Marks of a Good Servant of Christ - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Please meet me in your bibles in the book of first Timothy chapter four. First Timothy chapter four. In verse six to verse eight, here's what the word of God says. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. Being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths.

Rather, train yourself for godliness. For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is a value in every way as it holds to promise for the present life and also for the life to come. Father, again, we pray that you would, by your spirit, rest upon the ministry of the word. And Lord, that it would be driven into our hearts. Lord, we may not be searching for eloquence or oratory skills in this moment.

But we we search and we hunger for truth and bread. We pray that we would hear from you, not from man, but directly from your mouth as we open our Bibles. Lord, we trust that you have something for us today, and help us as our sister pray to be doers of what we hear. In Jesus' name, Amen. If I were to give a title to this message, it would be the marks of a good servant of Christ.

The marks of a good servant of Christ, because this is what this section deals with this morning. Paul's concerned about this pastor named Timothy, and he has he has this ambition that Timothy would strive to be not just a servant of Christ, a good servant of Christ. Not just somebody who ministers, but somebody who serves and ministers with excellence. A pleasing, faithful follower of our Lord. This is what the Holy Spirit has in mind with this specific verse and verses.

And though Paul is speaking about a criteria for, in the context, a minister, a full time minister, we have no reason to doubt, and we cannot be mistaken to fail to see that there are insights and principles in this scripture for us to benefit from. That's the master of interpreting the word of God. Not taking it out of context, but seeing all texts and saying, okay, I see that it has a context, but what does it have to do with my context? And that's what's happening here this morning. But before we explore what are these criterias, what are the the marks, the qualities of a good servant of Jesus Christ, it really will be a waste of our time to explore the different points unless we deal with this foundational question for each of us.

And it's intensely practical, but it's intensely important, or else this will have little value to offer us this morning. So what benefit does it have to understand the marks of a good servant of Jesus Christ unless we first establish this? You ready? Do I desire? Do I have an ambition?

If I examine my heart today, is it even, if it is it even a thought to me that I desire to be a faithful servant of Christ? Because if we don't have the desire, then who cares about the disciplines? If we don't have the ambition, then then who cares about the qualities? It would be a waste of your time and it would be a waste of this whole session, essentially. And the the reason why that's an important question is because there are many things that perhaps have hijacked that desire from our hearts.

And so here are a few to to consider. Many I'm afraid have found comfort in being saved, but spiritually stale. They're saved, but they're stale. Not only is maturity no longer a pursuit. Listen.

But it's even come to the point for some that they are barely disturbed by the once familiar spontaneous urges to holiness. You remember those things? Like, it's been a while since I've spent time with the Lord, or I haven't really been acting like Christ in my relationships. Those urges, those nudges are are rare visitations now. Desire for conformity to Christ is gone, and over time, some could testify that concern over that lack of desire is almost disappearing in itself.

There are many causes for this and I would like to explore just some for thought. Number one, it's very possible that the reason why this desire, this holy ambition is absent from the heart because of a particular sin that has dominated a life, or even a fight for victory over a sin. You've tried, you've tried, you've done this, you've done that, and you can't seem to get victory. You can't seem to see at least a stretch of an overcoming spirit. And so you just come to the point where you you you drop it, and because of the temptation and the sin that you keep submitting to, Satan's voice gets louder and louder, and convinces you to just cruise through your Christian life as a hindered man or a hindered woman, not knowing the fullness of what it means to be a faithful servant to Christ Jesus.

Or sometimes it could be a stretch where you see yourself growing in this area, growing in godliness, and all for a sudden some sin almost takes you by surprise. And it's so drastic, and it's so discouraging that you fell into this when you saw victory for so long. Do you say, is there even a point? Because I'm just gonna do this again, and sure enough, it's gonna resurface in my life. Why why deal with this?

For other people, the desire is hijacked because there's a failure on their part to see the immediate fruit of pursuing godliness and maturity, and as a servant of Jesus Christ. So they get excited, they get ambitious, they hear a convicting message, and they tell themselves, let's do this. But they raise the white flag of surrender too soon because what they think is that there must be immediate results, or I'm moving on. I'm just gonna move on. Because we live in this consumer age where everything comes so immediate and so fast, and we apply that to our spirituality, and we think that just because we are advancing our technology and our sciences, that God has advanced in the way he does things, and no, it's not true.

These ancient truths and principles will remain the same no matter how fast your iPhone is today. And so what happens? We we apply these disciplines. We we we wait and we say, where where is it? But here's the thing.

You would not dare to apply that same impatience to any other area of your life. You don't apply that to your startup business. You just walk out because you don't see the income you wanna see or you don't see the fruit that you wanna see. You don't apply that to your body when you have a goal to reach a healthy lifestyle. You don't even apply that to your garden.

For some reason, we expect it from our spiritual lives. We get disappointed, because of our disappointment of not seeing the fruit, the desire seems to vaporize over time. Or how about this, if we're just honest with ourselves, maybe it's not even a sin, a particular sin, but that desire that we once had, that supreme desire, that preeminent desire in our hearts has been replaced by other desires. For some reason, we've been convinced that something else will satisfy me more than this, more than pursuing consuming every area of my existence. We think something else surely will be better than this.

