Dilligence
Pray.
How do you view your service for the Lord?
I personally believe there are several categories of Christian workers. Which do you fall in?
1. Christians that never begin to work at all.
2. Christians that begin to work for Jesus but quit very quickly.
3. Christians that begin a work for Jesus and they DILLIGENTLY perform that work.
Ben Franklin said, " Dilligence overcomes difficulties, sloth makes them."
The definition of dilligence is this, conscienctiousness in paying proper attention to a task. Giving the degree of
care required in a given situation.
Can you describe your work for the Lord, without pride as DILLIGENT. IF you cannot, the question is why?
Why wouldn't you NOT pay proper attention to the Lord's task? Why would you not give the degree of care
required to do the Lord's Work? Does He Not deserve that from us? If He doesn't who does?
Many of us here will go to our secular job tomorrow. Some here will stay at home and take care of thier house
hold affairs and families, But in either case, Dilligent work is required.
Imagine going to work and not giving the task at hand proper attention to perform the task. Imagine going to work
and not giving the degree of care required in a given situation.
How would you like to go to see the doctor and he could care less about your illness. Imagine going to see a
therapist, and they are sleeping while you spill your guts to him or her.
Imagine being a parent and not giving proper attention to perform the task of taking care of your children.
Imagine trying to run your household properly without due dilligence. You wouldn't pay your bills on time.
Your children's clothes would never be washed. You'd be hungry and go to the refrigerator and it would be empty
because you didn't go to the grocery store.
Dilligence. Why should we give The Lord God Almighty less than we give the world. Many of us work more
dilligently for another person, our boss, than we do Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Many of us work more dilligently for our family members, than we do Jesus Christ. But Why?
Does God require less from us than the world does? Do many of us believe that God is alright with our half
hearted attempts to serve Him? Our half hearted worship towards Him? Is He proud when we start something for
Him and then quit ? Is He proud when we let anything and everything stop us from worshiping Him?
I want you to open your Bible's to the book of Hebrews and look at chapter 11:6 which says
But without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that DILLIGENTLY seek him.
God is not a rewarder of those that OCCASSIONALLY seek him. God is not a rewarder of those that HALF -
HEARTEDLY seek him. God is not a rewarder of those that PRIDEFULLY seek him. God is not a rewarder of
someone that USED TO seek him. God is not a rewarder of someone who keeps saying ONE DAY I'll seek him.
GOD is a REWARDER of them that DILLIGENTLY seek him.
To Dilligently seek God, Means to give God the proper attention and care to perform His will in your life.
If you're saved here this morning, you dilligently sought God for that salvation. You didn't want to spend eternity
in hell, so you dilligently sought God and His Son , Jesus. Nothing was going to stop you from finding Him. You gave
all your attention and care to finding Him at that moment, and because of your faith, Jesus rewarded you with
eternal life, Why? Becuase God's Word is true and our verse here in Hebrews, says God is a Rewarder of those
that dilligently seek him.
Now let me read you our text verse again in Hebrews and see if it makes more sense now,
But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, And He is a
rewarder of them that DILLIGENTLY seek him.
Now, I want to ask you this question. Since the moment of your salvation, when you Dilligently sought Jesus to
save you from hell, Have you dilligently sought Him since? Or are you going through the motions?
When I think of someone or something dilligently seeking something, I think of a blood hound. How many here
remember watching some movie where a person escaped from prison. In the next scene, the wardon was gathering
his officers together and the blood hounds were brought out. The blood hounds would pick up a scent and pursue the
prisoner. To me, that is the picture of dilligently seeking after something.
Can you say that is how you live your Christian life? Is your scent on Jesus and you're dilligently seeking His
perfect will. You're seeking, How you can serve Him? You're seeking to live according to His Holy Word.
Man, you're like that blood hound, Nose to the ground working for Jesus and nothing is going to deter you.
Cause you're focused and you're dilligently seeking Him, Because you want to be rewarded by Him, Not only here
in this lifetime, but after wards.
But in these movies, something often times happens. The dogs lose the scent. Maybe a stream cuts through
the trail and they lose the scent because of the water. Or maybe , the dog picks up the scent of another person or
animal and becomes confused. And unfortunately many of us become like that.
Yes, we dilligently sought Jesus for salvation. We had the scent but lost it. We let something or
someone cross our path, and we lost our scent. We lost our sense of direction, And we quit dilligently seeking Jesus.
Who here wants to be rewarded by God? If you do, My Bible says, you must first live by faith in HIM, and then
you must DILLIGENTLY seek Him. And if you do, His word here promises, HE WILL REWARD YOU!!!
Flip your Bible's back to 2 Corinthians 5:10
which says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may RECEIVE the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Here is the day of your Reward. Now, I want to make it very clear. There is no such thing as a prosperity gospel.
