Good morning, it is good to be together again in the House of worship. Our sermon title this morning is Entitlements, Rights and Self Denial. Someone once made a comment. Gratitude and entitlement cannot live at the same time in the same brain. When a person starts viewing life through the lens of I deserve, it's my right that turns very bad very fast. Chasing after our rights is self focused and it leads to a victim
mentality. Seeking how to live in self denial is the essence of what it means to love others. Jesus modelled it, he lived it and he died for it. In the Apostle Paul the same and many others and we're called to do the same thing. The opposite of entitlements and rights is one word, self denial. Self denial points to life of generosity, charity and self sacrifice. But these character qualities do not happen by themselves. They're traits that have to be developed and to go against our
basic natural human instinct. We're naturally bent toward pushing for what we want and holding on to what we have. It's amazing how easily we can accept a good deal and a good bargain and a gift and so on. But then the opposite. If we're supposed to give it, then it's a different story. Many years ago, I was part of a worship service, not this
church. And in that worship service that day, the preacher talked about this whole concept of putting others first, denying self and, and be generous and all that stuff. And just, you know how Paul writes in Philippians count others higher than yourselves and so on. Well, that particular day in this in the church had a what a picnic like we had a few weeks ago. And so after lunch, we all walked outside and there was the tables of food.
And then we formed a line like just we did a few weeks ago. And there's a long line of people. I was standing in that line further maybe in the middle of somewhere and all of a sudden I saw this one man coming up to the line. He saw one of his friends close to the front. He quickly walked up to his friend and stepped right in front of him. And his friend said, did we not just hear this morning that we're supposed to put others 1st?
And he said, yeah, he says, and that's what I'm giving you an opportunity to do. Now, put me first. It may be a bit funny, but that's how far some people's mind goes. OK, I'm going to go where they'll put me first. Self denial, OK. Hope they deny themselves for me. That's the tragedy. That's the problem, and it's unfortunate. I want to say to you, brothers and sisters, that's how some people come to church, Wonder what they'll do for me here, wonder how they benefit me.
People with that kind of thinking have a lot have missed the point and the entitlement mindset of the western culture of our day would shock our ancestors of 100 years ago. And I don't have time this morning to go into all the details how this works itself out in life. We could spend hours in all the different phases of life and areas of life where this becomes manifest. It is self-destructive for ourselves and others when we do that pushing for our rights and entitlement.
The entitlement setting is what we're born with at birth. It started with Adam and Eve in the garden, that's they became warped. We're warped when we're born. We want what we want and I don't care what it costs somebody else. And if I can get something for free and don't have to give anything, so be it. Paul had something to say about this in Romans chapter 12. I'm going to read a few verses before we get into the scripture text this morning. Romans 12 verse one to three, He
says, I appeal to you brothers. Therefore, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship, do not be conformed, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good
and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. I want us to keep this in the background of our mind as we go through First Corinthians chapter 19, the 1st 18 verses. So we're continuing our sermon series in First Corinthians.
And last Sunday we heard from Pastor Jonah that if we do not love, we do not yet know as we ought. We were reminded what role knowledge plays in our walk with God and in our relationships with one another. We were reminded not to use our knowledge as something with which to disregard or pressure others. We're supposed to use our knowledge as an Ave. of service to other people. That's big. That's huge. So this morning we're continuing
in the same line of thought. We must acknowledge this. Knowledge must be servant to love. Let's hold on to that. Knowledge must be servant to love. Paul modelled this beautifully and how well he conducted himself considering what was going on in Corinth. Paul had knowledge, and he used that knowledge to discern how he could best serve his fellow believers in Corinth, not how he could manage them into what he
would like them to be like. I'm going to make you the world's views opposite the world's views. As soon as you become the way I am, what I need you to be, we'll both be happy, right? And they both think the same. Nothing's happening. What Paul was saying here in this letter in Corinth, it was foreign to the culture of our time. I put a few comments together. I just want to go through them. In our culture, we're high on rights and low on responsibility.
