John Gunter: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Eagle Community Church of Christ podcast. My name is John Gunter. This week we've got a sermon from Jordan Santos, our youth minister. He has called it freedom to serve.
I know you'll enjoy it. We hope you have a great week.
Jordan Santos: Don't be too surprised. So, yes, John is here, but I'm still preaching just so we know what's going on. Couple of weeks ago, I was having dinner with, John and Katie and he said that, you know, he was pretty close. They were thinking that Katie's grandpa might die pretty soon and to be ready for them to need to go and to cover. And I was like, yeah, of course I don't mind.
And so he texted me earlier this week and said that, they thought it was going to happen soon. And so he asked me to cover. I said, yeah, of course. And then later on in the week, he texted me again saying that they had scheduled the funeral for next weekend. But at that point I'd already gotten started and, you know, don't want John to rush through this process.
And so, he's here, but I still do not mind covering for him at all, but I'm glad to see you here this morning. And we're going to have a good conversation. As John kind of started off for us last week, we're transitioning from our talk about fixing our focus, which we focused on for about 9 or 10 weeks or so. And to, now we're shifting to this new question of if we are focused on Jesus, if he is really what our eyes are fixed on, what should our life actually look like? And that's not always the simplest answer to come up with, right?
But it's definitely important, right? It's definitely something that we need to figure out and to do our best with. And so, hopefully after this warning, we can have a little, closer we can be a little closer to being able to do that well. John's focus verse, one of the ones he focused on last week was from, Jesus' sermon on the mouth in Matthew chapter 5. I'm gonna go ahead and read it, for us again real quick.
You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it, be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven. So both of these examples, I think, add up to the same, point. We have been given, you know, this purpose, this role, and this responsibility, and if we refuse to kind of accept that identity, right? Not only is it a little silly of us to do so, but I think it's also potentially damaging.
What I mean by silly is being salt and salt being salty and light shining. Like, that is essential to what those things are. Right? And similar to us, our life is essential or these actions are essential to who we are. And if we refuse to be who we are, I think that's kind of a silly thing to do.
And it's it can be damaging in the sense of there at the very end, it says in the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven. If we refuse to be who we are, to be who we've called to be, not only can it affect our lives, but other people can be affected and God can not be glorified in the way that he should be. That makes sense. How many of you know somebody who, hates to look at instructions? They are pretty dead set on figuring it out themselves.
I see some spouses looking at each other. And I get it. It is what it is. Maybe you're determined to figure it out yourself, and I totally respect that. In, our relationship, Abby is that person.
She is the one who does not like to look at instructions, and Abby's a smart person, right? I think she's really smart, she works in the medical field, she does things that I could not comprehend doing, obviously. And I, myself, I get that feeling of wanting that accomplishment of like, I did it on my own, I get it. But, sometimes I like the fee- even though I do like that feeling, I more so like to be efficient with my time. And so, I remember a specific instance, Abby and I, we got a dresser from Ikea, and Ikea is famously known for having confusing instructions, whatever.
But she, she bought the dresser, and she wanted to put it together whenever I was not home, so that it'd be done with, which was really nice of her. I come home, she's still working on it, and I asked her if she wanted some help. She said, no, I'm good. I said, did you look at the instructions? She said, no, but I'm figuring it out.
And then she finishes it and she, tries to show me. And I look at it and she's like, it looks good, but, like, the door is closing a little weird. And so I pull out the instructions, and I look at it, and she had put the doors upside down. And we never fixed them. They're still upside down.
So, I mean, it worked, but, it took a lot longer than it should have, and it didn't work out the way it could have, if she had kind of used the instructions. But, you know, kind of like I said, even having the instruct- instructions and even trying to use them can be confusing. Right? And so obviously whenever the instructions are be salt and be light, that's not necessarily straightforward all the time. Right?
And so, whenever we hear that, I think the easiest way to interpret that is, your actions should be pointing to God, plain and simple. By the way, you live your life, others should know who it is that you belong to. I think Paul talks about, this idea very similarly in Galatians chapter 5. I'll go ahead and read through, this part for us. The acts of the flesh are obvious.
Sexual morality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of god. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things, there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh and its passions and desires.
And since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. This is probably a familiar passage, I would guess. And I think its meaning is pretty straightforward. It draws this pretty clear line, it gives us lists of, you know, these things are bad and these things are good. And I think that it should be a little simpler to follow than what it ends up being sometimes.
If you follow Jesus, if you have the Holy Spirit within you, your life should look a certain way. And so if my focus is on Jesus, and then I have all these fruits of the spirit, and then I will be salty and glowing. Right? That's kind of, what the result of that should be. And I think that does make things a little more clear, but, I wanna know how do I simplify this as much as possible.
