Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us,
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org, or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
John 13. Let's just get to it.
All right, John, Chapter 13. John, Chapter 13.
When we don't know what to say, we need to get into God's Word.
All right, that's it, John, Chapter #13 as we finish our
series this month, moving forward in our service to God.
And I hope this month has been a helpful month to you.
And I love how the Lord orchestrates not just the Sunday
morning messages, but even the Sunday school and the evening
services, even though they're kind of on different tracks.
Yet the Lord brings them together on parallel tracks to
teach us certain things about ourselves and this month.
Has been no exception, as he's taught us about service, and the
title of my message this morning is a title that poses a question
to you, one that you will have to answer in your own heart and
your own life by the time the message is done.
Not one that you have to answer to me because it's truly between
you and God, but the title this morning is this Selfish Saints
or Selfless Servants? Selfish Saints.
Or selfless servants. If you're a child of God this
morning, if you know Jesus Christ, your Savior, you are one
or the other. You are either a selfish St. or
a selfless servant, and I would not accuse you of either one or
the other this morning. It's only the Lord, through His
Holy Spirit, the Triune God, God the Holy Spirit, speaking to
your heart this morning, I hope will help you and illuminate you
and encourage you about which way you go in your service to
God today. Now, late in his life, Winston
Churchill took a cruise on a ship.
Journalist encountered the former Prime Minister to ask him
why he chose to travel on a different line when the stately
Queens line under the British flag was readily available to
him for free. Churchill gave the question his
consideration and then gravely replied.
There are three things I like about this ship.
First, the cuisine, which is unsurpassed.
Second, their service. Which is quite superb.
And then Sir Winston gravely added, And then there is this.
There is none of this nonsense about women and children first.
Some of you get that later. But anyway, of course, Winston
Churchill was speaking, we hope, tongue in cheek, when he said
such a thing. But my fear is that there are
many believers who look at the Christian life with a level of
selfishness and a level of. Self satisfaction instead of
getting our satisfaction from Christ and serving him and
serving others. And certainly we can laugh about
a story like that, but it does hit a little bit closer to home
when we realize God has called us, God has called you and me to
be the selfless servants of Him, and he gives us an example in
God the Son, Jesus Christ. An example that I alluded to a
couple of weeks ago. I don't know that we could have
gotten this far in this miniseries this month, moving
forward in service without having referenced already this
account. But I feel like we should take a
greater look at and also contrast Jesus's response with
the response of his disciples as we ask ourselves the question
today. None of the disciples, and not
of Jesus, but of ourselves. Are we selfish Saints or are we
selfless servants? If you're able, would you stand
please for the reading of God's word?
John Chapter #13. And we're going to read a little
bit longer of a passage, and it's one that might be familiar
to you. But I ask you that you just
stick with me as we read the 1st 17 verses of John chapter #13,
now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that
his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world
unto the Father having loved his own which were in the world, he
loved them until the end, and supper being ended the Devil.
Having now put into the heart of Judas Ascariot Simon's son, to
betray him Jesus, knowing that the Father had given him all
things unto his hands, and that he was come from God, and went
to God, He rises from supper, and laid aside his garments, and
took a towel, and girded himself.
After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the
disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewithy was
girded. Then cometh heat of Simon Peter.
And Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou know,
knowest not now, but thou shalt know Hereafter Peter saith unto
him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.
Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with
me. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord,
not my feet only. But also my hands and my head.
Of course, Peter, prone to the extremes, isn't he?
You can't wash me. And then he says in the next
breath, wash me everywhere. Jesus saith unto him, He that is
washed needed not to save, to wash his feet.
But it's clean. Every wit and you are clean but
not all. There's a lot of theological,
very practical ramifications for us today.
We're not getting into that, but that's a very important verse.
For he knew who should betray him.
Therefore he said, he are not all clean.
Speaking of Judas, so after he had washed their feet, and had
taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them,
Know ye what I have done to you? You call me master and Lord, and
ye say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and master
have washed your feet, he also ought to wash one another's
feet. For I've given you an example
that he should do. As I have done to you, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his
Lord, neither he that is sent, greater than he that sent him.
