Well, as we open up this morning, children, if you've not already taken your step out, if you're children, kindergarten through second grade, you're free to leave now, so you have to listen to me.
But good morning, church. That's wonderful. Good morning. This is a wonderful crowd. I'm going to say something to you, and it's going to make sense to like maybe two or three of y'all.
Omnis Vita Servitium Est.
What does that mean? It means every life is a servitude.
Ooh, okay, that got a little weird, right? Every life is a servitude. All life is slavery.
To the modern ear, that word slavery is a oh-no-no word.
These words were penned or spoken by the great Roman imperial mind of Seneca, and he said these things not as a Christian.
He was a stoic, and if you know anything about that, you kind of have a background.
So he didn't live very Christianly, but he does find a bit of a little truth, a little nugget of truth in that phrase there.
You will be a slave to something in life.
You will be.
You will always be a worker in some ways.
Whether you are out working a job or you are a stay-at-home mom, stay-at-home dad.
Whether you are lazy, you're working towards your laziness.
How can I be more lazy? Sometimes you try to find out.
You will always be in servitude, whether to the systems and the ways of this world or to Christ Jesus.
You will always be a servant of something, whether it be the systems of the world or Christ Jesus.
And who or what your life is in service to will determine how you work, why you work, and ultimately what your reward is in eternity.
So guys, the scripture tells us, in a couple places in John 8, 34, it tells us,
Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
So if you make your life's work and your life's goal is to find out how you can kind of squeak by and live in your sin and push off God, you're a slave to sin.
And Peter says in 2 Peter 2, 19, he says, whatever overcomes a person that he is enslaved to.
So whatever has overcome you as a person, whatever controls your life, whether it be entertainment, sports, family, work, your job, that's what you're enslaved to.
We are also told, though, not just about slavery, but what freedom looks like in Christ.
Galatians 5, 1 says,
For freedom Christ has set us free, to stand therefore firm and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
And Romans 6, 6 says this,
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing,
so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
So guys, as we dive into, and which button makes this thing go?
I don't, I've never used this thing before.
I don't know how to work this thing.
Can you go to the next slide there?
Thank you so much.
Yeah, keep going.
Go to the next slide again.
I don't know how to work this thing here.
I've never been good at this thing.
Oh well.
This morning, church, we're going to be in Colossians 3, 22 through chapter 4, 1.
It seems like a lot of text.
It's really not that much.
So I'm not going to ask you to stand, but I'm going to ask you if you have a copy of God's word with you,
or if you have it on your digital device, go ahead and look at it.
We're going to read Colossians 3, 22 through 4, 1.
It says this,
So as I was going through this text, guys, and trying to figure out how do I work this text,
how we kind of present this to us,
this morning we're talking about Christ over, not work, Christ over performance.
Because Christ is over our work.
We know that.
But Christ over performance.
And I'm hoping by the end of this message,
you'll be encouraged to not live just for yourself and for your work,
and not just to perform for Jesus,
but to please God.
My desire is that you would want to please God with your life.
So we have to ask ourselves first,
why do we work?
Why do we work?
Anybody got an answer?
Why do we work?
Yes.
So we can get money.
Number one reason, right?
So we can get money.
Yes, we do work because we need money.
If our families didn't have us having money in the home,
we'd have, well, nothing.
We need money to make do.
But why do we work in the spiritual sense?
Why do we do anything?
And what do you think I mean by work?
Do you think I mean by work just going to a job and collecting a paycheck
and then, you know, paying your bills and all that?
That's a sense of it.
That's one sense.
But also, work is the life we live for the Lord,
is the work we do, that the way we live,
why do we do that?
Why do we live like that?
Well, first off, I will say this.
Why we work in general is we were made in God's image,
and our God is a working God.
We see in the book of Genesis, we see God created everything.
It says that God saw all that he made in Genesis 131.
God saw all that he made, and he said that it was good.
So God is a working God.
He moved in creation to create things.
We also see that our God, in Romans 8, 28,
he works all things for his glory and our good.
So our God is not just a working God.
Our God is a good and gracious God.
Because if he wants to work things for our good,
it must mean he's a good God.
So we also see that he has works prepared for us in eternity.
Ephesians 2, 10 tells us that God prepared beforehand works for us.
And it says that we are his workmanship.
So one of the reasons why we work is because our God is a working God.
