40 Days of Purpose - Part 7 – Self Centred or Other’s Centred
Gladstone Baptist Church - 30/5/04
We’ve reached the end of our Journey, but it is worth taking some time to examine the road we’ve trod. I want tonight for us to think about the purpose driven life and distill it down to its essentials.
What are these essentials? Well, for starters, we were made for a purpose. We are no accident. We were created for a specific reason and that includes having a relationship with God, having relationships with others, learning to live like Jesus, serving in a ministry and being part of God’s worldwide mission. If we are not participating in each of these five purposes, then we are not living according to our design purpose. We are wasting our life.
Another essential, is that through these five purposes, we grow closer to God. When we worship, we acknowledge God’s greatness – we learn to appreciate Him and what He’s done. When we enter into fellowship with God and with the rest of his family, we enter into relation with Him. You can’t learn to love his family without God’s love flowing out through you. Discipleship is about becoming like Christ. Service is serving God and his people. Evangelism is understanding his mission and his desire that all be saved. So to live these five purposes we need to grow closer to God.
But there is another essential that struck me this last week and I want to pause to examine it in more detail tonight. It is the fact that to do these five purposes, we need to move from being self centred people to being other centred. You can not do these five purposes by focusing on yourself. Have you realized this as you were reading the daily readings? You can not live according to these 5 purposes and be self centred at the same time.
What is self-centredness. It comes under many guises
i. Self-glorification
ii. Self-indulgence
iv. Self-righteousness
v. Self-focused
vi. Self-inflated
vii. Self-infatuated
viii. Self-willed
ix. Self-empowered
x. Self-seeking
xi. Self-driven
Read Phil 2:1-11
Paul is writing his letter to the Philippians and is talking all about living in unity in the face of opposition. But he goes on, to relate to them how they can live a life of unity. And at the centre of this is the idea of being other centred. Paul says, you can’t live in unity unless you live unselfishly. Let’s briefly look at each of these 5 purposes and you’ll see what I mean …
1. Worship
The first purpose in life we learnt about was worship. The fact that we need to respond to God’s love for us. He loved us so much that he died for us. Paul starts out this chapter in Philippians by making some logical statements. He says “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion.” Paul says… do you have anything to praise God about because you are one with Him? Are you reassured by the wonder of his love? Do you have fellowship with his Holy Spirit? Do you care at all?
The answer was obviously Yes. These Philippian Christians, like us. owed so much to God. He had accepted them, forgiven them, adopted them into His family. He showed love and compassion to them. He led them by His spirit.
The response to this is worship. Paul writes … If you do appreciate all of these things, then make me happy by being united with each other. Paul longed for the Philippian church to live in harmony because he planted the church. He saw himself as their spiritual father in many ways. If Paul felt this way about a group of people that he served and worked with. How much more do you think that God desires the same thing for those he died for and created?
I don’t think we would be too far off the mark by slipping in God’s name into these verses … Listen as I read it again …
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make God’s joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
There is no question that God desires that we live in unity with each other and Paul urges these Christians to do this in response to what God’s has done for us.
So we learnt that worship is our response to God’s love. Some people respond by praying, some people sing songs, some people write poems or love letters, some people take photos, some people worship by their joyful attitude in life and others worship God by serving others. But all these responses have one thing in common. They are all other centred. In actual fact – they are all GOD-centred to be more specific.
It is crazy to think you can say how great God is when you are completely self absorbed. You can’t worship God if you are only looking at yourself. Worship demands that you be God focused.
That is why it is so wrong for us to complain about the “Worship” music being too old, too boring, too fast, too new, too loud. When we do this, the focus has shifted to us. We’ve become self centred in wanting the worship to fit our style. Worship is not about us. It is about God. Worship is meant to give God pleasure, not us. I don’t mean by this that Worship must be torturous or horrible – but the focus must be on God’s pleasure not our own – you know what I mean.
2. Fellowship
Our second purpose is that we were formed to be part of God’s family. That’s fellowship. God wants us to be united in love in one family. I think one of the best things about this 40 Days of Purpose campaign is that we are all singing off the same song sheet. We were united in our learning, in our thinking and our meditation. We all know now about the 5 purposes for our lives. We are unified in our purpose and in our direction. But did you notice how Paul said this is practically achieved?
Paul says that you become like-minded, develop the same love and share in one spirit and purpose when you are OTHERS centred. Paul writes … 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
You see, fellowship can not work when you are self-centred. When you are more concerned about yourself than others, you tread on other’s toes, you don’t care for them, you are pre-occupied with your own needs to see other’s needs. Does anyone honestly like talking to someone who always wants to talk about themselves? Definitely not.
