Transforming our mindset can redefine our understanding of victory, and that’s precisely what we delve into today. Instead of equating success with winning or recognition, we explore how true triumph is found in humble service and faithfulness, even amidst hardship. Drawing on biblical insights, we discuss how the world’s definition of victory often leads to superficial measures of worth, while God’s perspective invites us to embrace endurance wrapped in love. As we navigate through the examples of Christ, we reflect on how serving others, especially in unseen ways, not only builds our character but also aligns us with divine approval. Join us as we unpack these profound truths and discover that the pathway to authentic victory lies not in seeking applause but in the quiet strength of serving with a heart full of love.

Takeaways:

1. True victory is not defined by societal standards, but by faithfulness and humble service.
2. In God's economy, suffering and hardship are not signs of defeat, but opportunities for growth and transformation.
3. The approval we seek should come from God, not from the fluctuating opinions of others around us.
4. Serving others, even when it costs us or goes unnoticed, is the essence of true spiritual victory.

And we're back.

Thank you for joining us in the study.

We're going to continue the thought of transforming by the renewing of our mind, which we've been focused last week.

And we'll continue similar thoughts on humble service.

In other words, having the mind of Christ by humbly seeking God's approval instead of man's.

We want to continue that line of reasoning and see that through it, really there is the great assurances and complete satisfaction.

There is victory in this approach.

When the world talks about victory, it usually means one thing.

It means winning, and it means winning arguments.

It means winning, recognition, comfort, control.

That's a big thing.

We want to be in control.

Victory according to the carnal mind.

It has to do with getting my way being affirmed, avoiding loss.

We don't want to lose anything and maybe even rising above others.

It assumes the hardship is failure and suffering is defeat.

That's what we've been taught we imagine and see.

And that ski jumper who hits the bottom of the slope and just, you know, wipes out, that's defeat.

And according to the carnal mind, that's a different story than what the Bible portrays.

The Scripture tells a different story.

Romans 8:37 says, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

And.

And just earlier, earlier in the chapter, he talked about suffering and that we are sons of God and joint heirs with Christ if we suffer with Him.

And that we are suffering is a part of our role and expectation.

In all these things.

Though Paul says we're more than conquerors, he didn't say we conquer by escaping hardships.

He doesn't say that we conquer and we're victorious because by overcoming others or by being admired, he says in all things we are more than conquerors.

That's as is said in other places, even in this chapter.

That means in distress and tribulation and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and.

And a sword.

Those are the things that are mentioned in the text.

Victory in God's economy is not the absence of hardship, friends.

It's the faithfulness in the midst of them.

It is endurance wrapped up in love.

It's obedience that refuses to be extinguished by pain and hardship.

And central to that victory is humble service.

So what that means is we're going to have to redefine victory not by the carnal mind's definition, but by God's mind.

The carnal mind assumes that if God is pleased, then life's going to get easier.

There are those that we call preach a healthy wealthy and saved message that if you're serving the Lord, he's going to bless you with all kinds of material wealth and prosperity.

And they associate serving God and being pleased with God by how much wealth and health also they have.

And of course, if they're not, then they're a little bit disturbed by that kind of wondering what's going on and why.

A spiritual mind doesn't do that.

It understands something much deeper than that.

Because God's approval does not remove hardships, it actually redefines it.

Paul doesn't say we conquer by avoiding these things.

That changes everything.

Victory, you see, is not measured by, as we noted already, by applause or comfort or success and all the good fortune that we are expecting.

Victory is measured by faithfulness.

That's why Jesus life confounds worldly expectations from beginning to end.

His ministry was marked by not being triumphant, but by service, by rejection, and by sacrifice.

And yet Scripture declares him victorious over sin, victorious over death, victorious over the grave as he came forth resurrected from the grave.

Victory, you see, is not found in avoiding the cross.

It's found in caring.

Victory for the Lord would involved girding himself with a towel.