We also work because our Savior Jesus worked.
Our Savior Jesus worked.
He worked many miracles,
and there's a lot of miracles that aren't even in the Bible
because there's so much that he did, so many things he did.
John says that this couldn't hold it.
There's so much that he did.
Our Savior is a working Savior.
Our Savior also led people.
John 10, 11 says that the good shepherd leads his sheep.
The good shepherd leads his sheep.
And we also see that Jesus finished the work.
Anybody ever heard the phrase, the word, to tell us die?
You ever heard the word to tell us die?
If you know it, say it out loud for me.
To tell us die means it is finished.
And the picture of that, just to give you a little picture of this,
this is how awesome Jesus is.
The Roman conquering officer of whatever town or place they were at,
the Roman officer would go over,
and they would take all of the victims of war from the enemy camp,
or the enemy town, and they'd put them all together.
He would climb on top, and he would say,
to tell us die to the soldiers.
This battle is finished.
So our Savior is a working Savior because he accomplished what we could not.
He died for our sins.
He defeated death.
He rose from the grave.
And we have life in him.
So our Savior is a working Savior.
And also, one of the reasons why we work is just this simple.
I mean, it's hard to kind of sometimes make this any kind of, like, fanciness here.
God instituted work in Genesis 2.
And who here thinks work is just,
eh, I don't want to go to work today?
Nobody, everybody loves work so much here.
Yeah, okay, okay.
Let's be real.
Like, we don't always want to go to work.
We don't always want to do the work for school.
We don't always want to do it.
Work is not always the most enjoyable thing.
But the Bible tells us that God instituted work as a good thing.
He told Adam to work the garden in Eden because it's a good thing that he would work it.
And so, and this is crazy.
This is going to be a hard one for us to swallow and be okay with.
But work is a privilege given to us from God.
It is a wonderful privilege given to us from God.
to express the goodness of our good and great working Savior and God.
So those are some of the reasons why we work.
Just some of the reasons why we work.
And I thought that was important because, well, we got to talk about now how we work and how we don't work.
So we know why we work.
We have a reason, we have a purpose for working.
How do we work and how do we not work?
So let's go to the next slide here.
That's really important to talk about how we do not work.
Because it's what Paul does.
Paul starts off in the negative here.
He says here in verse 22, he says,
Bond servants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters,
not by way of eye service as people pleasers.
He says, don't do it as in an eye servicing, like I said, eye servicers way.
Don't do it as a people pleasing way.
So let's talk about those words there for a second.
People pleasing.
I have always in my life as a kid wanted to be a people pleaser.
I've always been one.
And I'm a recovering people pleaser these days.
I'm a redeemed, recovering people pleaser.
And in Proverbs 29, 25, one thing it tells us is that people pleasing, the fear of man, it lays a snare.
It's a trap.
I think that sometimes we don't see it that way, that people pleasing is actually what the scripture calls a fear of man.
And what I mean by fear of man is that you are so worried about what everybody else thinks about you,
that you will say yes to whatever they say or go along with the crowd and say no to whatever the crowd is saying,
because you want to make sure that everybody likes you.
So let's say this in those who own businesses or who are managers or supervisors,
maybe you're a team leader at the school in some way,
and you don't like people not liking you because you make decisions.
You want everybody to like you.
So you kind of like you do whatever the people below you say because you want to make sure they like you.
Anybody ever dealt with that?
Or maybe I can say one thing for sure.
You know, I've been in ministry, in full-time ministry for a year now,
and I can say one thing that I've dealt with myself is people pleasing
because I don't want people angry at me.
I don't want everybody not liking me.
So sometimes I'll just say, you know what, I'll just, sure, whatever.
We'll just go with that.
Whatever you say.
Anybody ever been like that?
People pleasing is a snare.
It's a trap.
Galatians 1.10, Paul says this about ministry.
Paul says, am I now seeking the approval of man or the approval of God?
He says, for if I were seeking the approval of man, I would not be a servant of Christ Jesus.
It's good to be agreeable, but we should not placate our lives and our faith towards man, to please man.
We should seek to please God.
And the next one I think is really interesting.
I had to think about this a bit.
Eye service.
And eye service goes two ways.
And I like to think of it in the context of my last job I worked.
I worked on base.
And I worked at the fitness centers.
And one of the things I loved about it was, now I got to fix machines and be out and talk to people.