A highly successful businessman was once asked to make a substantial donation toward an urgent charity appeal. The businessman listened to the case presented then said, "I can understand why you approached me. Yes I do have a lot of money, and yours is an important cause. But are you aware that I have a lot of calls upon my money? Did you know my mother needs 24 hour nursing care?"
"No we didn’t" came the reply.
"Did you know my sister is struggling to raise a family of eight on her own?"
"No we didn’t" came the reply.
"Did you know I have one son in a drug rehab clinic and another doing voluntary work overseas?"
"No we didn’t"
"Well, if I don’t give them a cent, what makes you think I’ll give it to you?!"
Incredible !!! Paul often exhorts the churches he is involved with to consider others more highly than themselves. He wants us to be different to this businessman who keeps his resources to himself. On one occasion when Paul was addressing a debate about whether it is right or wrong to eat food offered to idols, he says in 1 Cor 10:25 “Yes it is okay” Paul says to the Corinthian Christians, “You have the freedom to eat what ever you like. You are not under any law – except one … to care for others.”. If your actions hurt another or causes another to stumble or to lose faith, you are not to do it. In 1 Cor 10:23 he says ““Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” You see, what is more important than us exercising our rights or our freedom is that others are cared for.
And you can’t look after others if you are focused on yourself, your rights, your feelings, your desires. Paul explains the secret of good relations when he talks about love … He says … “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [boasting and pride are two signs of a self centred life] It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Cor 13:4-7.
God’s purposes only work when you are others centred.
3. Discipleship
Our Third purpose was to become like Christ – we were created to become like Christ … What is Discipleship? “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus Phil 2:5” This was one of our memory verses and it is part of this passage we are reading. You see, Worship must be God centred. Fellowship must be others centred. And this only happens as we grow in discipleship (becoming like Christ).
Our example is Christ. Our attitudes, our behavior, our values must all be modeled on Jesus Christ …
6 Who, being in very nature a God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Discipleship by its very definition requires a focus on another. If we want to copy another, we need to focus on them. We can’t hope to model our life on Christ if we aren’t CHRIST-centred. You can’t be focused on your self.
Jesus knew this … In Luke 9:23-25 His advice to any that would follow him was this “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
Jesus said, you’ve got 2 choices. You can be self centred, but you’ll lose your very self if you choose this option. Or you can center your life on me and follow my example of denial and self sacrifice. To be a disciple of Jesus, we need to be Jesus-centred and others-centred, not self-centred.
4. Ministry
Our third purpose was ministry. We were SHAPE’d to Serve. Server who? The answer is fairly obvious. We are to serve God and his church.
Jesus was once confronted by two very ambitious brothers. Turn with me to Mark 10:35-45. James and John came to Jesus and said, let us sit beside you in heaven. Essentially what they were doing was focusing on themselves and their own importance.
Jesus uses the opportunity to teach them what ministry is all about. He says that those who are great are servants. Ministry is one of our 5 purposes, but in order to serve, you must be focused on others. Servants can not perform their job if they only are concerned about their own needs. Imagine if a servant was sitting on the sofa with their feet up and sipping on a softdrink while their master was ringing the bell or calling them to try to get their attention. They’d soon get the boot, I’d imagine.
Servants serve others. Jesus was a servant. He says of himself (vs 45) For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
In Philippians 2, Paul exhorts us that our “attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature a God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
Jesus became a servant. He humbled himself and became a man so that he could serve us. He saw a need and was willing to serve to fulfill it.
If we are to live according to this fourth purpose, we need to be serious about caring for the needs of those around us. Ministry is OTHER’S-centred. It may be serving morning tea. It may be helping to teach a class at children’s church. It may be coming to a working bee. You may not always like what you are asked to do, but as soon as you start thinking about what you like or what you want to do, the focus switches to being self centred.
Years ago, a small fishing village in Holland, was in the midst of a huge storm. Because the entire village revolved around the fishing industry, a volunteer rescue team was needed in cases of emergency. This stormy night, the seas capsized a fishing boat at sea and an S.O.S. was sent. The captain of the rescue rowboat team sounded the alarm and the villagers assembled in the town square overlooking the bay. While the team launched their rowboat and fought their way through the wild waves, the villagers waited restlessly on the beach, holding lanterns to light the way back.
An hour later, the rescue boat reappeared through the fog and the cheering villagers ran to greet them. Falling exhausted on the sand, the volunteers reported that the rescue boat could not hold any more passengers and they had to leave one man behind. Even one more passenger would have surely capsized the rescue boat and all would have been lost.
