Overcome the Leaven of Selfishness

And you know, brethren, the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread Holy Day season is soon drawing to a close. We only have a few more hours now. I hope it has been a very spiritually profitable one for you. I also would like to say hello to a few that are listening in today at home. Sam and Navi Booker, we'd like to say hello to you. They're listening in, as well as Margie Roberts in the Lawton area, Mark Shipley in Manford, and Olive Heller, I believe, is listening in, as well, in Lawton. So we'd like to say hello to all of you, and we're glad you could join us.

But I do hope it's been a very profitable season for you. I believe it has been for me. It seems to me that it has been, and I think I've learned some things this week. From this past Sabbath, we'll be counting 50 days to the next annual Holy Day, the Day of Pentecost. There are seven weekly Sabbaths between now and Pentecost. Of course, tomorrow is a weekly Sabbath, and counting that one, there will be seven weekly Sabbaths between now and Pentecost.

Of course, we know that Pentecost pictures the giving of the Holy Spirit and the establishment of the New Testament Church of God. We know it pictures the firstfruits of God spiritual harvest. As firstfruits, what will you be focusing on these next 44 days leading up to Pentecost? Have you even given that a thought? Probably haven't thought too much about that yet, but since we're just about ready to close the Days of Unleavened Bread, it's time to start thinking forward to the Day of Pentecost. I'd like to give you something to think about, something to focus upon.

I believe these next 44 days are certainly a transitional step between keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread and observing the Day of Pentecost. Let's go to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, and consider a few verses here. Galatians chapter 5. Let's begin in verse 9. Galatians chapter 5 verse 9. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. You've heard that before. I don't know that anyone's actually said that this particular Holy Day season, but a little leaven does leaven the whole lump.

Paul says, I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment whoever he is. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. This was a play on word because some were saying that you had to be circumcised in order to gain salvation. And Paul knew that that was not a requirement. He understood that through revelation that God had given him, and what had happened to Cornelius, and those particular events.

He says, For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. And we've all been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. We're told to serve one another through love. We're to learn to have love one for another. And that's how we ought to serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this.

Of course, that one word is love. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. So that is a warning that Paul gave the church at Galatia. And it is a warning that God continues to give his church today.

Beware lest you be consumed by one another. Certainly that ought not be. I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So I'd like us all to start thinking about what it means to walk in the Spirit.

We need to be walking in the Spirit these next 44 days that will lead into the day of Pentecost. Most of us adults are baptized that are here today. There are a few adults that aren't baptized. The majority of us are baptized. And those who aren't are still being led by the Spirit of God. So it is possible to learn to walk in the Spirit, all of us, these next 44 days.

And beyond that, of course, we have God's Spirit dwelling in us, those of us who are baptized and who have received the Spirit. We certainly don't have to wait until the day of Pentecost to think about the Holy Spirit and what it means for us. Even our children can be led by the Spirit of God. Our young children and those who are teenagers can be led by God's Spirit. So it is vitally important that we learn to walk in the Spirit. So I suggest you focus on walking in the Spirit these next days as we go up to Pentecost. And I believe one way to do that is to realize that there is a direct link between overcoming the leaven of selfishness.

And that's really what we're going to be talking about for the most part today. There is a direct link between overcoming the leaven of selfishness and learning to walk in the Spirit of God. If you will concentrate on overcoming the leaven of selfishness, you will be learning to walk in the Spirit. Now we're all plagued by selfishness, aren't we? If we're honest, haven't we been looking out for number one? And that means yours truly just about all of our lives.

You know, that's a normal tendency to do, to look out after yourself, to look out after number one in that sense. Although we realize that we shouldn't really be number one. We know that God should be number one, that Christ should be number one along with the Father. And we should come down the line after other people, after our mates, after serving others.

But it is a very strong tendency to be selfish. I know as a young person being called into God's church, I was 18 at the time. And one thing that God showed me very clearly is I was very selfish at 18. I was an extremely selfish person, and I don't think that's uncommon. I think, you know, most teenagers are pretty selfish. In fact, most adults are pretty selfish. So, in fact, some people die very selfish at age 100 or 95. You know, it's just a very normal tendency that we have that of being selfish.

So let's talk about putting out the leaven of selfishness and the importance of putting out and the importance of putting out the leaven of selfishness. Now might be a good time to ask you, what would you say is the single greatest act of becoming unleavened in the history of mankind? What is the single greatest act of becoming unleavened?