We're strong on entitlement and weak on restraint. We're drawn to self indulgence and resist self denial. We demand much from others. We offer them the minimum. We expect others to conform to us. We don't want to conform to others. I want to say I trust that for most of us here this morning, that's not the case. But this is our culture. That's our culture. The culture of Paul's day, like any culture, was a culture with those kinds of values. I want to get the most for the least.
That was the thinking when Paul wrote to the to the Corinthians, and he addressed a variety of issues the church was dealing with. As we're continuing to make our way through this letter, we're seeing how serious this was. One of the issues was the matter of living out their freedom. How were they doing that? And we heard last Sunday not to do it abusively or with putting pressure on people. And you're going to do it my way? No, If somebody is struggling with a weakness, you know what?
I'm going to accommodate the best I can. Before we read today's passage, I want to ask us this question and seriously reflect on it. Am I an entitled person? Do I push for my rights? Does my life reflect a rights mentality or do I live a life of self sacrifice, self denial, so that others may grow in their faith? And the subject that Paul uses to describe last Sunday's topic is powerful, perhaps the most powerful 1 he could have chosen.
Let's read it. First Corinthians Chapter 9 beginning verse 18. First Corinthians Chapter 9, verse 1 to 18. Paul writes, am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? And are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I'm to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defence to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to eat and drink?
Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit, or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses.
You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does He not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake because the plowman should plow in hope, and the thresher should thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we read material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even
more? Nevertheless, we've not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than if anyone deprived me of my ground for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting, For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel, for if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with the stewardship.
What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. We see in today's text how Paul expands on what he is writing in chapter 8. There's a continuation here from last Sunday. I want to read Daniel Aiken's commentary on this particular subject. He's a good commentator. And that's that's a commentary that we as pastors have kind of agreed on to use it as a reference to kind of guide us
through this this book. And he puts it this way. He takes the First Corinthians chapter 830 and he says this is the connecting point is therefore food makes my brother to stumble. I will never eat meat lest I make my brother stumble. That's a powerful verse. But then he goes on to explain he says in verse he says this 1st Corinthians 813 ties chapter 8 and 9 together.
Paul will not do anything to cause a brother or sister to stumble in the faith, even if he has the liberty and the right to do that thing. That includes eating food, sacrifice to life as idols chapter 8, and receiving compensation or pay for preaching the gospel Chapter 9. Chapter 9 is a personal example that drives home the point Paul
is trying to make. In chapter 8, he builds a compelling argument for the right of financial compensation for anyone who preaches the gospel and ministers to the church. His argument is filled with rhetorical questions and illustrations. You see, eating meat was not a sin issue, but it could cause a weaker follower or a new follower of Jesus to stumble. In Chapter 9. He then uses his own life practices, his own self-discipline to explain how
he's living this out. We see Paul pointing out that he's not taking any pay for the work he's doing. While he has the right to do so, he denies himself that in order not to get a false impression from people he's preaching the gospel to. I have to say I find it extremely interesting how Paul chooses the matter of paying the pastor as the example to use. Maybe it's because it's such a sensitive topic and it's such a great need. He says ministers have the right to be paid for the work of
preaching and teaching. The issue of paying pastors may have been a sensitive issue back then. I don't know, but sure as now what Paul was saying in Chapter 9 verses 1 to 14 is this. And I know that for some dismiss on stranger harsh, it's true. But Paul says this way, you know, just summarize it. He says, I have the freedom to instruct you to pay me for the work I've done among you, but for the sake of not hindering the gospel, I've denied myself that right. That's powerful.
It's a very heavy truth. It's not just in this passage. There are other passages that say it's the same thing with different words. But in this passage, Paul drives home the point that a minister of the gospel is freedom like everyone else. And here he gives a clear picture of what that freedom looks like. Ministers of the gospel have a right to be paid for the work they do. Paul goes on through a long list of self answering questions to explain it.