I love talking to people.
It's great.
But a lot of people did not like the tedious job of cleaning the machines.
Up and down at the Smith machines and the squat racks and everything.
It's not fun cleaning machines.
I'm not going to lie.
I don't enjoy it.
It's not like my life's dream to clean machines, which is why I left.
But I will say there's a joy in doing it for the Lord.
There's a joy in doing it for the Lord.
But the problem was that a lot of people I worked with, what they would do is they would just kind of sit back there in the back at the front desk.
And so guess who came in?
The boss lady.
The boss lady comes walking in.
And everybody's like, oh, go grab the rags.
Let's go.
They're freaking out.
That's eye service.
You're only working the minimum amount of work while the boss is around or the cameras are watching.
So when the cameras are off, you ain't got to worry about it.
Okay, now I can do whatever I want to.
I can sit back, read a book.
Or that's one way of looking at it.
There's the other way of I'm going to work really hard in front of the boss.
I'm going to go find him.
I'm going to make sure I do the best work I can, better than everybody else, so I can make sure that my boss knows I'm a good worker.
That way he'll promote me.
That way he'll like me more.
But all this, guys, all that, it's a snare.
It's a trap.
Because guess what?
You will never forever please somebody.
I think of it in a home situation.
Husbands, if you are seeking to be a good husband, which you ought to, you ought to.
Husbands, if you're seeking to be a good husband, but you always, always only ever say yes to the wife and you know something's better, you're a people pleaser.
You're seeking to only please your wife.
Let's say one day she says, honey, I'm just tired from last night.
I don't want to go to church.
Let's just stay home.
And you say, you know what?
You're right, honey.
You're tired.
Let's stay home.
You're a people pleaser.
Or wives, let's say, let's say wives in a situation, you know that your husband is a very particular person.
Likes it in a very particular way.
And you've got to make sure that everything's right for him always.
And then you serve him in the biblical way, but you also want to make sure that nothing's ever wrong for him.
He's always happy.
That means that your emotions are attached to him.
Everything's attached to him.
So now guess who you serve?
Not Christ Jesus.
You end up serving your husband or your wife.
In the sense that you are like almost enslaved to them.
That's the danger of family.
Or you may love your kids, and that's great.
But if you say yes to everything your kids say because you want to be their best friend.
Parents in here, you already know where I'm going with that.
You don't say yes.
You should never give your kid a yes day.
Never do a yes day for your kids.
Because that means they're going to be hyped up on sugar.
You just spent all the money in your wallet.
Terrible idea.
You're not trying to be everybody's best friend here.
And you're not trying to make everybody happy all the time.
We are here to please the Lord.
That's our goal.
So even in church, when you know, I've heard of a church recently that they have had a lot of turmoil in the body that they're in.
And some people have come in and said, you know, we're going to do this totally new thing.
It's going to be kind of new age and this fancy stuff.
We want to bring in, you know, more of a seeker-sensitive kind of move.
We're just going to kind of toss off some of the theology and doctrine about the Bible.
Well, now they're seeking to please who?
Man.
Because they are literally seeker-sensitive, not God-sensitive.
They're not seeking after God.
They're seeking after people.
It's a snare.
And then there's one more part I want to kind of touch on this with how we don't work, how we do not work.
And there's a lot more parts to this, but I just don't have a whole lot of time to go through every quality and characteristic.
But it's this.
We do not work lazily or contemptuously.
The Bible tells us the slugger does not display stewardship.
Slugger, that's a really hard word, slugger.
Did anybody call you that before?
Someone come to you and say, you're sluggered.
That's a heavy word.
I wouldn't want to be called that.
The Bible says the ant works harder than the sluggered.
How would you feel if someone called you a sluggered and you know that an ant works harder than you?
That's heavy.
But the slugger does not display stewardship.
The sluggered knows what needs to be done and then also lives with a heart of contempt.
And I had to really look up what the word contempt means because I've heard it a lot like contempt of court and this and that.
I'm like, what does contempt even actually mean?
So I looked it up.
And contempt is a willful, this is crazy, a willful and intentional failure to comply.
Willful and intentional failure to comply.
That means when you choose to work lazily, not as a good steward.
You don't really, you seek to work as a people pleaser.
You're actually living in contempt of God.
You're willfully choosing to disobey God.
And that's a dangerous thing to be in.
