Put Others Before Yourself | The Jesus Way

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for being with us today.

We’ve got a great sermon today on how you need to have others before yourself. So, like I said, today we are talking about how you need to value others before yourself.

Jesus said that the second most important commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Let’s go to Mark 12:31 to check that out.

Mark 12:31 says:

“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

We had a sermon, oh, a month or so ago on the two greatest commandments. So check that out. It’ll be in a card here. Otherwise, just go to our website and, in the search bar, type in “greatest commandments” or “two greatest commandments.”

This one that we are talking about today, “Others Before Yourself,” is commonly known as the Golden Rule, which we will have a sermon on as well. You can check that out in a card. Just go to our website, type in “Golden Rule” when that is coming, or hit the bell icon so that when it does post, you’ll be notified. How about that? You can do that on YouTube, by the way.

This Golden Rule is found in many of the world’s religions. Let’s go to Luke 6:31. Luke 6:31, and we’ll check out what that says.

Luke 6:31 says:

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

That’s pretty much verbatim the Golden Rule taken right out of the Bible.

What’s interesting is the Golden Rule, like I said, can be found in many other religions. They all seem to practice those principles of doing unto others as you would have them do to you, of loving others as you love yourself, of valuing others over yourself.

You can search that if you want, or you can get some books on world religions. But since we preach from the Bible and we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we don’t really need to bother about what all these other religions believe because we know there is one way to Heaven, and that is Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one gets to the Father except through Him.

Meaning, if you are a Christian, everyone else is wrong. That’s right. I said that, that if you believe in the Bible, every other religious teaching is false. That is false doctrine.

So if you believe in the Bible, then you believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one gets to the Father except through Him. That means that people who believe Jesus was only a prophet, they do not get to Heaven. That means that people who believe in good works or deeds do not get to Heaven.

Now, of course, we believe Jesus was a prophet, but He is our Savior. We believe Jesus tells us that we are to do good deeds, but good deeds do not get us into Heaven. You see what I’m saying?

All of those other religions, they might have great teachings, but if they forget the one way, then they do not make it. And so, that’s what I’m saying. Like the Golden Rule is found all over the place, which is great, but we can’t forget the most important thing, which was what? The greatest commandment. Serve God. Love the LORD your God with everything you have.

Let’s go to Matthew 22:39. Let’s take a look at what that one says. Matthew 22:39.

“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Right there. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That’s three Gospels, three similar commands. We get the Golden Rule.

So if that is the common denominator, and if that Golden Rule is found in so many other religions as well, then why is there so much hostility and selfish ambition in the world?

If people are teaching this, if other religions are teaching this, if churches are supposed to be teaching this, and I mean Christian churches, both Catholic and Protestant religions value others above themselves or teach the Golden Rule, say that you should have others before yourself, then why is our world so selfish?

Because people aren’t listening. Because teachers aren’t even listening. Many pastors or preachers or priests are in it for their own selfish ambition as well.

Politics. You say, “Oh, we don’t talk about politics, or we don’t talk about religion or politics.” Guess what? Religion and politics. Sometimes there are so many political battles going on within churches that it’s pretty hard to tell what’s going on there. Is that really a church, or is this just a political ideology happening?

Politics is everywhere. And I don’t mean, like, conservative, Republican, this, that. Like, what politics is, I mean, playing politics. Politics as a verb, being political. All of that kind of stuff goes on. People are trying to advance. People are cutthroat.

That shouldn’t happen, especially in the church, especially among believers. But so many people fail to follow the commandments.

We had a whole sermon series on the Ten Commandments, “Two Sets of Ten.” Watch them, learn them. We even have books available that will help you study them and teach others.

All of these people, these thousands of people that go to church all the time, or these people in other religions, they may say that they want to value others before themselves, but they do not practice what they preach.

Even Jesus said, “Hey, listen. I want you guys to do what the Pharisees and Sadducees tell you to do, but I do not want you to do what they do, because they do not practice what they preach. They are hypocrites.”

Meaning someone who is just an actor on a stage pretending to be something. That was a pretty big insult. Nowadays, hypocritical or hypocrite is seen as something minor. That’s how accustomed we’ve gotten to it.

So many people out there are that way. But you, as a Christian, you need to practice what you preach. And maybe you don’t preach it, but if you profess that you are a Christian, then you are professing to live by the Word of God.

That means if there is something in here that you are not doing, you are a hypocrite in the very thing that you say you are, a Christian. So if you say you are a Christian and you’re not doing these things, you are a hypocrite. I’m not kidding. And that’s a big insult. It’s not something to be taken lightly. It’s something that you should say, “Am I really? I need to look at this.”

And you need to dive into the Word of God and find out: Is your life a reflection of the Word of God? What did Jesus command you to do?