Now you again use Danny Aiken's list of statements to come up with my own list. Let's look at what Paul is trying to teach the church. Danny Aiken's commentary has a lengthy list. And here's kind of here's how it's kind of put together #1 Paul apostles have the right to receive compensation for their work. Remember verse one and two and 3:00, AM I not free? He says, am I not an apostle? He's I'm at least you and he's
that's my defense. He reminded them he's an apostle, he's free, he's seen the Lord and all those things. He says I have the right for this like everybody else. And verse 4, do we not have the eat to eat right to eat and drink right to take a long believing wife or is it just me and Barnabas who can't do that? He says we have a right to eat and drink at the church's cost. We have a right to take along a wife at the church's expense. We have a right to take payment
at your expense. That's what he's saying. It's hard, I know. But then he goes into all this detail, how he explains it. He says soldiers have the right to be paid for their service, right? That's the truth. He says. That's how soldiers go to battle. They get paid. He says vine dressers have the right to eat from the fruit of the vine. Someone plants a vineyard. Are they not going to want to eat from it? Of course they do. He says shepherds have the right to take milk from the flock.
The shepherd verse 7 it's self-evident the herdsman will benefit from the flock that he shepherd over and he he goes further he even goes to animals. Oxen have the right to eat from the grain they thresh. This is interesting how he uses Old Testament law to back to he goes back that far to back this up. And the Old Testament law said you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.
They used oxen for threshing in those days because they didn't have, of course, no mechanized farm equipment. So they would gather the grain off the field and buy tie it in bundles, bring it home. And on a flat hard surface, they would spread it out. The ox would go round and round and round walking over the grain and the the kernels would separate from the stock. And then eventually the with the wind, they would blow the chaff away and they would have the
grain. And the law was don't muzzle the ox when he's doing that. If he wants to eat, let him eat, he says. That's written for us. Paul writes for pastors. He's reminding even oxen have that right. God's concerned about treating animals fairly. How much more people? He says. It's not just written for them, it's written for us. The ploughmanesis has a right to eat from the harvest of the crop. Someone ploughs the field, so is the field. Will they not want to eat from that verse?
Then the next one, verse 10, the treasure has a right to eat from the harvest. Verse 10. But then Paul moves in closer. It's not that he stops here. It's not that he's OK. That's enough for that. And now he moves in closer, and now he's bringing it in closer. In verse 11 and 12, he's tying the temporal, the physical with the spiritual. Here he makes the application. But here's where a lot of people draw a line.
Or they have no problem with paying a worker for building something, building a fence and building a barn and and doing a day's job. Fine, pay them, sure. But when it comes to the matters of church, shouldn't it be free? Should we have to? And then we hear things like Matthew 10, verse 8. You receive without pay. You freely receive, freely give. I've heard that the argument is that Jesus gave himself free. Of course he did. The problem is the people who say that they stop right there.
And if we go a little bit further in Matthew 10 verse 9 to 10, Jesus has acquired no silver, copper, gold for your belts, no bag for your journal, tunics or sandals or staff. He says if you stop there, then it would be interesting. He says for the laborer deserves his food. They're not to charge for the service, it's true, but on the account the people they would minister to would be generous in providing for their needs. It should be mutual.
The worker should not have to worry about will he eat or not. He's not saying about meeting their wants, but meeting the needs. Paul is literally saying verse 11 and 12. Have I sown spiritual things among Is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim, this rightful claim on you do not do we not even more, he says. Nevertheless, we've not made use of this, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
Paul here bridges the gap. Paul connects the physical to the spiritual, the money to the work. You see, we can't put life in silos. Money is 1 silo. My job is another silo, my family is 1 silo, my recreation is A1 silo, and the church is another silo. That's not how life is. We might think it is. It's not true. It's all interwoven, interconnected. Everything effects everything. And of course, we know the material world is not eternal. It'll pass away.