Well, let's go to Philippians 2, and I'll tell you what I think it is. Philippians 2, 1, certainly when Christ died on the stake when He was crucified for us, that was a wonderful act of becoming unleavened. Christ is the unleavened bread that comes down from heaven. But in some ways, I think this act we're going to read about now is even greater. Verse 5 of Philippians 2 says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. The one who became Jesus Christ, the logos, the spokesman, as it says in John 1, was with God and He was God. And Christ said, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. My Father and I are one, but made Himself of no reputation. This is what I believe is the greatest single act of becoming unleavened or showing the attitude of being unleavened. But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the lightness of men. So here we have God who is humbling Himself to the point of becoming flesh. To me, that's the greatest single act, even more so than dying on the stake, is being willing to divest Himself of His divine nature. And then, of course, the Father, going along with the plan, even devising the plan that His buddy for eternity would do this. Of course, it was a plan. They were both very much together in thought and in action in regard to the plan of salvation for mankind, and it required that God become flesh. So Christ became flesh, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself. He became unleavened and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Christ is certainly to be exalted. There is no other name given under heaven whereby we may be saved. All knees will bow before Jesus Christ. All human beings will bow before Christ, or they will be cast into the lake of fire. So it's very humbling to consider what Jesus Christ has done for us. Not only did He die for us, but He also became flesh for us. And you know, I've often thought that that's the one thing I want to get rid of, is my flesh. You know, I'm tired of the flesh. I want to become spirit. I want to be born into the family of God and get rid of this flesh because the flesh holds me down. The flesh is a drag. You know, it just holds us back. And Christ knew what He was getting into. The logos to the spokesman knew what He was getting into when He became flesh, subject to the flesh, subject to pain and all the things that we are subjected to. Christ was tempted in every point as we are.

And yet He was without sin. So to me, that's just an incredible act of becoming unleavened. And of course, to the point of the death, to the point of a very, very, very difficult death of crucifixion, we might say that was the greatest act of unselfishness as well. And of course, for God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. I mean, how do you cry? The Father giving His only Son, another act of unselfishness. They have set the example for us. The bar is high. We are to follow their example. We are to become unleavened. And we should become unselfish in the way we think. If we put on the mind of Christ, we will begin to think a lot more selflessly. So that is our challenge, to become more and more selfless and less selfish.

So there is a great link between being self-centered and the works of the flesh. If we go back to Galatians 5, we'll just briefly touch on some of the works of the flesh. And just look at how selfish they are. Consider how selfish these works of the flesh are. Verse 17, for the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Now we've all experienced that. Even though we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, sometimes we do not do the things that we would we know we ought to do, because the flesh is weak. And sometimes it gets the best of us, and we sin against God. Verse 18, for if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. It's talking about not being under the penalty of the law. If you are being led by the Spirit, if God's Spirit is guiding you and dwelling you and living in you, then you are not under the penalty of the law, because Christ paid the penalty. He died for us. He paid for our sins. Sin is the transgression of God's holy and righteous law, and we've all sinned. We've all come short of God's glory. So Christ came in the flesh, and He lived a perfect life for us, never sinning. Only His could be the perfect sacrifice. Only Jesus Christ could be the perfect sacrifice. Verse 19, now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery. Now that's very selfish, isn't it? Adultery is a very selfish act. To do something against your mate, the maid who loves you, it's a very selfish act. Fornication, another selfish act, because you're taking from someone else. Rather than respecting and honoring, you're taking away from the honor that another person could have by involving yourself in fornication with them. Uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions. These things are all very selfishly oriented. Jealousy, obviously jealousy is very self-oriented. We become jealous. I become jealous. For outbursts of wrath shows, again, our selfishness. And there is the word selfish, even listed here. Selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. All of these things are very selfish, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, on the other hand, it contrasts the fruit of God's Spirit. Now, these things are not selfish. The fruit of God's Holy Spirit is very unselfish. Love is outgoing concern for others. It's caring about others. Joy is something that is automatically shared with others. When we are joyful people, everyone else benefits.

When you can't help it, if you're a joyful person, then anybody you're around benefits from that joy. It's contagious. It's very unselfish. A joyful, thankful person is, again, contagious and a blessing to be around. Making peace is also an unselfish act, being a peacemaker, bringing peace to a situation through humility, instead of stirring up strife and turmoil through vanity and pride. Again, it's something to also share with others, being a peacemaker.

Peace between brethren is a beautiful thing to behold and to experience. It is an unselfish act when we have peace with each other. When we have war, it's because of the lust that dwells in us, according to the Scriptures. It's not because we're being selfless, but it's because we're being selfish. So peace between brethren is a wonderful thing. Patience is another attribute and is a fruit of God's Spirit. Patience is obviously an unselfish trait. When we learn to patiently wait, we are being unselfish. On the other hand, if we're very impatient, then we show our selfishness. You're taking my time.