We’ve said it many times. If you’ve been with us and you know our sermons, the Great Commission: get out there, preach the Gospel, share it with others, baptizing them, making them disciples. That means teaching them. That means discipling them.

You say, “Well, I don’t have a lot of qualifications.” You might know more than they do. Shepherd them. Help them. Be the sheepdog. As we’ve said before, we aren’t shepherds. Jesus is our Shepherd. We’re the sheepdogs that round people up and get them to go to Jesus.

You need to live by every word out of the Bible because if you’re doing anything contrary, then you are a hypocrite if you say you are a Christian.

So, time to act like a Christian. Time to be a Christian.

The problem with this world is there are so many people out there who are children of the devil. We have a sermon on “Whose Child Are You? Child of God or a Child of the Devil.” You can check that out.

Let’s go to Acts 13:10. We’ll take a look at that one.

Acts 13:10:

“You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the LORD?”

Are you full of deceit and trickery? Are you conniving or cunning? Or do you kind of pride yourself on your sharp wit or your ability to pull one over on someone? That’s not good. That’s an enemy of everything that’s right. That’s a child of the devil.

You need to break free. Follow God. That’s who you need to follow.

1 John 3:10:

“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”

What does that mean? You say, “Well, I’m an only child. I don’t have a brother and sister.” Wrong. Your brother and sister means your brother and sister in Christ. So if you are a Christian, you have many brothers and sisters.

Like Jesus said when they told Him, “Hey, Your mother and Your brothers and sisters are outside wanting to speak to You.” And He looks around, He says, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers and My sisters?” I tell you, you guys are My brothers and My sisters in Christ.

Who is your neighbor? Anyone. We’ve talked about that before. Anyone and everyone you come into contact with. So you need to value others before yourself.

Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child. So you can say, “I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.” But if you’re out there living in sin, you are not considered a child of God. That’s pretty something.

The Bible also says, “See what great love the Father has for us, that we will be called children of God.” You’re not just called a child of God if you repent and believe in Jesus Christ. You’re a child of God if you do what He says.

Jesus Himself says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” If you love Him, you’re not going to be living in sin, getting drunk or going out to bars or having addictions. I don’t care what it is. Cigarettes, coffee, working out.

You say, “Well, cigarettes aren’t really harmful.” It’s an addiction. You value that thing more than you value the Word of God.

You say, “No, I don’t.” Well, you can’t go without it. Yet, you can go a week without reading your Bible. You can’t go six hours without a cigarette.

Something’s wrong there.

Say, “I need my drink every night,” but you go a few days without reading the Bible. You see, this needs to be like air, where you literally cannot go without it. You need to always have it in your mind and on your lips. You need to be reading it daily, multiple times a day. You need to be praying in the Spirit with God the Father, communing with Him all the time.

And if you do that, guess what? It will be no problem for you to shake any addiction. You don’t need two cups of coffee in the morning. You need a daily dose of the Word. You don’t need your cigarette every so often. Just pray in the Spirit every so often, and it will fill you way more than that fix would ever do. Believe me on that. You don’t need that stuff. You need this.

You need to break free of all that and follow God.

You know what that means? It means loving others before yourself. That means you cannot show any form of partiality. We had a sermon on that. You can check that out on our website. I can put it in a card up here. Might be running out of card space. They only give you a few to put up there.

But the point is, we also have sermons on favoritism and discrimination. So go to our website, type in “favoritism and discrimination,” and watch those.

You can’t be giving anyone any special treatment, partiality, favoritism, discrimination, nothing. You need to be valuing them in one way: others before yourself. That is it.

What does that look like? My favorite and the all-time best definition of love is the happy willingness to put oneself aside for the benefit of another.

Let me say it again because this is something you really need to grab hold of. Love: the happy willingness to put oneself aside for the benefit of another.

That means you are happy and willing to sacrifice your own desires for the benefit of someone else. Happy and willing to do that. Not begrudgingly. Not like, “Oh, well, here you go.” No. Happy and willing. God loves a cheerful giver.

You need to treat everyone exactly as you would want to be treated. Now, the way you would want to be treated might not be the way they would want to be treated.

For example, I’ve said this many times before in our sermons. I am someone who’s a little bit more abrupt. I like it how it is. Give me truth. Give me reality right now. Give me the facts. Don’t sugarcoat it. Don’t give me the fluff. Just the meat, so to speak.

So that means when I talk to other people, if I would want to be treated that way, what the Bible is saying is that I would treat other people that way.

But if I am to value them even greater than myself, then rather than treating them how I would want to be treated—in other words, if they’re having a hard time—I might say, “Let’s go. Get up. You’re healed in Jesus’ name.”