We know that. But God created the material for the purpose of reflecting the eternal through the material, and in so doing bring honor to His name. And it isn't how we live in the material. That's a window, what's in our heart and soul. Paul talks about this principle also in First Timothy chapter 5. He says let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and
teaching. And he's tying the physical compensation to the spiritual work they do. And in verse 13, First Corinthians 1913, Paul does talk about this. He says the priests receive money and receive food from the temple. In Paul's day this was common. People would worship in temples and then the priest would be there. He was a full time there and he would eat from what they would bring. And he says in verse 14, people who minister in the word have the right to be paid for their
work. Paul is saying paying pastors is normal. To not pay them is not normal. Paul has a right to not take the money that his he has a freedom to not do it, but the church owes it to him from the church. They should, they should pay the pastors. From the pastors side, they have the right to not exercise that right. So why is it then that this is so difficult for so many churches in this area to live this way, to put others before ourselves?
Why is it and why is it that so many churches, so many mission organizations, so many nonprofits are struggling, keep the doors open, pay their staff, and just barely hang on? Because it's partly it's because we don't understand the principle of knowledge, acting and love. We're more focused on entitlement, on rights than on self sacrifice. I get it. Some countries things are very hard financially. Everyone's struggling, nobody has enough.
Even that's real. But in the Western world, in the US and Canada, for the most part, that's not the case. When I read stories of missionaries, how they sacrifice and people in poor countries when somebody comes to serve, how they sacrifice of their very meager, what they have, they still want to. This is for the God's Kingdom. This is for the gospel. I will take of what I have to help that versus, well, I can't. I can't.
For many years, we in North America have lived relatively easy lifestyles, comparatively speaking. We are living in a time of prosperity. Why is it important to bring this up? Here's the issue. Just like in chapter 8, there were issues about eating and not eating meat. Paul is saying it's not the issue. The heart is the issue. The issue is the heart. It boils down to a problem of entitlement. Who's first? You are the next person.
What I'm about to say is true, but I'll say this gently as I can. This applies to many churches, even here at LEMC, for many of us as devoted and dedicated, as loyal to Christ in this church as we say we are, how we live, where we go, how we shop, what we drive and all those things. If that dedication would be measured by the other one, which one would come first? Paul could have told the Corinthian church, Hey, you guys, you got to pay me.
Here's my, here's my, here's the, here's the receipt. This is how much you owe me for coming and serving here. These this amount of time he had the right to charge, but for the sake of the gospel he refused to give up his position of strength as an example of generosity and self sacrifice for them to reflect on. He says as a minister of the gospel, I will live so that no one can fault me for the purpose for which I'm doing this and no one can point to my work as
being done for selfish motives. How would we as a church function if all of us in our respective occupations and colleagues would live this principle out? If Alliancy is going to be a loving church, it will mean we will look into the needs of others first before ourselves. It means we're going to be generous with each other, with the call we have, how we manage our resources, how we prioritize them. The most powerful testimony in this regard. It was lived out by the Apostle
Paul and the same in our lives. How we use our rights says more about us than the people on whose behalf we're exercising our rights or practice self denial. Let me repeat this. How we use our rights or exercise our rights says more about us than the people on whose behalf we're exercising our rights or practice our self denial. And for that reason, Paul says I'm not going to do it no matter what it cost me.
That brings us there's only two points in our sermons and they minister the gospel can decide not to use his rights. What would have happened if Paul had forced the issue, so to speak? You guys have to pay me. You have to share. If he had done what might have happened, it would have impeded or hindered that particular ministry, that particular work. It could very easily have come across as demanding, controlling and manipulative even. Let's read again First Corinthians 9, verse 15.
Take your Bibles and read verse one more time, he says. But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these, nor am I, for I would rather die for anyone didn't have anyone deprive me on my grounds for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting for necessities laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, But if not of my own will, I'm still in trust
with the stewardship. What then is my reward that in preaching I may resent present the gospel free of charge does not to make full use of my right in the gospel. It literally seems as if Paul exercised self denial at every turn as much as possible. If there ever was a person who suffered for preaching the gospel, it was Paul, and he restrained himself from using his rights for the sake of the gospel and didn't demand that he be paid for his work.