That is one of the biggest lies being taught in the church today. Which says, if you accept Christ as Savior, and live
according to His word, He promises to make you rich financially. And if you are poor, you must be doing something
wrong.
That is a lie of the devil. Jesus was financially poor in this world. Paul was financially poor in this world, he had
to make an occassional tent in order to survive. Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all that he had and then follow
him, Jesus didn't say follow me and I'll make you more wealthy.
Jesus said , Money is the ROOT of all evil. Jesus said, you cannot serve two masters, speaking of
God or money. Why would Jesus pour money into your life as a promise of your obedience to Him.
On the contrary, Jesus said, if you follow Me, you will be hated. You will be persecuted. You will have division
amongst your own family. You will be made fun of. You will be scorned by the world because you follow Me.
NOWHERE in the BIBLE does God promise MONEY as your reward for Service to Him.
BUT, your rewards will be waiting for you in heaven. Jesus has them right next to His throne as we speak.
And ONE DAY, Christian, you will stand in front of HIM. This isn't some event that will get rained out.
This isn't some event that may not happen, because you believe it may not happen, IT will happen because
God's Word is perfect, God wrote the Bible and HE cannot lie. This day will happen.
God will not judge the Christian for their sins because at the moment of your salvation, He said, I remember them
no more. But God is always true to His word and our verse in Hebrews 11:6 promises us a Reward or Rewards if
we dilligently seek HIM now in this life time.
So one day, if you are truly saved, you will stand face to face with Jesus. And at that moment, He will reward you
for your dilligent service to Him at that very moment. And only those that dilligently sought Him will be rewarded.
Those today that serve the Lord looking for praise are not dilligently seeking HIM, they are seeking Praise not
Jesus. Remember to dilligently seek Jesus means to give HIM the proper attention and care necessary to perform
His task. Anything other than that will be burned up.
1 Corinthians 3:13 says, Every man's work will be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
vs. 14-15 continue to say, if any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward,
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
God's word clearly tells us of this judgment day. Everyone of your works will be made known on that day.
Picture a huge bon fire in heaven, Jesus will throw every work that you performed for Him in that fire and only
those things done DILLIGENTLY, with pure heart and motive will survive the fire. The true works will come out as
purified gold and the works performed any other way, will be burnt up as wood hay and stubble.
1 John 2:28 says this, And now little children, abid in Him, that when he SHALL APPEAR, we may have
confidence, and not BE ASHAMED BEFORE HIM at HIS COMING.
John is speaking to believers in this verse, He says little children. John was an older man at the time of these
letters and he referred to his younger church members as children. Believers.
John makes it very clear in this verse that a believer, A true blood washed Christian can Stand ASHAMED one
day in front of Jesus. And John is speaking about the judgment day, the day, when your works for God will be made
manifest or known. And if you're down here serving HIM , pridefully seeking your glory, Not His, Your works will burn
in the fire and you will stand ASHAMED in front of the One that gave His life for you.
If you are a Christian that doesn't lift one finger for Jesus, You will have nothing to burn up but you will have
nothing for HIM to reward you for either and you will stand ashamed in front of your Savior. Empty handed, with
NO gifts to lay at His feet. You'll have No gift to give back to your Savior.
Jesus says in Revelation 22:12 Behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me, to give EVERY MAN
according as his WORK shall be.
Jesus, the perfect JUDGE will JUDGE you perfectly, CHRISTIAN, not for your sins, but for your Works.
The unbelievers stand before Jesus at the Great White Throne Judgment, a totally different event. That is where
Jesus will judge them for their sins and cast them into an eternal lake of fire. And He will place them perfectly in
that fire according to the sins they committed.
But Christian, How do you want to stand before your Savior?
What is it, that God is calling you to do, but you're Not?
Maybe you once sought God dilligently, and you've allowed something to throw you off the trail, Ask God to forgive
your disobedience and start once again.
Or maybe, you're currently dilligently seeking, I encourage you to stay steadfast, No matter what is going on in
this world, The day is coming when you will stand before your Savior, And He will try your works in the fire and they
will come out shining as pure Gold, And He will reward you right then and there.
I ask you, where would you rather receive your reward from Jesus, Here, where it is temporal or in heaven, where
it will last forever?
This world we live in is full of temporal things. Our bodies are temporal. Our money, our houses our cars, but
these souls will live forever.
Jesus is coming back and His reward is with Him. The Bible says Work NOW for the night is coming. One day
it will be too late to do anything for HIM, do it NOW while you can. Quit saying, I'll start next month, it may never come.
But Jesus will. This Judgment Day will Come. The question that needs to be asked as we close is this,
How do you Wish to Stand Before Jesus on that Day?