And it's easily observable in your life and the life of others, is it not? There are certain things in your life now, perhaps, they make your eyes widen, they bring adrenaline to you, they'll make you chatter and chit chat non stop, but then when it comes to spiritual things, you almost become deflated. And it's not even in comparable rank with all these other things, fill in the blank, compared to once you what you once had that triumph over all other things. What was once trivial to you? What was once insignificant to you?

What's once didn't even grab your attention, now has your full attention? And there's been a switch of priority. Or perhaps that lack of desire to pursue good, faithful service to Lord Jesus Christ is discouraged because you look at others and you see, well, I see how they're serving and I see their gifts and I see their opportunities and I don't have the same opportunities or gifts. So surely I cannot I can't be what God wants me to be unless I'm like that, or I have that. Surely, God won't be as pleased.

Surely, people won't be as blessed. Surely, my fruit won't be as great. And so because of comparison, we just say, let me just be the average normal Christian. What I mean by that is let me just do what I need to do, make my attendance, pay my tithe and just go on. I wanna say that if that's you, if you're honest this morning before we jump into these texts, if that is you sitting here in your pew, I have to tell you honestly, I can't help you.

No man can help you. The only one that can help you is God himself. God is the only one that can reignite and animate you again. And the only thing I can offer you, if I can help, is to point to you verses and promises and men and women in the scriptures who were in that dilemma at one point, but found a way out. You're familiar with that passionate Psalm, Psalm 51.

Right? Remember this verse in verse 12? Restore to me the joy of your salvation. And what? Uphold me with a willing spirit.

Yeah. It's so important to read our bibles carefully. This is his confession after being confronted for his heinous crime against God. Adultery and murder on top of it. And you know what he says?

He doesn't say, restore to me my salvation. Restore to me my salvation because I lost it. You might be secure in your salvation and you should be, but his concern wasn't restore to me my salvation. He said restore to me the joy of your salvation. How many people are concerned about the joy of their salvation being lost?

Never mind salvation. We can be secure in our salvation. Praise God. But some people are so satisfied in being secure with their salvation that they don't consider about maintaining the joy of their salvation. And so it's non existent in so many people's lives.

The excitement, the thrill, the hope, the holy dreams inspired by the word of God are no longer there and it's not even a concern. When this man fell into sin, he realized that it robbed him of joy. The joy of knowing God, the joy being reconciled to God, the joy being a child of God. And he realized as he examined himself, it's not there anymore. So God, I pray that you would restore the joy, the passion, the thrill, the bliss.

It doesn't just stay there because so many people want it to be restored, but they don't want it to be sustained. They just wanna have this cycle of, okay, reignite me again and that's fine. There are times where we can pray that every day but look what he says, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Sustain me in this place. Keep me in this place of obedience and surrender and love and trust that you are far greater than anything else.

Any adulteress fantasy or any palace that I can sleep in, nothing compares to the joy of salvation. Oh, God, would you not only restore it, but keep me in it. So you can pray that prayer. You can pray that prayer every day until God answers, because that is a prayer that God will, in fact, answer. But let me tell you this, you first have to be concerned about it, for God will actually do something about it.

But if you're in this place and you say to yourself, but I want to know the marks of being a good servant of Christ. We came to the right service. Because we read and out of these two verses, I wanna pull three things out for us. Three marks, Three simple marks, but profound marks nonetheless. Verse six we read, If you put these things before the brothers, Timothy, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.

What is Paul talking about? What things to bring before the brothers? Well, what we covered last week between verses one and verses four. The warnings of apostasy and false teaching and demonic doctrine. What he's saying essentially is Timothy, it is your job to warn the brethren.

It is your responsibility to not be afraid to look out in the horizon and bring things forth to the church that God has called you to be responsible for and say, hey, watch out. This is indeed the duty of a pastor, is it not? He is a watchman. He is a watchman. And he is on his watch post stationed throughout the week, trumpet in his hand, ready to blow and warn the people whenever he looks out and sees in the distance spiritual dangers that are on their way.

And he studies, and he looks out, and he is eager to be able to protect the fold that God has called to be responsible for. A good servant of Christ Jesus will fearlessly, fearlessly inform the family of God to be protected. He'll be familiar with the spiritual climate in the age. He will have the word of God open and he will relate it to what is happening, and he will have his people, by God's grace, strong and ready for the storms ahead. That's his duty.

Now you might be hearing that and saying, well that's wonderful. I'm not a pastor though. But I believe that we can draw a principle from this text for anybody here that wants to be a good servant of Christ Jesus. You don't need to be a full time pastor to be that. And here's the principle that we can draw.

That a good servant of Jesus Christ has a sincere concern for the spiritual well-being of his brothers and sisters. That's what this the principle is all about that. If you bring these things before the brothers, you'll be a good servant of Jesus Christ. Well, I'm not a pastor. Well, that's okay.

Because the heart of this verse is applicable to you. If you care about the spiritual well-being of your brothers and sisters, then you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. And I'm sure that if we were to open up for answers, we can get 50 different ones about how that is to be true and how that can be practically manifested. But I simply wanna give one negative and one positive. One negative and one positive.

To be a good servant, obviously, requires people to what? Serve. Yes. We're ultimately serving Christ. But Christ himself told us that if you were to be the greatest, then you will be slave.