Frantically, the rescue team captain called for another volunteer team to go after the lone survivor. Sixteen-year-old Hans stepped forward. His mother grabbed his arm, pleading, "Please don’t go. Your father died in a shipwreck 10 years ago and your older brother, Paul, has been lost at sea for three weeks. Hans, you are all I have left."
Hans replied, "Mother, I have to go. What if everyone said, ’I can’t go, let someone else do it?’ Mother, this time I have to do my duty. When the call for service comes, we all need to take our turn and do our part." Hans kissed his mother, joined the team and disappeared into the night.
Another hour passed, which seemed to Hans’ mother like an eternity. Finally, the rescue boat darted through the fog with Hans standing up in the bow. Cupping his hands, the captain called, "Did you find the lost man?" Barely able to contain himself, Hans excitedly yelled back, "Yes, we found him. Tell my mother it’s my older brother, Paul!"
When we are other’s-focused, we actually see the pain and the need of another. When we are other’s focused, we see their needs as being bigger than the inconvenience or cost that meeting their needs may be to us. When we are other’s focused, we don’t mind putting ourselves out to help others. When we are other’s focused, we don’t leave it to someone else to do the part that God has called us to do.
Service takes love and love can’t be self-centred. We’ve already read it, but let’s hear again what Paul says about Love… 1 Cor 13:4 – 7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
5. Evangelism
The last purpose we learnt about was the fact that we were made for a mission. Our mission is to share with everyone on this earth that God wants to have a relationship with them. That’s evangelism. This purpose is the ultimate in OTHER-centredness. It is being concerned about other’s eternal destiny enough to become vulnerable with them. It is caring enough about them to explain the gospel when you might be rejected. It is loving them enough not to leave them to perish, but to pursue them with the saving gospel of Jesus. Mission requires us to be others centred. In the Philippians passage that we’ve been looking at tonight, we read that our attitude should be the same as that of Christ who humbled himself, became a servant and died for us.
God was pleased with his service. He was pleased with Christ’s death and in Phil 2:9 we read that
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Christ is exalted in heaven and is worthy of our worship. Many of us give that worship willingly tonight, but there will come a day when at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and confess that He is Lord. For some, that act of confession and bowing will be a willing act. For many, that act will be forced upon them as they finally realize the great mistake of their life.
Our mission if we choose to accept it is to save as many people from the horror of that moment. To introduce people to Jesus as Lord now while they have still got the chance to confess him voluntarily.
If we are self centred, we will not care about the eternal destiny of our neighbors.
If we are self centred, we won’t care that there are 81% of Australians (15.2 Million people) go to church less regularly than once a month.
If we are self centred, we won’t care that there are only 2 Billion people who would even call themselves Christians (though many of these would not be actual Christians). Over 4 billion people happily identify themselves with another religion.
Let me read you a story that I received this week … “I sat, with two friends, in a restaurant in town one day. As we talked, my attention was drawn to a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for food." My heart sank.
We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: "Don’t go back to the office until you’ve at least driven once more around the square." As I turned the square’s third corner. I saw him standing on the steps of the storefront church, going through his sack.
I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on.
"Looking for the pastor?" I asked.
"Not really," he replied, "just resting."
"Have you eaten today?" "Oh, I ate something early this morning."
"Would you like to have lunch with me?"
"Do you have some work I could do for you?" "No work," I replied. "but I would like to take you to lunch."
"Sure," he replied with a smile. As he began to gather his things, I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus is The Never Ending Story."
Then Daniel’s story began to unfold. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to get a job with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought. He was hired, but the tent was not for a concert but evangelistic meetings. In those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God. "Nothing’s been the same since," he said, " I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now."
"Ever think of stopping?" I asked. "Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me. But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That’s what’s in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads."
I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: "What’s it like?" "What?" "To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?"
"Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn’t make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people’s concepts of other folks like me."
My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. "Where are you headed from here?"
"Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon."
"Are you hoping to get a job there for awhile?"
"No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that’s where I’m going next."
But when we become others centred, people aren’t just daunting statistics. They actually become people that matter and we want to do something about it so that every knee will bow voluntarily before Jesus on that judgment day. But for that to happen, we need to become other’s centred.
Conclusion
As you think about your own attitudes. Are you self-centred or others-centred. Is the fact that these five purposes seem so difficult because you are more concerned about looking after yourself than others?
The sin of idolatry that plagues the modern world is a "me first" attitude that gives God the leftovers in though and life. God doesn’t want the left overs. He created you to give him everything and if we intend on living according to these 5 purposes, we have to get rid of the me first attitude and take on a me last attitude.
Let’s be aware of this and come before God in humility confessing our sins and handing our lives over to him Afresh so that we can serve Him and serve others as we live a purpose driven life.
