For the basic terminology of this discussion there are only three types of individuals on this planet, those who serve themselves, those that serve others, and those who serve Christ. These can be and most generally are intermingled, for those who serve Christ as they should are focused on others, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, (Matt. 22:39) and we allow and seek for the transforming of our minds to be done by the Holy Spirit within us so that this task can be accomplished to the glory of God. Those who serve others may be doing so out of the kindness and love in their hearts, but it is not a heart that reflects God’s heart, although it could not be considered self-serving, it by no means brings the love of Christ into those that they are serving, it is temporary and transitory, serving no purpose for the eternal. The soul is of no concern for these individuals, only the flesh, and if the eternal is ever considered by them, it is in the ideology of works, not grace. These are good people in the eyes of the world, deserving of eternal rest, but they will know none, for they do not recognize Christ as Lord, and so their damnation is assured unless they do.
The last group, those that serve themselves, are the main topic in this letter to you, for they are the prevalent group of human beings, and always have been. It is the sin of Lucifer after his name was changed to Satan, it was the sin of Adam, the serving of self is the pathway to nearly all evil, pride, lust, envy, jealousy, all are born from the desire to place self above others, above the will of God. These will only serve others when it benefits themselves, they seek the praise of men in both the arena of service from others and service to others, but only and always for their own glory. They are more than willing to become subservient to those who hold higher positions than themselves, seeking recognition for even the smallest accomplishment that will lift them up in others eyes, and for those that they believe they hold authority over, they can be hard taskmasters indeed. These will use the tools of fear as well as a quasi-humbleness and humility, and they can do so at a moment’s notice, berating one at one moment, and acquiescing to the demands of another at the next. They have honed the craft of deceiving to a fine art, and they are exceptionally good at pretending to be something that they are not, you know some of them, you meet them every weekend in church.
They desire to seek positions of authority, the higher the better, and although that is the course they have set for themselves; they are willing to start at the bottom. Church leadership is not the end goal though, it must be an affiliated religious organization, one where when the conventions meet they can be further recognized, where their accomplishments can be seen, their words sought after. The highest position possible is what these will attain to, nothing else holds any true value, for when they are at the top, all else are beneath them, all are under their power and control. That power, whether they realize it within themselves or not, is demonic in nature, and is no power of their own.
Power is the pathway to pride, and ultimate power is the desired goal. The anti-christ will be the final proof of this, using and then tossing aside all that he needs to achieve his desired goal, and our Lord will both laugh at these (Prov. 1:26) and feel great sorrow for them that fall into this great and final trap of his. Satan shares no power my friends, but he has made millions and more to believe that he will down thru the ages, what is his he can give to whomever he desires, (2 Thess. 2:9) but he will take it all back when those recipients are no longer useful to his cause. The same holds true for any human who follows the path of self, either they will be self-depreciating for the fear of others, or conceited to the point of complete dominance over all that they can, those who follow their army, intended to either create obedience or to inflict pain, and pain, no matter what form it takes, is a great and powerful persuader.
The born-again believer has set his face like a flint (Isaiah 50:7) to serve Christ, we are willingly dying to self every day, by our own free will and the strength of the Holy Spirit of God within us, we deny ourselves, pick-up our cross, and follow where He leads. But it is a hard road, for our sinful nature, and the free will that we have been blessed with calls to us almost constantly, and few Christians have been blessed with a thorn in their side. (2 Cor. 12:7-9) Look at that verse for a moment and see the pain of pride, “Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations.” (v 7) It is so powerful a statement that Paul states it twice in just one verse, “I saw heaven, have you seen heaven? Who are you going to listen to, them or me?” The closer our Lord draws you to Himself, the more of His wonderful glories that He determines to show you, the greater your opportunity for self becomes, the higher the possibility that pride will enter into your life, if it were not true, Paul would not have been used to pen these words, and no thorn would have been needed.
We need pain, whether we want to admit it or not, we need pain, suffering, trials and tribulations, they teach us to remain humble, they show us that God alone is sovereign, they keep pride at bay. If you want to be used by God for His glory alone, you must prepare for this, in whatever way that He chooses to allow it to enter into your life, if you truly want to be used by our Lord, you must prepare yourself to be blessed in the fellowship of His suffering. (Phil. 3:10) Very, very few have chosen to ask for this path today, what they have come to expect they have come to believe they deserve, and what they believe they deserve is nothing more than the showing of His love for them by the continual receiving of what they believe they deserve. “Many desire to be happy with Him, but few desire to share in His suffering.” (Thomas Kempis) I want to have the blessings, but I don’t want to have to give up anything for them, I want to stay like I am, I want to keep what I have, I want to retain myself.
The fear of dying to self is the most dominate fear that anyone has, no matter which group of the three classifications of individuals that we have been discussing here any may fit into. “I want to be me, I want people to recognize me, my values, my attributes, my worth, me, me, me.” Kind of reminds you of a very small child jumping up and down having a temper tantrum, doesn’t it? Do you suppose our Lord envisions Satan like this sometimes, a petulant little child who wants everyone to recognize him, do you think He sees you, or me, like that somedays, oh, yes indeed He does. You don’t have to serve Christ if you don’t want to, the lost do it all day long with absolutely no fear of consequences of their actions whatsoever, in fact, many Christians do the same, believing our Lord to be some type of benevolent grandfather type that has special, different rules for certain people.
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17) Nobody is special, God is no respecter of persons, (Romans 2:11) it is Christ that lives in us, (Eph. 3:17) self must die, and you have to be the one to kill it. Those who serve are saved, those who do not are not saved, and the one who does not want to serve, the one who still seeks the pleasures of the recognition of others, definitely is not serving. If the world doesn’t like you because of Christ, good, it’s supposed to be that way. If your family and friends don’t want anything to do with you anymore because of our Savior, perfect, that’s how it’s supposed to be. If you are a Christian who is still seeking the praise of men instead of the things of God (John 12:43) then you either need to start killing off some more of the old man (Rom. 6:6) inside of you, or sit down and have a serious conversation with yourself to see if you truly are saved or not.
There’s a big storm coming, if your anchor is Christ, (Heb. 6:19) if you have built your house on the rock, (Matt. 7:24) you’ll be fine, if not, well, there’s going to be a lot of human beings swimming in a lake of fire, and self is the only companion that those people will ever have. “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, an afterward receive me to glory.” (Psalm 73:24)