You will be a servant. So I can't be a good servant unless I have people in my life to actually wait on tables for. In other words, spiritual maturity. Greater spiritual maturity is only possible with a spiritual community. It's much easier to be spiritual if you live as a hermit.

Right? Don't have any other fallen sons and daughters of Adam in your life and you'll be the apostle Paul, but you'll live in your room for the rest of your life twenty four seven. Have other people to come and rub shoulders with you, and really test and see if you actually possess the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Because that's what the fruit of the Holy Spirit is all about, is it not? There is no way that any of us believes that an apple tree grows and is strengthened, and has its roots deepened to produce these luscious apples, so that the tree itself can take those apples and eat the fruit that he's producing.

It's absurd. No. That apple tree, that orange tree, whatever fruit you like, produces its fruit with an open invitation for others to benefit from those fruits. And neither does a flower produce nectar without the willingness to open up its face, so to speak. So that other little creatures, specifically bees can come and draw from it and produce something that we know as honey.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit indwells you and me. He possesses our hearts with Christ. So that in and through us, we would produce something so that others will be blessed. We'll be blessed by what God is doing in us. God's ambition, God's desire in doing a work in us.

Yes, to know him. Yes, to be intimate with him. But surely, so that others can be nourished and blessed by what he's producing through us. So, with that in mind, consider this. If you wanna be a good servant of Christ Jesus, then number one, you are determined not to be a source of grief to others.

You are determined not to be a source of grief to others. What I mean by grief to others, I mean the church of Jesus Christ. Listen. Look out the window, turn on your phone, turn on the news, and you'll realize this, the Christian has enough battles to deal with. There are enough demons in this world, false teaching in this world, temptations in this world, lust of this world.

We have the flesh to deal with. We have the devil to deal with. We have the world to deal with. The Christian should have no anxiety or worry or fear to be a part of a local body and think for a moment that he'll experience the same kind of threats from somebody who claims to be a follower of Christ. I hope the safest place to you, apart from the church, is your own home.

I hope that's where you feel like you can let your guard down. If you want testimony to that, here it is. You are able to sleep in your home with so much ease and comfort. Why? Because you can trust your environment.

And in the household of faith, we should be able to come vulnerable and transparent and honest in our walk with Christ and not fear being attacked in that state. That is crucially important, because we give this mantra sometimes. Right? To try to defend a certain aspect of the church. The church is filled with imperfect people.

We say that all the time and it's true, but it's not the standard. We often give that to others to say, hey, don't expect don't expect a certain type of attitude from us. The church is a hospital. We're all sick. You're sick.

Come and join us. Let's all be sick together. Do you go to a hospital to to remain sick? So we have to be very careful with these cliches, because here's the here's the point of the church, that it is unbiblical to think that we can be a part of a body and have unchecked, unchallenged, unfastened failure rampant. Will we fail?

Yes. Will we make mistakes? Absolutely. And there's grace and forgiveness for that. But we are striving unto perfection.

Spiritual maturity. That's what we're striving for. And so I say that because a true body of believers will not only grow in the thought of hating the thought of sinning against God, but also sinning against my brother or sister in Christ. God's child. So consider these verses.

In first Corinthians six eight, Paul says, to believers that we're taking other Christians to court, and suing one another, and trying to benefit off of that, and taking their matters outside of the local body. He goes, Hold on. First Corinthians six eight. You yourselves wrong and defraud even your own brothers? Even your own brothers?

How can that be? In first Thessalonians four six in a different context. He says, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter. Because the Lord is an avenger in all these things as we told you before and and solemnly warned you. What was the context there?

Not taking somebody to court, but taking somebody else's wife. Taking somebody else's spouse. And Paul is saying here, don't you dare sin against your brother. Implying that, if this is targeted specifically towards men, that you sinning against a woman or with a woman is not just affecting that woman, but the woman's spouse, your brother. Don't hinder, don't harm the body that you are connected to.

You are not a source of grief. You're not a source of pain. In In fact, I had a brother give this wonderful illustration from the old testament. Do you remember that little obscure text where Jesse, the father of David called David over because his brothers were in war in Saul's army? And he said, David, come here.

I need you to be a delivery boy. And I love that. You know why? Because a few verses earlier, he was anointed to be king and he can still be a delivery boy. Come here, king to be.

I need you to deliver some cheese and some flour and some bread. And he gives him all these care packages and he says, go into Saul's army and and check up on your brothers and and bring these things to them as as an extension of my care and love for them. Go. And David goes. Should we not imitate that?

Should we not have like David, a sense of our father's heart, our heavenly father's heart? Knowing that our brothers, our sisters are already engaged in war against the uncircumcision, against the Philistines in the spirit. Should we not instead approach them with care and love and resources to strengthen them in their fight, in their war against the enemy? That is what it looks like every time we come together. We have something to bring from our own heavenly father to bless one another in our battle.

So it comes to the opposite point. We are not a source of grief. We are not a source of grief to others. Instead, you are determined to be a source of stirring to others. That's what it is to be a good servant of Jesus Christ.

