More Than Others
Mt. 5:46, 47
http://www.gbcdecatur.org/sermons/MoreThanOthers.html
"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have
ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your
brethren only, what do ye more than others? . . ."--Matt.
5:46, 47.
In the passages of Scripture just before our text, Jesus
is explaining the philosophy of the world. The world says,
"If someone does you wrong, pay him back," or "One dirty deed
deserves another." It has not changed since the time
of Christ. Christ is instructing His followers to turn the
other cheek, give more than they ask, love enemies and make an
impression on the lost world. If they ask you to go a mile,
go two miles; and if they want your coat, give them your
overcoat, too. In other words, don’t leave any room for them
to criticize or question your sincerity in serving Christ.
Then, in our text He says that, if we are content just to
help those who can help us back, we are in the same class with
them. We are to do more than others. Our text is a piercing
accusation. What are you doing more than others?
In our churches, there are three kinds of people. There
are spectators, anticipators and participators.
The spectator is just there to observe; the anticipator is expecting real
blessings but not doing anything about it; and the
participator is busy singing, praying, ushering, planning and
doing the work. The participators are the minority, the
sacred few who are doing "more than others."
In this same Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I
will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a
rock" (Matt. 7:24). James says, "But be ye doers of the word,
and not hearers only . . ." (James 1:22).
Someone rightly said, "The church is full of willing
folks--those who are willing to work and those who are willing
to let them." There is a great need today for the child of
God to be willing, concerned, diligent and doing "more than
others."
In India, there are men who strip off clothes, cover
their naked bodies with white ashes, neither cut nor comb
their hair and plaster their heads with cow manure (because
the cow is sacred in that country) and endure every type of
torture imaginable to try to gain the favor of their god.
The Sun Gazer of India sat naked every day for fifteen
years gazing at the bright sun, until his eyes were slowly
burned out and his limbs withered away from inactivity. He
was serving his god in the sun.
The Sadhus of India, who afflict themselves by lying on
beds of nails for years, show the same fervency of conviction.
Then, there is the Hindu who held his arms up for twenty
years. They soon were stiff from that position, but he
illustrates the willingness of others to sacrifice themselves
to appease their gods.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, with their strong conviction
about blood transfusions, willing to let their children die
rather than go against their ideas, are an example of others
putting us to shame in conviction.
The Japanese Hell Divers making their suicidal plunge
into an enemy ship, only to be blown to bits themselves,
tragically illustrate the point.
And finally, the Muslims drive our point home with their bloody oath, "I will sacrifice my life to take the life of one or more infidels."
“But those examples are ridiculous!”
Yes, and how ridiculous that we cannot even come up w/ that kind of zeal for the things of Christ which make perfect sense!
God expects us to be zealous, on fire, alive, different,
extraordinary, top-caliber and busy doing more than these
others who serve the gods of the world. The tragedy is that
most Christians are indifferent, backslidden, touchy and
living sin-laden lives. The Bible says, "Whatsoever thy hand
findeth to do, do it with thy might . . ." (Eccles. 9:10).
Again we read, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or
whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31),
and also, "Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all
your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for
you" (I Sam. 12:24).
Is there anyone in your family or the church who
is a better Christian than you are, who reads the Bible more
than you do, prays more than you, wins more souls? If so,
then shame on you, Christian! What do ye more than others?
I believe the Devil still walks to and fro in the earth,
as he did in the days of Job. He also has access to Heaven as
the accuser of the brethren. When he walks before God to give
his report, what embarrassment and shame must come to the Lord
because of the sins of His children! Thank God for Job who
proved his love by refusing to give in to the Devil! Shame on
the many Christians who do not.
I remind you of Vespasian and the forty singing
wrestlers. Roman Emperor Nero commanded that all soldiers of
his army that claimed Christianity were to be executed.
Vespasian, a centurion of this army, received the decree and
summoned all his soldiers to appear before him. "Any who
cling to the faith of the Christian will be executed," he
stated to them. "Now, let him step forward who claims
Christ." Instantly the forty wrestlers stepped forward two
paces. Vespasian was heartsick and tried to persuade them to
denounce their faith.
It was in the dead of winter, and he commanded that they
be stripped of their clothes and ordered to march out upon a
lake of ice in the freezing temperatures. "The fire will be
waiting for any who will denounce his false faith," were his
parting words.
As they marched away, they sang, "Forty wrestlers,
wrestling for Thee, O Christ . . .wrestling for the crown of life, wrestling for the victory."
All night they sang, and Vespasian waited by the fire,
until finally near dawn, one frozen, naked soldier crept
toward the fire to denounce his Lord. The singing then was
heard again. "Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O
Christ . . .wrestling for the crown of life, wrestling for the victory." Vespasian looked out into the darkness, and
off came his helmet, down went his shield, and out into the
icy cold went the centurion. The singing could be heard above
the whisper of the wind. "Forty wrestlers, wrestling for
Thee, O Christ . . .wrestling for the crown of life, wrestling for the victory."
This is doing "more than others."
There are many in the church today who are looking around
the congregation to pick out the weak and faulty members with
which to compare themselves! They seem to be doing a little
more than Backslider Ben, Card-Playing Carl, Double-Living
Dan, Gossiping Gertie, Jealous Jenny, Liquored
Up Leonard, Selfish Sally or Worldly Willie; but these are not our standards. We should be looking to Christ and then be made to realize our failures and faults.
In the Bible, Abel did more than Cain, Moses did more
than Aaron, Abraham more than Lot, Joseph more than his
brethren. Elijah did more than the prophets of Baal, Jacob
more than Esau, Job more than his wife, and Peter, James and
John did more than the other apostles. "What do ye more than
others?"
We seem to run in ruts and grooves today. We take the
line of least resistance. We need some who are willing to be
peculiar people and dare to be different from the run-of-the-
mill Christians.
Then, there is the problem of excuses. Instead of doing
more than others, " . . .they all with one consent began to
make excuse" (Luke 14:18). Someone has said, "It is easier to
do a thing right than to try to explain why you didn’t." The
Devil has a bag full of excuses to furnish the Christian who
is looking for them, and some of them are not even lies.
Adam blamed Eve when he told the Lord, "The woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree" (Gen.
3:12). Aaron blamed the people for the golden calf and idol
worship while Moses was on the mountain talking to God. He
said, "Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief"
(Exod. 32:22). Then he said, "I cast it into the fire [the
gold], and there came out this calf" (Exod. 32:24).
Saul…when he had disobeyed God by bringing home the forbidden
sheep from Amalek. Saul was found out when Samuel came to visit
him and heard the bleating of the sheep. Samuel asked, "What
meaneth then this bleating of the sheep?" (I Sam. 15:14).
Saul tried to excuse his sin by saying, "For the people spared
the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the
Lord thy God" (I Sam. 15:15). Again, Ahab tried to excuse his
sin by saying to Elijah, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"
(I Kings 18:17).
Yes, many are comparing themselves to others and trying
to excuse themselves.
The greatest sin of many Christians today is giving
less than your best. Christians are giving God their
leftover time, talents and tithe. This is a day of shallow,
surface, superficial Christianity. Let’s be a church that is different, who is real, and goes all the way!
“God help me to do ‘More Than Others’.”
http://www.gbcdecatur.org/sermons/MoreThanOthers.html
