.
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 just faithfully serve God
all the days of their life.
The 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 it as unto the Lord.
Don't see serving your kids as a burden.
It's a blessing.
Don't see serving your unsaid boss as a burden.
It's a blessing.
Don't see serving 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 out give God in that way, so 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.
Please turn your song books to song number 316.
Song number 316, I have decided to follow Jesus.
All together, nice and strong on that first verse.
I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus.
Still I will follow, though none go with me, still I will follow, though none go with me, still I will follow.
No turning back, no turning back, the world behind me, the cross before me.
The world behind me, the cross before me, the world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back, no turning back.
Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.