If you know these things, happy are ye.
If you do them, and Jesus gives the promise at the end to the
selfless servant, happy are ye if you do them.
Heavenly Father, be with us as we get into this morning's
message. Help me to accurately convey
what is in your word and touch every heart to respond as.
You see fit this morning and we ask it in Jesus name.
Amen. Thank you may be seated.
As we take our final look at the issue of service this week, we
see that the spirit of selfishness repels any act of
service like a magnet, pushing away another magnet when their
poles are alike. Selfishness and service.
Cannot operate in the same sphere.
They are actually opposed to one another in every way.
And here in our text, in John chapter 13, we see Jesus
performing one of the most humble acts of service ever
found in human history. And maybe even more amazing when
we realize that he's doing it under the shadow of the cross
that looms across the table as they have the Last Supper,
knowing that within mere hours that he will go to the cross to
atone for the sins. Of all mankind in hours, Jesus
will agonize in the garden. Yet here he is attending to the
needs of the disciples, thinking not of his own needs, but
thinking to those of his disciples.
Now maybe you would ask yourself your the question this morning,
Pastor. Why did he wash their feet?
Why was that such an important thing?
And maybe the other thought you have in the back of your mind
is, Pastor, do we have to wash each other's feet here today?
And the answer is, I'll get back to you on that, But anyway.
Why did Jesus wash the disciples feet?
Well, walking in sandals on the roads of Jerusalem in the 1st
century, 1st century made it imperative that feet be washed
before a communal meal. You'll remember that if someone
was to sit at the table, they wouldn't sit at the table like
we would today, but rather they would be reclining.
They would be on their side with their arm and their head closer
to a low slung table and their feet.
Being stretched out would also be close to the table.
And I don't know about you, but dirty feet's one thing, but
dirty feet near the table and the food on the table is
something completely different. And so it would have been very
normal with the acts of hospitality that whoever was the
owner of that home would make sure that the feet of the guests
were washed. And of course, with the
disciples having a rented room, that upper room there wouldn't
have been someone necessarily designated.
To wash the feet of the disciples and Jesus when they
had entered in. And somehow they had gotten to
the point, to this point of the the meal of the Last Supper that
they had not had their feet washed still.
And it's almost as if everyone was holding out, waiting for
someone else to do the job. It was almost as if.
Peter was thinking, well, John will do it.
And John was thinking, well, maybe Matthew will do it.
And Matthew was thinking, well, maybe Judas will do it, And
Judas was thinking something completely different, and their
minds were all in different places.
And so Jesus pushes back from the table, and he performs this
humble act of service, even though he was the one with the
most in his mind, even though he was the one who would agonize in
the guard with great. Drops of sweat as blood coming
down from his brow in just hours from now.
But yet here, under the shadow of the cross, he performs as
humble active service. He washed the disciples feet.
This was the work of a humble servant, not of heaven's savior.
This was not the work of a or. This was rather the work of a
humble servant, not of heaven's savior.
But yet it's exactly the work of Heaven's savior, because he was
a humble servant. No, maybe you didn't catch that.
Let me say that again. I'm trying to say it properly
this time. This was the work of a humble
servant, not heaven's savior, but because he was heaven's
savior, he was willing to do the work of a humble servant.
Remember, we read this just recently, Matthew 20, verse 28.
Even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister and to give his life a ransom for many.
We've read this several times recently, but it I can't go past
it without referencing it again. Philippians 2 verses 7 and.
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of a servant, and was made in the lightness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And it's interesting in both of those verses, in both cases his
servant's heart is directly connected to his passion and his
death on the cross. It wasn't just that he served by
washing feet, although certainly that's an incredible thing.
It wasn't just that he served. By feeding the 5000, although
certainly that was a miraculous thing, He served by going to the
cross for your sins and for mine, dying the death and paying
the price that we couldn't pay so that you and I have the hope
of eternity. That's what Heaven's savior did.
