It’s Not All About You
Jim Clements · Tidal Church Moncton · October 26, 2025 · Vital Signs series
Drawing on Romans 5, Colossians 1 and Ephesians 4, Jim Clements explains that Christ died for each of us personally and also to restore His kingdom on earth. Salvation is the starting line, so we are called to serve with our time, gifts and resources.
More from Jim Clements · The Vital Signs series
Topics: Purpose, Mission & Outreach, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:03] I'm just happy that, that Mike cleared it up, the difference between Halloween and Pastor Appreciation, just so there is no confusion any further. We're gonna go through Vital Signs. It's the last week of three weeks of Vital Signs and it's been interesting, you know, we went through the mission statement and how that aligns with Scripture. Then Kevin went through last week and he, and if you remember, Kevin talked about, like, how many steps that he does and how many steps his friend Dave does, like 10,000, 11,000, 22,000. Like, I was inspired and I went and got my phone. I downloaded the app and then I had to take a break. I was like tired out already before I took any steps. Now it's, when you get a certain age, they, you had to get your health checked all the time.
[0:52] So I've been, since I was 50, I get an annual checkup because of family history, just get everything done, kind of go in all kinds of blood work, all kinds of stuff done. Sat down with a doctor after this time. And so he goes, let's look, let's look at your vital signs. I go, oh man, they can produce a lot of stuff outta four little vials of blood and other things. And we're going through and he goes, oh, that's within the range. That's within the range. Well, that's good. That's within the range. That's within the range. And we kept going through all the sheets and sheets and stuff that's in the range. And I'm like, that's pretty good. I'm doing all right. And he goes, well, there's something you gotta work on. I said, well, my vital signs all look great. He goes, but you could lose some weight. And I'm like, are you telling me I'm the healthiest fat person? You know? And he goes, I'm not saying that.
[1:37] And he said, because you gotta do something. And so in that moment, I left and I began to think about, you know, as we talked about vital signs for our church, we're gonna continue that today a little bit more in, but I got to thinking about my vital signs, like what I think and the care for myself and, and I began to think how much of I was like not honoring my call to You and to the kingdom work. And so I begin to reflect like, okay, God, like, and He goes, you know, you need to take better care of yourself. He said, for others. And I said, oh, like my, like Gisèle and my family. He goes, no, He said 30 years ago when I called you, He said, I called you to take care of those I send your way and the kingdom work that you're being called to and you're not doing a very good job at taking care of yourself to fill that out.
[2:27] So over the next few months and year or whatever, I'm gonna try and figure it out and just try to make better choices to honor You. And the call for me, that's the best thing I can do for You, is to make sure that I'm taking care of myself and honoring the call that God's placed on us here as a church. So you can, And I gotta tell you, I love me some black licorice, so I'm gonna have to figure that out. But today, when we talk about our vital signs as a church, it's really, I'm gonna break it down in a number of ways. God and I months ago had a wrestling match and you never, if you've ever done that, like, good luck. I've never won, even though it happens a number of times. And this message was actually supposed to be about giving and I had it in my mind, this is gonna be one of the vital signs of the church is how you give.
[3:21] And then God goes, He goes, how long you been in ministry? And I was like, well, 30 years. And He goes, so how many messages have you heard about giving? And I'm like, a lot. And He goes, you're not gonna speak on giving. He said, you can hit on it. But He said, those who call Me Lord and Savior and committed their life to Me, He said, they already know. He said, so you think you're gonna get out and be able to say something different than all those pastors said all the years that they ever did it and talked about it, that you can figure it out? And I'm like, well, not when you put it like that. But it became very evident that for me, and this is what we're gonna go through, look at our vital signs. He just said, they've got it figured out. It's in Scripture. He said, Old Testament says tithe, New Testament says everything.
[4:07] You figure it out. And so it's between you and God. We're gonna touch on it in a little bit, just slightly. But He took me to this instead. He said, when Christ died on the cross, He said He died for two things, probably more than two, but two things we're gonna focus on today and we tend to interpret it to be for us. But really He died also cosmically for the kingdom to be restored on earth and we tend to focus on the us part. So God died for us personally. I wanna start there and we're gonna look at Romans chapter 5. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
[4:54] Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. While we were still sinners, Christ knew the price that He was gonna pay for us and He knew our name. It wasn't this general humanity kind of thing that He went for. He went specifically for me, for you personally. He did this. It's not, the cross is not this abstract symbol of Christianity. It's a symbol of love that has your name on it.
