Serving Jesus – Nov 29

Sunday November 29, 2015
Speaker:
Series:

Jesus gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to us to train and equip the saints (the Body of Christ) to do the work of the ministry and to build the Body until we all come to the unity of faith (Ephesians 4:11-13). The Body of Christ could be compared to a picture of Christ in collage form made up of many individual pictures. Ministry is work. Each person takes his or her part. We are not saved by our works, but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. In Matthew 25:31-46 the first thing Jesus does is to separate the sheep from the goats. This Scripture is about the sheep (the righteous, the believers). It does not apply to the Syrian refugees, except those who are Christians. We are made righteous only by Jesus. His righteousness has been given to us. God sees us as Jesus. Whatever we do for the Body of Christ, for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we do for Jesus, whether it is providing food, drink, clothing, shelter, health, or comfort, when we do it as to the Lord. We need to use wisdom in our priorities and responsibilities, not putting those we are responsible for in danger. We are the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27), and Jesus Christ is the Head (Ephesians 1:22, 23). Although we are not saved by works, we are judged and rewarded for them. We are to work for the good of all, especially our fellow believers (Galatians 6:10). What we did to the least of His Body, we did for Him. We are called to freedom and through love to serve one another. We are selfish if we want to be served, rather than serving.