And they say, “I still don’t feel good.”

I say, “I don’t care. You’re healed. Let’s go. Time to act like you’re healed. We’re going out. Time to pray for some sick people. Let’s go.”

And they might not want to do that, but that’s what I would want someone to do to me. Be like, “Let’s go. Get up. Stop moping around. Time to get going.”

You say, “I’m tired. My back hurts.”

I don’t care. Let’s heal it and go. Because that’s what I would want someone to do for me.

Now, other people might say, “No, I need a little more hand-holding. I like to be babied and pampered.” And then I’d be like, “Man, that’s going to be a lot of sacrifice for me.”

But I will happily and willingly give you a little more tender treatment, and that is mercy.

What does Jesus say? “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” So yes, even though I would be sacrificing myself, Jesus says mercy.

Which means that I would need to spend a little more tender-hearted care on that person. I would need to have a little empathy, a little sympathy, a little compassion in that situation, and not just treat them as I would want to be treated, but treat them exactly how they would want to be treated.

And also give them a little dose of the reality of, “All right, we’ve had enough of this. Let’s go. You’re better. Get up,” and show them a little hard truth as well. Because sometimes some people need a little swift kick in the pants, a little fire of God behind them to say, “Get up in Jesus’ name. Let’s go.”

But you need to be treating everyone how you would want to be treated.

Now, there is one thing I want to point out: there is one instance in which God will allow you to show favoritism. You say, “Wait a minute. I thought you said no favoritism.”

Well, the only way you can show favoritism is by showing it towards someone else over yourself, because we’re talking about others before yourself. So, not only are you to love your neighbor as yourself, you are to value them more than yourself.

Let’s go to a couple of verses before we dive into that topic too much. It’s Matthew. Go to Matthew 7:12. We’re going to read that.

It says:

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Do to them what you would have them do to you.

But we’re not done yet, because remember how I’ve been talking about how you need to actually show a little favoritism toward them and have them before yourself, others before yourself.

Let’s go to Philippians 2:3.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

That means show them a little favoritism. God desires mercy, not sacrifice. So, yes, you need to be happy and willing to value others before yourself.

And so when you do that, you are self-sacrificing, but you are also showing mercy in the fact that instead of treating them how you would want to be treated, you will treat them how they would want to be treated in that situation, and treating them how you would want to be treated in that situation.

Giving them both, valuing them over you, showing them a little favoritism in that situation. If they would want someone to wait on them hand and foot, but you would be like, “No, I don’t want anyone to wait on me hand and foot. I want to be left alone,” you’re going to do what they would want.

And then after a while, you’re going to be like, “All right, that’s enough. You’re good. I’m leaving you alone.” But you will value what they desire. What they like, you will like. What they want, you will want because they want it. You will want it for them.

Do you see what I’m saying? Others before yourself.

Now, that doesn’t mean that you just need to have nothing. It doesn’t mean that you need to sacrifice everything. No. Because you will be rewarded. You are to have everything you want as well.

God says, “I will give you your heart’s desires.” Meaning, He will put that desire in your heart. So, if someone you love loves something and you really don’t like it, guess what? Your heart’s desire is now going to be for that thing. Why? Because God will put those desires in your heart. And you will learn to love that as well.

You will be living as a living sacrifice. We have a sermon about that. That’s a great one for those of you who are in relationships or have kids. “Living Sacrifice.” Check it out.

Philippians 2:3 is saying to do nothing for your own gain. Now you say, “Well, how am I ever supposed to get ahead in life?”

You rely on God to work for you, and you work for Him doing what the Bible says. You be humble and you put others first. You value them.

After all, what did Christ do? He did it for you. He put you first. He died for you. He did everything for you. He healed others. Jesus never turned someone away. Anything that someone asked, He did it.

He even healed people unknowingly. I mean, He knew, but people would come up and touch Him, that one instance, and He says, “Who touched Me?” He felt power leave. He didn’t willingly do that. But when He found out, He was more than willing.

And He said this healing is lasting and permanent. It is a continual and eventual healing. Go in peace. You are healed. Be well.

Because He had compassion and mercy. He was moved with compassion. And that’s what you need to be: moved with compassion to value others before yourself, living exactly like Jesus lived. He is your example.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank You so much for sending Jesus as an example to us. Thank You that He was the perfect example, and He still is the perfect example. Thank You for giving us Your Word so that we can learn how to live here on Earth.

Thank You for this sermon today and the words in it, and for teaching us how to follow You. We thank You for everything You do in our lives each and every day. Help us to recognize and appreciate that. In Jesus’ name, amen.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them below on the YouTube channel or head over to our Discord server, where you can engage in the sermon discussions there.

Have a great week, and God bless.