I mean, we should be unselfish by not taking someone's time also, but on the other hand, we shouldn't sit there and stew and get into a bad attitude when perhaps someone hasn't planned as well as they should have, and we're paying the consequence for it.

Patience is obviously an unselfish trait and characteristic. Kindness is also outgoing toward others, as is goodness and faithfulness and gentleness. These are all fruits of God's Spirit. When we're gentle with other people, then we're not exalting the self, but we're concerned about the other person. We're gentle toward them. When we become angry at a person, then we're exalting the self, aren't we? We're concerned about what they've done to me, how they've hurt me, or whatever it is, so we get angry about it. Of course, some anger is okay. We know that, but I'm talking about the wrong kind of anger. Faithfulness is certainly an unselfish act, being a faithful person. Again, you care about others enough to be trustworthy and to be faithful. Being self-controlled is also a very unselfish act. When we are truly self-controlled, then we don't allow ourselves to get into these bad attitudes and wrong thinking, the selfish type of thinking.

When someone is being selfish, they often get out of control, don't they? They hurt other people when they're out of control. Bringing oneself under control is practicing unselfishness. It is not giving into the self its passions and its desires.

So we should ask ourselves, am I being selfish as we go throughout our day? Am I being selfish, or am I truly concerned about other people that I deal with, or am I more concerned about myself?

So consider all of your relationships, your marital relationship. Consider your church relationship, the friends that you have in God's Church. You might also think of any conflicts that you might be having. What role are you playing in that conflict? Is your selfishness getting in the way and causing you conflict?

These are good questions to ask ourselves as we go about our lives.

When we are selfish, we in a sense are placing ourselves at the throne of our lives. We are the center of our lives.

We are saying, I want people to please me. Everything revolves around me.

Is that how you live your life? Everything revolves around you. If you don't have breakfast at exactly the right time, if your wife doesn't put it on the table at exactly the moment that you expect it to be there, do you have a problem with that? Or are you patient? Are you considerate? Are you very demanding?

If you're very demanding, then you're probably being pretty selfish.

So these are good questions to ask ourselves during these days of Unleavened Bread. As these days come to a close, we ask ourselves, am I walking in the Spirit? Am I producing the fruit of the Spirit? Love and joy and peace and patience and self-control? Am I producing those fruits, or am I instead walking in the flesh? Now the flesh is very selfish, isn't it? I mean, naturally, normally the flesh is selfish. It's carnal. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be. That's what the Scripture says. So when we're yielded to our carnal nature, we are certainly walking in the flesh.

And we're told not to do that. We're told to learn to walk in the Spirit.

Christ was always concerned about the Father. He was concerned about pleasing His Father. In fact, at Jesus' baptism, God the Father said, This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. His Son had never sinned up to the point of His baptism, and of course never sinned from that point on either. This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. Everything was going according to plan. Jesus Christ divested Himself of His divine nature and became flesh. He dwelled among us. He was born of the Virgin Mary, and He never sinned throughout life. When He was 12 years old, He was missing. Remember when they went up to keep the feast? And He was missing. He's been gone a couple of days, and finally they went looking for Him. He said, I'm going about doing my Father's business. He was in the synagogue, and He was astounding people with the words that He had to say. So Jesus Christ was certainly a wonderful example of one who was unselfish, of one who was really striving to please His Father, His Heavenly Father. He set a wonderful example for us. So as Christians, we should have God and Christ on the throne of our lives. Christ should be on the throne. Christ is the King. And if we are to be kings, He is the King of Kings. We are to follow Him. He should be on the throne of our lives. He should be number one in our lives. We should be striving to please Him. And of course, Christ said, when you even give a cup of water to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. So when we serve others, we are serving Christ. We are pleasing Christ when we serve others, when we're unselfish, and when we humbly serve other people, when our motives are right, and motives are very important. Why do we serve? Do we serve to be seen of others? Do we serve to be exalted? Or do we serve out a genuine concern to help others and to follow Christ's example? So we should examine our motives. Why do we do the things that we do?