Consider this. What did Paul's acts of self denials do to the church? It put the ball in their court. It put the ball in their court for them to freely decide of their own convictions. What do we do to Paul in response? Seems to me if I was a member at the Church of Corinth, I would have been convicted and started feeling pressured or burdened. Or what can I do for him? He gives so much. He doesn't demand anything. Let me give you an illustration to illustrate this a little bit.
I'm not sure all of you have been to yard sales, you know, and we look for the best items and maybe a nice tool or whatever there may be that we want to buy. It's good. I'm not arguing with that. And then we look at the price. Oh, that's cheap. This is $100 tool sale for $15. I'm buying that. I'm not saying it's wrong. What do you do?
This happened to me. What do you do when you come to a yard sale and you see something you really want and there's no sticker on there And the guy says, welcome to say, what's this part? What's the cost? Just he says you decide, well, you know, it's worth 100 bucks. Now you get to decide how much you're going to pay for that. What do you do? Oh man, I know it's worth 100, but I don't want to pay 100. It's used maybe slightly, but still. Do I give him 50?
I wish he would just say something. You know, we want boundaries, we want law, we want restrictions, we want margins. But you know what God wants? He wants us, but you know when I tell this guy, OK, well that's $100 tool I know, but UK, if I give you 20, what does that make me look like? That my friends, is what we do with the gospel many times. See how cheap we can get it for as little commitment as possible. Imagine this, you go to car dealership, see these nice new
cars, go to the sales guy. Hey, yeah, I'm interested in that Ford 150. That's my favorite truck. I'm interested in that Ford 150. How much is it? Well, you decide. Well, now, cool. I'm going to get this truck for free. I'm going to pay them 10 bucks for it. How foolish would that be on my part knowing that dealership paid 50,000. Put it on the lot. They want to sell it for 60 or something like that. For Paul to deny himself to take the right of taking a paycheck.
Put the ball in their courts to have them evaluate themselves, who they were. Their generosity or lack thereof was a clear indicator where their hearts were. Paul was after their hearts, not their money. He wanted a relationship. Goes back to chapter 8. Look guys, love one another. Use your knowledge to love one another. He was not demanding his rights,
but he was putting it out there. Self denial is one of the most powerful lights that one can use to shed light on what needs changing in another person's life. We don't force it, we invite it. I visited one time years ago with an older retired Highwood coach driver. He was driving a bus. He was retired, still had his coach and was using it to drive church groups around.
And he shared with me how at the beginning of his retirement, he had just donated his coach and his time as a driver to drive church groups around wherever they needed to go, long distance trips and whatnot, and everything. And he had done it free of charge. Just whatever you feel is good you want to give me, I'll accept that. And I'll do this free of charge. You give me whatever you feel that to give me.
He shared with me how this one church he had hired him to drive on a youth event was a youth conference retreat. I forget what it was, but a long event, several days I guess. And so he drives them there and brings them back. Everything works well. And when it's all said and done, they say thank you very much, appreciate what you did for us. And they leave no money for the diesel, no money for the time, no money for the upkeep of his vehicle, nothing like that.
He says. I eventually had to start charging to stay in the business, to keep volunteering. Wasn't his fault, it was the people's fault who he was opening himself up to. So what's the problem? Wasn't the bus driver, it was the people he was serving. You know, Paul's exercising his freedom and not charging because he wants to open the doors for everybody to do likewise. Give, be generous. Paul gave not just money, he gave himself. He was a Pharisee.
He had it made young Pharisees, they were the cream of the crop. They were the best of the best. They had to secure income. They were set for life, educated, trained, and everything you can imagine. He gave all that up to do what God called him to do. I've said in the past, churches should be shiny examples, examples both in how they treat their own, how to deal with the community. So we must ask ourselves how we're doing individually. How are we? How are we doing collectively as
a church? Paul used his freedom to deny himself, to set an example the way he wants every Christian follower to do. I think I'm well within the mark when I say Paul was doing what he was doing because of his free spirited, generous generosity mindset, not out of pressure or coercion. He had the right to make the call, but instead he did not because he lived it.
