The Value of a Life Laid Down
Updated: Sep 20
By Pastor Terrence Sobers
Main Points:
What are you seeking Christ For?
What do you see as Glorious in Gods eyes?
What is the greatest purpose or use for your Life?
What will be the Consequences or Conclusion of your life from the way you are Living?
A life of service to God is eternally Fruitful
Our Place in the Plan- service, instrument, edifice
Worth is not defined by Effort but ultimately by Quality
Worldly wisdom does not Create Divine Results
What Blinds us to seeing the Truth and being Vigilant?
Summary
Many wish to have very meaningful and effective lives but often that which we view as meaningful is quite opposite to what God views as meaning. This can result in wasted effort, wasted lives and ultimate disappointment. Only alignment with Christs example and true service to him can we be fruitful. God wants us to be alert spiritually aware of what is true, align with it and eventually reap the great rewards promised in scripture. Many are blind to the truth due to their belief in worldly wisdom, misalignment with purpose, spiritual laziness, overindulge and the anxieties that natural life can bring.
Key Themes
What are you seeking Christ For?
John 12: 20-26 20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
The Greeks were fundamentally seekers of wisdom.
Paul noted that this aspiration made the gospel foolishness to them. They prize only knowledge that was based on the reasoning of the natural mind.
1 Cor 1:23 “"But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness"
The Greeks wanted knowledge, the Jew wanted spiritual signs. What Do you want? Money, fame, a husband, a little peace etc. After Jesus fed the multitude, many followed him for more food not faith.
What do you see as Glorious in Gods eyes?
22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. 23 But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
What the spiritual mind considers glory and what the natural mind considers glory are very different because their goals and purposes are often at odds
The natural mind focuses primarily on things that delight the senses.. taste , touch, sight, smell. Things that look good, feel good, smell good taste good. Comforts and pleasures
The spiritual mind focuses on things that align with divine truth. The greater good, things that are virtuous, edifying, empowering etc.
In man’s eyes, fame and fortune equates to success. In God’s eyes character and sacrifice for good are more noble.
What is the greatest purpose or use for your Life?
24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much [d]grain.
Jesus responds to the question from a position of spiritual purpose.
What is the greatest benefit of a grain of wheat? To be eaten to meet an immediate need of hunger or to be sowed to create more for future use? This is the immediate dichotomy between the goal of the natural and the goals of the spiritual
What will be the Consequences or Conclusion of your life from the way you are Living?
25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
A life of self-focus bring only short-term gain in the now
A life laid down in service often produces results that outlast your life
A life of service to God is eternally Fruitful
26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
A true servant of Christ must be willing to follow the pattern of Christ.
The world is confused by the dichotomy between the Christ and the Christian.
Ghandhi was noted to have said “ I like your Christ but not your Christians”
The underlying premise is that The Western Christian life often does not exemplify the Life of Jesus or the teachings of Jesus. Making it not a true reflection of the Gospel message and the true nature of our faith
Jesus makes three points.
Only those who serve him; follow him
Only those who follow him; end up where he is
Only those who end where he is; are honored by His father
The central point is to understand that the Christlike life is the most effective life one can live and is the most reverenced by our Father God.
Our Place in the Plan - service, instrument, edifice
1 Cor 3:5-9 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Maturity requires each individual to recognize they are only one part of an overall purpose.
The task assigned to you is not the whole picture, only the part you are able to contribute.
Ultimately Gods will should be the focus not our personal preferences. That realization is evidence of maturing.
The reward is from God not men and it is according to His reconning not ours.
We WORK for HIM, we are DEVELOPED by HIM and we were ESTABLISHED for HIM
Worth is not defined by Effort but ultimately by Quality
1 Cor 3:5-9 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
Effort alone doesn’t equal effectiveness; simple strong feeling and genuine desire doesn’t ensure quality. Quality come from right understanding, right application of truth.
For true Christian effectiveness we must utilize Christian methods
If you stay immature you can waste your Christian life and not be effective for Christ.
Only what is done right and well for Christ remains
However, once you are truly saved you cannot be lost
Worldly wisdom does not Create Divine Results
1 Cor 3:18-23 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”[a]; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”
Self-deception is a function of being ignorant of the truth.
If you use worldly standards to guide your spiritual life you will never be effective spiritually
We work for God and God for Us.
What Blinds us to seeing the Truth and being Vigilant?
Luke 21: 34-36 34 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with [h]carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may [i]be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Jesus highlights four specific things:
Spiritually laziness: (don’t pray, don’t read, don’t fellowship, don’t serve etc.) pay attention, stay alert, stay active.
Carousing (or dissipation): Living a life of reckless self-indulgence, or overindulgence.
Drunkenness: Relying on substances for stability or losing self-control, which fogs the mind and makes you careless.
The anxieties of life: Getting so consumed, stressed, and bogged down by daily survival, bills, work, and worries that you crowd God out of your life
Declarative Prayer:
Dear God
Help me to seek Christ Truly
Help me to serve Christ Faithfully
Help me to bring God Glory
Help me to not be blinded by Life
IN JESUS NAME
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