Being Set Free From "What's In It For Me?"

When I opened my bible to read it yesterday, it opened to this passage of scripture.

Matthew 7

King James Version (KJV)

7 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

² For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

³ And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

⁴ Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

⁵ Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

 I  felt conviction and started praying, Lord Jesus, please help me to get that beam outta my eye!!! After praying for a while, the Lord led me to the Inland Lighthouse web site and to this message: Being Set Free From, "What's In It For Me". Following are a few notes from that message.

"When we arrive at the judgement seat of Jesus Christ, I fear, literally, that we are going to be appalled and were going to be amazed, and were going to be mortified, when we see how many times, and to what deep, great extent, the work of God has been, literally, crippled by misguided motives, hidden agendas, selfish ambitions of what can I get out of this, and what's it gonna mean to me, and what will my pay day be, if I do thus and so."
     Pastor Larry Booker

Fallen man is a sad state of affairs.
Without the grace of God we're all just pitiful sinners.
There's a reason there is an alter and we have to crawl back to it and keep going and going.
God help me to do your will regardless, and not for what I can get out of it!
Until we can be set free from what's in it for me, I'm not really free.
He that the son has set free, is free indeed!
It's so easy to pick apart someone's motives and always read something into what they are doing, especially when we get convicted over our own selfishness.

Question:
What is the single thing that causes failure in the kingdom of God more than any other?
Answer by Rev. Carl Balistero
In every single one that bit the dust was A streak of selfishness, it was the common denominator.
Not being set free from what's in it for me.

Disappointment is most often caused by ego.

Jesus, Please set me free from what's in it for me!!!!

Have you ever noticed how many people that have started out this walk for the Lord with joy, that are now on the sidelines, bitter, hurt, miserable, angry, mad at everybody, mad at preachers, mad at God, mad at the church, mad at the saints, who are sour, bitter, and wretched? You know why? Because they did the will of God and never got their expected payday. They were in it for what was in it for them and not for the good of the kingdom of God. Their motives were selfish.
If you do it for God, you won't end up like that!

^{Jude 1:11} Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. kjv

2 Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, kjv

(men who's only guide in life is what they want for themselves, Phillips translation)

selfishness

   

self·ish

  [sel-fish]      adjective

1.

devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare,etc., regardless of others.

2.

characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself: selfish motives.

Origin: 
1630–40; self + -ish¹

Related forms

self·ish·ly, adverb.

self·ish·ness, noun.

Synonyms 
1. self-interested, self-seeking, egoistic; illiberal, parsimonious, stingy.

Related Words

calculationchildishcynicegoism

selfhoodselfishunchristianyoung

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/selfishness?s=t

e·go·ism

  [ee-goh-iz-uh m, eg-oh-]  Show IPA

noun

1.

the habit of valuing everything only in reference to one's personal interest; selfishness ( opposed toaltruism ).

2.

egotism or conceit.

3.

Ethics. the view that morality ultimately rests on self-interest.

Origin: 
1775–85;  < French égoïsme.  See ego, -ism

Related forms

an·ti·e·go·ism, noun.

Can be confused: egoism, egotism, egotism.

Synonyms 
1. See egotism.

e·go·tism

  [ee-guh-tiz-uh m, eg-uh-]  Show IPA

noun

1.

excessive and objectionable reference to oneself in conversation or writing; conceit; boastfulness.

2.

selfishness; self-centeredness; egoism.

Origin: 
1705–15;  < Latin ego ego + -ism; -t-  perhaps after despotism, idiotism²

Related forms

an·ti·e·go·tism, noun.

Can be confused: egoism, egotism, (see synonym note at the current entry).

Synonyms 
1. Egotism, egoism refer to preoccupation with one's ego or self. Egotism is the common word for obtrusive and excessive reference to and emphasis upon oneself and one's own importance: His egotism alienated all his friends. Egoism a less common word, is used especially in philosophy, ethics, or metaphysics, where it emphasizes the importance of or preoccupation with self in relation to other things: sufficient egoism to understand one's central place in the universe.  See also pride.

pride

  [prahyd]  Show IPA noun, verb, prid·ed, prid·ing.

noun

1.

a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.

Synonyms 
1. Pride, conceit, self-esteem, egotism, vanity, vainglory imply an unduly favorable idea of one's own appearance, advantages, achievements, etc., and often apply to offensive characteristics. Pride is a lofty and often arrogant assumption of superiority in some respect: Pride must have a fall. Conceit implies an exaggerated estimate of one's own abilities or attainments, together with pride: blinded by conceit. Self-esteem may imply an estimate of oneself that is higher than that held by others: a ridiculous self-esteem.Egotism implies an excessive preoccupation with oneself or with one's own concerns, usually but not always accompanied by pride or conceit: His egotism blinded him to others' difficulties. Vanity implies self-admiration and an excessive desire to be admired by others: His vanity was easily flattered. Vainglory somewhat literary, implies an inordinate and therefore empty or unjustified pride: puffed up by vainglory. 5.boast.

Antonyms 
1. humility.

cupboard love

noun

a personal attachment that appears to be motivated by love but in fact stems from the hope of gain.

Origin: 
1750–60

I find it very interesting that in the dictionary, one of the related words for selfishness is unchristian. I don't want my love for God and his kingdom to be a cupboard love. In fact cupboard love is not real love at all, it is only for show. Deceiving another for, "what's in it for me". Oh, God, please help me not to have cupboard love! Help all my love, for you, and my fellowman to be real, unselfish love!

Isaiah 58

⁶ Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

⁸ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.