[5:41] Galatians tell us, the Son of God who loved me gave Himself for me. Luke 15 talks about the shepherd leaving the 99 for the one. Jesus died for you individually. He died. He absorbed your sin, He absorbed your shame. He absorbed the sentence that you were about to get because of the sin in your life, but you received His forgiveness, you received His favor and you received freedom as a result of that sacrifice that He made on the cross. See, death for Jesus was very personal and it was for us.
[6:32] He died for you and He died for me, but He also died to restore the kingdom on earth. When Jesus went to the cross in Colossians for us, it says, for God and all of His fullness was pleased to live in Christ. And through Him, God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross. Through Him, all things are reconciled through His blood. The cross is this hinge in history that's helping us reclaim the earth, the place the kingdom back on earth for what God has wanted. Sin in Adam and Eve, it fractured the relationship between Adam and Eve and God, but it fractured the relationship between the kingdom that God was trying to establish and where we are now today.
[7:32] So we have to look at both of those things. Romans 8:19 says this, but with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in pains of childbirth, right up to the present time. If the kingdom doesn't get restored along with us getting restored, then Satan runs rule over everything. It has to be both. Jesus defeated the powers that corrupted creation.
[8:18] In Colossians, He disarmed the rulers and the authorities, triumphing over them. The cross is the throne on which our King sits, suffering for the losses of who we are. But He is crowned with glory in all of it. A lot of us have accepted Jesus as our personal Savior, but we haven't accepted the revival of the kingdom that we're supposed to be part of. We're supposed to be part of that kingdom restoration. And every act of obedience that we do, that we fulfill in our lives through the decisions we make, the actions, the words, everything expands the footprint of the kingdom here on earth each time.
[9:13] That is what we want. That is what God wants. Okay? Here's the hard part. I just told you that He sacrificed Himself for you individually and for the kingdom, but it's not all about you. So many of us have taken that personal salvation that we received and have made it all about us. What I get, what I want, what I'm seeking. See, our salvation is meant to glorify the King. When we come in here and we sing like we just sang and the message that we're hearing now, this is for an audience of one.
[10:07] We sing and worship for God. It's lifted to Him. We're glorifying Him. This isn't about how you feel when we speak the words from a message. It's us together trying to edify God's Word to grow in it together, but claim for Him to make the Word come alive in our hearts and our spirits to grow and become part of that kingdom that is trying to reclaim what is here on earth. So when you come in and you go, I don't like the lights. They're too bright, they're too dark, I don't like, the sound is too loud, it's too low. I didn't like that song. I would've picked a different song. They didn't pick the song that I like when I sent them in an email. I don't like the snow. They put the snow over my parking spot that I normally park in, in the summertime, to pile it up so they got someplace to poke it.
[10:55] It rained when I came in and there was nobody there with an umbrella. Did you see 'em cut the steps when they came in like that? I can't believe they haven't cleaned that garbage can out and it goes on and on and on. Well, church isn't about you. I just wanna let you all know that, right? Culture will tell you do whatever your heart feels. Do what makes you feel good. You know where that gets you? In a world of hurt, thinking you've got hope and you don't have hope. Some of us spend our time praying and we pray like it's a list. We're putting in the Amazon cart. Oh, I like that. I like that. I don't like that. I like that. I like that. Then we go through the cart and decide we wanna place the order or not.
[11:41] And it's not good enough then that we picked out what we like, but we want it in two days. Sometimes God's gonna answer your prayer and it's not in the earthly form that you expect it or you want it, but He answers it in a totally and completely different way that honors the kingdom that He's trying to restore here on earth that you are supposed to be part of. That is what God is up to. My brother got rushed into emergency surgery. I never expected it. He didn't expect it. He went in last week, got emergency. We were praying. We were praying, man, this is gonna work. Not the surgery but the Medicaid. This is gonna work. It's gonna work. We're praying and praying, praying. And he is rushed into surgery. Well, I wasn't praying for him to go into surgery.