As we noted last week, Jesus knew that his hour had come.

He knew that betrayal was imminent.

He knew the cross was near.

And in that moment when any human mind would be consumed with fear and self preservation or injustice, perhaps even anger, Jesus did something astonishing.

And if there could be one skit that anybody could provide for children to learn, it would be this one.

Because you don't have to say a thing.

Jesus gets up, lays aside his garments and takes a towel, girds himself with it and gets a basin of water and lays it at the feet of the disciples and begins to wash their feet, each one.

This was not a detour from victory, my friends, that was victory.

Jesus did not wait until the Resurrection to demonstrate victory.

He demonstrated it in humility.

He showed that no threat, no betrayal and no suffering could rob him of love.

And after washing their feet, he said, if you know these things, blessed are you when you do them, or if you do them.

The blessing is not in knowledge, it's not in knowing it.

The blessing is not in intentions.

The blessing is in the doing.

And what is the doing?

It's serving.

Serving when it's inconvenient, serving when it's unnoticed, serving when it costs something.

This isn't weakness, it's conquest.

It's the approval that defines victory.

Paul brings this into focus in 2 Corinthians 10.

In verse 17 he says let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

For it's not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Now that statement dismantles the world scorecard altogether.

Victory isn't being praised by man.

It's not being justified publicly, it's not being recognized for your sacrifice.

Victory is being approved by God.

A person can receive endless recognition from man and still be a failure in God's eyes.

And on the opposite side, the converse is equally true.

A person can serve quietly, without fanfare and and be highly esteemed in heaven.

Which do you think you'd rather have?

You see, this is why Paul could endure rejection.

It's why it could be said of Jesus that he despised the shame and sat down at the right hand of God.

See, he could endure the cross knowing what was ahead.

So he wasn't living for applause.

He.

He was living for approval.

We've talked about men pleasing last week as well.

That's why Paul's words in Galatians 1 are so essential.

If I were still trying to please men, I can't be a servant of Christ.

See, men pleasing isn't victory, it's bondage.

It ties your sense of worth to fluctuating opinions.

And you're constantly trying to please, you know, two different people who have are very, totally different, maybe even opposite.

That's.

That's an impossibility, you know.

And it ties your sense of worth to their opinions and forces you to adjust obedience based on their reactions.

It really trains us in the wrong way.

We have to then serve selectively.

And if we're going to serve and someone be upset about it, then we might have to do it secretly.

I mean, it becomes just very binding.

And it's not a pleasant way to live your life and certainly is not based in Scripture.

Serving Christ is freedom, friends.

Christ's approval doesn't rise and fall.

His commendation doesn't expire either.

When you serve Christ, even unseen service becomes triumphant because he knows even misunderstood obedience becomes victory.

The world's defeat becomes heaven's triumph.

The greatest example is when Jesus goes to the cross.

The world's perspective and the people who were at that scene, no doubt, at least in the earliest going, they saw it as a very defeating thing.

Even the disciples.

I believe that was part of Peter's denial of the Lord.

He was expecting a king, and he looks like a person who just gives up and not willing to fight.

And so there was in the world's mind, the carnal mind, the Cross was a defeat to them.

He was rejected of men, he was abandoned.

He was mocked and ridiculed and spit on and beat and killed.

There was no applause, there was no affirmation.

There was no vindication.

At least not yet.

But from heaven's perspective, the cross was the greatest victory the world has ever known.

At the cross, sin was conquered and death was defeated.

You see, Satan was disarmed and redemption was secured.

And all of it happened through self giving service.

Christ didn't conquer by asserting power.

He conquered by surrendering himself.

That's why the Scripture says, thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, always.

Not only when life is easy, not only when service is appreciated, not only when outcomers are.

The outcomes are favorable to you.

Do you see that?

Always.

Why?

Because triumph is not circumstantial.

It isn't based on outward circumstances.

It's relational.

It flows from our union with Jesus Christ and our Father.

There's also in looking at this true victory and real victory over our enemies.

When we serve Christ and do so in love, we conquer enemies for far more dangerous than people.

We, we conquer pride, we conquer resentment and bitterness and self centeredness.

Every time you serve without being noticed, pride slips away, it loses ground.

Every time you love without being repaid, without someone recognizing, resentment weakens, you're not bitter.

Every time we obey without any recognition, the flesh, the old man, is crucified.

That's victory.

And it's a victory the world can't understand.

Let me illustrate it this way.

Imagine two people facing the same difficulty, and one's always asking, why is this happening to me?

Don't people see how much I give?

And yet over time I'm just continuously beside myself that people don't see what I do and that hardship produces a great deal of bitterness.

The other person says, lord, how can you be glorified here in this circumstance or in this situation and over time, that hardship produces peace and strength, real depth.

The circumstances are the same, the outcomes are same, but the, well, what's happening?

The circumstances are the same, but the attitude in dealing with it is radically different.

And the outcomes can be very different too.

Because one is fighting for vindication, recognition, the other's walking in victory.

You see, the blessing of serving is recognizing that while it's true that I may be helping others, and it is horizontally applied, no doubt that is to say to other people, but that's exactly how it is.

That we're serving others is when we serve his people.

Paul tells us in Colossians 3, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.

Notice he says you will receive.

He didn't say you might or you possibly could not eventually, if others agree.

And that assurance transforms our service from being a drudgery into true, satisfied, fulfilled worship and service to God.

So much of the time individuals struggle with service because it goes unnoticed.

And yet the one who does it from the heart as unto the Lord, that never plays a role because it's not based on what men think or say, what they do or don't do.

See victory that way.

That's a victory that can't be taken away.

It's not based on outward circumstances.

The world can take recognition, it can take comfort, it can take reputation, but it can't take victory because it's rooted in Christ.

Victory is not external, it's internal, it's spiritual, it's eternal.

And that's why humble service is not a detour from triumph, it's the pathway to it.

And that's what we're trying to explain here today.

And so what does it mean to embrace victory through service?

Well, it means that we stop measuring success by our outcomes and start measuring faithfulness.

It means that we stop demanding approval and just start trusting God's commendation.

It's his approval that matters.

It means we stop avoiding hardship and start conquering through love.

And if you want to experience the transforming power of Christ in your life, don't look for applause.

Go get a towel, find you some water and look for an opportunity to wash others feet.

I'm talking about serving because service is not weakness, it's victory and it's the way of Christ.

Well, there is another thought as we shift gears a bit in this series.

One of the deepest struggles in the human heart is the struggle for not money or power and comfort, but esteem.

That is to feel valued, respected or acknowledged and treated fairly.

All that's woven into our natures.

And if we're not careful, that desire will quietly govern our thoughts and shape our reactions and really poison us.

The carnal mind is obsessed with this because why we want worth, it's constantly measuring, constantly comparing ourselves with others and evaluating what's fair.

It asks questions like whose turn is it?

Because it's mine, you know, it's all focused on themselves.

So I just ask you, when you think about what it is you're thinking about, try to meditate on it and catch yourself, what are you thinking about?

And quite frankly, most of the Day will be spent probably on what you're thinking, how you're feeling, rather than trying to walk in another shoes and trying to serve them.

It'll be all pretty well based upon you.

Why am I always the one giving?

Why didn't anyone notice me?

Am I being treated right?

These questions feel natural for the worldly person.

They feel justified, but they reveal something critical.

And that is the carnal mind is still looking to men for esteem.

The spiritual mind could care less.

It looks somewhere else entirely, another place.

Transformation through humble service does not elevate the desire for esteem, it relocates it.

Instead of seeking esteem from people, the spiritual mind finds esteem in just humble service unto the Lord.

And that's why Jesus said something that sounds completely backward to the natural mind.

Think about that.

The eternal Son of God, the one worthy of all honor and praise, did not come demanding esteem, did not come demanding praise.

He came giving himself away.

And that statement alone dismantles our cultural assumptions.

The world would esteem.

It's something that you protect and you assert and you demand and we write books about.

Jesus says, esteem is something you find when you stop grasping for it.

Think about the carnal mind a bit in connection with the mind of Christ and compare it to Philippians 2, 3 beginning Paul begins, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others.

Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus.

Now notice what Paul does not say.

He doesn't say, ignore yourself.

He doesn't say, deny reality, pretend you don't have any needs.

What he does say is, it's far more radical.

Count others more significant, more valued, important than yourself.

Now that phrase collides head on with the carnal mind, doesn't it?

Well, that just doesn't seem logical for us to do.

And yet the carnal mind, you know, it's me first, it's others later.

Others do matter, but not first.

But the spiritual mind always puts the others before ourselves.

The carnal mind monitors its own treatment.

The spiritual mind is attentive to the needs of others.

The carnal mind says, I've done enough.

The spiritual mind says, how can I love?

How can I do more?

Paul tells us plainly where selfish ambition and conceit comes from.

They come from a misplaced search for esteem.

Selfish Ambition says I have to advance myself, I've got to improve.

Whereas conceit says I've got to be valued.

But humility does something entirely different.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's just not thinking of yourself.

And I think that's a big difference because we hear a lot said and a lot of books read about self esteem and, and not loving yourself.

And I've heard so many lessons about it that, well, you can't love others as yourself.

If you don't love yourself, you're not going to treat your neighbor very well and statements like that.

But I think the real key here is that it's not about how you value yourself, it's do you think of yourself at all?

In other words, does it even come to your mind?

We're talking about mindset here.

So.

So if you're thinking about yourself, that may be why you struggle with value and not having any self worth, because you're always thinking about yourself.

Notice that when Jesus gives the secret here, friends, we mentioned this.

Now this is the third time, John 13, after he washed the disciples feet and told them that if I've done this as your Lord and master, you ought to wash one another's feet.

He says, blessed are you when you do these things.

Real, true spiritual happiness comes from service.

Why you're not thinking about yourself.

When you're thinking, start always thinking about yourself.

That's when we start the miserable routine, I must advance myself.

The world says I've got to be valued, but that's not what the Bible teaches.

And let's be honest about something.

Sometimes we crave recognition because we're afraid of being insignificant.

We fear being invisible.

We fear being taken for granted or being overlooked.

Right?

And when those fears are not addressed by Christ, they begin to drive our behavior.

And that's when service becomes conditional.

See, we serve, but we want to be seen.

And we're not really know if we're going to do a lot of serving until we can be.

We're going to give, but we want some acknowledgement for that.

And we'll be willing to sacrifice just as long as it's remembered.

And when recognition doesn't come, well, that begins to fade and resentment begins to take its place.

That's why many people burn out.

We talk about burnout in churches.

That happens not because they serve too much, but because they serve with the wrong source of esteem.

See, human approval is a fragile thing.

It can't carry the weight of identity.

It's, it's not a good measuring Stick.

Paul understood that.

He understood it very deeply.

And let the one who boasts boast in the Lord, he says in chapter three of first Corinthians, so let no one boast in men.

Why?

Because when our esteem comes from people, we are enslaved to their reactions and to their judgments.

But when our esteem comes from the Lord, we're free.

Jesus really teaches us this.

He never chased that recognition.

The crowds would follow him early on.

And what did he do?

He withdrew one day, the busiest day of his life, as best we can tell from Scripture.

He was in a boat, cast away from the shore a bit and had opportunities to preach all day long.

And the crowd never moved.

But he did.

After a while, he leaves and goes on the other side so he can pray.

I love it.

It's a great example of prioritizing and not forgetting valued things.

But my point simply is, he abandoned that crowd.

Why does he do that?

Why did the crowds praise him even when he corrects them?

Why did they?

Some of them anyway?

Why did they?

The crowds abandoned him when he remained faithful.

You see, his esteem was anchored in his relationship to the Father.

That's what I'm trying to get at.

And when he was being baptized by John, before he performed a single miracle, the Father said in verse 17, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Jesus didn't earn that approval.

He received it.

He didn't earn it, hadn't done anything for it.

That approval sustained him through rejection, through misunderstanding, through betrayal, and through the crucifixion.

And here's the key.

The same kind of security is offered to us.

When our identity is settled, when we know who we are, when we know that we are in him, then we no longer need applause to feel valuable.

Our value is in Him.

That's why Paul could say in Galatians 1:10, if I still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

See, serving Christ and seeking human esteem, they pull in the opposite direction.

It can't be both.

Now, here's the paradox, and it's the essential thing to understanding.

The moment we stop demanding esteem and expecting it, we begin to experience really what it is.

Humility is not humiliation.

It's alignment with reality.

It's agreeing with God about who we are.

Redeemed, loved, secure, called and blessed.

And when I no longer need to prove myself, I'm free to serve.

When I no longer need recognition from men, I'm free to love.

When I no longer need fairness, I'm free to give grace.

This is why Jesus Said, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

God Himself lifts the humble, gives grace to the humble.

Now, don't look at men to be the source of that.

Not crowds, not institutions, and not your church.

But God.

And his exaltation is never shallow.

It's never temporary.

Imagine two people serving in the same home.

One keeps a mental ledger.

They know exactly how many times they've sacrificed.

They remember who helped last and who didn't and who did the dishes and whose time it is.

Now.

They quietly track fairness.

The other just pours himself out freely or herself.

Gives without calculation, serves without expecting anything in return.

Just trusts God to see what others miss.

And over time, the first one becomes bitter, tired, resentful, even though he or she may still be doing the same work.

But the second, they grow lighter, freer, and more joyful.

And the reason for that is because one is serving for esteem.

The other has already received it.

They've already got their approval.

They're serving the Lord.

And their esteem is from the Lord.

Their value is from the Lord.

Service becomes a drudgery when it's fueled by unmet expectations of men.

But when we can do what we do and do it wholeheartedly as unto the Lord, that makes all the difference in the world.

You're not washing those dishes for an angry husband.

You're doing it as unto the Lord.

Service becomes a worshipful activity when it's fueled by secure identity and who we are.

We are in the hands of a loving Father, and our brother is Jesus Christ.

And that's why esteem can't be demanded.

The moment we demand esteem, we lose it.

Esteem that has to be claimed for is not esteem.

It's insecurity and disguise.

And Paul said in Romans chapter 12 and 3, for by grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment.

Sober judgment means seeing ourselves clearly.

Not inflated, not diminished, not grounded in expectations of others, but grounded in grace.

So when you see yourselves rightly, you can see yourselves and see others right.

You can see the grace of God.

One of the most liberating moments in the Christian's life is when we realize that we're not the center of attention.

We don't need to be.

Christ is a sinner.

And because he is secure on the throne, we don't need to compete.

We don't need to compare.

We don't need to assert ourselves.

And so Paul would say, in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Now that's not a loss.

That's freedom.

See, you can do that when you're in Christ.

Transformation through humble service leads us here.

You stop saying, am I being valued?

And start asking, how can I love you?

Stop demanding recognition, stop keeping score, stop seeking the esteem of men, the approval of men, and you'll discover something a whole lot better.

We esteem you.

See, esteem is found in humility.

Joy is found in service.

Freedom is found in Christ.

And when your identity is secure in Jesus, you don't need the applause of men.

Your life becomes an offering and a service becomes a joy.

I thank you for listening and I trust these things might hit a nerve.

You'll think about them, apply them and live them.

Thank you so much.

Have a good day and a pleasant week.