But he did it within the mindset of one of the framework, if you
will, of a humble servant. Now we take a moment and just
consider and marvel the fact. That he would die for our sins.
The Psalms have a word for the cela, meaning meditate on this.
The fact that Jesus Christ, the humble servant, heaven's savior,
would die for our sins. We could just meditate on that
the rest of the morning and we'd have a lot to think about.
But I also want you to meditate on this, that that same servant
was willing to stoop down when 12 other men would not.
And got down next to feet, feet, feet and got next to their feet
and did the work that none of us would want to do.
How do I know that? Because just a few moments ago I
talked about washing feet and I said, well, we'll talk more
about it later. And I saw some of you.
Get a panic look on your face as if in a few minutes I was going
to ask you to remove your shoes and try to cast lots to see
which of us is going to wash someone else's feet.
Guess what? Keep your shoes on this morning,
all God's children today. Amen about that.
If you don't agree with one thing I say, just the fact that
I say keep your shoes on. Everybody ought to agree with
that, but it's this very serviceminded Savior who made
salvation possible for mankind because he was a servant.
Salvation is possible today. No You can know for sure you're
going to heaven today because Jesus Christ the Servant went to
the cross for the sins of mankind.
And I would say to you today, although this is a message and
this is a theme that deals with Christian service, that means
for believers. But friend, we would be remiss
if we didn't. Just take a moment to say if you
don't know that you're going to heaven, if you don't know that
Jesus Christ is your savior, if you don't know where you'll
spend eternity when you pass from this earth, don't leave
this building without getting confirmed in your heart and life
that you've repented of your sins and called upon Jesus
Christ to save you. That's why the humble servant
came to give his life as a ransom for many, although
certainly washing the feet was an incredible thing.
But the act of dying on the cross, of shedding his blood.
For the remission of your sins, and my sins, don't leave here
today. Listen, if you hear nothing else
that I say today, and I hope that's not the case, but if you
hear nothing else that I say today, know this.
You must be born again. And it's through Jesus Christ
and Christ alone, the name that you must call upon asking him to
forgive you of your sins. Because you're a Sinner.
And I'm a Sinner. And it's only through Jesus
Christ for giving those sins, those transgressions against
God's law, that we can be saved. Jesus, the humble servant and
heaven savior. But yet his attitude stands in
stark opposition to the disciples.
May I remind you that there were 13 in that room.
There were 12 disciples and Jesus Christ.
And when no one at the table was willing to wash the feet of
those who were at the table, it was Jesus who gird himself with
a towel. It was Jesus who went and
stooped himself. No, no.
To wash someone's feet you'd have to stoop yourself down.
You would have to make yourself low.
It was Jesus, the one who we bow our knees to today, that
literally bowed Himself in front of his own creation and wiped
off the dirt which was part of his creation, off the feet of
which were his creation, and the Creator God, Jesus Christ, the
One who was active in creation. John.
Chapter one, who was washing their feet in an act that his
creation wouldn't do to each other or do to him, but the
attitude was in opposition. How do we know so well Luke
chapter 22? Would you turn to Luke chapter
22 this morning, just a few pages away?
Go backwards one book. Luke Chapter #22 and verse #24.
And this also speaks of the Last Supper.
And I will say, the passage we're about to read.
There may be some question of how this fits into the timeline
of the Last Supper. If you've ever taken the four
Gospels and tried to fit in where the different parts of the
Last Supper took place, there could be some question exactly
where this fits in. Did this passage take place
before the feet were washed, or did this passage take place
after the feet were washed? Say, Pastor, what's the answer?
And the answer is this. I don't have an answer.
At least not with any certainty. But I will say this I do know as
a matter of fact that no matter when it took place, this passage
reveals the general heart of the disciples who were at the table,
no matter when this was said. Look at verse #24.
And there was also a strife among them.
Who's them? The disciples?
Which of them should be accounted the greatest?
Which of them? Should be accounted the greatest
Jesus, may I remind you, hours from the cross.
And the disciples are doing what?