And we should continually ask God to grant us humility and help us to be humble in the way we serve one another, because our service will be much more effective when it truly comes from humility. When we're humbly serving, then that's a lot different from just serving. A lot of people serve, but they're not always real humble in the way they serve. And that causes problems. But when we serve in a humble way, then that produces good fruit, beautiful fruit. When we're selfish, we are replacing God on the throne of our lives. When we put ourselves above God, when we put our desires, our needs, ourselves before God, then we are being selfish. When we desire material things above spiritual things, we're being selfish. And we're all selfish. I'm selfish. We're all selfish. We all have to struggle with selfishness. We're in the flesh, so it's natural and it's normal, but we shouldn't just go about life not recognizing who we are and what we are.

We should be reminded that we are not of this world. We're not to be of this world. We're not to be like everyone else. We're to be different. And again, our model for living is Jesus Christ, who came to serve and not to be served. But it's natural to want to be served.

It's not altogether wrong, of course. There's a time when we need to submit ourselves and be served. We know that. The foot washing service, we have our feet washed too. We wash someone else's feet, but we allow someone to wash our feet. There are times, obviously, when we should allow others to serve us. If someone wants to serve you and they have a right motive and heart, then why would you deny them? On the other hand, you should be out serving others too. If everyone's concerned about serving others, then we've got a good thing going. So that's what we need to try to stimulate within the Church of God, this right kind of service. Selfishness causes problems in all walks of life. And again, there shouldn't be conflict in the Church of God. This should be a safe haven. And I believe it is a safe haven. You know, we've been enjoying a number of months of peace and harmony, and it's been enjoyable. And I pray that it stays that way and that we can all learn to walk in the Spirit so that we never have to worry about that again.

It's a challenge, you know. It's a challenge when things happen. How will we deal with them? How are we going to deal with the next challenge that comes along in the Church?

In the Churches of the world, oftentimes there's an awful lot of selfishness going on. And I'm not saying that everyone is selfish. There are good examples that serve from a right heart in the world. They're not necessarily converted people, but they're very giving and caring people. And they have good quality traits, and they have good things going for them. They may not be keeping all of God's laws. God hasn't called them yet. God hasn't opened their minds to understand all things yet. But selfishness is very pervasive. It really is everywhere. It's like leaven. No, leaven is everywhere. It's just everywhere. I mean, we've tried to stay away from it as best we could, but undoubtedly we weren't too far away from leaven at times. You know, even if we weren't eating it, even if we didn't have it in our homes, if we got out of our house and went anywhere, we probably got close to leaven sometime, probably many times throughout this past week. So leaven is very pervasive, and selfishness is very pervasive. And it's really very refreshing to see someone take an unselfish approach in today's society. When you read about things or hear things in the news about people who were unselfish in the way they conducted themselves, that's refreshing because so often we read about a lot of selfishness in the news. You know, people killing one another, taking advantage of one another, abusing one another, stealing from one another. You know, getting for the self. It happens all the time.

Satan is the God of this world, and of course he is full of vanity, he's full of pride, and he's certainly full of selfishness. So is it any wonder the world has turned out the way it has? When the God of this world is like Satan the devil, filled with pride and vanity and violence, greed and envy and jealousy, all the works of the flesh. You know, Satan has, even though his spirit, he went so astray and so awry, and so he's full of joy. Let's go to Ephesians 4, verse 22. Let's consider what God tells us to be doing. Ephesians 4, verse 22.

Ephesians 4, verse 22.

Actually, that's kind of breaking into the middle of things here. Let's notice that, verse 20, but you have not so learned Christ. It's talking about those who walk in futility of their minds in verse 17, how they become alienated from God as they walk in darkness. He says, but you have not so learned Christ. You have been taught something differently. If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which goes corrupt. The old man is selfish. We tried to bury him at baptism. We did bury him at baptism, but the old man has a way of trying to get back in and causes issues and problems. A lot of it has to do with selfishness. The old man is selfish. He grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust and instead be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. We are to put on the new man. Mr. Nunn talked about baptism. And the Red Sea. It is symbolic of baptism. When they got across on dry ground, everyone else was drowned. But in a sense, they were baptized in the sea. That's what the Scripture says. They were to walk in newness of life. God was leading them out of Egypt. Mr. Kegel talked about coming out of Egypt. Coming out of sin. They came out of Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea. They were to be new creations, new people. And it is symbolic of baptism. When we go under that watery grave, we're supposed to leave the old man buried. The selfish ways we're supposed to leave in the grave. In that watery grave, it's supposed to be washed away. We're supposed to be clean. But the fact of the matter is, because we're still human, we're still in the flesh, selfishness is still ever-present. And we all have to fight being selfish. I know that. I mean, it's a daily battle to not be selfish. In Colossians chapter 3, along the same lines, the Apostle Paul, Colossians 3 verse 8, but now you yourselves are to put off all of these. Notice how selfish these things are. You're supposed to put these things off. The days of 11 bread talk about putting out leaven or putting off leaven, putting off anger and wrath. When we become angry, again, we're very selfish. When we're wrathful, when we're full of malice, blasphemy, filthy language. These are selfish acts. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. We should allow Christ to live in us. Christ in us is the hope of glory. If we are to be glorified at Christ's return, we need to put Christ into our lives now. The next few verses talk about the character of the new man. This is how we're supposed to conduct ourselves the next 44 days as we walk in the Spirit. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on...now you put off malice, you put off anger, you put off all those selfish traits, instead put on tender mercies. Being merciful is unselfish.

Kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering or patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do these things. As Christ set that example for us, as Christ forgave us, and there's a parable that talks about the person who would not forgive the debt. If we want Christ to forgive us, then we have to forgive others.

But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. When we have love, then we're not going to be selfish. We're going to be unselfish, because love is outgoing. Love is outgoing concern for others, for God and for others. And let the peace of God rule in your heart, to which also you were called in one body and be thankful. Be thankful to God. That's also an unselfish trait, gratitude and being thankful. So again, we are to put off the old man, and we are to put on the new man, learning to walk in the Spirit, learning to walk unselfishly. Christ came to this earth to save people. He came to this earth to show us a better way of living. He taught us a better way of living. What did Christ teach us? He taught us to keep the commandments. In fact, He was the one that brought the commandments in the first place through Moses back in night. In the Promised Land, or at Mount Sinai, when the commandments were given on the way to the Promised Land, they were to keep the commandments of God. And Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And Christ says, we are to continue to keep the law. Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy the law, so keep the commandments. That's being unselfish. If you keep God's commandments and keep them in the Spirit, then you are learning to be unselfish. Turn the other cheek. That's what Christ said. He said, go the extra mile. He said, love your enemies. He said, sincerely pray for their well-being. Pray for your enemies. Learn to love those who despitefully use you and persecute you. That's being unselfish. When you give, give quietly. You know, don't make a show of how wonderful you are and how generous you are. But give quietly. Whenever possible, give quietly. You know, if it's necessary to give and people find out, well, that's okay. But if it isn't necessary, then keep it quiet. So, when you give, give quietly. When you pray, pray secretly. For the most part. Now, there are some times when we should pray publicly and we do that. We should never be ashamed of praying. If people want to pray before their meal in a restaurant, I don't have a problem with that. I mean, they shouldn't make a show of it. They shouldn't be loud and expect everyone else to pay attention to what they're doing. But if it can be done discreetly, there's no problem with that. But for the most part, we pray. We pray secretly. And if you go back and read Matthew 6 and the model prayer, you'll find that there are no eyes in this sample prayer. It's not a selfish prayer. It's a very unselfish prayer. "...Thy kingdom come, your will be done." Now, they do say, do not lead me into temptation because obviously we don't want that to happen. We want God to keep us from temptation. But it's not selfish in any way. When you fast, fast secretly, the scripture says. That's what Christ taught. He told us to lay up treasures in heaven. He told us not to worry, but to seek first God's kingdom.

He basically said, don't seek first your selfish pursuits, but seek first the kingdom of God.

Don't condemn others. Don't be a hypocrite. Get the plank out of your own eye. Then you can see to help someone else. Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. If you want to be treated a certain way, then treat other people. If you want to be treated with respect, then treat other people with respect. Treat other people with love and compassion and kindness.

So remember the golden rule these next 44 days. Get in a habit. If you really get in a habit, I think it's only 21 days it's supposed to help you establish a habit. This is twice that long.

So you've got an opportunity to establish some important habits in your life over the next 44 days. True unselfishness is to look after everyone as you would want them to look after you.

Learning to do that and putting yourself in their shoes. If I was in so-and-so shoes, how would I want to be treated? If I was laid up in the hospital for a month, how would I want to be treated? I mean, we should ask ourselves these things and try to motivate ourselves to do those things that are right and good. We all like to be treated well. We all like to be remembered. We all like people to encourage and sincerely praise us. So we should be doing to others what we would like them to do to us. But are we? Or are we too wrapped up in our own wants, our own desires, our own needs to care all that much about what others are going through?

So we should ask ourselves, how would I want to be treated if I was in such-and-so shoes? And then try to treat them the way you would want to be treated. In Luke 9, it talks about how we are to take up our cross daily and follow Christ. Luke 9. Luke 9.

