It's Not About Me: Lessons From Preaching in Three Services
Self-care is important, but life is not all about you. Of course, we don’t want to take this to extremes. We do need to take care of ourselves, but not at the expense of our relationship to Jesus and others. Even Jesus took time to be alone with the Father. There is a balance between serving others and taking care of yourself.
[0:00] Intro
[0:50] J.O.Y.
[3:00] It’s not about you
[6:00] What is most important to you?
[14:00] Final Thoughts
Self-care is important, but life is not all about you.
Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
Of course, we don’t want to take this to extremes. We do need to take care of ourselves, but not at the expense of our relationship to Jesus and others. Even Jesus took time to be alone with the Father. There is a balance between serving others and taking care of yourself.
This balance of serving others and taking care of yourself was very apparent to me when I recently preached several times one Sunday at my church. Not only was preaching three services in a row a lot of speaking, it’s mentally taxing because the burden of delivering God’s Word well is upon you. You don’t want to mess up or say something wrong or not be clear and then confuse someone.
I have a new appreciation for what pastors do every weekend and it reminds me even more that the preaching is not about them and it’s not about me either. Rather than focusing on external validation for whether or not the preaching went well, we need to seek validation from God. If we are faithful to God’s Word and sharing it with wisdom, grace, and humility and trust that God will do what He wants with it. God can share however He sees fit and we can be assured in that.
I think we look for four things: acknowledgement, acceptance, approval, and affirmation. We want to be acknowledged by others and to know that we matter. We want to know if we will fit in and if people will like us. And we want to know if we are doing well.
These are not inherently bad things to want. The problem is when we seek these things from the wrong places. We must seek validation from God and not from others. We may never face persecution as Stephen did (Acts 6 - 7), but we are called to live for our faith. To live for the One who died for us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). That will mean recognizing that as believers we have been rescued from sin. That will lead us to want to live for God.
You Don’t Have to Answer the Door!
God saved me from sin and from myself. I could not stand against temptation and sin without the strength of Christ. As Paul spoke about in Romans 7, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Understanding our identity in Christ can change our perspective on sin and living for Jesus. We can face persecution or temptation with the strength of Christ.
Bible Verses:
Philippians 2:3
Numbers 22:22-35
John 12:12-15
Acts 6-7
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
Colossians 1:13
2 Thessalonians 1:9
Romans 7
1 John 1:8-9