Self Series

If you have your Bibles with you today, open up to Matthew 16:24. That is the passage, and by the end of the sermon, I promise I will get to it. If you have been here for a while, you know that we have begun a summer series called “Do not conform. Be transformed”. That series is based on the passage found in Romans 12:1-2, which basically says “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The idea with this series is that we would look at some of the negative patterns of this world that try to get us to conform to the culture’s way of thinking and the culture’s way of acting. The idea was that we would look at these patterns, and then we would look at the consequences of following these patterns and hopefully create a bridge to a biblical response.

Today what I want to look at is a pattern that I simply call “self”. If we look around us today, if we look around the world, we can probably get a pretty good indication that in the world or at least in America we are very self-centered people. We are self-absorbed. So much so that it almost borders on what we would call narcissism. Narcissism is kind of an extreme self-centeredness. It is based on this Greek mythological figure known as Narcissus. Narcissus was the young man who was so enthralled with the reflection of himself that he saw in the lake that he actually fell into the lake and drowned. That is what it means to be narcissistic. Very extremely self-centered. That is the dark side of self. Some people think of it in terms of self-esteem. But I want to correct that assumption because self-esteem is more of a healthy thing. When you have good self-esteem, you are often concerned with the people around you. You are not just looking out for yourself. With narcissism you are number one. You are the only person you are looking out for. You really don’t think other people have importance. The extreme view of narcissism is thinking that you are even more important than God Himself. You may recall a couple weeks ago I mentioned the idea that we are seeing a major decline in God as the center of our reality. We are taking him out of the center of our world. When you take God out of the center of your reality, you have to replace him with something. For many people, the best person to replace God with is self. That is what is happening out there.

In America today, we see different degrees of self-centeredness, different degrees of self-absorption. We see a general pattern of self. It is evidenced in so many different places. All you need to do is turn on the television set. What do you see? You see shows like American Idol. Dancing with the Stars. The Voice. America’s Got Talent. What are those shows about? Self-promotion. Or you look at a reality show that is based on a dysfunctional person or family, and for many people the only way they can become famous is to be part of some sort of a dysfunctional family. In some cases, you can get famous by just being associated with someone famous. You can be like a Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian. It is just associating with someone who is famous. If you really want to make yourself famous, you could go on YouTube or Tic Toc and post your own video. Overnight you can become a worldwide sensation. Of course, we are all aware of Facebook and Twitter. Really those are really about self-promotion. If you want to create a name for yourself, simply go on Facebook or Twitter and you can have hundreds or possibly even thousands of followers overnight. We know that this pattern of self is not restricted to the internet or cable TV. All we have to do is walk through life and we bump up against all sorts of patterns of selfishness. You drive down the road and somebody cuts you off without even considering that you are driving next to them. Or maybe you are in the grocery store or the bank or a movie theater and somebody cuts in front of you in line. Or you could be like Debbie and I last Saturday night about midnight, which I am sound asleep because I get up very early on Sunday, somebody in the neighborhood decided to let off a round of firecrackers. They were just oblivious to what was going on around them. Of course we see it in the business world. We see it where people are so obsessed with climbing up the corporate ladder that they will do anything they can to keep others off that ladder. Whether it is lying, cheating, or stealing, they will do anything they can to make sure that they get the promotion and that they are self-promoted. We see it in ways where America has become kind of apathetic to the rest of the world around them. In America where you have tornados and hurricanes and that sort of thing or over in India where you have earthquakes or Japan where you have Tsunamis, we are just oblivious to that because, after all, that doesn’t affect us. As long as it doesn’t affect myself and my world, then I am not going to worry about it. We see an overall pattern of selfishness in the world and especially in America. When you have a pattern of selfishness in America, of course you need a magazine to go with it, so you have a magazine called Self. That is a true magazine and it sells a lot of copies because again it is focused on you and how you can make yourself better. When you have a culture of self, you are going to create phrases that allow you to continue to promote the idea of self. Phrases like love yourself. Believe in yourself. Go find yourself. The most current one, the most trending one is to “be yourself”. It It is all about being the person that you want to be. As I mentioned last week when I was talking about desire, I talked about how when you want to be anything you want or have any desire met, the culture is there ready and waiting to accommodate you. Unfortunately, sometimes they are there with their hand out because there is a price for becoming self. There is a price for latching on to some sort of a new identity. The culture, the marketers, their experts are allowing you to shape whatever identity you want again as long as there is a price. Nowadays, you can download any music you want 24/7. You can create the playlist of your own that is unique to who you are. You can get the hairdo you want. You can wear the clothes you want. You can put the makeup on. Whatever you want to create your own unique look. You can buy a nice car that somehow fits your personality. You can do that sort of thing. You can buy a certain beer or smoke a certain brand of cigarettes that is suited to who you are that allows you to be yourself. You can even purchase a t-shirt online that makes you think you are a pretty big deal. I know my kids are in the audience today, so Christmas is coming and I want you to know I am a pretty big deal so I want to see one of those under the Christmas tree.