Luke 9, verse 23. Then he said to them all, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself. Oh, that's being unselfish, isn't it? To deny oneself is being unselfish. If you want to follow Christ, if you want to be His disciples, He says, let him deny himself.

And take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. Now, if we put too much emphasis on this physical life, we're going to lose it.

If we become selfishly motivated, we're going to lose our lives.

Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life, whoever gives up his life for my sake will save it. If we learn to be unselfish, then we are giving up our lives. Because we're not doing what we carnally want to do. We're not doing what we selfishly want to do, but we're doing what God wants us to do. It's a big difference.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost?

For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, we must not be ashamed of Christ or his words. We shouldn't be ashamed of any of his words. Don't be fearful about whatever is going on outside. I think something's going on outside. But let's not be fearful about that. Let's trust in God. God will protect us. God will look after us. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in his Father's and of the holy angels.

I almost thought I heard a siren. No, it was the wind! The wind!

Alright. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory. Now, we don't want Christ to be ashamed of us at his return, do we? In fact, we want to rise to meet Christ in the air. Then we know he won't be ashamed of us.

So if any person is to follow Christ, let him deny himself. Let him take up his cross daily and follow Christ. For whoever will seek to save his life is going to lose it. That means you have to become more unselfish in the way you live your life.

We're to crucify the self daily. That old man, we need to bury it daily because he continually tries to raise his ugly head out of that water. We need to push it back in there.

And we need to, again, learn to take up our cross daily and walk with Christ.

In Luke 17, it tells us to remember Lot's wife. You know, Lot's wife became selfishly oriented. She was worried about herself or perhaps some of her family members that were maybe being left behind, but God told her clearly what to do. She wasn't putting God first in this instance. Luke 17, verse 30.

Luke 17, verse 30. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. It talks about the day that Lot went out of Sodom. It rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he was on the housetop and his goods are in the house. Let him not come down to take them away. Don't put emphasis on material goods in the last days, is what it's telling us to do.

Likewise, the one who is in the field let him not turn back, but instead follow God, obey God. Go where God's leading in these last days and remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life is going to lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

So again, we need to remember Lot's wife. Lot's wife looked back longingly on what she was supposed to leave behind, and she became a pillar of salt.

So we need to lose our lives in Christ, in Jesus Christ now. We need to learn to lose our lives in Christ now by virtue of our priorities. What are your priorities in life? Are you truly seeking first the Kingdom of God and God's righteousness? Are you striving to put on the unleavened bread that comes down from heaven? Are you striving to become like Christ?

Or do we have a motive of self-preservation that's so strong we're going to compromise in the future? Is our motive for not wanting the Kingdom of God to come right now out of fear of what we will need to experience before then, if time is short? In other words, we'd be preferred just dying now and not having to go through the times ahead.

Are we concerned for the world? Are we concerned for ourselves? What is our main motivation? Examine your motives. May God speed the day of His Son's return. We should be praying daily, Thy Kingdom come. May God speed the day when He comes. There isn't anything in this life that you're going to miss that's anywhere nearly as wonderful as what you'll experience in God's Kingdom. Sometimes I think we have this mistaken notion that there are so many things so great in this physical life that we want to live it to the fullest physically. But the fact of the matter is God's Kingdom so far outweighs and overshadows anything that this physical life has to offer. So it is selfishness in many ways that the root cause of that battle that Paul talks about, the battle that war is within our members, the root cause is often selfishness. It's being concerned about the self.

You know, what I've been thinking of lately is if Christ was able to give up His divinity, His Spirit, you know, to become flesh, then in a sense we need to do the reversal. We need to give up the flesh to become Spirit.

And we need to give up this flesh so we can become Spirit. Christ gave up the Spirit to become flesh to pay the price for our sins. To pay the penalty for our sins, but we need to give up the flesh so that we can be born into God's family.

Let's go to Philippians 2. Philippians 2. You don't want to go out there now, anyway. It's raining.

Philippians 2.

Philippians 2.

3. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit.

You can go ahead and circle nothing if you want to. You don't have to, though. You don't have to mark your Bibles. But let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Now, that's not saying that you have to have some false humility that everyone is better than you in every single possible way. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about service. It's talking about... Let's just read a little bit further, and we'll see what it's talking about here. Christ is the greatest servant of all. We are to follow his example. He did nothing through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, he esteemed others better than himself. In other words, it was better that he die for us. It was better that he divest himself of his divine nature and become flesh for us. That's what Christ did. That's what this verse is really talking about. He was lowly in mind. He was humble. Willing to serve. Willing to do whatever was necessary to fulfill God's plan.