⁹ Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

¹⁰ And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:

¹¹ And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

¹² And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

¹³ If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

¹⁴ Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

King James Version (KJV)by Public Domain

Notes from a great message by Rev. Larry Booker & My study
Being Set Free From, "What's In It For Me?"
 12/09/2007

http://www.inlandlighthouse.com/page.php?ID=360

The Choices I Make Today Are Going To Affect My Tomorrows

Today I choose:

love
forgiveness
kindness
happiness
joy
peace
longsuffering
gentleness
goodness
faith
meekness
temperance
truth
righteousness
honesty
LIGHT

Ephesians 5:5-14

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

Evil is as utterly different from good as light from darkness

^5-14 For of this much you can be certain: that neither the immoral nor the dirty-minded nor the covetous man (which latter is, in effect, worshipping a false god) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Don’t let anyone fool you on this point, however plausible his argument. It is these very things which bring down the wrath of God upon the disobedient. Have nothing to do with men like that—once you were “darkness” but now you are “light”. Live then as children of the light. The light produces in men quite the opposite of sins like these—everything that is wholesome and good and true. Let your lives be living proofs of the things which please God. Steer clear of the activities of darkness; let your lives show by contrast how dreary and futile these things are. (You know the sort of things I mean—to detail their secret doings is really too shameful). For light is capable of “showing up” everything for what it really is. It is even possible (after all, it happened to you!) for light to turn the thing it shines upon into light also. Thus God speaks through the scriptures: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)J. B. Phillips, "The New Testament in Modern English", 1962 edition by HarperCollins

Ephesians 5:5-14

King James Version (KJV)

⁵ For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
⁶ Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
⁷ Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
⁸ For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
⁹ (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
¹⁰ Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
¹² For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
¹³ But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
¹⁴ Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

King James Version (KJV)by Public Domain

There Is A Certain People, God's Case For Separation

Esther 3

After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.

² And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence.

³ Then the king's servants, which were in the king's gate, said unto Mordecai, Why transgressest thou the king's commandment?

⁴ Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew.

⁵ And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.

⁶ And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.

⁷ In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.

⁸ And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.

Mordecai would not bow down to Haman because he was a Jew. This made Haman very angry and he went to the king and told him about this CERTAIN  People who had laws and customs that caused them to be different than all other people. Basically Mordecai told the king that these people didn't FIT IN.

Leviticus 20

²⁴ But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people.

²⁵ Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

²⁶ And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

God separated his people from all the other peoples of the world. The dietary laws God gave Israel were not carried over into the New Testament Church. There are still laws in grace, it is the law of Christ, which is written on the heart. God's people are required to live a holy separated life. He takes delight in his people being distinguished from other people. He has distinguished his people to be his very own.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

God still has a particular people. God told Abraham, "I will bless them that bless you and curse them that curse you." Seeing as how we have put on Christ through baptism in His name, we are heirs of this promise as well!

It means something to be a child of God! 

^{Galatians 3:26-29} For now that you have faith in Christ you are all sons of God. All of you who were baptised “into” Christ have put on the family likeness of Christ. Gone is the distinction between Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female—you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, you are true descendants of Abraham, you are true heirs of his promise.
J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)J. B. Phillips, "The New Testament in Modern English", 1962 edition by HarperCollins

^{Galatians 3:26} For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.²⁷ For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.²⁹ And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
King James Version (KJV)by Public Domain

Numbers 23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

We don't have to be like the rest of the world for them to know that we are different, and that we are God's people. 
God is going to have a people that are not like the rest of the world. 
We are God's people. 
We should not desire to be assimilated into this world. 
The cost is way to much! 
God  has brought us out of the world! 
We don't go back! 
We can't afford to go back to being like the world! 
When we go back to being like the world, God will remove himself! 
The presence of God will not remain in a church who has gone back to being like the world!

How much of the word of God are you going to discard to fit in with the world? 
What are we  going to do with the Bible? 
How much of the Bible is expendable to you, for you to fit in with the world?

We are to be separate in: 
  Modesty-without a trace of the lewd or salacious.

  Adornment

  Entertainment-we are not to be entertained by sin! We should not have a television in our homes or watch movies.

  Speech

  Morals

  Fellowship

  Home environment

  Ultimate goals- Heaven is our ultimate goal.

                                         

^{2 Corinthians 6:14} Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

¹⁵ And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

¹⁶ And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

¹⁷ Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

¹⁸ And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

God corrects his children because He loves us! He will have a people that are different than the rest of this world. This doesn't mean we have a holier than thou attitude. We are to love the world. We are not to be like sinners, but we can be friends and eat with them and love them. That doesn't mean we have to partake of their sins. Part of our separateness is that we do not partake of their sins.

^{Mark 2:15} And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.

¹⁶ And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?

¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The apostle Paul had sinner friends. The certain ones of the chief of Asia were not church people. They were government officials. Paul had friends that were government officials. 

^{Acts 19:30} And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.

³¹ And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.

There is a difference between friendship and fellowship. Fellowship is based on Jesus Christ, the light we have, His name, the spirit we share, and the light we walk in. If someone doesn't have that, we can still be good friends, but it doesn't constitute fellowship. The point is to be like Jesus!  This automatically makes life different. The word of God is our culture. We are a holy nation unto him because we walk according to the word of God!

^{1 John 1:5} This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

The darker the night the brighter the light. We are to be the light of the world. The world can be such a dark place. God saves from immorality.

My success as a child of God is based on how much I think, love, and act like Jesus Christ. I am not willing to let ANY of God's word go to fit in with the world! Every part of the Bible is very important. There is a certain people!

Notes from a Great Message by Bro. Booker & My Study

http://www.inlandlighthouse.com/page.php?ID=239
"There Is A Certain People" 12/19/12