I tell my students all the time, it's one of my favorite phrases to say to the students.
A lot of the guys know this one for sure.
It is better to be humble before God than to be humbled by God.
It's better to be humble before God than to be humbled by God.
And you don't want to live in contempt with God.
To willfully and intentionally disobey God.
So now we talked about why we should work.
Talked about how we should not work.
Let's see how the Bible tells us to work.
Let's go to the next slide there.
The way that we should be working is, well, here's four ways.
Work heartily, contently, diligently, and intentionally.
And Paul even says it here.
He says, whatever you do, work heartily.
As for the Lord and not for men.
So when we think about working heartily, I think we have to get the right picture.
Because I think sometimes we think that a hard worker is somebody who's out in the field and they're working hard and they're sweating like crazy.
Or maybe they're the person that is, you know, got everything together in the office.
They're the most, you know, organized person all the time.
Those are hard workers.
But the rest of them, they're just there.
They work.
They're just there.
A hard worker is not somebody who gets it right every time.
Or the most organized is the perfect employee.
A hard worker is somebody, someone who works heartily is somebody who works diligently, intentionally, and contently.
So heartily kind of has these categories underneath it.
Heartily, diligently, intentionally, contently.
So let's kind of talk about those three out there.
When you work diligently, it means you are working in a non-hasty way.
I had to look up this word diligent as well, just to make sure I was right.
A good example of this is, well, kind of like I said earlier, my coworkers in my last job, they're all chilling.
It's like, you know, maybe two hours to the end of the day.
It takes about two hours to clean all the machines.
And instead of kind of like pacing it out throughout the day, they're scrambling at the end of the day because the boss came in.
Oh, we better start cleaning now.
A person who's not diligent in their work is someone who's just scrambling at the very end, trying to get it done now, now, now.
We've got to go, got to go.
And then diligence kind of goes along with intentionality.
Because diligence is careful and persistent effort over time.
You're not going to, well, unless you're one of those speed readers I've seen on the internet, you're not going to read this in one day.
You might not even read it in one week.
You might not even read it in one year.
It might take you a long time to get through the scripture.
And that's okay.
But if you are diligent in your time with the Lord, you may spend, like my wife does sometimes, she spends two days on a sentence.
She can spend two days on a sentence, and it's incredible because she can pull so much out of it.
A diligent person is careful in their work.
They're focused.
Intentional person works with purpose.
So diligence is careful and persistent.
Intentionality is purposeful work.
And so in our lives, and we're going to get to this part in a little bit, so I don't want to go too far ahead of myself.
But in our lives, the way you're working, the way you're working right now, do you intentionally work so people can see you work?
Or do you do it for God?
Do you want the Lord to be pleased in all that you do?
Because I don't want to get too far ahead of myself because we're going there.
But then the last one is this.
I think that's probably the biggest one for us.
Because we talked about this earlier.
Who likes to work all the time with no rest?
The word contently, the word content, brings to mind a parable, if you will, from a guy I heard a long time ago.
His name is Martin Luther.
He was a reformer.
And Martin Luther, he talks about the plow boy, the milkmaid, and the priest.
Now, when we think about work, you probably think the plow boy probably works the hardest because he's sweating.
He's got a lot going on there.
He's doing all sorts of stuff outside.
And then you've got the milkmaid.
And she's got to milk the cows, but they're all stinky and they smell funny.
And maybe she gets kicked once or twice in her career as a milkmaid.
And then you've got the priest who gets to sit inside the AC and just sit down and read books, right?
Like, no.
No, the thing about all of them, all three of those people, is it wasn't their job that defined who they were.
It's how they did their job and who they did their job for.
Because if the plow boy was working for himself, he probably should get a different line of work if he wants it back in his later years.
The milkmaid was trying to find a better job.
Well, in that time, Martin Luther's time, she probably was the best job she could get.
And the priest, he's probably got it the best.
When we find our contentment not in our jobs, but in the Lord, any job that he brings us to is workable.
Any job he brings us to is workable.
I want to kind of move on to this next part here.
This is kind of where we're going to land the plane in a little bit this morning.
I'm getting you guys out of here really early this morning.
Really early.
Who do we work for?
Not for man, but with man.
When you work for people, so who here is a business owner?
Who here owns a business or runs a business or is a manager?
You know, start screaming at me.
Who here works for somebody?
Okay.