Right? Because long list, I get I get lost with those pretty easily. The the more instructions I have, the easier it is sometimes to get confused. And So how can I make this as simpler as simple as it can be? Easy to apply, each and every day.
And it's kind of like a political slogan. Right? Slogans are supposed to be this short phrase that encompasses, a candidate's policies and goals. Right? We've heard those before.
We know some obvious ones from not too long ago. There was make America great again and build back better from the last election, and, from our 2 most recent presidents. However, there are a few, fun ones that I want to look at real quick. Reminder, what I'm gonna show you, these are supposed to summarize their goals and policies of these candidates. Okay?
These are all presidential candidate slogans. Okay. Oh, that turned out so small. So the very first one up there, it is it says, Don't vote McAfee. A slogan from John McAfee in 2020, who was a British libertarian, running for American president.
His slogan was don't vote McAfee, which obviously he did not win. Right? Then the next one there, it says tanned, rested, and ready. I don't know what that means. From Bobby Jindal in 2016.
Next one, not just peanuts from Jimmy Carter in 1976, who was the oldest living president at 99 years old. And he actually won with this slogan. However, he was not reelected for a second term, so maybe people decided he was just peanuts. Right? How many of you know who Adlai Stevenson is?
Some of you do. Not many hands. Right? I'm guessing that's, means his winning the winning team slogan that he had was not, successful. It's from 1956.
Next one, don't swap forces midstream. That was used by both FDR in 1944 and Abe Lincoln in 18/64. And so, seemingly, that's much more effective slogan than just calling yourself the winning team. Right? And then the last one, a square deal for all that was used by William Howard Taft, who was famously more of a circle than a square.
That's not what Wikipedia told me. That makes my Howard Taft joke less funny. Oh, well. But, anyways, I don't know if these fully encompass what each candidate was trying to portray. Right?
But I do think that, we have a pretty good slogan for the Christian life, something that should encompass our goals and policies that we've been kind of talking about and working towards Galatians 5 starting verse 13. You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another humbly in love, for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command, love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law is fulfilled, in this one thing, this one short phrase, this one slogan. And I think Jesus said something similar in Matthew 22.
Know, the greatest command is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. And he said that all the laws and the prophets hang on these two things. So Paul and Jesus agree, and I don't think I'm gonna argue with them, obviously. Right?
However, one of my Bible professors told me that if you're preaching over passage, and it includes a big spiritual truth, but it's not like the focus of what you're talking about. You have to at least, mention it. You can't just gloss over it. So that's me mentioning this big biblical truth. But it's not the main thing that I want to focus on from here.
We like freedom a lot in America, right? I'd say we probably like freedom than any other country, and I think that's fair to say. We have freedom from some things, and we have freedom to do other things. Freedom from religious persecution, which I think everyone in this room probably really appreciates, right? Freedom from censorship in the press, freedom from taxation without representation, free freedom to protect ourselves, freedom to vote, etcetera, all those things.
And we usually refer to them as rights. We have our right to do this, we have these rights that are protected. And And freedom progressively becomes a bigger and bigger conversation and focus as we get closer to November this year, obviously. These things, these freedoms, these slogans will come up again before too long. And as Christians, we love to call things our God given freedoms or our God rights.
And which I agree that god gives us a lot of freedoms. And throughout history, though, however, humanity has done an awful job of taking advantage of our freedoms and using them well. From the very beginning, Adam and Eve, they were given this freedom of choice to, they were given this garden and so many different options, and they just had one request from god and had the freedom to follow it or not, and they chose with their freedom to disobey. And then a little later on, when the Hebrews were in Egyptian slavery and, god sets them free out of this bondage, they have this new freedom and god is leading them to the promised land. And what do they decide to do with their freedom?
They decide to constantly spit in god's face and turn away from him and chase after other things. Right? And then whenever Jesus came to earth a little later in the story, some people used their freedom to follow Jesus and some used their freedom to kill Jesus. Right? We've had this freedom forever, and humanity has constantly made wrong choices with that freedom that we have.
And so, the question that we kind of have to ask ourselves is, are we going to use our freedom that we have, that we know that we have, to chase after selfishness? Or on the other hand, are we going to use our freedom, as Paul calls us here, to serve? Use your freedom to serve one another humbly and love. As we already talked about, everything that god has asked of us is summed up in loving God and loving others. And this is a surefire way to make it happen, I believe, using our freedom to serve humbly and love.
We have the freedom to do that. We have the freedom to do anything, obviously. Right? And a lot of freedoms, we focus on are about ourselves. I'm free to protect myself.
