More of God, Less of Me

Introduction

Recorded in  and , Jesus said the following words,

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

The idea behind his words is that as a christian, Jesus should be the ONLY thing that we desire. You have to have Him. As we saw last week, a christian must understand that we have not surrendered to a good feeling or a great emotion, not even a moral idealism, but you surrender your life to an all consuming fire that will not be denied!

A theme that has been carried out through the book of hebrews is that we are priests of the Kingdom, with a great high priest in Christ. We must offer not a sacrifice of Blood, Christ has done that once and for all, but a sacrifice of praise!

Even a christian should struggle with this process on a day to day basis. I know that I do. Because i am selfish… I don’t want to deny myself and live for someone else. But what is missed is that serving others is the most acceptable worship to God that we could ever give.

Look at verse 28 with me....READ... so what is acceptable? How do we do this? In a response to our awe of God, to the reverence we for God, we will respond by dying to ourselves. As mentioned just prior, Jesus’ words is that his followers will deny their lives and exalt his kingdom even to the point of death. Glory to God is our mission. So how then do we die to ourselves and live in Christ?

We see here 5 ways that we are held accountable as priest and what dying to yourself looks like… We give Glory to God when, for the Glory of God we...

#1 - 13:1 Let brotherly love continue

- Do you love your christian brothers and sisters in Christ?

- - one of the marks of a christian is that you love your brothers.

“10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

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-This kind of love is not sexual… I dislike very much how the American culture has made everything sexual. Men should love each other, care for each other, spur each other on in christ! Women should love each other, care for each other, sharpen each other in Christ. And this does not have to be and should not be sexual…

I love Paul’s opening lines to the , die to yourself, live in Christ!

#2 - 13:2 Do not neglect showing hospitality to strangers

-I know that many of us are tempted to get caught up first in the “Angels part of this”. A part of our human nature is to seek some sort of divine experience. The though of hosting angels is most extraordinary. That was not the intention. Rather to focus on showing love to your neighbor.

-Our Lord has this to say in Luke chapter 6,

32 z“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And aif you blend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But clove your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and dyou will be sons of ethe Most High, for fhe is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 gBe merciful, even as hyour Father is merciful.

“30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you blend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But clove your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

- says this...

“7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

So you see, the first is to love your christian brothers and sister, but the second is to show kindness, and love, and mercy to everyone. The grace God has given you will cover a multitude of sins and uplift the next. Die to yourself, live in Christ!

#3 - 13:3 Remember those in prison and those mistreated

-This was actually a commendation from the author of hebrews to this church back in chapter 10:32-34. They were bearing reproach because they were giving themselves up as they showed compassion on those in prison. These were their family and friend!

-So on the basis of , this pastor is saying not to stop! Die to yourself ...

#4 - 13:4 Hold the marriage in honor, let the marriage bed be undefiled

-Marriage is a big deal to God. Out of all the things that were good in the garden, man being alone without a helper wasn’t one of them. so he made Adam a helper, Eve. Then! It was good… Notice God di not make another man…Rather than brotherly love, there is a different kind of love in marriage, a kind of love that belongs to Man and Wife. Marriage is a covenant, and God is serious about his children making covenants. The bible speaks about divorce and adultery and the immorality that can break that man and woman apart. We will come back in a few weeks to speak more on marriage, but I do want in this light to address

- I want to look at this together so turn in your bible… Context - Paul was dealing with a church that had wrote to him and one of there issues deals with sexual immorality. It is unclear what their exact question on the subject was but in verse one of chapter 7 we see a glimpse. It is clear that satan had crept in to the church and the church’s superstition got the best of them and the had a foolish admiration of celibacy… lets look at what Paul says.

-The way scripture lines out marriage is for the husband to give himself up for his wife that she would be a blood cleansed daughter of God being led by the husband who is a blood bought son of God. So to those given the life of not marrying or have lost the one whom they loved, Die to yourself and love everyone else. To the husband very specifically, die to yourself and love your wife next…To the wife very specifically, die to yourself and love your husband next. Do everything you can to keep your sexual integrity about you even to the point of cutting off a limb or gouging your eyes out. It is that serious.

#5 - 13:5 Keep your life free from the love of money

-All of these four issues have been an issue for mankind in the past and they are just as much of an issue today. Loving other believers, Loving everyone around around, loving the hard people, loving your spouse through purity, and being content with what you have.

-the bible never teaches that money in and of itself is bad.Its the love of money… What causes the love of money, the love of power and prestige, the priority and respect put on material wealth.

- You cannot serve two masters. You serve money when your decisions are driven by it...

-So the daily struggle is, which one do you choose to follow? The flow? The norms? The current culture? (yeet) Are you driven by those or are you driven by God’s word?

-What a promise to have from God… says that God will not leave his people. tells of the righteous never being forsaken by God. Jesus said all authority has been given to me, and surely I will be with you to the end of the age.

13:6 The Goal of these five commands - acceptable worship to God!

-Worshipping self is what these exhortations are keeping us from. “Follow your heart”, “treat yourself”, “do what you want”, “let love decide”, and “you-do-you” are not proper responses of the Christian. Rather, God’s promise to us that he would never leave should cause us to raise a banner that says “ THE LORD IS MY HELPER”! So that means furthermore that these things are not acceptable worship when you do them selfishly or for personal gain...

When we can say that there can only be peace… What can man do to you!

Paul was nearing his death… He was undecided on which way he would prefer. Would it be better to die and be with his savior or would it be better to continue to serve the church and increase christ’s kingdom. His response… To live is Christ, to die is gain!

Die to yourself…Live for Christ… These sacrifices are pleasing to God.