When you work for somebody, sometimes issues arise with other employees.
And sometimes there's some employees that are really, they like to bring drama.
Anybody ever seen a drama person in their workplace?
Yeah?
I had one lady.
Oof.
Lord of mercy.
There's people who like to breed drama and bring it in and start the drama.
But that's not what the scripture calls us to.
The Bible calls us to work peacefully with other people.
The Bible says that if there's somebody who is just a, ah, man, under your skin.
Just kind of the worst.
They don't say to go and be angry at that person.
The Bible calls us to pray for that person.
And then, I really like this phrase.
We work for men, but not for man.
You will always work for somebody, even if it's for yourself.
But the purpose is not for you.
It is for God.
God gets the glory in your work.
And this is kind of, this one's about, this next points to more of you business owners.
You people who have, have some, all your own kind of thing you're doing.
We don't work for ourselves.
Now, yes, we do need to make money for our families.
We need that kind of support.
But there's a lot of people that I've seen who start things and do things because they really want to get a leg up in the world.
They want the notoriety that comes with being a business owner.
They want fame in a small town.
We don't work to get a leg up in a competition in life.
We don't work from selfish ambition.
Scripture tells us that.
And we don't work for any kind of notoriety.
Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
We work for God's kingdom.
Because here's the reality, church, is that our reward is not here.
I remember one thing that Jesus says, you know, do not store up for yourself treasures here on earth where moth and rust and thieves come to steal and take and destroy.
But store up for yourself treasures in heaven.
And Paul says this in the scripture that we're reading this morning.
In verse 24, he says,
Knowing that from your boss?
No.
Knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the inheritance as your reward.
That inheritance, scripture says, is an imperishable inheritance.
It's invaluable, is the better word you could say.
It's invaluable.
Stored up for you in heaven that cannot be stolen or taken away.
When we work as a body of believers, building up his kingdom.
This is not a plug.
This is just being real.
When you work and you gain, the Lord has given you gain.
He desires that you give back to him.
Just a little bit.
A good picture of that one time.
I remember when I was in another church.
Our pastor, he had a big bowl.
And he had ten apples.
And he said, look, God's giving you this bowl of ten apples.
And all he's asking for right now from you?
One apple.
You still got nine apples left to steward and eat well and ration out well.
All he wants is one of those ten apples.
And so when you gain in your life,
we shouldn't seek to hoard and keep only for ourselves
and use only in a way that satisfies us.
How can you be a blessing?
Like Jacob said in his prayer,
how can we be a blessing and a joy to others
with that which God gives us in our work?
How can you be a blessing in that way?
Can you bless the church?
Can you bless your neighbor?
Can you bless that person you know that's hurting?
Because your treasure is not here on earth.
Your treasure is in heaven.
And that leads me to kind of land this here.
Let's go to that next slide here.
This is the last thing I want to talk to us about this morning.
Are you living to perform for God or please God?
Are you living to perform for him or please him?
And those are two different words, perform and please.
Because all the things we just talked about,
it's good stuff.
It's true.
It's from the Bible.
It's good stuff.
All this work stuff.
But is all of that done in your life
to gain some favor with God?
I use the term with the students oftentimes.
Are you trying to earn Jesus points?
Are you trying to earn Jesus points with God?
You know, I work hard.
I'm diligent.
I'm actually intentional with what I do in my job too.
And I'm happy.
I don't get angry.
Sometimes there's some scuffles.
And then I don't try to please people.
I'm doing all these things, God.
So, you know, just kind of bless me.
I'm hoping that you'll see that God,
recognize it, and you'll bless me for it.
Well, I akin that to an actor on the stage.
Do you come to church to be seen by everybody else in the pews?
Do you come to church to sing
so everybody can hear their beautiful voice?
Do you come to church
so that you feel better about yourself with God
because you've been straying away too far
so you thought,
oh, coming to church fixes it?
Do you do all the work that you do,
the businesses you've built
over the past 35, 40, 5, 10 years,
whatever it is,
is all that to say,
look at what I've done with my life for you, God.
Isn't it great?
Don't you love it?
Yes.
I'm reminded of this story
that John Piper tells in his book,
Don't Waste Your Life.
And he talks at the very beginning,
he talks about this,
these two young couple,
they were 35 years old and retired at 35.
Incredible.
And they go on,
and they start living their life however they want to.
