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Living for others

• Who are you living for? Who is the person you are trying to please?
• One of the biggest obstacles we overcome in parenting is convincing our kids to be the children that we want them to be- not to give themselves over to the influence of their friends.
• In this day and age of social media its very easy to allow the opinions of others to rule your life
• There is a balance- but first and foremost- we must live wholly and completely for Jesus and him alone.

• Matt 10:32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
• We do not want to be people who deny who Christ is in our lives. Not at all
• There are many approaches that people use to try and silence Christians
• Words are not necessary, or don’t offend, or no one wants to hear
• But we cannot deny who we are in Christ.
• One of the biggest lies Christians will tell themselves is that someone else will share the gospel
• When you deny Christ you are in essence living for others and not for Christ

1. Living for others controls your mind

• Don’t blow it up in your head what you think others are thinking- it can destroy your mind and your joy
• Often times we over think things in our heads to the point that we see things we aren’t seeing or think things that aren’t true- people do not care about you that much- the are self consumed
• People who spend their whole life scrutinizing others have a sad sad existence.
• For some its to the point of paranoia
• Sometimes on Sunday morning I wonder what I wore last week- and no one even cares
• People are so consumed with their own life they don’t have time to be thinking about yours

• If you are confident in who you are in Christ, you don’t have time to think about what others are thinking about you
• Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
• What are you thinking about during the day????
• Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
• What are you praying about? Pleasing others?
• Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

1. Living for others destroys confidence

• If you were the most confident person in the world you would never think discouraging thoughts, but you do think discouraging thoughts and they destroy confidence
• You would never fear people if you didn’t live for their opinions
• Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.
• God is always asking his people to do or say something and if you are living for others, it will destroy your confidence. It will keep you from stepping out in faith.
• When you live for other people it can stop you from doing God’s will
• People often think you are stupid when you are doing things for God

• IF it is biblical, if it is of God and if the Holy Spirit is telling you to do it, you need to do it
• What people say isn’t relevant. What GOD says is whats relevant.
• Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man.
• Come to the place where you are fine with your testimony being that you lost everything for GOD
• 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

1. Living for others will control you
   • When you focus too much on what others think it keeps you from being who God called you to be
   • You become too overcalculated and think you can’t do something because you start being who you think what other people want you to be
   • Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
   • I realize that people don’t like what I post on facebook lots of times- I’m fine with it. People say it’s a poor witness- I say they are cowards. I’m not being mean I’m preaching truth.
   • Who you family wants, your ‘friends’ want, or what you think they want you to be
   • It can control every part of who you are
   • Wear their clothes, say their words, do what you think they want you to do
   • In social situations, you will find yourself limiting your interactions because you over thought what you were going to do before you got into them, and you over think they while you are in them- you are being controlled but thoughts others aren’t even thinking
   • You eventually become fearful of every situation. Who is in control of your life? Others, you or GOD?
   • God is telling you to do or be something and you end up letting the imagined thoughts of others to keep you from doing what you know you need to do
   • This can affect you relationships, your recreation, unable to be used at church
   • It can also cripple you from sharing your faith and leading others to Christ

·   Ephesians 5:15-16See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

1. Living for others will cause you to be ashamed of God
   • There was a guy named peter in the bible who was very close with Jesus and he thought they he would never deny Christ, but he did- 3 times
   • We often think we are like that- that we’d never disown him
   • But there are opportunites at every door
   • Young man at mall- should have been more bolder- missed the opportunity
   • Luke 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.

• How do you subtly deny Christ in your life?
• Unwilling to answer? Unwilling to be bold? Silent when given opportunity to speak?
• Not honest about what you think when others ask you? Don’t tell the real reason why you wont partake in a sin? Afraid to speak up to others about the necessity for salvation?
• I’ve found that an honest question deserves and honest answer
• The bible says that cowards will not inherit the kingdom of God
• Are you being
  cowardly in your faith?
• Matthew 10:33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
• 2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

1. Living for others leads to a watered down gospel.

• God will find it difficult to use someone who is unwilling to occasionally offend someone with the truth
• The gospel is offense. It tells people that they are not good enough and that they have done wrong
• There is no way around it. The Gospel of repentance comes from a position of wrongness of the individual.
• Luke 6:26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.

6 . living for others is a requirement sometimes, but not at the expense of truth

• Now, none of this is to say that we shouldn’t ever think about others.
• Quite the opposite, we should always be thinking about others.
• Firstly- how you live is giving people an idea of what a Christian looks like

• 1 Peter 2:12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
• you have to follow the laws of the land
• 2 Corinthians 8:21 For we are taking great care to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.

• 1 Timothy 3:7 Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.
• Romans 15:1-2 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.