And I'm sure that the Father and the Logos and spokesmen, they came up with this plan together. I don't think it was just the Father's plan. I think it was the plan that they came up together. They discussed it. They devised this plan together. So, let we should be the same. In lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. In other words, anyone is willing... We should be willing to serve anybody. We should be willing to serve anyone and go out of our way to help anyone. Christ went out of his way to help you and to help me and to help all of mankind. So we should follow that same example and help others.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Christ was looking out for our interests.

When he made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bond servant, coming in the likeness of men. So, again, we are to become like Christ in this way and look out for the interests of other people, putting them first, being unselfish.

Titus chapter 1 verse 7 talks about a bishop, an elder, a servant in the Church of God. And certainly, the Bible does speak of those who have authority in the Church.

Of course, the only authority any of us have in the Church is the authority that you give us.

Isn't that true? I mean, I have no authority over you unless you allow it.

I mean, if I tell you something that I feel is good for you and best for you and I give you advice, you don't have to follow it. You don't have to respect what I say. It's your choice. The only authority I have is the authority that you give me.

In Titus 1 verse 7, and actually, I like it that way, because I have no desire to lord over anyone. I have no desire to just order people around, tell people they have to do this or that.

In Titus chapter 1, all right, Titus chapter 1 verse 7, for a bishop or an overseer, verse 7, a bishop or an overseer must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled. Now, that is a tall order for a human being. I mean, I think it's a tall order.

Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict. So, a bishop or an overseer, a minister, is not to be self-willed. I need to surrender my will to God's will, to Christ's will, and when I deal with God's people, then I need to deal in the will of God, not my own will. Because if I'm doing my own will, and if my will is contrary to God's will, then I'm doing you all a disservice, and I'm not fulfilling my responsibility as a pastor. So, I have to be careful that I am not self-willed when it comes to working with people, dealing with people. I've got to try to humble my will to God's will, and it isn't always easy to know what to do. So, I appreciate your prayers for the ministry, for overseers, for bishops, for ministers, because it is a tall order, and it's not something that is all that easy to do. I mean, we all fall short. All human beings, all ministers fall short. I mean, perfectly. We're not perfect, but are we repentant, and is God working in us, and is God working through us? So, 2 Peter as well goes along with this.

2 Peter 2, 2 Peter 2, verse 1, But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who brought them, bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction, and many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covenants-ness, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. Now, if we drop down to verse 9 and 10, it says, The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous and self-willed. It's talking about false prophets, false apostles, false teachers. They will rise up. It says, They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries.

Whereas angels who are greater in power and might do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. Even the angels are careful what they say against those that God has chosen as authorities in the church of God. Those who serve under Christ. Christ is the head of the church, but there are human leaders to whom God gives authority.

And we should be careful not to be self-willed and not to speak evil of those whom God has placed in certain positions and is fulfilling that role. So we should be careful according to what the Scripture says. And there are false apostles who do rise up today. There are people who call themselves apostles and prophets who have come out of our own fellowship in the past. So we have to be careful that they are not self-willed and they are not self-appointed and they are not presumptuous. Because if we follow them, then we'll be going in the wrong direction. This word that's translated self-willed could also be translated self-pleasing. Pleasing the self or arrogant even. Self-willed or arrogant. We're not to be arrogant or self-willed. So we have a wonderful calling. God has given us understanding through His truth, through His way of life. He's called us out of this world to be different.

We are to, again, consider the greatest act that ever took place of the Father and the Son. The plan of salvation of the Father being willing to give His only Son because He loved us enough and His Son laying down His life and even becoming flesh.

Those were wonderful, unselfish acts that took place on our behalf. So let us learn to humble ourselves and allow Christ to live in us. Let us learn to walk in the Spirit. Let us learn to surrender ourselves and let Christ rule our lives. Christ should rule our lives. He should be at the center of our lives. Let us learn to submit our will to the Father's will.

Let's learn to die daily. As the Scripture says we are to do, we are to lay our lives down daily, to surrender ourselves up. Remember, the Scripture says nothing good dwells in us as far as flesh. There's nothing good that dwells in the flesh. Of course, if we have the Holy Spirit, then we can learn to walk in the Spirit. And it is, of course, by the Spirit that we shall be saved.

Christ is highly exalted now. He's exalted at the right hand of the Father. The fact of the matter is, if we will learn to humble ourselves, we shall be exalted in due time. That is what the Scripture tells us, that if we humble ourselves now, we will be exalted in due time. There are a number of scriptures that you can go to if you want to look those up. 1 Peter 5 verse 6. Let's just go there briefly. We'll wrap this up in just a moment. 1 Peter 5 verse 6.