They go on cruise ships,
and they go live this tropical place,
and they just are just living it up.
And their big treasure that they love to find
are seashells and sand dollars.
You know what a sand dollar is?
I grew up around that myself.
But seashells and sand dollars,
that's a big thing they live for.
So contrast that
with the two 90-year-old ladies
who were single their whole life
because they gave their life to the mission field,
to the Lord.
Now these guys still alive,
and they probably died in comfort.
But these two older ladies,
the way they died was at a rock slide.
They were driving their vehicle up a mountain
in an underdeveloped country,
and a rock slide took their vehicle,
and they died in a perilous way.
But they didn't boast about their work.
I've never heard about these ladies until now.
But you hear all the time,
these guys who are super rich.
They do all these awesome things,
and they get to have this wonderful life
we all want to live.
What John Piper says, though,
is when they go before the Lord,
those who had seashells,
when they stand before God,
they say,
well, God,
look at all the hard work I did in my life.
Don't you see my seashells?
Don't you see my sand?
Look, I got that one in Costa Rica,
and that one in Panama,
and don't you love my seashells?
But the two ladies who died in the perilous way
in the mission field,
they stood before God,
and they would say to Him,
I have nothing.
I have nothing but what you've given me to do, Lord.
And I just want you to be glorified.
I'm not here for me.
So in your job,
in your life,
those who run businesses
or own things,
do you do so for your notoriety
to make God like you more
because you're doing well for the community?
And those who work for people,
are you living so that God sees
how hard you work?
Because I know, guys,
if you're anything like me,
there are down times
when you don't work as well,
going through something.
Does that mean God loves you any less?
No.
God loves you the same
on your best day
as He does on your worst day.
So for the one who's a believer this morning,
my challenge to you is this.
Don't perform for God.
Almost basically take what you're doing
and just say,
that's just a part of my life.
That's just something I have to do.
I get to glorify God in my work.
I'm not focused on gaining anything from this.
I just want God to be glorified in all I do.
In your workplace,
are you doing things
so that others see how you live for God?
Not so that you can gain,
but so they can love the Lord Jesus more
and be interested in Him.
For those who are not believers this morning,
who have not trusted in Christ as their Savior,
my question is this.
Do you think you can work hard enough
to gain God's love?
Do you think you can work hard enough
to gain God's love?
There is no amount of work that you can do.
Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 tells us
that it is by grace through faith
we've been saved.
And it literally says,
not of your works,
not of your performance.
A bit of my testimony,
I think this is important for this.
I was,
I grew up in a kind of Christian home,
kind of sort of military family.
So we didn't have a church.
We stayed in long.
But I grew up around the Bible.
I could tell you that a guy
was put in a giant fish, I think.
And I can tell you basically that.
And there's a guy named David.
I didn't know really what happened,
but he threw a rock out of God's eye
and knocked him out, I think.
That's about all I had.
That's about all I really remember.
And I can tell you
that the Lord saved me at 21 years old.
I'm 29 now.
But before that, guys,
I was not living a very good life.
I lived in ways I should not have.
I did things I should not have.
And I was a huge hypocrite.
Huge hypocrite.
But the biggest part about my life
at that time when I got saved was this.
I was performing for God.
100% performing.
I was reading the Bible
so I could know when I was right,
when I was wrong.
So I could tell people of other religions,
hey, you're wrong.
This is the truth.
You're wrong.
Get it right.
Get with this.
And I was like,
God, I just thank you so much
that I'm not like the other guy over there.
And I was like performing for God.
I didn't seek to please him.
I was being pleased by being right.
Then I came to a point when I realized
I got it all wrong.
And it was that morning.
It was very interesting.
That morning,
that Sunday morning when I got saved,
I was in my Sunday school class at the time.
And the Sunday school teacher's son
was singing with my worship pastor that morning.
And he was singing beautifully.
And I was just full of pride.
I was like,
I worked way harder than that guy to sing like that.
I should be singing with him.
And I get out there
and he sings a song.
And I realized in that moment
that everything that I had been doing,
I was trying to convert my girlfriend at the time
to Christ.
Even though I was not a Christian,
I was preaching to students.
Though I was not a Christian,
I was helping to lead worship.
Though I was not a believer,
I was going with my band to things
and not as a believer,
I was performing for Christ.
I was not seeking to please the Lord Jesus.
