Do You Orient Yourself Toward Others?

by Mark Dever

Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash

Laboring for the Sake of Others

Being a disciple of Jesus means orienting our lives toward others, just as Jesus did. It means laboring for the sake of others. This love for others is at the heart of discipling. We set our sights on serving others for Christ’s sake just as Christ came into the world not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

The discipling life is an others-oriented life. It labors in the power of God to proclaim Christ and present others mature in Christ. That is the pattern we see in the Bible.

The Biblical Pattern

Before Christ is ever named in Scripture, God hardwires these lessons into creation itself through the family. Consider how God makes us parents. He embeds in our nature the desire to give huge amounts of loving attention to rearing one person, nurturing and leading him or her toward maturity.

Then, in ancient Israel, he uses the power of these parenting relationships to work like channels through which the water of his word flows. So Moses gives the Ten Commandments. He tells the people to love God. And then he nstructs the people of Israel, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:6-7).

Here God gives us a great object lesson in discipling another human being. Discipling involves transmitting the knowledge of God and his word through every moment of life.

Beyond the family itself, the Bible is full of discipling relationships where one person teaches another. Think of how Moses raised up Joshua to succeed him. As did Eli with Samuel. And Elijah with Elisha.

The most famous discipler of all, of course, is Jesus Christ. Christianity did not start with a mass-market product rollout. There was no 24/7 media coverage surrounding his travels. It began with a series of personal engagements among a small group of men over a three-year period.

Yes, crowds often came to Jesus, and word of his miracles sometimes spread like wildfire. But within those large crowds was a smaller group of disciples whom Jesus called to himself. He invested particularly in them.

Taken from Do You Orient Yourself Toward Others? by Mark Dever, Copyright © May 20, 2020. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.

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BPCIS UPDATE

29 March 2026

“Golgotha is the place where the Son of God was lifted up, that all men might be drawn to him.” Augustine of Hippo

First, the bad news. For the first time since we began our Easter Sunrise Service at MacRitchie Reservoir in 1957, our application for the use of the venue was not approved. After appeals through different channels, and exploring other options, we decided we will take a break this year. Let us be thankful to the Lord, and to our authorities, for the opportunity to meet the Lord in the early dawn at such serene natural park setting—for almost 70 years!

Our Good Friday services will continue as in past years, this year in three host churches: Shalom (East), Zion Bishan (Central) and Mount Carmel (West). Details of locations and services are already publicized in all our churches. Let us make time to remember our Lord, and look to the Cross of Golgotha (Matthew 27.33), the theme of this year’s services.

For churches that observe the Lent season, we have completed the fifth week, today being Palm Sunday, tomorrow beginning the Holy Week leading to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Lent is a season of lament, reminding us that we live in a world--both global and personal-- filled with loss and sadness, conflict and pain. In the Psalms of Lament, the psalmists cry out to God:

“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?” “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! Hear my voice!” “All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you…” (Psalms 13, 130, 44).

We can sense their struggle and anguish, also our part in the lifelong journey with our Lord. Not all will be peace and joy, not all with clear and easy answers. Life is messy, so is the Cross, at the place of the skull (Golgotha), not a pleasant thought or sight. But through the Cross (not around it), we find true joy and deep peace. At our Good Friday services, we will end with an altar call, an opportunity for us to stand and dedicate (or re-dedicate) our lives wholly and without reservation to our Lord Jesus.

As we enter Holy Week, let us prepare our hearts to meet our Lord Jesus at the cross, then our Lord again at the empty tomb. We won’t be at McRitchie Reservoir this year, but still, meet Him whenever you are, in the early dawn, watching the sun rise over our city in a garden.

“Golgotha is the mountain of shame that was transformed into the throne of God’s glory.” John Stott

Pastor David Wong

General Secretary, BPCIS