In the beginning, Satan desired to be God, instead of worshipping Him.  his sin became our sin when we desired to be like God instead of worshipping Him, in the garden of eden by eating fruit from the tree of life.  People usually speak of sin in terms of doing bad things, but at its root, sin isn’t the things we do, it’s the condition of our heart.  The condition that was present in Satan is the same that was present in Adam – we all want to be God, instead of worshipping Him.  You even hear pastors appealing to this sin, by telling you that God is a means to have “Your Best Life Now”.  It’s no wonder that our churches have become as large as they have… it’s the newest church growth strategy… tell your people that they’re ok just as they are.  They can continue to pursue the life they live, and God is just a way to make it even better!  The tragedy is that a day will come when those people who for many years lived in church, served on committees, did service projects, maybe went on a missions trip or two… will hear the words from the One True Living God – Depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness (Matt 7:22)

C.S. Lewis said in his book, Mere Christianity, that there were two ways to view yourself rightly before God.  One was as a completely depraved sinner, in capable of any good on your own, or to not think of yourself at all, and simply focus your attention on the cross.  He (and I) recommended the latter.  What does that look like though?

We find our answer in the life of Christ.  Philippians 2:4-9 – “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Romans 5:8 – “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in thatwhile we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God’s love was manifested in a choice – to go to the cross and die for us – even while we mocked him from the crowds.  Do you have that mind in yourselves?  Can someone objectively look into your life and ask the question “What is going on?  You keep loving this person, even when they’re unloveable.  You keep serving this group, even when they never thank you.  Why do you make $100k a year, and drive a honda?”

Jesus explains in Luke 6:32-33 – “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”  Who are the unloveable people in your life that you are choosing to serve and care for?  Who are the ones that cannot repay you, that you are serving.  That is love.  That is the mindset of Christ, that we are meant to have when God says to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

We should each consider ourselves sheep to be slaughtered (Rom 8:36).  This will not be easy, and we will need the grace of God daily to sustain us in this task.  We can look at God’s own words to us through Paul to see, that life as a Christian serving others, isn’t a means to “feeling good” or “prosperity”.  Our joy then, is not rooted in our circumstance, but in our identity with Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 – “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

We are men and women of the cross, followers of The Way, guardians of the Truth, ambassadors of Life, and proclaimers of reconciliation through the One True God, Jesus Christ.  There was a time when we lived for ourselves, but we have been freed from that bondage to sin, to live out of a fullness of joy in the peace brought by the shed blood of Christ.  We are free to die to ourselves, and live for God.  Death to ourselves, is life to Christ.  Each of us have been placed by God exactly where he wants us to be, surrounded by a multitude of people that do not know Him.  In light of their need, and the fullness of life we have in Christ, let us purpose our heart’s desires to be for the good of others as 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 says – “what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 

Grace and Peace,
Adam