Southside Baptist Church
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • The Gospel
  • Our Beliefs
  • Calendar/Events
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Sermons
    • Videos
    • Pamphlets
    • Helpful Links

Serving Christ by Serving Others

1/6/2017

0 Comments

 
If we were asked to serve Christ in a very significant or exciting way, I believe many Christians would jump at the chance for adventure, notoriety, etc. It would be exhilarating more than likely. We would equate that sort of service with really making an impact for God's glory. There is no doubt it certainly could be an occasion for God's use.

Sadly though, when it comes to the more mundane, ordinary, less exciting options to serve, many Christians do not want to exert effort. They may serve in spurts or defined lengths of time. It may be in a more traditional setting, such as a Sunday school teacher, Deacon, Pastor, etc. It could be because of guilt trips, the inability to say "No," being appointed or voted to a position, etc.

Those are all types of service that we have come to equate with serving the LORD. I am not discounting those opportunities, but I don't want us as Christians to believe that is the totality of service to Christ. Jesus Himself provided an occasion to highlight other ways of serving Him.

In Matthew 25, Jesus was teaching about the second coming and the final judgment of the sheep and goats. This judgment was about those who inherited the Kingdom by God's grace (sheep), and those who were rejected from the Kingdom (goats).

He uses the same actions to highlight the difference between the two. These actions related to serving Him through service to others. He equated serving others with serving Him. Notice His words to the sheep in verses 35-40:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'"

He used the same circumstances with the goats (v. 42-45). They did not serve Him because they refused to serve others.

Neither group understood the significance of their works. Merciful acts done to others in Christ's name was serving as if these acts were done to Christ. The sheep did these things for others. Undoubtedly they wanted to extend mercy, grace, and compassion. However, they didn't seem to understand such a connection with serving Christ by serving others. They asked Jesus when did they do these things to Him? He said that acts done to the least of the brothers are acts done to Him.

These were acts done to the naked, sick, prisoners, hungry, and thirsty. These describe ones in society that we often see as deserving of their consequences, not blessed, lazy, or hosts of other views that are often used to excuse our lack of compassion and action. That is what the goats did. They refused to perform acts of service to the needy and help meet temporal needs.

Are you and I serving Christ in suchcapacity? I am not advocating a social gospel that only tries to meet temporal needs. However, I am also not advocating a gospel that ignores the temporal needs. If we are Christ's sheep, we will serve the "less desirable" because that honors Him. He condescended to save and serve the ungodly sinners of the world, which is what all of us are by nature.

If we believe we are better than serving such ones as described by Jesus, we are less like Christ and more like goats.
0 Comments

The Danger of Self-Deception

1/3/2017

0 Comments

 
The hardest type of deception to avoid is self-deception. One can be wary of others and refuse to be taken in by persuasive arguments. One can be suspicious of being duped and led astray when talking to people. However, when we believe lies we invent or refuse to heed or believe truth, we deceive ourselves.

In his epistle, James wrote, "Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers" (1:16). The next verse speaks to how we could easily deceive ourselves. James addresses a topic we must always keep in mind; everything good in our lives is a gift of God's grace to us.

James writes, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (1:17). This is a key verse that speaks to God's immutability, or His unchanging nature. He doesn't go through even the slightest or most minuscule change in nature. That should be a source of great joy to the Christian. It should also be a cause of terror to the one who refuses to repent of sin and wickedness.

The more relevant part of the verse I want to mention in this post is the fact of God's good and perfect gifts to us. The very term, "gift," speaks of grace. God gives good and perfect things. We do not earn them. We indeed cannot earn them. If God doesn't give grace, we will receive nothing but what we are owed. We are owed justice, and that would mean everlasting condemnation because we are sinners by nature. God is holy by nature and does not change, and He cannot change. The very fact that we are not in hell right now but enjoy life is a gift. All of the material, relational, spiritual, and all other types of blessings come to us as gifts.

James wants these Christians, "beloved brothers," to not become self-deceived by thinking God owes them anything. There is nothing any human can do to place God in debt. If God doesn't provide grace and mercy, all creation would be instantly consumed and condemned. He is reminding Christians here. This admonition is not to the unsaved!

However, because God is good, loving, gracious, and merciful, He extends good and perfect gifts through His Son. We do well to live in constant thanksgiving to Him and never think we earn or deserve anything.

This realization will help us avoid self-deception and live for the glory of God more because we call attention to His goodness.
0 Comments

The Most Important Question

1/2/2017

0 Comments

 
   The question that is the most pressing and crucial for humanity is this, “Who is Jesus?” Was He a mere man, or is He more? If Jesus was simply a rebel, self-deluded lunatic, teacher, or anything short of deity, then He is not worth much more than a simple reference to human social studies.

   However, if He is exactly who He claimed to be and who the biblical writers claimed, then He is worth nothing less than our full devotion and allegiance.

   Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus clearly claimed His deity and equality with the Father. Paul affirmed this in Colossians 1. The writer of Hebrews explicitly affirmed in as well.

   In Hebrews 1:1-4, we read, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”

   Do you see the words that unashamedly and unequivocally state His deity? The Son, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact representation or imprint of His nature. 

   Christians understand that all God is and does is meant to show forth His glory, His beauty, His majesty, His goodness, etc. The way that His glory shines the brightest, in its fullest radiance, is in the Person and work of the Son, Jesus. If we are to see the pinnacle of the glory of God, we look no farther or any other place other than Jesus.

   Jesus is also the exact imprint of His nature. He is God in flesh. Jesus told His disciples if you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father (John 14:9). All (and I mean ever single one) attributes of the Father exist eternally in the Son. He is no less God than God the Father. 

   Only God clothed in flesh could offer the sacrifice for the sins of His people (Heb. 2:14). Only Jesus is the one true Mediator between God and Man (1 Tim. 2). No person comes to the Father other than by and through the Son (John 14:6). There is only one Name under heaven by which men must be saved (Acts 4:12). 

   If man is going to be saved from sin and reconciled to a holy God, it is only through Jesus, God clothed in flesh. This is why the question concerning Jesus is the most crucial mankind can ponder. 
0 Comments

Striving for the Prize

1/1/2017

0 Comments

 
"Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14

   At the beginning of a New Year, let's listen to how Paul describes his past efforts. Earlier in the chapter, he lauded the things he used to count as good or worthy. In verse 7, he concludes, "Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ."

   The idea is counting. It is reckoning. It is to do math. You add up what you had outside of Christ, compare it to what you have in Christ, and you see that all outside of Christ is loss and rubbish" (v.8). When engaging in accounting, you deal with numerical facts. Emotions and sentimentality do not come into play.

   As we move into 2017, let's not live in the "good things" or "bad things" of the past that were done or experienced apart from their relationship to Christ. Let us not become proud or conceited over those "good things." Let us not despair or become discouraged over the "bad things."

   In Christ, we are complete (Col. 2.) We have redemption in Him (Eph. 1). We have peace and reconciliation in Him (Rom. 5). We are justified in Him and have been glorified in Him (Rom. 8). We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heaven lies in Him (Eph. 1). We have all things that pertain to life and godliness through Christ (2 Pet. 1).

   All of these truths should make us thankful for the past but energize us, by the working of the Holy Spirit in us, to press on toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus in the future. Let us run with endurance the race that is before us. We are to fix our eyes on Christ (Heb. 12).

   By God's grace may we run and stretch ourselves out toward that goal.
0 Comments

    Author

    Pastor Ken Fennell

    Archives

    January 2017
    February 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed