Joyce Meyer - This Hurts Good - Part 2

TOPICS: Spiritual Growth, Selfishness

You know the scripture we read, if you wanna be my disciple, you gotta forget about yourself, take up your cross and follow me. If you want the high life, you gotta give up the low life. And the low life is living selfishly and self-centered. The high life is living to give and make other people happy. And you know, I really believe that, I honestly believe that this is something that many of you just have never really thought about that much. You didn’t realize selfishness was a sin. Just like a lot of people don’t realize greed is a sin. And greed is a terrible thing. It gets a hold of you so easy, and the best way to fight greed is to be an aggressive giver. I said an aggressive giver. Amen?

We never lose through giving, never. There’s a beautiful scripture in John 12:24. Everybody should know this. «I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain: it never becomes more but lives] By itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest».

If Jesus would not have died, we would not be here today. You realize that? So seeds have to be planted. They have to die to what they are, to become more than what they are. And so this is a peach seed. And you know there’s a miracle inside this seed. There’s a peach tree in here. The embryo of a peach seed. But let’s just pretend this seed has feelings. Now, it has to be buried in order for this miracle to take place. And so it has to be put in the ground, in the cold, dark, damp, dirty ground. And it’s just in there for a good period of time, not knowing when anything’s gonna happen or if anything’s gonna happen. And see, when you make a decision to die to self, you may spend a long time serving and doing for other people before you see a harvest. But you will see a harvest. I said, «You will see a harvest»!

Now, I’m not a botanist or anything, but I’ve studied this just a little bit. And I know that when this seed goes in the ground, or any seed, it lays there for a period of time in the heat in the dirt, in the dark. And then the outer shell finally begins to crack open. And then eventually little rootlets will begin to come out of the bottom of the seed, and take hold of the earth and get rooted and planted. Then a little more time passes by and something will start coming out of the top of the ground, that you can see. And eventually, if taken care of, this could become a whole peach tree.

So, you have one peach seed, and if it stays by itself alone, that’s all it will ever be. But if it dies, it will produce many, many others. Jesus died so he could be the firstborn among many brethren. He died and was raised from the dead so he could be the first of what was going to be many. But if he would not have died, he would still just be alone. Oh, I feel good! Now, I’m gonna tell you 12 biblical ways that you’ll have to learn to deny yourself. And I have 31 minutes to do it. So, I may be like Chris, in 15 minutes I’ll say number two. First thing is, we have to give up the right to take revenge. Romans 12, «Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave the way open for God’s wrath: for it is written, 'vengeance is mine, I will repay, ' says the Lord». Oooh!

You see, after being abused for so many years, I felt like I was due something, like I was owed something. But the interesting thing was I was trying to collect from people that could never pay me. Because I’d been so hurt by men, I was trying to collect from Dave. And Dave had nothing to do with hurting me, he was trying to love me. And finally I realized I had to turn it over to God. And I read that story in Matthew 18, where the man owed his employer so much money, I think it was like $10 million in today’s money or something. And his master came to collect it and it says he could not pay.

See, maybe the people that you’re trying to collect from, from old wounds that you have that you’ve never really turned over to God, maybe the fact is they can’t pay you no matter what you try to get em to do, it’s never gonna be enough to pay you back. But God says if you will trust him, that for your former’s shame, he will give you a double recompense, a double reward. And I can say yes and amen to that because: oh, my life is so wonderful. And it’s not because I never have any problems, I have problems just like everybody else. And sometimes to be honest, the devil gets after people like me and more than he does ordinary people, because everything I preach I’ll get tested on. That right Chris? He could not pay, but God can pay you back. And ooh, is it so sweet when God pays you back.

I remember when God first called me into ministry, my so-called friends telling me, «Well you know, we’ve been talking», don’t you love that? «We’ve been talking, and we don’t, you know, you say you’re gonna have.». I felt like God told me I was gonna have one of the largest ministries ever run by a woman in the world. Well, you know that sounded a little pompous I guess, but I felt like God put that in my heart. I didn’t realize it sounded prideful. I just believed what God said. And well, here we are today. But my friends said, «We don’t think you have the right personality». And it kinda was the truth. But you see, God took my rough edges and he smoothed them out. And he took my hard heart and he softened it.

And I can tell you, I do what I’m doing now at the age of 81 and a half for two reasons, because I love God and I love you. I mean, I really actually love the people that I get to teach to. And I may not know your name. We may not ever have a conversation here. But it makes me so happy when you tell me that the word has changed you. That your life has changed because of the Word of God. What else would anybody wanna do? I have got the best job on the planet. I work for God. But see, here’s the point that I’m trying to make to you. You can work for God too. That’s what I’m asking you to do. Will you change your mind this weekend? And just give it up.

I mean, give yourself to God and just say, «You do what you want to with me, but I’m going to work for you. Whatever you pay me, whatever you wanna pay me, you can pay me. If you don’t wanna pay me nothing, you don’t have to pay me anything. But I’m yours, you got me for the rest of my life. You just show me what you want me to do, no matter how little or how big it is, to the best of my ability, if you’ll give me the grace, I’ll do it». Don’t spend your life trying to get for yourself everything that you want. Seek God and let him give you the desires of your heart. This is gonna make your life so much better.

The second thing we have to be willing to give up, is the right to have a good reputation. Yeah, oooh. You know, when God called me in the ministry, I was so excited and I thought this is gonna be so wonderful, so great! And I lost almost all my friends, was ostracized by the family, 'cause we left the family religion. The elders called us before them, we got asked to either shut up or leave the church. And I wasn’t very good at shutting up, so you know, God had touched my life and I couldn’t keep quiet about it. I mean, people say, «Well, you know, religion is a private thing». Well, I’m sorry, but if you really are in love with Jesus and excited about him, you have a hard time keeping your mouth shut about it. So we had to leave our church. Our life dramatically changed. We lost our social life. And I’ve had different tests in this area.