There's an important verse for these past few months and the days ahead. You know it very well, but let's understand it and really believe it more than ever. In Hebrews ten twenty four, we are told, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. I love the King James version of it. Instead of the word story, he says, let us consider how to provoke.

Provoke. That kind of has a negative connotation in our minds. Provoke. Let us know how to provoke one another to loving good works. So, instead of my life provoking you as a Christian, as a fellow brother, instead of my life provoking you to anger, provoking you to lust, provoking you to worldliness, provoking you to compromise, provoking you to bitterness, provoking you to offense, instead of provoking you to be grieved or more burdened in your fight already against sin, I must be able to stir, excite, stimulate you to pursue Christ and Christ likeness the more you get around me.

Let us consider how to stir up. And we all might have made the mistake in thinking that that stirring, the provoking comes from the pulpit. That's when I'm stirred, and sure, that is the main source. But if that is the only source, then guess who's in trouble? And every other pastor and every other spiritual leader.

If the only source to be provoked to love and good works comes from the pulpit, then guess who's left out? The spiritual leaders. Right? This is not dealing with pastors. It's not saying the only source is when a text is exposited.

No. Every single one of us has the power, the sanctifying strength to be unleashed, to actually stir up one another, including spiritual leaders. May I testify that even having simple conversations with fellow brothers and sisters, I've been stirred. Being in the presence on a Wednesday night prayer meeting, I've been stirred so many times. Just hearing the voices of people when we go into different pockets and pray and you hear the room being filled with intercession.

I'm stirred. I'm stirred to pray more. I'm stirred to be more serious. I'm stirred to seek God for myself. And that is coming from not the pulpit, but from the person that chooses to call this place home.

And how does that happen though? How do I stir up? How do I consider it? How do I make that possible? What's the next verse?

Not neglecting to meet together. As is the habit of some. You know, people have a habit of not meeting together. They have a habit. I don't feel like it today.

I have so much to do. I'm not in my best spiritual state. I have some things to deal with. Whatever it is, they have a habit. They have a root.

They have the cycling attitude of not coming and meeting together. You know what I love about this verse? It's a wonderful truth. The context of it. The book of Hebrews was written for specific Christians that were experienced intense persecution for being Jews who believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

And what was happening? Read the book. Some are being thrown in prison. Some were what? Having their properties taken from them.

And in that context, with such violence targeted towards them and such threats, the Holy Spirit says to this group of Christians, still meet together. You still have to meet together. Doesn't matter how hostile the environment is. Doesn't matter how much you are being pressured. Doesn't matter how discouraged you are by the lack of favor for being a Christian.

You have to meet together. Consider that. Even in that kind of an atmosphere, we need to try to convince Christians to come to church in America when everything is free and dandy. No. In this text, in this context, even when you are in danger for your life, you show up in that parking lot, and you get into that sanctuary, and you seek God's face.

That's that's about That's important in this day of age. And it goes on top of that. Says, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Can we just admit, maybe you don't believe this, but I could say that 2020 has been the closest thing to the book of Revelation that I've ever seen and experienced. When I look out and I see just You know this already.

We're all living in the same year, in the same time, in the same city. And if you believe that, then you also believe that 2020 is perhaps the the greatest year where you have believed the possibility of Jesus' return. Right? Okay. If you really believe that, then understand what this means.

That if you really truly grasp that in your heart and you sense that in your soul, then you don't meet less, you meet more. That's what he's saying. As you see the day drawing near, as you believe the day is drawing near, don't shut down the church. Open the doors. Meet.

Gather. Add a couple meetings here and there if you're able, because he could possibly be coming back anytime soon. I think that's a wonderful thing. Here's the principle. In spite of apocalyptic events and intense persecution, you have no right to hinder the gathering of the saints.

Why? Why? Because it provides a remedy. Because it provides a solution. It provides soul stirring power that you and I need to endure these times.

And Zoom doesn't cut it. The presence, the physical appearance, and the ability to observe and converse, that is where stirring power is. But I must live the life to be able to come in a place and my listen, my knowledge of God and my life for God as I converse not only about truths and testimonies, but when I watch your life, as I'm familiar with you throughout the week and throughout the months and years, I'm getting stirred. So how do I be a good servant of Christ Jesus? You don't stir people to reject the church.

You don't stir people to walk away from a community and saying, I'm coming here and it's no different than the world. No. I come and I know that I'm being blessed, and I'm being aroused almost to love the Lord Jesus Christ more. And so, from this principle, we understand that you care about the spiritual well-being of others. Your pursuit of personal sanctification goes beyond your own benefit.

It blesses those who call yourself and call them brothers. Then we come to number two. He says here in verse, the second part of verse six, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. How do I be a good servant of Christ Jesus? Secondly, you nourish yourself in the knowledge of truth.

Again, I'm quoting the King James and different translations, the NASB, where they say, nourished up in the words of faith. Constantly nourished on the words of the faith. Remember, the immediate context is for pastor, so let's let's have a fresh reminder of what a pastor is. A pastor is an excellent minister who has a burning passion to have a precise knowledge of the word of God. K.

A pastor is not somebody that tries to scramble and gathered scattered thoughts to bring another message for another week. No. He's a student of the scriptures, and he dives deep into divine truth and masters its various contents. He sits at the Lord's feet. He reads.

