Selfless In A Selfie World Series

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

› Engagement

When Ellen Degeneres took a selfie with a bunch of celebrities during the 2014 Oscars and posted it on Twitter it became the most re-tweeted post ever. Even today, seven years later, it is still the fourth most shared Tweet of all times.

Self-portraits have been around in some form for a long time, even before there were cameras. But with the dawn of social media, we now live in a world where so many people largely measure their worth and self-value by the size of their digital network. So it’s not surprising that so much effort goes into getting people to like those selfies. In fact, the selfie has made such a tremendous cultural impact that the Oxford Dictionary named “selfie” the 2013 word of the year.

But frankly, that’s only one of many symptoms of the real underlying problem - a culture that is increasingly obsessed with self. I’m convinced this is one of the reasons it has become so hard to have a civil conversation with others who might hold different opinions or viewpoints. And it is also why we’ve seen such an overwhelming focus on individual rights, but hardly any focus at all on our individual responsibilities.

› Tension

Obviously there is a certain amount of focusing on myself that is healthy and even necessary. It’s a good thing to take care of my body by eating healthy and exercising. If I’m going to apply for a job, I do need to paint myself in the best light in order to be hired.

But there is also a tendency in all of us to take that to an unhealthy extreme. I know this is really a cliche, but I think it’s actually very instructive. What is the middle letter in the word “sin”?

SIN

Obviously, it’s the letter “I”. At its core, sin is an unhealthy focus on “I”. We see that with the initial sin in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve weren’t satisfied with God had provided for them and they wanted to have the same knowledge of good and evil that God had. And from that point forward, every sin ever committed by man, including yours and mine, involves man’s selfishness.

So since we are all born with a sin nature, we’re not immune to becoming overly focused on self. I can certainly testify to that in my own life. I think one of my biggest areas of growth as a disciple of Jesus over the last year or so has been a deeper realization of that tendency in my life and understanding how contrary that is to the nature of Jesus. He was completely focused on the needs of others ahead of His own, so much that He willingly gave His life for our benefit. So I'm working really hard on trying to take some practical steps in my life to cause me to be more others focused. But I still have a long way to go. And my guess that this is an area where you probably struggle, too.

› Truth

So as we continue our current sermon series - Living in Light of Eternity - we’re going to let the words that Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Thessalonica help us understand how we can be more effective in carrying out our mission by taking some practical steps to be less focused on self and more focused on others.

1 Thessalonians 2:1–16 ESV

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.