Trying to figure out which of the 12 of them are the best of
the 12. Talk about something that is so
petty and so selfish and so prideful.
And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon
them are called benefactors, meaning.
This one commentator put it this way.
In the world, authority over other people constitutes
greatness. But in Jesus Kingdom service of
others does Pagan rulers have two objectionable
characteristics at least. First they Lord it over or
tyrannize others, and secondly they take titles to themselves
that indicate their superiority over others such as benefactor.
Here he's saying, those Pagan kings, those Pagan rulers.
They do much damage to their people as they lift themselves
up, but at the same time, they say they're there to help the
poor. Does that sound familiar to
anybody today? Hey, we're here to help the
little people while they rob the little people blind, he says.
That's what the world does. They look for power.
They are hungry for power, and they do it by trotting over the
bodies of whoever they have to tread over to get where they're
going on the ladder. But what does Jesus say?
But you shall not be so. Hey, this is not what we do as
believers. We don't act in this way.
We don't. We don't behave ourselves in
this way to see who is the greatest, who can get to the
top, who's the most important at the church?
Who has the biggest class? Who's the one that gets the most
amens? Who's the one that gets the
applause? Who's the one that pastor picks
out of the crowd? Who's the one that gets to read
the worship the most? Who is the one that gets to pray
at the end of the services? Who is the one that gets to
this? To that?
He says. But.
He should not be so. That's the kind of stuff the
world does. But he that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger and he that is chief.
Is that me? It's not me.
Okay. All right.
Thought it was my echo there for a second.
All right, But he it's all right.
But you shall not be so. But he that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger. And he that is chief as he does
serve, what is, what does it say?
All right, there we go. What?
What is it saying? When we serve?
We are doing greater things than when we exalt ourselves.
And that's the problem that we have.
We look at service as something menial.
We look at surface service as something that is entry level.
We look at service as something that is not important.
But yet, I would submit to you that we are most like our
savior. The humble servant when we
ourselves are people of service. But the act of selfishness,
Who's the greatest? Who's the one who?
Who? You know who had them, You know
with pastors saying who had the most on Sunday, oh, who had the
biggest altar call? You know who had the biggest
offerings? Who had this?
Could I say this in all humility?
Who cares? No, no.
What is the matter? What's as important as this?
No one goes to a preachers meeting among pastors and say
who served the most. Who cleaned the most?
But isn't that what Jesus is saying is important?
Is the act of service. In fact, that's what Jesus meant
in verse 15 of our text when he says this.
For I have given you an example that you should do as I have
done. See, when Jesus is talking about
doing what he has done, I believe this, and you can
breathe a sigh of relief. It's not talking about the fact
that we need to wash each other's feet.
Some of you were really worried about that.
So I want to get that out of the way.
The Bible does talk about in one other place in in First Timothy
about foot washing and that there was a person who was a
servant, who was a foot washer. But yet nowhere is it mentioned,
I believe to be an ordinance of the church, like baptism in the
Lord's Supper, ordinances of the church.
Here's what foot washing was in the 1st century.
It was a need because you walked in sandals around dusty roads
and he went into a home that was trying to be kept clean and
somewhat sanitary by 1st century, 1st century standards.
So to have someone wash your feet was a necessity.
But at the same time, and this is true 2000 years later, nobody
wanted to do it. And especially then when those
feet had been exposed to the elements, listen, it's not just
dirt, but there were animals that would defecate on the
ground. I mean, I'm not trying to be
weird here, but I'm just saying that this was not.
If you think this is a bad job now, when our feet are ensconced
in $100 sneakers, well, not mine, but some of you might be.
But back then, this was beyond being humble.
This was just kind of dirty gross.
But it was a need. So is it a need for us today?
Is it a need? You know, when we have the kids
outside today, we need to wash their feet before they come to
the table and eat hot dogs. Thank the Lord.
No, that's not going to be a need.
But you know what? There is going to be a need.
There's going to be a need to serve them hot dogs.
There's going to be a need to watch over them to make sure
that they don't all run into the wall at the same time and run
into each other and and hit each other with hot dogs and things
like that. You said, does that happen?