He studies. He meditates. And he is consciously continually aware that there will be other tasks that will try to rob him from that primary thing, and so he protects it with a jealousy. Pastor is not only a gifted communicator, he's a specific type of communicator. He is a vessel of divine revelation.

He is a tour guide for his people. He invites them into the paths of the word of God and he brings greater light to different truths, so that his people have a greater understanding as they explore the word with him. You say, that's wonderful, very poetic. Thank you. I'm not a pastor.

I'm not a pastor, so I don't understand how this, applied to Timothy, a pastor, applies to me. How do I be a good servant of Jesus Christ? Should I be a pastor? It's okay. Because, again, we have a principle to consider.

And although we have to be realistic that a pastor, a spiritual leader, an elder has the unique privilege of being able to study and give more energy and time to that more than the average believer, the layman, nonetheless, every single Christian is called to nourish themselves in the word of God. That is not just reserved for the pastor. It's not that the pastor nourishes himself and then once a week you have a meal. No. Every single one of us.

If you wanna be a good servant, a faithful servant, an excellent servant, you gotta know how to nourish yourself, brother. You gotta know how to nourish yourself, sister. And I can't think of a greater example of this, a greater picture of this in the form of observation than the story of Martha and Mary. Turn there with me in Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10 verse 38 to verse 40, and let's see an example of a woman who nourishes herself in the word.

In Luke ten thirty eight, we are told in the closing of that chapter, now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. That was a wonderful thing because you don't you don't see that often. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. Can you just observe it, please? It's okay to do that.

Here's Jesus being invited into a woman's house. Perhaps she was a widow. Perhaps she didn't have a husband. It's we're being told it's her house. And so here she is.

She sees Jesus, welcomes Jesus. She's not like those cities that rejected Jesus or chased him out of town. No. Come into my home, Jesus. And here's Jesus with his disciples entering into the living room.

And you can imagine the chatter, and you can imagine some of the disciples saying, I'm really hungry. I hope she has a big meal ready. And they come in, and Jesus sits down and there's Martha in the background running around and cleaning and putting things together and setting up this and setting up that, and Jesus begins to teach. And the room is quiet. And all you hear in the background are pots and pans clinging together, the oven opening in and out.

And then Mary, drawn by Jesus' words, puts the towel aside and sits at his feet, a posture of students to those who were religious leaders in that day. And she listened as Jesus spoke and taught perhaps parables, perhaps speaking about the kingdom of God. She's listening. And as she's listening, the pitch quiet of Christ dominating that room with his divine voice and truth is interrupted by what? Verse 40.

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went up to him. Can you imagine this? She went up to Jesus while he was teaching. I want you to think about that. And said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Tell her then to help me. One, you interrupted him. Two, you're telling him what to do. And Jesus is so gentle. Martha, Martha.

Right? Martha, Martha. Because let's make this first point clear before we move on. Martha, Mary, they're not pastors. K?

Boom. Revelation. They're not pastors. Number two. Oftentimes, when it comes to this familiar story, people are very quick to criticize Martha because she served when Jesus was in the room.

How could you be doing that? How can you be running around? How can you be doing practical things? Yet the Bible doesn't condemn Martha for serving. It doesn't.

Bible encourages you and I to serve in practical means. But what's the issue? Look at verse 40. But Martha was what? Distracted.

Martha was distracted with much serving. That's the difference. Service to God is important. It's required. It's called for.

But when we enter into being distracted with our service, where we fail to even see Christ, that's where we get into trouble. And that's what's happening here. And you don't blame her, because you have the Lord of the universe coming over for dinner. You can imagine the excitement and even the anxiety of that occurrence, that event. But it's distraction.

Her priorities in this moment were misplaced. Because in this moment, Jesus was teaching. The word was being delivered. And because the word was being delivered, it is of so much importance and value that all other things should be placed on pause, so that this can be received because it is priority number one. I want you to think about this.

Martha was preparing while Jesus was teaching, and Mary in this moment understood that as important as serving is, I need to nourish myself. I need to receive from the son of God. I need to be built up. I need to understand who he is more. I need to understand what he requires of me.

And sometimes we convince ourselves that serving Christ, packing our schedule, being involved in so many things, being consumed by practical activity is what Christ wants for me to be a good servant of his. And although our faith calls for that, the moment we become disillusioned and we miss seeing Christ as our source of nourishment, we step outside of God's will. I don't care how much service you're doing in his name. You know what's amazing? He says, you are anxious and troubled about many things.

In her service to Jesus Christ, she's anxious and troubled about many things. Do you think that's the attitude that Christ wants us to have in our service to him? To be so consumed and irritated and agitated as we serve him? But I would argue this, that this is the result over time when a person becomes distracted in service and fails to sit at the feet of Christ. Even the method and the means and the attitude of your service is unsanctified.

It's not the way Christ wants it to be. What will protect the joy of service to the Lord, what will keep your eyes focused on him even as you serve his people is that you know how to prioritize sitting at his feet. It is in that place where he softens your heart and speaks to you and builds you up so that you can go out and build others up. And so I can guarantee you this, go a stretch of time without taking the word of God in for yourself, and you will experience frustration in your service. You'll experience burnout in your service.