One time many, many years ago, we had this news person come and they said they wanted to interview us about all of our missions, and do a big piece in the paper about it. Well, they actually just lied and we let them in the office and I mean they told so many lies about us. And on the front page of the paper, they came to one of our conferences and took pictures, and on the front page of the paper, they had this ugly preacher face in the middle of, and along with the picture were the ushers carrying the offering buckets. For 13 days, I was in the first few pages, if not the front page of our city newspaper. They even were putting free newspapers on people’s porches, free newspapers.

I’ll never forget the morning I walked in Starbucks and there laid the stack of papers and I’m on the front page going, when I left my job at the church I worked at, a lot of people didn’t want me to leave, and they thought I was doing the wrong thing, and they judged me critically. But you know what? It hurt, but my reputation is okay now. Maybe not with everybody, but I got you. I lost all my friends. I didn’t even have anybody I could ask to go to lunch with, but I bet I could find somebody to go lunch with now. Maybe, just maybe, you know. Are you understanding me? Yes, you may have to give up some things that are gonna hurt for a while, but then later you’re gonna say, «Mmm, that hurt good». Ooh, has God ever paid me back! Amen?

And I was in situations where I wasn’t treated right, and it was so hard, and I didn’t understand why God didn’t deal with the other people. But boy, did I learn. I learned how to treat people. I learned when somebody’s working for you that you need to appreciate 'em, and you need to thank 'em, and you need to pay them well. And we don’t pull this, «Well, you know, we can’t pay you much because we’re a ministry». I mean, if anybody should be able to pay their people well, it should be a ministry. Why does everybody have the idea that if you’re in ministry, you gotta be poor and broke? I don’t know why it makes people mad if a preacher has something. That’s just like the silliest thing. It’s something the devil has put in people’s heads.

Well, they’re using your money to have a high life. Eh, you don’t even know what you’re talking about. I give more back to my ministry than I make. You say, «Well, how do you do that»? Because I get royalties on my books that are sold out in the marketplace, and so I’m able to give more to my ministry than what my salary is. So see, you don’t know. Well, you know, we’re not paying for you to drive that fancy car. We’re not paying for you to change your clothes every 10 minutes… Well, you’re right, you’re not paying for it. Amen?

You know that I’m the only person that came here this weekend, except for our beautiful, wonderful volunteers, who didn’t get paid for coming. The worship people got paid. The band got paid. The venue got paid. A lot of our employees got paid. I didn’t get paid, but I don’t work for you. I work for God, and he’ll pay me. And frankly, I would much rather see what he can do for me than what you can do for me. Amen? Whoo! Paul said, «If I were trying to be popular with people,» in Galatians 1:10, «If I were trying to be popular with people, I would not now be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ».

Don’t be afraid of somebody judging you critically or saying things about you that’s not true. It’s the devil doing it. And people don’t know. They judge stuff they don’t know anything about. Just because you read it on social media, that does not make it true. Amen? Love always believes the best of every person. Always believes the best of every person. And Jesus himself said in the sermon on the mount, «You are blessed when people persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you on my account». Wow! You have to give up the right to spend your money however you please. «It’s my money»! No, it’s not. Not one of us would have anything except for what God gives us. And in case you haven’t read it, we’re not owners, we’re stewards. Hmm, that didn’t get much.

You know, if you’re trying to be a people pleaser, you will experience rejection. Because as soon as you don’t do what they want you to do, they’re gonna reject you, and say they don’t want anything to do with you. But Jesus said if they reject you, they’re actually rejecting me. We give up the right to hate our enemies. Listen to what God says you do with your enemies. Luke 6:27–28, «But I say to you who are listening now to me: [in order to heed, and make it a practice to] Love your enemies, treat well (do good to, act nobly toward) those who hate you, who detest you and pursue you with hatred, invoke blessings upon them, pray for their happiness.». «But God, to be honest, I don’t really want 'em to be happy».

Well, pray for 'em anyway out of obedience to God. Pray for them to be blessed. You think just because you pray for them to be blessed, God’s goonna give them a new house and a new car, and a million dollars? He might give 'em some truth. Woohoo! We give up the right to be served and we serve instead. In Mark 10, «Jesus called his disciples to him and he said, 'you know, those who are recognized as governing and are supposed to rule the gentiles, Lord it over them ruling with absolute power, holding them in subjection and their great men exercise authority and dominion over them'». He said, in the world, people that are in authority just really use their authority to try to control other people.

«'But this is not to be so among you: whoever desires to be great among you must be your servant'». Now, some of you maybe are gifted in that area. You have a gift of helps. You love to clean up other people’s messes. You love to, you know, do things for people. Well, I like helps too, I like people to help me. I’m just telling you the truth. It’s not a natural gift for me. I have to do it on purpose. But see, what is not natural for you, you can choose to do it on purpose. If somebody down here in the front row spilled a glass of water on the floor, I wouldn’t rush down there to clean it up. I’d tell somebody else to clean it up.

Well, you gotta know what your gifts are and what they’re not. But I choose, «Let me make you a cup of coffee». «Well, Joyce, no Joyce you don’t need to make my coffee». «Yeah, I do». I purposely try to do things like that, just to keep myself from getting the big head and thinking, «Well, I’m the boss. I don’t have to do that». If you have any kind of authority and you have anybody that would be considered to be under your authority, make absolutely certain that you treat them excellent. Amen? And I love this one. If you’re gonna die to self, you have to give up the right to understand God’s plan before you obey him.