Paul says the rewards for preaching the gospel is to present it free of charge so no one could rob him of his boast of his purpose in doing the work. There are many pastors today who don't work for payment either. They do not set their salaries yet to get paid, but only what the leadership of the church decides to pay them. And some churches do great, some do well, others don't. But Paul says I won't use my right, my power, to enforce it.
Paul lived above reproach and yes, a true minister, the gospel must put the gospel for its. And that's why many pastors year after year keep on serving for far less than if they had different jobs. And they do it because they were called to the ministry not not in the condition if the church pays you serve, but because of a calling. What sometimes happens in churches in our time is when times are good, living standards go up. Pastor salaries don't, even though they spent years
training. The good times don't reflect on their lifestyles. And so while the many in the courage live better times, they upped the ante. Good times are good, but they still drive the same vehicles, live in the same conditions, the same low cost living don't. They don't do with the nicer things because the economy didn't go up for them. But then when the economy goes down, now the Church feels, oh boy, now my lifetime is supposed to drop and boy, I'm supposed to drop my living standard.
Well, we didn't have to downgrade. So where, where can we downgrade? Well, I guess the Church will have to do with less. That's what sometimes happens. I'm not saying this by way of punishment or abuse or rebuke. I'm just saying this is true reality. The Church is often the first thing to get checked off on the checklist. Well, I guess I can cut here. Why do I say these things? Because they're true. I'm not trying to be harsh or abusive. This is just what happens.
God's design is that we're free. Free to do what? To use our knowledge for the glory of His Kingdom by benefiting others. The freedom, the freedom we have in Christ is not given to us to do as we please, but to do as we ought. This applies to all of us. Paul never had an attitude of entitlement. Neither should we. Jesus paid for our freedom at the cost of his life. Paul paid for the ministry he did with his own life in this world.
The truth is to exercise this freedom and live with this kind of self denial. It costs stuff. It is painful. In a recent Sherman Pastor John made this comment. He said just because one can does not mean one should. I agree, but let's add to it. Just because 1 does not have to, does not mean one doesn't need to. Do you as a person who want to experience freedom in Christ, do you want to live free? Your freedom will not consist of others serving you.
Your freedom will consist of you serving others. You will never find greater freedom than when you put the needs of others before your own, when the needs of another become your objective, when you make it your mission to meet that need. That is what Paul is doing with his ministry. That's what we find in chapter 8 and it comes through here as well. And in our time, I must confess, we have been spoiled in this in this country, in our in our
North America generally. I just heard a social media post that in North America and today's situation, 47%, I don't know if the status accurate this. The way I heard it, 47% of people who make 120,000 to 200,000 a year live from paycheck to paycheck. That's how high they've elevated their life's down. I know that's not the norm for you. I know the majority here make way less. I get that. It's not a money problem, it's a
values problem. We'll never be free until we surrender us fully and totally everything we have to Jesus Christ and instead of focusing in rights and entitlement, focus on self denial. Does the self restraint, the self denial of others inspire me, convict me, spur me on, or is like, hey, cool, that gives me more space, that gives me space to cash in, to live in freedom, We must respond to the
gospel. We must repent our sin, put our faith in Jesus. It means giving up ourselves, running ourselves to embracing the cross, committing to follow Jesus, embrace the life of self denial, and then in love walk with one another as his disciples. Jesus set the ultimate example. Paul set the example. Many Saints and have set the example. Many are still setting the example. What about us? Are we going to set the example? That was the message Paul preached.
Jesus did that for us and he helps us to freely do it for others. Let us pray. Lord, thank you for Your grace to us, but through the blood of your Son, Jesus, you set us free from the bond of sin. It is through your Son's resurrection we can now live lives and freedom. There are many parts to the Christian life to deny ourselves as a key part.
May you help us to do that, Lord, to look to you to help us to see where we want to, where we need to serve, what we want to do. Help us to want to do the right things. Lord, you always call us to serve you by serving one another. Lord, may your Spirit help us to live lives that are testimony to your grace and to your mercy. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.