You will begin to see and feel different motives in your service. You need to know how to protect what Mary chose to protect, even when so many things are demanding for your energy and time. This is a call for all men. When you receive from God's word as your top priority, then the attitude and method of your service will be perfumed by the spirit. If not, the flesh gets in.

Therefore, don't think, don't think that you have to be like the 12 disciples who were constantly with Jesus and heard everything and could ask them private questions whenever they felt like it. Trained to be leaders of the church. Surely, they needed to be nourished in the word. No. Look at Mary who took up the opportunity in her context.

I want to serve my Lord, so I will choose to be with my Lord as much as I can while being a woman in this home with no title or name, no miracles for me to perform, but still seeing the necessity of being with the Lord Jesus Christ for myself. Is that you? Have you lost your priority on that? Have you misinterpreted how even Jesus values and prioritizes what it means to be a good servant of Jesus Christ? You know what's amazing about the priests in the Old Testament?

They were called to serve and to minister unto the Lord first before ministering and serving the people of Israel. That was the priority. Minister unto the Lord. And what God can do in your life is that that can be so real for you that when you begin to misplace it, you will feel that it's not right. May God be doing that work in all of our hearts.

Let's come to the third point. He says in verse seven of first Timothy four, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths. Let me encourage you this, if you want to be nourished in God's word, you don't need to be familiar with every heresy, you don't need to be familiar with every false teaching, You don't need to be You need to you don't need to get into all of that. It's important to some degree, but it's the word itself. Be familiar and master the word, and you'll be more than okay.

Have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths. Brother train yourself. Train yourself for godliness for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is a value in every way. How can I be a good servant of Jesus Christ? Well, you care about the spiritual well-being of your brothers.

You know how to nourish yourself in the knowledge of truth. And lastly, you train yourself. You train yourself to be godlier than you were yesterday. I may disappoint you guys with this point. I may shatter your dreams and your hopes as I give this first point, but it will be very helpful when you hear it.

In order to be godly, it will require discipline. There's something about the word discipline that no matter what it's applied to, it agitates us. Discipline. We cringe. Doesn't matter what it is.

Discipline for sleep, discipline in your diet, discipline in your working out, discipline in your finances. We don't like the word, especially when it is applied to spiritual matters, and especially if we are a people that believe in the gospel of grace where Christ has done it all on our behalf. Right? So we champion grace, we celebrate grace, we sing about grace, then we come to a text like this and it goes, you know, godliness is not gonna be some miraculous snap of the finger where you're just gonna be all for a sudden holy, and nor is it an automatic byproduct of you just growing in years as a Christian. I'm sorry, it's just not gonna happen.

That's why you can have two different people who are twenty years in the faith and they look completely different. I can tell you and guarantee you that the reason for that is because one trained and the other didn't. It's as simple as that. And so, let's go back to the first point. The very first point.

If you do not have a desire, there is no way that you're gonna have discipline. There's absolutely no way. You have no ambition in this, this will mean little It will mean nothing to you. Just like if you don't care about losing weight and you're sitting in a seminar of how to diet so that you can lose weight, you won't care. But I'm speaking to those today who care, who actually really want to grow up and be more like Jesus Christ.

And so let me repeat this. As a husband, as a wife, as a sibling, as an employee, do you want people to see Christ in you? Listen very carefully. Do you desire with your short breath of an existence, bless the church of Jesus Christ? Let me take it further.

You ready for this? This might shatter some of you as well. Do you actually wanna see your non believer friends saved? Or do you just wanna be buddies with them and not sin with them? Some people are so content in just saying, I'm not gonna sin with my non Christian friends.

And you have no You don't even pray for your non christian friends. You just wanna laugh and have similar things together, and you have no desire for them to come to the knowledge of truth. Guess what? You won't care about training for godliness at all. We think to ourselves, as long as I'm not sinning with the world, I'm doing Jesus' will.

No. Christ wants you to win them with your life. If your answer is yes, yes, yes, then here's the Bible's answer for you, It's time to train. It's time to train. And here's what I'm not gonna do today.

I'm not gonna step outside of the Bible and draw some principles and add greater burden to you. But I'm also not going to give the answer that we all know in understanding how to grow in holiness. What's that answer? The three part answer. Read your Bible.

Pray. What's the other one? Be part of a church community. Right? That's important.

That's foundational. But just like bodily training, which Paul appeals to as a parallel image to spiritual training, you and I need greater resistance to our muscles in order to see greater growth. When greater growth needs to be applied to the body, there needs to be a greater resistance applied so that things can be stretched. And oh, if you wanna grow in godliness, our souls need to be stretched. And so I'm not gonna give 10 points here, I'm not gonna give even three points here.

I want to give at least one, which I believe is one of the most important things. Just like you probably heard, hey, this is the latest and the newest diet, this is what's gonna shed off the weight, Or here's the newest and the latest workout, this is how your body's gonna be chiseled. Do you know how people talk like that? Well, here's the thing. What I'm about to present to you today, this will disturb you if you don't care about training.

But this will excite you if you wanna see results in your spiritual life. Because it's gonna go deeper than read your bible, pray, and go to church every week. It's gonna go deeper than that. You ready? It's a short little verse in first Corinthians 11.