[12:27] I text my sister-in-law. Were you praying for him to go into surgery? Like, who's praying for him to go into surgery? Nobody went in, had some things taken out that were diseased. He's feeling much better. He comes outta recovery and goes, boy. He said, I could feel the hand of God in my recovery. And when I was going into the surgery beforehand, and he said, you know what? I know He didn't answer it like we thought, but He's answered it the way that He wants. And now I've gotta figure out what's the journey He wants me to be on that I'm not aware of right now? Because I was all selfish thinking it was about me. That's the way we have to think, is what is it God wants us to do? Matthew, Jesus says to the disciples, "If any of you want to be My follower, you must give up your own way and take up your cross and follow Me.
[13:18] If you try to hang onto your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it." Your personal salvation, whenever that special moment was for you, what an incredible moment that is. When you encounter the living King and you say, please be my Lord and Savior, and you receive the fullness of what He has for you. That's not the finish line, that's the starting line. And from that point forward is when kingdom stuff begins to happen. The gospel is not about you being saved.
[14:03] The gospel is about God being glorified through you and what you say, what you do, and the other people that you invite into that. See, we tend to think that the culture will tell us the world revolves around us. That's nothing but deceit from lies. It's all it is. I want to tell you when I said it, it's not all about you. Culture will tell you that I'm devaluing you. I'm not letting you have it your way. I'm not sensitive to what you feel. I'm not sensitive to what you want. I'm offending you. I say it's not all about you. I'm not devaluing you.
[14:54] I'm repositioning you so you can have the right vision and the right thoughts of where God wants you and needs you. You need to be repositioned to the point that your life glorifies God here on earth. Know that you are loved personally by the Lord of lords and King of kings, but He wants you to live with a purpose. You are chosen people. It says in 1 Peter that you may declare praises of Him who called you out of darkness. Don't get caught living a faith that is all about what you get.
[15:42] Satan doesn't care if you're good. He really doesn't care. Satan doesn't care if you like, don't do bad things. Satan doesn't care even if you live a life that's free of sin. Do you know what he cares about? He cares about when you say, Jesus is my Lord and Savior and I will serve Him and only Him in all the ways and all the days of my life. That's what Satan cares about. And you've gotta ask yourself, are you willing to do that? Are you willing to get caught in a faith that's just for you? Are you willing to just say sometimes, Jesus, Lord? Some of us treat Him like our personal assistant.
[16:29] Hey, Jesus, can you do this? Can you do that? It's like we're looking into a mirror and it's all about us. We should be looking out a window and seeing the world, the creation that God created, that He's trying to revive with the hope and love that He has. When faith becomes a convenience and not a commitment, we only serve when it fits our schedule. We only give when we feel like it's comfortable, and we only attend when we feel like it. That's the difference. But Jesus said, "Anyone who comes after Me, let him deny himself." See, we all want a Savior to rescue us, but are we okay serving a King who rules over us?
[17:29] Because those are two different things, but they have to go together. It's the same cross that saves all of us. And it's the same cross that calls all of us, when we accept it, to lead into the restoration of the kingdom when we're in prayer. It shouldn't be a wish list. It should be a war room. Because we're at war, whether you realize it or not, for our friends, for our families, for our neighbors, for everyone around us. We're at war, and we're not. We're not gonna lose any more ground. We have to continue to push and push and push. Church in some ways has become a place for consumption.
[18:14] So I got a consumer mentality, and what happens is we get emotional, and there's emotionalism that gets created in life. Hollywood's great at creating it. My wife, Gisèle, she'll get mad at me for telling you this. Now she watches a commercial and she's like, oh, she cries. I'm like, it's a commercial. It's not real, right? But she's got such a sentimental heart that's emotional. And there's a lot of times and a lot of places in life where emotional can creep in and you feel this emotion, you feel this song, you feel the message, you feel something. And it's emotional. But don't confuse emotional with the presence of God, because emotion doesn't bring the presence of God.