And as I was saved at 21 years old
that Sunday morning,
I realized my sin was great
and I needed Christ.
And I believed in the Lord Jesus that morning.
And yes,
I am still a recovering people pleaser.
Yes,
I am still a recovering performing Christian.
But I can tell you
that the Lord has worked my heart
and moved me so
to see that God's glory
is wonderful.
It's greater than my desire
to be known and seen.
And it's funny,
you know,
that the more I've grown in Christ,
the more I've loved Jesus,
the more I want to be in the background.
When you realize that your Savior
is greater than you
and He's wonderful,
deserving of your praise,
not your performance,
then you oftentimes say,
the Lord brings you and says,
just sit in the background,
let me work.
So this morning, church,
as I close here,
Linda,
I'm going to ask you
to come and play
some music for us here.
We're going to have
just a quick little time of invitation.
I want to pray over you, church.
And this morning,
if you are a people pleaser,
if you are working
as an eye servicer,
only seeking to be a worker
when you're seen,
this morning,
if you came to church
because you knew
it was the right thing to do
and you make sure
your kids are here
because it's a good thing
for them,
wonderful,
glad you're here.
Because here's the thing,
this place is not
a museum for the saints.
It is a hospital
for the sick.
And if you are not
a believer this morning,
I want you to recognize
something.
Just like me,
you may be a hypocrite,
someone who is in need
of the grace of God
and salvation in Christ.
Just like me,
you need your heart
to be made right
with the Lord.
My heart was not right.
My heart was not for God.
My heart was for me
so everybody would think
I was godly.
This morning,
if you are a people pleaser,
by that I mean
you come to church here
to be seen
by every of these pews.
By that I mean
you put on the holy act
all week
and then before your pastor,
you say,
look what God's doing
for my life
and then in your quiet
time by yourself
when you're alone,
you live completely different.
What you recognize
is that's a trap.
And the Lord Jesus
is the best
at getting us out
of those traps.
So this morning,
I want to open
this altar for you here.
These steps are open.
I don't just encourage you,
I implore you
this morning,
believers,
to come and bring
your sin
to the foot of the cross.
Give it up.
Just let it go.
And turn your heart
in love
to the Savior.
Those who are not
believers this morning,
I encourage you
to come have a talk
with me.
I'm here for you.
Because listen,
you're not alone.
All those people here
who are believers
were once in your position too.
not trusting Christ,
not loving Him,
seeking to just,
maybe just do church
so people can see them
do church.
Come have a true relationship
with the Lord Jesus
this morning.
He is worth
every ounce
of your work.
And listen,
if you think
you have to work harder
and do better
and stay out of sin
longer,
stop.
you ain't got to
clean yourself up
to come to Christ.
Right now,
you can come
and be cleansed.
Peter says to Jesus,
I should be the one
washing your feet,
Jesus.
But Jesus says,
unless I wash
all of this,
unless I wash your feet,
we'll be clean.
And so Peter says,
not just my feet,
my head,
my everything,
just wash it.
we come as beggars
to the Lord Jesus,
asking for forgiveness
of our sin.
This morning,
right here,
you can do that.
This morning,
if you're a believer
and you need forgiveness
of sin,
right here,
you can do that.
Right there where you're sitting,
you can do that.
I'm going to pray
for us, church,
and give you some time
to consider
what the Lord
would have you do
in your heart.
And I pray that He moves you
in a greater love
and adoration
for the Lord Jesus.
Let's pray.
Lord,
thank you so much
for this morning.
God,
I pray that even through
everything we've talked about,
the main point
is that you
would be glorified.
We would love you more,
Lord,
in our hearts.
We would seek to glorify you
in our work,
not so that we can
earn something from you,
God,
earn favor with you,
Lord,
but that the favor
was already on us
because of Christ Jesus.
We couldn't earn our salvation.
I couldn't make myself
holy enough
Lord,
the amount of times
I shared the gospel,
the amount of times
that I taught students
about the Bible,
the amount of times
I've sang songs
in front of people,
they were worthless
because they were not done
in faith.
So, Lord,
all the works we do,
all the life we live,
let us not seek
to perform for you.
Let us seek
to please you,
tossing off
any selfish ambition
and putting on
only the new man
that is in Christ.
Lord,
I thank you
for all you've done.
It's in Christ Jesus,
I pray.
Amen.
Thank you.