Serving Jesus Christ
An all-creatures Bible Message

Serving Jesus Christ
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
15 January 2017
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:10-19

Serving Jesus Christ is something we are all to be doing, because it’s in the heavenly will of God, just as Jesus taught us.
 
Jesus taught us how to better understand the true teachings of the Hebrew Bible so that we could more easily understand what was in the heavenly will of God as compared to what was of this corrupt and evil world.
 
If we are really serving Jesus Christ, we will reject all of the corrupt ways of this world with all its violence, pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death that have been plaguing this earth for thousands of years.
 
Let’s begin our discussion of what it really means to be serving Jesus Christ through the writings of an Old Testament prophet, Isaiah 49:1-7…

1. Listen to Me, O islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called Me from the womb;
From the body of My mother He named Me.

Isaiah’s message is for the whole world, thus we know it is for us, too.
 
We strongly believe that the Lord has called each and every one of us in a similar way, maybe not to be a prophet like Isaiah, but we know that He has called us to be a witness to the world around us about what is right and in the heavenly will of God.

2. And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me,
And He has also made Me a select arrow;
He has hidden Me in His quiver.

Maybe we (the children of God) are somewhat hidden because we outwardly look like the other people in the world, while inwardly we are quite different.
 
If we are eating only the plant foods that God created for us to eat in Eden, and someone asks us why we don’t eat any animal products, and we tell them that eating animal products causes billions of animals to suffer and die every year, and we want to live in peace with all animals and end their suffering, it will cut the person we are talking to like a sharp sword, because it will convict them of the pain and suffering they are causing.
 
Even the fact that we buy and eat only plant foods are a witness before the animal product eaters of this world that we are living in the heavenly will of God and serving Jesus Christ, even if we don’t say anything.
 
Serving Jesus Christ makes the corrupt people of this world uncomfortable; for it inwardly points out to them that they are not fully serving God.

3. And He said to Me, "You are My Servant, Israel,
In Whom I will show My glory."
 
4. But I said, "I have toiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD,
And My reward with My God."

As long as we are serving Jesus Christ, we should never feel discouraged if we don’t see the people of this world changing their ways, for our message is still going out to the world.

5. And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him  (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
And My God is My strength),

Isaiah seems to be speaking for his Messiah, who we know is Jesus Christ, so we know that Isaiah is really serving Jesus Christ, just as all of us should be doing.

6. He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

As Isaiah clearly points out, serving Jesus Christ is much more than delivering the message to Israel, or today we could say the church; it is being the light of Jesus Christ to the whole world.
 
If we are truly serving Jesus Christ, we must be bold in delivering His kingdom message to the world around us, because Jesus taught us to bring God’s heavenly will to earth as it is in heaven.
 
This means that we are not just to talk about God’s heavenly will, we are to live it every moment of every day.

7. Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and its Holy One,
To the despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers,
"Kings shall see and arise,
Princes shall also bow down;
Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You."
NASB

Serving Jesus Christ is living the life of Jesus Christ before the world around us; and as more of us do this, the more people will repent and change into the peacemaking children of God.
 
When we first started in this ministry over thirty years ago, very few people knew what the word “vegan” meant; today it has become mainstream, because vegans kept telling others that it was a lifestyle in which we knowingly bring no harm to any animals, and eat only the plant foods that God created for us to eat in Eden.
 
Not only did this message bring the world to understand what “vegan” meant, it also taught the people of the world about the pain and suffering an animal product diet was causing, and this message in turn ends more suffering in the world.
 
This is what it really means to be serving Jesus Christ and to live like the peacemaking children of God that He called us to be.
 
In 1 Corinthians 1:10-19, we get a different perspective of what it means to be serving Jesus Christ…

10. Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

This doesn’t mean that we cannot have our own opinions, but that we are to be living in peace with one another and not fight or argue about our doctrinal or other religious differences.
 
We are to be the peacemaking children of God, just as Jesus called us to be.

11. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you.
 
12. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ."
 
13. Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

There is only one Jesus Christ, there is only one God, and there is only one Holy Spirit; so what does it matter who baptized us?
 
Throughout the ages people have torn themselves apart and in some cases even gone to war or just murdered one another over doctrinal differences that should rightfully be left to God at the time of the judgement.
 
All of us are probably wrong about some doctrinal issue and we need to accept this fact, for to do otherwise is not serving Jesus Christ; strife is from the devil and not from God.

14. I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
 
15. that no man should say you were baptized in my name.
 
16. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

Paul is trying to let everyone know that their disputes and divisions are the opposite of serving Jesus Christ.
 
However, from reading the Bible, we also find that even Paul got caught up in some disputes, which doesn’t give us an excuse to do the same; we are to always be the peacemaking children of God who are continually serving Jesus Christ.

17. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.

This is all part of serving Jesus Christ; our heavenly responsibility is to live and spread the heavenly will of God here on earth as it is in heaven, where there is no pain, or mourning, or death, which unfortunately most clergy and congregations fail to bring into their lives and churches.
 
Our world is full of violence, pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death, particularly for the animals, who worldly people crave to have on their plates.

18. For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Think about what this means for most of the people in the world today.

19. For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside."
NASB

If we are not serving Jesus Christ and following the heavenly will of God, then it means that we are following the will of the devil and his minions.
 
We can’t have two masters; we are either serving the devil and the ways of this world with all its violence that causes millions of humans and billions of animals to suffer and die every year, or we are serving Jesus Christ.
 
What are you going to do?
 
As for us, we are doing everything in our power to be serving Jesus Christ.
 
Join us.
 
Amen.

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