I'm free to look out for myself. I'm free to do, my own thing. And I'm not saying that exercising those freedoms are a bad thing, obviously. But, what I am saying is how often do we exercise this? Right?
We have this freedom. How often are we taking advantage of freedom we have to do that? I'm gonna close by asking a couple of questions to challenge us and then, offer an encouragement there at the end as well. So the first question that I have, I'd like you to ask yourself, oh my god, is this. This first one, it says, who is it convenient to serve?
K. Who in your life is it convenient for you to serve, and are you doing it? You should be thinking about, who who you are around all of the time. Right? That might be your spouse, your parents, your kids.
And you should be serving them constantly. Right? If you are with someone all the time and you're not constantly looking for an opportunity to do something for them to make their life better and to serve them, we have to ask ourselves why. Can you imagine what it looks like if everyone in your household was serving each other relentlessly, if they were using their freedom to constantly serve one another? It probably looked like a clean house.
It probably looked like a lot of good meals. It probably looked like less fights than there are. Right? If we're using our freedom to consider those that are closest to us, then I think if everyone does that, then obviously our life is gonna be positively impacted. Right?
Next question. Who is it inconvenient for you to serve, and are you doing it? These could be people that you interact with a lot, but maybe you don't like them that much, and so you don't like the idea of serving them or making their life better. Maybe this is someone you don't see very often, maybe a family member that lives further away, or this could also just include literal strangers. Who is it inconvenient for you to serve?
It might take a little bit of extra effort. Right? But I think that Jesus showed us how worth it that was to go the extra mile. We can think back to the story of the woman that washes Jesus' feet. It was so inconvenient.
It was so maybe not appropriate for her to do what she did, but she stepped out and she's commended her for it. And I think that if we're honest with ourselves, there are a lot of times where we could, but we don't. Right? There are a lot of times where we think about, oh, what this affects me in this way. I don't think it's a good time.
Right? Or other people will look at it this way. Who is it inconvenient for you to serve, and are you doing it? And then the last question, where are you selfish when you shouldn't? And this could look a lot of different way.
Whenever, whenever I ask myself this question, my thought goes to snacks. Last weekend, Abby and I, we went to Target to, do some shopping, and then, we decided to treat ourselves and get some candy while we were there. I'm a real bad snacker though, and especially when I'm in my office for a few hours, I have the bad habit of taking a snack down there and, like, going through all of it. And so I got some, Starbursts in a big bag, and she told me, you cannot take these down to your office. Because if you take them down to your office, I'm never gonna see any of them.
Which is fair. I will say a week later, the bag of Starburst still has Starburst in it. I did take them to my office last night though, but I left some, put it back in the pantry, and I'm going to have to reveal that for later. So, but you all know first. But it could be something that small and that simple, where, it might seem irrelevant, but so many times in our everyday life, we're making choices for ourselves, and those don't always have a negative impact on someone else.
But we need to be aware of whenever we're navigating through our life, who's our focus, right? Are we taking opportunity to serve ourselves or to serve somebody else? Then today, I wanna offer some encouragement, this last little statement. Jesus used his freedom for you. He had so much freedom up in heaven.
He, had all of this power, all of this glory, and he chose. He used his freedom to come down to earth and to suffer and to die, and to grow whatever looks like a good life at the time away to die for us. And whenever I think about serving other people, a lot of times, a bad thought that maybe the devil puts in my head is, like, what about me? What about me? If I'm focused so much on other people, where does that leave me?
And of course there are healthy boundaries to all of these things, but I think that there's one thing that we can all be encouraged by is, no matter what, there's always someone who used his freedom to serve us and continues to use his freedom to serve us. Each and every day, we have Jesus in our corner, we have Jesus living within us, we have Jesus on our side, no matter what it is that comes up each and every day. And so this morning, if, maybe you feel like you focused a little too much on yourself and it's hard to serve other people. Maybe you've, shanked responsibilities. Maybe your closest relationships are rocky because maybe you're not considering each other very well.
Whatever this might look like, I think maybe step number 1 is praying to God, coming to prayer. And you have a great opportunity to do that this morning. Even if it's not coming forward, if, there's someone here that you trust and, you rely on, ask them to pray for you. Ask them how you can serve them. Ask them, to just keep you in their their hearts and their prayers.
I think that that can be, an opportunity. As well as this morning, if you have any other needs, selfish or not, we wanna pray for those. If you have anything going on in your life that, maybe seems too big or maybe seems out out of your hand or maybe seems small and you wanna share, with it. You can bring that before you press. We're here because we love you, and we care for you.
If you want to continue on in your spiritual journey, if you wanna make the next step and commit your life to Jesus and and baptism, you can do that as well. Anything that you have, please come as we stand.