Living A God-Centered Life Series

A. Have you heard about the guy who said, “Some people call me self-centered, but that’s enough about them”?

1. Maybe you’ve known someone like that – someone who lived life like it was all about them.

2. To be honest, there was a time in my life when I was way too much like that.

B. I heard a story about a guy like that.

1. He arrived at the airport and there was a long line at the airline ticket counter.

2. All of the ticket agents were doing their best to politely process each passenger as quickly as they could, but that was not fast enough in his opinion.

3. So the well-dressed man at the end of the passenger line became so impatient and frustrated at having to wait so long in the slow-moving line that he marched up to the counter to demand that he be given his boarding pass.

4. The ticket agent gently said, “Sir, as you can see, there are many passengers ahead of you. We are doing our best to process the passengers as fast as we can. I’m afraid you'll have to get back in line and wait your turn.”

5. Outraged and red in the face, the man yelled at the ticket agent, “Do you know who I am??!!”

6. The ticket agent calmly picked up the public address system microphone and said, “Attention everyone in the airport. We have a medical emergency. There is a man at the ticket counter, who does not know who he is. Anyone who may be able to identify this man is asked to please step forward and identify him. Thank you.”

7. The man quietly returned to the back of the line to wait his turn.

C. That question or demand: “Do you know who I am?” is a “me-centric” way of thinking, right?

1. It is a way of thinking and living that says “I am the center of the universe and everything should go the way I want it to go, and the way the benefits me the most.”

2. The voice inside of us demands: “Don’t you know who I am? I’m important and special and I shouldn’t have to wait in line for my turn. These people, on the other hand, are lowly and unimportant and they should wait for their turn, but not me!”

3. We might never say such a thing out loud, but we might live in a way that reflects that attitude.

4. We might be tempted to live in a way that says, “It’s all about me! I am the center of the universe.”

D. Think about this for a minute: For thousands and thousands of years, we earthlings enjoyed center stage.

1. Back in that day, fathers could place an arm around their children and point to the sky and say, “The universe revolves around us!”

2. Ptolemy’s second-century finding convinced us that earth was the center of the universe.

3. And so, everyone at the time believed that everything in the universe revolved around earth.

4. Earth stood still, but everything else rotated and had an orbit around the earth.

E. But then in 1543, along came Nicolaus Copernicus with his maps, drawings, Polish accent and pestering questions.

1. Questions like: “Can anyone tell me what causes the seasons to change?” “Why do some stars appear in the day and others at night?” “Does anyone know exactly how far ships can sail before they fall off the edge of the earth?”

2. I think they are pretty good questions, but most people scoffed at him, saying, “Who has time for such trivialities and problems?”

3. But Copernicus persisted and he pointed his finger at the sun and declared, “Behold the center of the solar system.”

4. And guess what? People denied the facts for over half a century.

5. When the like minded Galileo came along, the throne locked him up and the church kicked him out.

6. Why such a reaction? Most people don’t like being told they are wrong, especially when it means a demotion in status.

F. Think about it: what Copernicus did for the earth, God does for our souls.

1. God comes to each of us who believe that we are the center of the universe and God points to the SON and says, “Behold the center of it all.”

2. The truth of the matter is: “It’s all about Jesus.”

3. Listen to what Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus: He [God] exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens— far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church. (Eph. 1:20-22).