Let's read verse 5 along with it. Likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another. We are to be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. I assure you that we will be exalted at Christ's return if we remain faithful. If we are the called, the chosen, and the faithful, we shall be exalted at the return of Jesus Christ. We should long for that day when Christ returns. In the meantime, we should forsake all so that we can be called Christ's disciple. That's Luke 14.33. It's forsake all, or you cannot be my disciple. That's what Christ said. Forsake everything. He said, you need to love less your own family. By comparison, you need to love me more.

And let's go to Luke 18 as we wrap this up and consider two people that went before God. And let's ask ourselves, who am I more like? Luke 18 verse 9.

God, I thank you that I am not like other men.

Okay, that's a big red flag right there. I thank you, God, that I'm not like those other heathens out there in the world.

Isn't that, in a sense, what he's saying here? And I think sometimes we tend to have that approach. God, I'm thankful I'm not like all the heathens that aren't at church today. You know, I'm just grateful, God, that I'm not like those heathens that are not here today. I'm much better than they are, obviously, because I'm here and they're not.

I'm not like other men. I'm not an extortioner, unjust, adulterers, even though Christ said they were. Christ said the Pharisees broke these laws. I mean, he's a liar, besides.

Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector, this lousy tax collector who's coming in here before the throne of God. Can you imagine?

I'm grateful, Father, I'm not like him. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but instead he beat his breath, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now, he wasn't really that concerned about that Pharisee over there. The Pharisee was aware that he wasn't, that the publican was there, or the tax collector was there. The Pharisee was very aware that this other person was there, and he was much, he was way, way down on the scale in God's sight, as far as this Pharisee believed.

Well, the tax collector didn't even pay any attention to the Pharisee, because he was paying attention to God. And he also understood what shape he was in.

So he said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Can't we all say that? Is there anyone here that can't say that? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. We've all sinned. We've all fallen short. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. God says this tax collector, who probably did shade the truth at times, probably didn't behave in the best way, he acknowledged that. He said, I'm a sinner. Please have mercy on me. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, because God forgave him his sin. He didn't get him licensed to sin. That's not licensed to sin. Christ told the woman taking an adultery, go and sin no more. And that's undoubtedly what he was telling this tax collector, too. Get off your knees and go and sin no more. But if you do, come back. Admit your sin, confess your sins, and I will once again forgive you. So, as we humble ourselves these next 44 days leading up to the day of Pentecost, let us realize, again, if we have the right motives, we will be exalted in due time. If we have the wrong motives, then we're not going to be exalted in due time.

If we have selfish motives, then God's not going to exalt us. But if our motives are unselfish, filled with love and concern for others, then God will certainly exalt us at the return of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And he will also help us during any tough times that come in the meantime. We do all need to learn to walk in our Heavenly Father's footsteps and in our elder brother's shoes. We need to learn to walk like them. We need to learn to walk in the Spirit. When we were children, no doubt we put on our parents' shoes. Did you ever do that? Stick your dad's shoes on if you were a boy, your mom's shoes if you were a girl. They just didn't fit very well. They were way too big. We kept stumbling and falling down when we would try to walk in those shoes.

Well, as we mature, as we matured physically, we could probably put our dad's shoes on now and walk just fine. In fact, some of our feet may be too big now, and maybe we couldn't walk as well. But there was a time as you were growing when you could put your feet in your dad's shoes or your mother's shoes and you could walk in their steps. That's what we need to be doing spiritually. We need to spiritually learn to walk in our father's footsteps. We need to learn to even walk in the same stride. When we're little, we can't match the stride of our fathers or our mothers. We're too small. But as we grow older, we can do that. We can put our feet right in the very footsteps of our mom and dad. As we mature spiritually, then we also learn to put our feet right in those same footsteps, in the same manner, and in the same way. Jesus Christ is dealing with you and me in a very gentle way today. Christ is very gentle in how He works with us.

He wants us to learn the lesson now because there will come a time when He won't be so gentle. There will come a time when God's wrath will be poured out upon the earth.

In the meantime, we need to learn to please Him. We need to be able to know that He'll say, This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.

God's Spirit is gentle. God's Spirit works with us, but it is powerful. And it will transform us if we will yield to its presence. So let us learn to walk in the Spirit and let us learn to put selfishness away. The leaven of unselfishness, let us put the leaven of unselfishness out of our lives and let us learn to walk in the Spirit.