You've ever been to a children's activity before?
There's this need. There are needs.
Today. They're not feet washing, but
there are needs, some of them pretty humble.
Some of them might be cleaning. Some of them might be handing
someone to track, some of them might be changing light bulbs,
some of them might be doing landscaping, some of them might
be delivering groceries to someone's house.
That they could be any number of things that are real needs here
today. And the question is this, who
are the ones that are going to do it?
Well, according to the disciples example, it's not the people who
are filled with self. If you are filled with self, you
will not be the humble servant that God has called you to be.
You see, selfish Saints are consumed with self, but selfless
servants are consumed with those whom they serve.
You're going to be consumed with something, and if you're a
selfish St. you are just consumed with yourself and your
own needs. But a selfless servant is
consumed with those whom they serve.
You say who are those they serve?
Those who are around them and their Lord and Savior, they're
consumed with the fact that I want to serve someone else.
Deal. Moody.
Put it this way. I believe firmly that the moment
our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and
everything that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will
fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and
conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the
Holy Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can
be filled. We must be emptied of our self
and our own ambitions and our own egos and what people think
of me. And we must say as John did, He
must increase and I must decrease.
It's about him and not about me. More about Jesus.
More and more about Jesus. That's what the old him says.
And it's still true today that it's more about Jesus.
And we ain't much of Jesus and lift high the cross.
It must be some servants who are below that are lifting him up,
because that's what he's called us to do.
What we see here is men who thought too much of themselves
and too little of others, refusing to do a job that was
beneath their vaunted self-proclaimed stature.
In opposition to this is Christ who thought much of others and
little of self doing a job that others refused to do.
If anyone ever had an excuse or reason not to serve, it was
Jesus Christ and he served. If there was ever anyone who
should have served Jesus Christ, it was the disciples and they
were Mia. Why?
They all thought they were the greatest.
So some observations that I can make from this text and a few
conclusions I can make here this morning.
And the first is this. A selfless servant seeks out
opportunities to serve. A selfless servant seeks out
opportunities to serve. There's an old saying that says
see the need, take the lead. To see the need is to take the
lead. Instead of waiting for someone
else to do the job, do the job. You ever had something in your
house, Maybe it was a bag of trash or maybe something need to
get put away. And maybe there's, like in our
house, several people that are in the house.
We have six people in our home, Diane and I and the four
children. And that thing is out, and it's
out for a few hours and then it's out for a few days and then
it's been out for a week. Why?
Because everybody's hoping somebody else will move it.
And finally you get to the point and say, hey child, I won't name
one like Kaylee, Kaylee, will you move it?
I just saw her. So that was why will you move
it? And Kaylee's why I thought
Bethany was going to move it. And Bethany said, well, I
thought Dad was going to move it.
And Dad says, well, I thought Mom was going to move it because
right. What would dad say?
But and we all look at one another and what ends up
happening? Nobody does it.
You know, I've often found in the service of the Lord It can
be that way. Everybody just assumes someone
else is going to do the job. But a selfless servant says
this, where is the job? I want to find it.
Pastor Turner, the pastor that I worked for for five years when I
was in Florida, would purposely leave things on the ground every
once in a while around the church building.
And he would watch to see how many people walked by before
someone would pick it up. You know, when I see trash out
in the parking lot, I still pick it up and put it in my pocket.
You know what I'm afraid Pastor Turner, somewhere watching me,
he's going to call me down if I don't pick it up.
Do you know why? Because he's just saying,
listen, if you're going to serve and do something humble, like
pick up a gum wrapper. If you're going to serve, pick
up a straw. Why?
Because it's God's house. We want to keep it looking good.
A servant seeks opportunities or someone needs something.
I'm going to try to help if I can.
Now can you help everybody? You can't.
So you can help a few, and you do that by seeking opportunities
to be a servant. And by the way, that's not just
the pastor. That's everybody.