[19:03] Presence of God brings emotion. And when you sense the presence of God, you'll be so overwhelmed. But you can't help but to respond to Him in an incredible way that shows emotion. The world wants to manipulate you. We can't be consumers. We have to be contributors to what's happening in our church. Ephesians 4, the body builds itself up. Each part does its work. Each one of us has something to contribute. Kevin talked about our gifts and our talents, and I'll do more of that here in a second. But if the body is missing a part, then the body's not functioning at its full capacity.
[19:49] And anytime you decide to withdraw or come back in, that just throws the body off. Blessings come out of living in obedience to God. It says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness." That's what we're told to do. Blessings flow from kingdom purpose, not from the other way around. And so we have to really be checking our vital signs. This is all meant this morning for you to just look inside and see. But again, your salvation is just the beginning spot. Sometimes in our faith we just like, it's like retirement.
[20:35] Like we just wanna sit back and now coast, there's no cruise. When you're in ministry, there's no cruise. You're all in ministry. It's not just the pastors. We're all in ministry together. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. That says in Ephesians, we weren't saved to sit, we were saved to serve. And you've gotta ask yourself, where are you serving? 'Cause if you're not, then you're not fulfilling the call that He's completely called upon you when you said yes to Him as Lord and Savior. And then that also yes becomes, yes, I'm gonna do the kingdom work and restore the kingdom here on earth. Remember what it says, here on earth as in heaven. We don't wait.
[21:22] We're not sitting around waiting for it to happen. The cross was never meant for us to stop. The cross was meant to flow through you to other people. And you do that by the relationships that you have or by serving and living it out. Jesus didn't die for you to wait to get to heaven. Jesus died to help bring on earth what is in heaven. And He does that through each one of us. Sometimes we think about our salvation, we think about that surrender that we do, and it's hard. I can remember my time getting there and getting there, and it took the loss of a child to get there, and that was hard.
[22:14] But then I felt His redemption. And when He redeems you, there's a responsibility to say, I'm gonna stand in the gap and I'm gonna help make a difference. When help comes. The hard part that we have today is we're fighting culture. Culture has a lot more money. Culture has a lot more people. It seems like culture has a lot more influence. Culture's got a lot more people listening to it. We've gotten to the point where sin gets justified. Well, that's all right. That one's not so bad. Like, oh, we'll be okay. Well, nobody knows about that. So you're good. And we start having sin in our life, and we're justifying it and trying to live that out. And culture keeps telling us again and again and again that it's okay.
[23:05] It's not okay, it's not okay at all. And we've gotta figure that out for us as church people and the lives that we live out. We can't be doing things that people know or we even know that God is bringing to our attention. I always say, what God reveals to you in private, you better deal with, because maybe He might reveal it publicly. So then you gotta deal with it. So grace is being shown when it comes to that. When we give to the church ministries, Matthew 6:21, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be." Also, giving isn't a transaction.
[23:51] Like I said earlier, Old Testament, New Testament. God's already told you, you already know if you're a follower. If you're not a follower of Christ, we'll figure that out when the time comes. But for those that are followers of Christ, you give, you give the support. Are you supporting the church? No, nobody wants to pay for the lights, but it'd be dark if we were in here right now. You wouldn't be able to hear me unless I was yelling, or you'd really like the heat in another couple of months to be on when you come in, I'm sure too. But you giving to the mission of the church that is fulfilling the restoration of the kingdom on earth through His people. That's why you give. You don't give outta any other reason, not for me making you feel guilty, us talking, reminding you, or anything. You give because you want to.
[24:41] And you're called to be part of the restoration of the kingdom here on earth. It can't be transactional. It's gotta be through Him. Whether that's locally, regionally, globally, whatever it is, God has called you to that, and we can sit and argue the fine points of it. But the bottom line is, a follower of Christ, are you willing to surrender every part of your life or only certain parts. And it's between you and Him, whatever He calls you, to figure it out between Old Testament and New Testament. But you better say, I'm all in. If you confess to be a follower of Christ. See, we have to reach a spot where the kingdom work matters more than our comfort because God doesn't care about your comfort.
