More Than Others

More Than Others

Mt. 5:46, 47

http://www.gbcdecatur.org/sermons/MoreThanOthers.html

"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have

ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your

brethren only, what do ye more than others? . . ."--Matt.

5:46, 47.

In the passages of Scripture just before our text, Jesus

is explaining the philosophy of the world. The world says,

"If someone does you wrong, pay him back," or "One dirty deed

deserves another." It has not changed since the time

of Christ. Christ is instructing His followers to turn the

other cheek, give more than they ask, love enemies and make an

impression on the lost world. If they ask you to go a mile,

go two miles; and if they want your coat, give them your

overcoat, too. In other words, don’t leave any room for them

to criticize or question your sincerity in serving Christ.

Then, in our text He says that, if we are content just to

help those who can help us back, we are in the same class with

them. We are to do more than others. Our text is a piercing

accusation. What are you doing more than others?

In our churches, there are three kinds of people. There

are spectators, anticipators and participators.

The spectator is just there to observe; the anticipator is expecting real

blessings but not doing anything about it; and the

participator is busy singing, praying, ushering, planning and

doing the work. The participators are the minority, the

sacred few who are doing "more than others."

In this same Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Therefore

whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I

will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a

rock" (Matt. 7:24). James says, "But be ye doers of the word,

and not hearers only . . ." (James 1:22).

Someone rightly said, "The church is full of willing

folks--those who are willing to work and those who are willing

to let them." There is a great need today for the child of

God to be willing, concerned, diligent and doing "more than

others."

In India, there are men who strip off clothes, cover

their naked bodies with white ashes, neither cut nor comb

their hair and plaster their heads with cow manure (because

the cow is sacred in that country) and endure every type of

torture imaginable to try to gain the favor of their god.

The Sun Gazer of India sat naked every day for fifteen

years gazing at the bright sun, until his eyes were slowly

burned out and his limbs withered away from inactivity. He

was serving his god in the sun.

The Sadhus of India, who afflict themselves by lying on

beds of nails for years, show the same fervency of conviction.

Then, there is the Hindu who held his arms up for twenty

years. They soon were stiff from that position, but he

illustrates the willingness of others to sacrifice themselves

to appease their gods.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, with their strong conviction

about blood transfusions, willing to let their children die

rather than go against their ideas, are an example of others

putting us to shame in conviction.

The Japanese Hell Divers making their suicidal plunge

into an enemy ship, only to be blown to bits themselves,

tragically illustrate the point.

And finally, the Muslims drive our point home with their bloody oath, "I will sacrifice my life to take the life of one or more infidels."

“But those examples are ridiculous!”

Yes, and how ridiculous that we cannot even come up w/ that kind of zeal for the things of Christ which make perfect sense!

God expects us to be zealous, on fire, alive, different,

extraordinary, top-caliber and busy doing more than these

others who serve the gods of the world. The tragedy is that

most Christians are indifferent, backslidden, touchy and

living sin-laden lives. The Bible says, "Whatsoever thy hand

findeth to do, do it with thy might . . ." (Eccles. 9:10).

Again we read, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or

whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31),

and also, "Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all

your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for

you" (I Sam. 12:24).

Is there anyone in your family or the church who

is a better Christian than you are, who reads the Bible more

than you do, prays more than you, wins more souls? If so,

then shame on you, Christian! What do ye more than others?

I believe the Devil still walks to and fro in the earth,

as he did in the days of Job. He also has access to Heaven as

the accuser of the brethren. When he walks before God to give