Now listen to this astonishing statement, 2 Corinthians 4:5. Paul says:

“For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.”

Isn’t that an amazing statement? There’s this proud Pharisee saying, “We’re your slaves for the sake of Jesus.” To those people! Notice the three steps. First, dethrone self, “not ourselves.” Second, enthrone Christ, “Christ Jesus as Lord.” Third, serve others, “we are your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.” Let me say those three steps again. Dethrone self, enthrone Christ, serve others. By love, serve others. That’s the message, escape from self-centeredness.

Now I want to point out to you in closing this message that serving is a skill we have to acquire. It doesn’t just happen, it isn’t ours by nature. To take an example of a waiter: a waiter is a man who, in a sense, is called to serve. But a waiter needs to be trained. There is much in the training of a waiter. I can’t go into it but I have a friend who used to be a waiter, and he explained to me once all that’s involved in being a good waiter. And I saw a marvelous example of the training to serve. So serving doesn’t just happen; it’s a skill we have to acquire. We have to study others to find out what produces a positive and not a negative response. We’re to study others to provoke them to love and good deeds, not to the opposite. So this requires practice, it requires training, it requires discipline.

It also requires the right environment. That’s important. You see, after saying, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good works,” Paul goes on to say, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” So we have to learn to serve in the right environment, and the right environment is expressed in the words, “our own assembling together.” I would say it means this: close, committed, regular fellowship. That’s the environment in which we can be trained to serve one another.

Now in the next verse, the writer of Hebrews states the disastrous alternative. He goes on in verse 26, immediately after that warning against forsaking our own assembling together, and he says this:

“For if we go on sinning willfully , after receiving the knowledge of the truth...”

It’s no accident that these words follow. What’s the implication? The implication is that if we don’t stay in the right environment, if we aren’t in close, committed, regular fellowship, we’ll go back to sinning. The only safe way is to stay in fellowship, learn to serve, learn to consider other people.

Well, our time is up for today. I’ll be back again next week at this same time. Next week I’ll be giving the remaining steps to a good year.

This week I’m making a special offer of a unique help to personal Bible study, my Self Study Bible Course, a complete course of basic Bible study in fourteen lessons, with explanatory notes, correct answers, and coordinated memory work. The only additional equipment you need is a Bible and a pen.

Also, my complete series of messages this week on “Twelve Steps to a Good Year” is available in a single, carefully edited, 60 minu

Twelve Steps to a Good Year

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