Serve God, not self

The apostle Paul wrote, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3). To the Romans he wrote, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to who ye obey…” (Rom. 6:16). We are currently living in a society in which a great, soul-destroying plague is rampant, the plague of self-service. In far too many cases, man is serving himself rather than God. This is not a new plague, for the first two humans on the face of the earth were infected with it. Notice that the serpent in the garden did not lure Eve with an invitation to come and follow him, but instead with rewards for her. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make on wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Gen. 3:6). It was all about her, what she would get, what she liked and what pleased her, not what God had said. Such is the case today for millions of people. Most of any age have noticed the change of focus in our land. The departure from “In God we Trust” to “I am going my own way”. It is true, that by the sacrifice of many in times past, we have the freedom in this land to follow our own ways in many areas in which God has already dictated within His commandments, precepts and statutes of how we are to believe and act. We shall present a few examples of how many today have replaced service to God with service to self.

A call is often heard for us to join or attend the church of your choice. This call is a blatant call for people to serve themselves rather than God. We have often responded, when hearing such a call, “why not attend the church of God’s choice?” If there were multiple churches revealed and approved in the word of God, then one could choose from among them, but there are not. In fact, there is only one. Jesus promised to build His church (Matt. 16:18). There, He is stated to be the builder or establisher of it and His ownership of it as well as the singular nature of it. In Ephesians 1:22-23 we learn that it is called the body of Christ, and that Christ is the head over it. Again, singular in number. Later in the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul said, “There is one body…” (Eph. 4:4). That church build by Christ is no doubt God’s choice. When man seeks a church that teaches what they want to hear, practices what they want to practice and caters to their desires in general, they are seeking to serve themselves, not God. Seek the Lord’s one church with the doctrines and practices authorized in the pages of the New Testament. If we can’t even find our church mentioned in the New Testament, we can rest assured it is not the one Jesus built. Also, time and space would run out looking at the entertainment used instead of worship.

The attitude and attention toward the word of God embraced by many is a self-serving one rather than a God-serving one. Many go through the Bible as they do the grocery store, picking and choosing, getting what they like and leaving that which they don’t like or think they don’t need sitting on the shelf. Jesus told His disciples, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). And, just what was that truth? As He prayed for them, He said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). The word of God is the truth that will make one free, not our own thoughts, beliefs, desires, nor the words of other mere men. Indifference as to just what the Bible actually teaches is self-service. After hearing and reading for oneself what the Bible says on a topic, to say “I know the Bible says that, but I…and you can add anything else that you like, and it will not change what God said in His word. There can be no “buts” about it. God’s word says what it says, and it means just what it means. When two people have a different understanding of something in God’s word, at least one of them is misunderstanding it, both can be wrong, but both cannot be right. Just because something that is not according to what God said is generally accepted by the masses, does not change the fact that it is not what God said, Christianity is not a democracy, it is a monarchy, Jesus Christ is King (I Tim. 6:15). The homosexual may ignore what the scriptures say about homosexuality (Rom. 1:24-28), but they are serving self rather than God when they do so. The one who divorces his or her spouse for reasons other than fornication and then remarries, can ignore Matthew 19:9, but to do so means they are serving self. Many are the examples of people of today trying to be Christians while serving themselves rather than God. How about we just set aside what we like and embrace God’s way.