[25:36] God cares about the people that don't know Him yet. He wants to reconcile everybody to Himself giving of your time. Ephesians 5:15. So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but live like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Your time is kingdom currency, is what I would call it. You can't replenish it. You only have so much. Some get shorter time than others, some get really long time than others, but you only get so much of it. And you wanna invest your time in the things that are kingdom growing and eternal. Not things that are just happening in the moment of when it is right in now.
[26:26] The Lord tells us that our labor will not be in vain when we give our time to His purposes and we will bring heaven, the kingdom, the revival that happens because of our time that we, we give back into the kingdom when we serve the church, Tidal Church, the church, kingdom as a whole, to see it grow in a footprint, expand. It doesn't grow because of spectators. It grows because of servants. People who say, I will serve the Lord of lords and the King of kings who has rescued me from all the sin and disgrace that I could have experienced and gave me freedom and fullness.
[27:19] Your giftings and talent are very specific in where you serve. Each have been given a specific gift that says in 1 Peter, you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace. Your talent, your gifting, your purpose is not for you. It's not for you to get some platform on. It's not for you to be popular. It is for God's glory. Everything you have and everything in your existence is for God's glory. Ephesians 4, from Him. The whole body builds itself up in love as each part works. So it is very important for us to be doing this together.
[28:07] No strangers, no differences, together with one vision that the man who shed His blood for us had the purpose of our freedom and our salvation, but for the kingdom to be restored here on earth as well. So we live in two realities. Revelation 11:15 says, the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. The personal gospel gives us peace. The kingdom gospel gives us purpose. And in our world that is desperate for hope, in a world that is lost, in a world that is confused, in a world that is looking and reaching out for that temporary thing, whatever it is that's next, that's trying to tell you, there's only one thing and that's Jesus.
[29:14] And if you don't know that today, my prayer would be that you would pray to receive Him as your Lord and King. When we look at the restoration of the kingdom here on earth, it's one person at a time, but we do it together as a whole gospel for individual and for kingdom because Jesus reigns over all, not portions. Overall, I'm not a great gardener, and I found that out yesterday when I harvested my potatoes. But one thing that I did learn is that when I put a seed in the ground, it grows even as bad as I did.
[30:02] Caring for it, it grew and it grew not just one potato, it grew multiple potatoes. Because when we plant a seed and we're willing to step outside of ourselves and realize that our salvation is not the finish line, but the starting line, and we begin to plant seeds in the lives of the people around us, God will help us make those grow because it's kingdom work. It's not about us. So those that are yet to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, for He is building a new creation. At the cross, our sin was forgiven, our hearts were redeemed, and the kingdom began its revival for here on earth.
[30:58] So when I say, Jesus died for me, or you say, Jesus died for me personally, we're reconciling our hearts to God is what we're doing from the brokenness and the division that happened with Adam and Eve before the world cosmically. We're saying that we're restoring His creation under His reign. And that's what we get to be part of. Revelation 21:5 says, behold, I am making all things new, 'cause that's who He is. The destruction and the decay of the life that I was leading before I gave my life to Him is made new.
[31:45] The impact that He allows me to have in alignment with Him, with the kingdom work to reach out in the people's lives is being made new. We come personally to the cross. We gotta commit publicly to the kingdom and continue faithfully on His mission, giving our hearts, our resources, our time and our gifts. And He settles for nothing less. You are called by the King.
[32:31] You were restored by the King when you accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Now it's time to be part of the kingdom restoration revival here on earth by every day focused on it where we spend our time, where we spend our resources, where relationships that we're involved in, the people that we surround ourselves with that don't get know Christ, don't miss those opportunities. Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You that You save those of us in here who follow You have accepted You as Lord and Savior.
[33:19] We thank You for that personal moment in time. But Father, we don't wanna sit by, we don't wanna be spectators, we wanna be servants. And so as each person checks their vital signs today, the day, where do they spend their time? Where do their talents and gifts go? Where do their resources go? Where do their schedule lay out? Because it's for kingdom purposes that You've called us, not just for personal purposes, may we always be a church and a people to chase after restoring the kingdom through revival here on earth as it is in heaven, and it's in the mighty name of Jesus.
[34:07] We ask this. Amen.