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TITLE: $3 Worth of God, Please!

TEXT: Mark 10:42-45

PROPOSITION: God is looking for servants and we want to be Lords.

QUESTION: How?

KEY WORD: Rejections

SCRIPTURE READING: Same

INTRODUCTION:

  1. I do not need to prove the self-centeredness of our world.
  2. Ads on TV – Have it your way, right away. Do yourself a favor. You owe it to yourself. Indulge yourself. You deserve a break today.”
  3. Wilber Rees described the situation this way. (See quote below.)
  4. The “We” used is the editorial “we” = a general observation.

 

We do not want to be SERVANTS.

  1. We do not want to serve. We want to be served.
  2. We are worshipping at the shrine of I, Me, Mine, Myself
  3. I do not want to ____ but I want others to ____ me.

Teach a class; teach

Visit the sick; visit me when I am sick

Take food to a family; I want food brought when I am sick

Put trash in the basket; I want bathroom clean when I enter

 

We don’t want God to make DEMANDS on us.

  1. Sunday is my only day off.
  2. Do I have to go Wednesday night, Sunday night?
  3. We want smooth things – Isaiah 30:10
    Do not tell us what is right or wrong
    Tell us what makes us feel good
  4. We have itching ears – 2 Timothy 4:3
  5. Here is Swindoll’s comments. (See quote below.)

 

We don’t want to CONFORM to a standard of conduct.

  1. Taught recently is this statement, “God has a standard of conduct which represents his will. He does not demand strict compliance with that standard to be accepted by him. Otherwise that does away with grace.”
  2. SUMMARY
    1. God has a standard
    2. That standard is His will
    3. We do not have to obey
  3. Learn some lessons today:
    1. God has a standard of conduct – James 1:25 – law of liberty
    2. It represents His will – Matthew 7:21
    3. We ARE expected to comply – John 12:48
    4. Compliance is strict – Matthew 23:23
    5. We are saved by grace – Ephesians 2:8-9
    6. Obedience does not eliminate grace – Romans 5:20-6:2

Wilber Rees – “I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.”  (From Improving Your Serve, Charles Swindoll, page 29)

 

Charles Swindoll – “That’s it. Our inner “self” doesn’t want to dump God entirely, just keep Him at a comfortable distance. Three dollars of Him is sufficient. A sack full. Nothing more. Just enough to guarantee escape from eternal flames. But certainly not enough to make me nervous…to start pushing around my prejudices or nit-picking my lifestyle. Enough is enough!” (Improving Your Serve, page 29)

 

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