As a church gets larger, and as the church grows, which we've
seen with our church, what happens, we need more people to
be able to help one another. Because I can only answer so
many calls and I can only answer so many texts, and I can only
counsel so many people, but we can all help one another, find
ways to be an encouragement and to help.
That's what servants do. But I also see this from our
text. A selfless servant puts the
needs of others ahead of self. A selfless servant puts the
needs of others ahead of self. Who is the most needy at the
table? If I could put it that way that
night Christ are the disciples. It's Christ now, understand?
Connecting the term needy with Christ.
I even hesitate to do so. But you understand what I'm
saying. The one who had the most needs
of the hour, It would have been Jesus Christ.
We know he was about to go to the Garden.
We know he was about to be betrayed.
We know that he was about to be part of two different puppet
trials. We know that he was going to be
mocked by his own creation. We know that he was going to be
beat beyond humanity and die on the cross for our sins.
And the disciples? Well, the hardest thing they
were going to deal with was to watch all of that, which many of
them would not even do because they ran.
But yet who was the one who saw the need?
The one who had the needs. And So what does that teach us?
That a selfless servant always puts the needs of others ahead
of self. You having some difficulty in
your life? You having some trouble, some
trials. Could I encourage you serve?
Say, pastor, I need about 5 people to serve me if I'm about
to get my head above water. Serve.
No, you serve. You know why?
Because God does something wonderful in your heart.
When you have a great need and you serve.
You know why? He reminds you that there are
other people that have needs. One of Satan's greatest tricks
is to tell people that you are the only one having trouble.
You're the only one with financial trouble.
You're the only one with family trouble.
You're the only one with bad health, and we get into our own
mind that that's the case. But when you start to serve
other people and put your needs behind, you start to see there
are other people who have needs. Then you are blessed by being
able to help them. And before you know it, God just
somehow finds a way to have your needs met, too.
That's why one of the best ways to get out of financial trouble
is to give your way out of financial trouble.
You say, pastor. That doesn't make sense.
It doesn't. But Malachi says.
He says, you give and I'll open the windows of heaven and pour
out a blessing as you attend to the need of others.
I'll make sure that you're taking care of.
I'll make sure you have your daily bread.
I'll make sure that you have the clothes, the arraignment that
you need. I will do so.
Don't you trust me for this? This is what he says, not me.
We put the needs of others ahead of ourself.
But I also see this. A selfless servant actively
surges for jobs nobody else wants to do, that nobody else
wants to do. I was reading a story just a few
days ago about Alex Trebek. And of course, you know, Alex
Trebek is the host of Jeopardy for almost 35 years.
And the announcer with that amazing voice, Johnny Gilbert,
the voice of Jeopardy. The story goes, a few years ago,
while Alex Trebek was alive, he was in his dressing room and the
toilet started to overflow in his dressing room.
We didn't know what happened, but all of a sudden he sees
water coming out into his dressing room and he goes out
into the hallway and he sees Alex Trebek.
And he says, Alex, do you know where the stage manager is?
He says, I don't. What's the matter?
He says, well, there's something wrong with my toilet.
There's water coming on. He goes, well, hold on a second
and he goes in and he gets on the ground and fixes the toilet.
I don't know about you, but I would love to see Alex Trebek,
full suit, mustache and all, on the idea of him on the ground
doing a job that someone much lower than him should have been
doing. It's a pretty interesting
thought, isn't it? Here's a man who probably made
10s of millions of dollars a year, but he said this job's not
beneath me. I'll fix the toilet.
It's pretty humble. How much more so should we as
believers? Who you say, Well, I don't have
10s of $1,000,000. You don't.
I mean, I don't want to assume. Sorry, but I'm going to guess
you don't. But you have something greater.
The riches of heaven been placed in your account in your life.
How much more should we look for ways to be servants, even ones
that other people don't want to do?
No one wanted to deal with the feet.
I get it. We get it.
But there are other jobs that people don't want to do.
Do you know there are homeless people that need to be
ministered to? You know, there are people in
our prisons that need to be ministered to.
We have an opportunity to be in a prison ministry.
Right now we haven't. You know why?