First Corinthians 11 verse 31. Look what Paul says. But, if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. If we judged ourselves truly, let me just ask you a very simple question. When was the last time you heard in your Christian life to judge yourself?

Paul says, judge yourself. In fact, he says, if you judge yourself, you will not invite God's discipline in your life as much. Let me tell you what judging yourself doesn't mean. Doesn't mean punishing yourself or inflicting pain on your own body as as a response to sin and proving to God that you are a contrite and that you're actually sorry. It's not what he's saying.

The context here is what? We know it and we're about to do it together, breaking bread. The context is self examination before approaching the Lord's table. An evaluation of your own heart so that you have the right attitude before you come and commune with the Lord and God's people. And so everything about judging yourself has to do with you looking inside of your heart, and investigating to see whether there's anything that is outside of the character, nature, and will of God.

So Paul's saying, because the verses before, some were being sick, some were even dying, some were getting weak because they failed to check themselves. They failed to have a heart check, and God was disciplined. So he's saying, hey, do you wanna have less of God's discipline in your life? Do you know anybody that says I'd like to be disciplined? He says, if you don't want to be disciplined as much in your life, then judge yourself and God won't judge you.

God won't judge you. And here's the mistake we can make. Well, yeah. But that that has to only do with approaching the Lord's table. I don't have to judge myself in every area of my life.

Well, let me ask you this. Does God the only discipline people when it comes to approaching the table inappropriately? Or does God discipline in every matter of life that has to do with his commands and his standards and us stepping outside of it? I think you know the answer. Why do I say that?

Because judging myself does not only have to do with the little few minutes I have before I drink the cup and eat the bread. It's a discipline of the Christian. It's a discipline of the Christian throughout his Christian journey. And that's important. Right?

Because again, that's a very unfamiliar thing. Judge yourself. So how do I do it? How do I do it rightly? How does this look actually?

Well, if you care to know how to judge yourself the way God wants you to judge yourself, there's one text that tells us, I believe. It's in Galatians six, three to four. Here's what the Bible says about judging yourself as a Christian. Oh, that we would have more Christians judging themselves instead of judging others. Would you agree?

Galatians six three to four. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Believer, I encourage you, if you wanna if you wanna bible study for yourself or with your group of close friends, go throughout the new testament and see how many times the Holy Spirit warns about being deceived as a Christian. Deceived about false teaching, deceived about this and that, and here we are, another exhortation not to be deceived. And what does it have to do?

Being deceived and thinking that you are something, when in reality you're not that. Thinking that you are actually spiritual when you're not as spiritual as God has called you to be. I don't wanna be deceived about that. I don't want to be deceived about anything. And Paul says, if you don't want to deceive yourself in this area, if you don't want to walk around thinking that you are something when in fact you're not, all you have to do is one thing.

It's in the next verse, verse four. But let each one test his own work. Examine his own work. Prove his own work. Investigate his own work.

Judge his own work. And then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. Christians are in danger of being deceived about who they really are, what they do, how they relate, how they view things. And the solution to this is that from time to time, you honestly meditate in your own heart whether or not your works really line up with God's standard or not. Do you judge yourself then?

I'm not saying and we're gonna get into the extreme of this. I'm not saying about severe introspection. I'm talking about what Psalm four four says. I've been quoting the King James a lot today. But I love the way the King James even puts this verse in Psalm four verse four.

I'm gonna read in the ESV and then listen to it in the King James. Psalm four verse four. Be angry and do not sin. Ponder in your own hearts, on your beds, and be silent. Selah.

You know how the King James puts it? Commune with your own heart. Isn't that beautiful? Commune with your own heart. You've heard, I'm sure, so many times, commune with God, commune with the brethren.

Here's another one to add. Commune with yourself. Commune with your own heart. You know what's part of communing? When you get to know somebody, you ask questions.

You know what David did? A man after God's own heart? He not only testified of what he did, he encouraged those who longed to be God after God's own heart. He said, I ponder on my bed. I'm calling you to do the same.

Ask yourself some questions. And in that examination, just like before you come to the Lord's table, you'll be shocked to know what you couldn't identify apart from that meditation, and it'll bring you to a repentance. It'll bring you that much closer into Christ likeness. And so what does it look like? I mean, it could look like anything.

Lord, how have I been relating to others? How has my patience been with my brothers and sisters? Have I been quick to anger, Lord? Have I been quick to wrath? Have I been quick to speak up when I shouldn't have spoken?

Lord, I've been making a lot of money lately. I got that promotion. Am I making an idol out of my money? Am I serving two masters here? Lord, do I have a desire for possessions and materials more than I do your word, your spirit, your will?

Lord, where is my where is my thought life going? Lord, have I been exalting you in my thoughts or have I seen other things dominated? Lord, and you commune with your heart, and as you commune with your heart, please do this. Never fail to invite the word of God into the conversation. Because if you fail to invite the word of God into the conversation, you will find yourself in extremes, even in this practice of judging yourself.

And that's just like bodily training. Right? That's just like bodily training. Where if you hear from somebody who is a professional about your body, about your health, they'll give you precise instructions. Perhaps certain measure of food, perhaps a certain amount of weight to carry at this point in your life.

