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Serving the Lord
Part 3: Serving the Lord Through Our Relationships
By Rev. Bruce A. Shields
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SERMON TIMELINE
1. Introduction to Serving
2. Serving the Lord Through Our Faith
3. Serving the Lord through our Relationships
INTRODUCTION
Today is Sunday. February 18th, 2024
Last week we talked about serving the Lord through our faith. Now we are going to look at how our faith should be transformed into actions. We know in James 1:22 it tells us to be doers of the word, and not just listeners, because if you listen without doing, you are deceiving yourselves into thinking you have a faith that saves.
James explains in James 2 that knowing what you should do is not equal to doing it.
SCRIPTURE READING
James 2:14-17; 26
“14 What use is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself.
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
If my kitchen is on fire, I can “know” there is a fire extinguisher under the sink. I can “know” it is up to date and fully charged, because I check it regularly. I can “know how” to use it.
As ridiculous as it sounds, what if I pick it up and spray myself instead of the fire. Or, instead, throw the extinguisher at the fire instead of pulling the safety pin and sraying the fire?
You see, if I do not pick it up and, not only use it, but use it properly, it is of no use at all. And to think otherwise, I deceive myself.
This is how the word of God works.
We can read it, memorize it, know it, understand it, love it, but if we are not “doers” of that word, we are deluded.
Today’s Topic: Serving the Lord: Through Our Relationships
Last week, we looked at serving the Lord through our faith with works. We talked about being doers and how important it was to have works that showed our true repentance and made our faith complete.
Our faith takes place within us. We must first serve the Lord within us before we can be useful to the Lord elsewhere in our lives. If not founded in our faith, works alone are nothing more than good works, and they will not save you. We must have Christ, and our faith in Him drives us to have works that make our faith complete and alive.
This week, we will examine how to serve the Lord through our relationships with others.
I. SERVING THE LORD THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS
a. What is serving?
i. Showing
the Love of Christ to others is serving the Lord.
ii. Every
interaction, every relationship, becomes an opportunity to reflect the love of
God and be a light in this dark world.
1. Isn’t
Jesus the Light of the world?
2. Jesus
said in Matthew 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will
it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown
out to be trampled under foot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a
hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a
basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
3. Jesus
says YOU are the light of this world.
4. You
are supposed to be the light upon a hill drawing wayward travelers into the
light of Christ you reflect.
b. What is the Love of Christ?
i. Many
Christians claim to have the love of Christ or claim they have the love of God,
but in reality, they confuse their emotions and feelings for love, not
understanding what the Love of God truly is.
ii. It has
nothing to do with warm fuzzies, good feelings, or sweet emotions.
iii. The
love of God is NOT a feeling or emotion, so says scripture
1. Matthew 5 tells us to “love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you.”
a.
If you have an enemy or someone who
hates you, how do you think your “feelings” are toward them? What emotions do
you have toward your enemies or those who hate, slander, or gossip about you?
Is it warm fuzzies?
b.
No, it is not.
c.
Yet, Jesus tells us to “love”
our enemies and “do good” to those who hate us.
iv. If
the love of God is not a feeling or emotion, what in the world is it?
v. Let’s look at what the scriptures say love is
1. John 3:16a “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son”
2. Romans 5:8 “God demonstrates
His own love
toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
vi. So
God showed His love through
“giving” His only begotten Son, Jesus.
vii. And
the Lord showed His love
toward us, even though we were still sinners, by “dying.”
1. Giving,
dying…neither of these is an emotion or a feeling, and definitely not a warm
fuzzy feeling.
2. They
are a choice to express godly love through a willful act of sacrifice.
c. How can we show it, and why?
i. Jesus tells us,
1. “you
shall love
the Lord your God with
all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.” ~ Mark 12:30
a.
So, to express your love toward God,
you willfully sacrifice and submit your heart, soul, mind, and strength to Him!
b.
This is loving God.
ii. Jesus then says in the next verse,
1. “…‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater
than these.” ~ Mark 12:31
a.
Show love to others (your neighbors) as
you would love (treat through willful action) yourself.
b.
Matthew 7:12 “…in
all things, whatever you want people to do for you, so do for them, for this is
the Law and the Prophets.”
iii. How does I Corinthians 13 describe love? (think about willful action)
1. “If
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have
become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy,
and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to
remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my
possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do
not have love, it profits me nothing.”
a.
Verses 1-3 speak of speaking in
tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, and all these gifts of the Spirit, but no
love, and the gifts are wasted.
b.
Godly love is the willful sacrificial
act or action for another.
2. I Corinthians 13:4-8
continues with, “Love is patient,
love is kind,
is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up; 5
it does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered; 6
it does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth; 7
it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails…”
iv. Godly
love that never fails is the willful action of good toward others, AND, as we
read in I Corinthians 13,
the willful HOLDING BACK of actions opposing love. What love IS and IS NOT.
v. To
simplify how we love God, surrender (willful sacrificial action) our heart,
soul, mind, and strength.
vi. To show
our love to the Lord; Jesus says In John 14:15
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
vii. So,
when we devote ourselves and our lives to God and His word, we are showing Him
love, and when we obey the commands of Jesus, we are showing Him love.
viii. Goldy
love toward others is our willful actions obeying the Word of God, sacrificing
what our flesh wants, and substituting it with what the Spirit of God wills.
ix. We
treat others the way we do, not because of who we are but because of who the
Lord is, what God desires, and how the Spirit empowers us.
Walk
in the Spirit, not the flesh.
II. SERVING WITH HUMILITY/FROM THE HEART
a. Your heart's intention
i. Heart
intention is what matters to the Lord
ii. The
“why” behind your actions is more important than the outcome
iii. Are you saying and doing things for the right reasons or selfish motivations?
b. Being humble
i. Humility
is worth more than gold, especially to the Lord.
ii. James 4:10-11 “Humble
yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. 11 Do not
slander one another, brothers. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother,
slanders the law and judges the law;”
iii. Colossians 3:12-15 “…as
the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart
of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness,
and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and graciously forgiving
each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord
graciously forgave you, so also should you. 14 Above all these things put on
love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of Christ
rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be
thankful…”
iv. Matthew 23:12
“And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall
be exalted.”
c. Serving with purpose
i. We do this in our relationships for a reason
1. Not
just because the Lord commands us to, although that is reason enough
ii. We
do these things to BE the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
iii. This
draws the lost, and we share the gospel that can free them from the bondage of
their sin and save their everlasting soul.
III. TRANSLATING YOUR FAITH INTO LOVE/ACTION
a. Service requires love and action
i. Our
willful actions of sacrifice show the love of God through our actions
ii. Our
humility translates our actions into kindness and gentleness and allows us to
have patience and the ability to bear with one another and forgive
iii. Because
our humility reminds us we are no different than the lost, except for Christ
b. We are no different than the lost, except Christ.
i. Without
the Spirit of God within me, I would immediately revert to the sinful, lost
soul I was before Christ Jesus.
ii. Remembering
this in humility, the lost is no different than I save the Lord Jesus Christ.
c.
Therefore, the us go forth
and shine.
CONCLUSION
Therefore, let us go forth and shine, serving the Lord in faith through our willful actions, having works worthy of our repentance, fruit, which makes our faith complete, and the true love of God, which makes us both the salt and light of this lost world.
NEXT WEEK: Serving the Lord Part 4: Serving through our Marriage
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