The Selfless Gospel

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 2 Corinthians 4:5

How many times have you seen it…the preacher getting up on his soap box to preach his agenda to his church to make them look and act like he wants them to look and act?  This is a real danger in our world.  As a pastor it’s a danger that I face every time I stand up to preach, which is why I say the same prayer before I stand up to bring God’s word to God’s people. 

Lord, let my face be your face, my words…your words, my mouth…your mouth. Let my body be your body so that the message I give today is the message you desire for your people.  Lord remove me from the message.  Use me.  That they may see you Jesus.  That they may see you.  

I heard those words from my supervising pastor while in seminary and they just stuck.  He challenged me that the danger exists in all Christians’ lives to put themselves before the gospel.  We all face this challenge in all we do.  It’s easy to the wrong thing for the right reason and just as easy to do the right thing for the wrong reason.  Either one is still wrong.  

The person with the pure heart doesn’t have to face this battle alone.  The pure hearted man or woman of God sees every circumstance before them as an opportunity to give God the glory.  There is nothing selfish about the message of the gospel.  There is no me in Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus did everything to give his father glory.  All of the miracles, all of the messages, all of the healing and teaching was always about connecting people to his father.  

When we live the selfless gospel, we won’t point people to our church or our pastor.  We won’t be so focused on our passion for or against a denomination.  We’ll be centered on Jesus.  We’ll be devoted to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as the sole way for our friends and neighbors to see heaven.  We’ll pray a prayer something like the above.  Praying that God would let his message shine, not us.  That his son would get the praise not us.  We will worship the Master, not the pastor.  We’ll worship the Architect of life, not the beauty of our buildings.  When our hearts are pure, we think more highly of others than we do of ourselves. 

Lord, help me to be your face to the people I will see today.  Speak your words through me as I seek to give you glory in all I do.  Use me that others might see your presence in my actions today.  AMEN.