Not enough people to help. I'm afraid to start.
I'm afraid if we start, we won't be able to continue.
But you know, there are people in the prisons, men and women,
that need someone to go give them the gospel.
He said, well, that's not going to build our church.
Who said anything about that? We want to build the Kingdom.
You know what that'll take? Some people that might say,
well, I'm uncomfortable with that.
Well, maybe you are. But if everyone's uncomfortable
with it, who will do it? Someone needs to do it.
There are jobs that need to be done, whether it's helping it
with the children's ministry or working in the nursery.
And we have our ladies work in the nursery.
I'm thankful for the ladies that helped, but but you realize how
helpful and needful that is, and someone needs to do it well.
It'll be easier if someone else does it.
Well, when everyone does that, what happens?
It doesn't get done. We look for jobs that need to be
done. Who is the example of selfless
servants of selfless service? It's Jesus Christ.
But we also have one other example in the word of God.
And we're going to turn here. We're going to be done.
And I, and I mean that First Corinthians chapter 16.
You've listened very well this morning.
Thank you so much. First Corinthians chapter #16.
I look at a lot of people in this room and I see a lot of
people going through a lot of things.
A lot of people going through a lot of things.
Some of them you share with me privately, some you shared with
our family. Some I just know because of
understanding a group of this size, there's a lot of people
going through a lot of things. But could I encourage you to
look beyond yourself, to look beyond your need, and to look at
the needs of others? And God will meet your needs as
you selflessly try and endeavor to meet the needs of others.
Selfish Saints are consumed with self.
Selfish servants are consumed with those who they serve.
We're always going to be consumed with something. 1st
Corinthians 1615 says this. And I actually wrote this in the
bulletin a few weeks ago and it says this.
I beseech you, brethren. You know the House of Stefanus,
that it is the first fruits of akaya and that they have
addicted themselves to the ministry of the Saints.
There's a man named Stefanus. I believe Paul led him to
Christ. There was very instrumental in
his leading to Christ because First Corinthians chapter one
says that Paul actually baptized the House of Stefanis and he
normally did not baptize anyone himself, but he did because of a
special relationship, baptized Stefanis and his household.
And here at the end of First Corinthians he says this.
He says the House of Stefanis has addicted themselves.
The Ministry of the Saints, and I don't know about you, but when
I hear the word addiction, it doesn't usually sound good.
We look at it in a very negative connotation.
Today, many of us understand the devastating effects of
addictions, particularly in substance abuse.
We understand addictions can be a absolutely devastating thing.
But I want you to take the negative connotation of that and
understand that when someone is addicted, they apply themselves
habitually. They devote time and attention.
They devote a constant practice to a certain thing, almost
nonstop. But yet the House of Stefanis
took that. But we would take negative
connotation and they put it positively.
They addicted themselves. The ministry of the Saints
meaning this. I am going to devote my time.
I'm going to vote my effort. I'm going to devote my energy
whenever I can, wherever I can however I can.
Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a minister.
And the reason why is because Jesus Christ came not to be
ministered unto, but to be a minister.
And if Jesus Christ could selflessly minister as the
Creator and the Savior and the Redeemer and the King, if Jesus
Christ could be it, I'm not greater than my master and I'm
going to be a servant. And the reason why, as he said
at the end of our text in John Chapter 13, that this is the key
to joy and to happiness, to look outside of yourself and see
there are other people who have needs.
We have a church that has needs. You know, people who have needs,
who are outside of this church, who maybe only you can minister
to because we can't minister to them.
You have people within your households who have needs.
You have people at your school that have needs in your
workplace. What do we do?
Well, I'm at work. I'm busy.
Oh, we're never too busy for service.
Well, I come to church so I can. I can receive something.
Well, the only way you can receive something is by other
people giving to you. And the only way for that to
work is by you giving into the work as well, so that you can
receive and other people can receive selfless service or
selfish Saints. One of the two, Stefanis, is a
selfish servant. He addicted himself to the
ministry of the Saints. The question is, what will we
do? Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His word.