And here's what many people do, you'd be surprised in what people do. They fail to hear the instructions, and for example, if you're supposed to carry a certain amount of weight on shoulders, what do they go? They go to the gym and then they add so much more weight. Instead of something being beneficial, instead of something building you up, it crushes you and hurts you in the end. That is true for such an exhortation as this.

You can hear what I'm saying this morning. Judge yourself. Examine your own heart. And you leave this place, and you add more weight than what is being asked of you, and you are actually more burden than you are blessed by such a command. So be very careful of how you're receiving this right now, because the danger of what I'm saying is that, you again, amp up the introspection.

You amp up the investigation of your own, and all you're doing is what? Oh, I messed up. Oh, look what I did. Look what I said. Oh, no.

Look, I didn't do this. I didn't do that. Oh, Lord. Look at this. I I bought ice cream when I shouldn't have bought ice cream.

Oh, Lord. And you begin to you begin to now feel more punished than drawn for Christ to actually make you into a man of God. And the introspection becomes an end in itself, instead of being a means of being drawn to the Lord for him to deal with you. And so you start calling people and start texting people and you start apologizing and people are like, well, I don't know what you're apologizing for. And you start freaking out about everything because I'm supposed to judge myself.

Listen. Judging yourself does not mean that every time you do that meditation work, and you don't see perfection then you are ready for God's discipline. That's unrealistic. All it's a call for again, is that as you judge yourself, you invite God's word into the matter, and you ask the Holy Spirit with your own heart, Lord, am I missing Am I not seeing something? And do you think God will say, you know what?

I actually wanna discipline you so I'm not gonna tell you. No. He'll bring it to light. That's what first Corinthians 11 is all about. Before you even come to the table, between your pew and the table, you can actually examine your heart, and God can give you the right one.

But see, people don't ask themselves questions these days. People don't care anymore. People don't people don't have that discipline that the saints of old had, and what no wonder they were godly. And some were severe because they took it too far. And so what I think it looks like, it just looks like a simple, like you do with the Lord, your conversation with the Lord, and you converse with your heart in different seasons of life, as you're approaching something, as you're as you're getting to know someone, as whatever it may be, and you you just come to your heart, and you commune with yourself.

And you invite God's word into it so that he can appropriately and with balance bring you to where his perfect will is. It's an amazing thing. It's a rare discipline. But, again, if we wanna be good servants of Jesus Christ and training in godliness, here's just one just one tool. And the moment you begin to feel that a burden, you've put too much weight on the barbell, Gotta take some off and come back to the Word of God.

Are you motivated? Maybe not. And Paul understood that by the Spirit. He says bodily training, it has value. Nobody in here would disagree that bodily training has no value.

You bodily train, why? Because you see a reward in that. A healthier lifestyle, more confidence in yourself, that's fine. But here he gives the reward for training in godliness when he says, it holds value in every way. It holds value in every way, as it holds promise to the present life and to the life to come.

Think about this reward. You train yourself in your body, you train yourself in your mind and education, you train yourself in discipline, everything with this temporal world, you'll have reward in this life, but it ends the moment you give your last breath. But when you train for godliness, not only are you blessing others, not only are you on a greater path where God doesn't have to continually discipline you, but bless you and open more opportunity for you. There's promise for this present life. Because from time to time, on top of other things, you say, Lord, I want my heart to be honest.

I wanna walk in the light. Lord, I wanna be blameless. Help me here as I commune with my heart. And God says, yes, I will help you. And then, on top of that, I mean, he could have stopped and saying there's great value in this present life.

He goes, no. But in the life to come, your training goes beyond this life. The the the effort and the discipline and the seriousness you take for your spirituality, you don't see it now, but you will look and you will realize on that day, oh, if I had known that these were the rewards for godliness, I would live my life much differently knowing what is mine forevermore. And this is what God gives to us, a simple marks of a good servant of Christ Jesus. Can I remind you as we break bread?

You care about the spiritual well-being of your brothers and sisters. You're not a source of grief. You don't hinder them. You bless them by just living for the Lord. Secondly, you nourish yourself.

Because what Christ wants from you is not just service, but to sit at his feet and commune with him. And lastly, you train. You train. You ask yourself some questions. Lord, am I supposed to be watching this?

Is this something you really want me to watch? Is this benefiting me or is this gonna lead me to less than temptation? You ask yourself some questions because you care about being healthy in your soul. Can I say this? Somebody told me this once, someone I heard this once and it blessed me so much.

Nobody in here would be afraid of somebody telling you what you need to be healthy in your body. We pay money for that. We pay money, we sacrifice, we do whatever it takes to be healthy in our body. And what health is to your body is what holiness is to your soul. How can you be afraid of holiness?

How can you hear about this is what you should do and this is what it should look and be like, preach the gospel of grace, brother. Don't tell me what to do. I want to hear what Jesus did. We should. But are you afraid about health for your own body when somebody tells you what to do, and you're eating the things that you never thought you would eat?

And you put away the things that you love so much? Why? So you can you can have a healthy body and and live for an extra amount of years? And then here the preacher comes and says, you want to be healthy in your spirit? He goes, no.

No. No. I'm not interested in that. Health for your body is what holiness is to your soul. And if you're afraid of holiness, then you don't understand what true holiness is.

Let's pray as we prepare ourselves to break bread.