Sins We're Ok With: Apathy & Selfishness

SINS THE CHURCH IS OK WITH: Apathy & Selfishness

Haggai 1: 2-6; Revelation 2: 1-4; Phil. 2:3,4, 21

Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of SELFISH ambition or vain conceit, but in Humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look NOT ONLY to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Philippians 2:21 “Everyone Is Looking Out For their Own Interests , Not Those of Jesus Christ”

I can still remember the day I watched the tragic explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The first question everyone wanted to know was, “WHAT HAPPENED?”

After months of investigation, here’s what the Rogers Commission discovered: an O-Ring Seal In The Right Solid Rocket Booster failed at take-off. I won’t bore you with the details, but an o-ring is a small device relative to the size of a space shuttle. VERY SMALL.

IT WASN’T SOMETHING HUGE, Like A Puncture In The Rocket Booster Or A Hole In The Cabin, that caused this disaster. It was A SMALL, SEEMINGLY INSIGNIFICANT, O-RING FAILURE.

??WHAT IF THE BIG SINS, YOU KNOW THE ONES YOU TRY HARDEST TO AVOID, AREN’T THE GREATEST THREAT TO YOUR JOY & THE CHURCH’S MISSION? ??MAYBE IT’S THE SINS LYING UNDERNEATH, THE ONES CONSIDERED NORMAL OR ACCEPTABLE, THE ONES GOING UNDETECTED, THAT ARE AFFECTING THE CHURCH THE MOST.

TWO OF THESE SINS: APATHY & SELFISHNESS

• APATHY: Apathy’s best friends are ASSIVITY & ENTITLEMENT. Together, they’re a vicious threesome.

There’s Nothing Mediocre Or Normal about God.

• His Power Is Beyond Comprehension.

• His Beauty Is Beyond Description.

• His Love Is Beyond Measure.

The same God who created the universe &formed stars desires a relationship with you. Yet, the attitude is often, “Okay, God loves me. That’s great. Me & Mine are Ok… so who cares about others?”

Our apathetic approach to God explains a lot about why people in America aren’t lining up to become Christians.

Think about it: How many Christians have you met that left you thinking, “WOW, I Want To Be Like Them?” Shouldn’t you be So Transformed by God that people want to ask about your life, even if they hate God?

Haggai the people no longer cared when the House of God was finished. 18 years passed with little progess. APATHY RULED!

• Gospel Song: Do You Really Care?

Do you know how to share? With people everywhere, do you really care? …I look around in the place where I live, &I see people with so much to give…Yet there are those who are dying to know, just that somebody cares. People lost in darkness, searching for the way

But do you know of someone, that you can help today? Oh! Do you really care?

• SELFISHNESS: Philippians 2:21 “Everyone Is Looking Out For their Own Interests , Not Those of Jesus Christ”

Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of SELFISH ambition or vain conceit, but in Humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look NOT ONLY to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Remember SESAME STREET: My favorite character? …COOKIE MONSTER. “GIMME DA COOKIES.” Many Christians are like Cookie Monster. Their mantra is, “Gimme more…well anything. Just give me more. MORE. MORE. MORE.”

The essence of this sin is a FALSE UNDERSTANDING OF GOD, THAT GOD IS A TAKER. But nothing could be further from the truth.

GOD IS A GIVER & you are made in His Image:

What are you giving back to the world? What are giving back to others?

The Toddler Property Laws:

1. If I Like It, It's Mine.

2. If It's In My Hand, It's Mine.

3. If I Can Take It From You, It's Mine.

4. If I Had It A Little While Ago, It's Mine.

5. If It's Mine, It Must NEVER Appear To Be Yours.

6. If I'm Doing Or Building Something, … All The Pieces Are Mine.

7. If It Looks Just Like Mine, It's Mine.

8. If I Think It's Mine, It's Mine.

9. If It's Yours & I Steal It, It's Mine.

2 Timothy 3: 1-5 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

2 People will be LOVERS OF THEMSELVES, Lovers Of Money, Boastful, Proud, Abusive, Disobedient To Their Parents, Ungrateful, Unholy, 3 Without Love, Unforgiving, Slanderous, Without Self-Control, Brutal, Not Lovers Of The Good, 4 Treacherous, Rash, Conceited, Lovers Of Pleasure RATHER THAN LOVERS OF GOD— Having A Form Of Godliness But Denying Its Power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Matthew 5:46 If you love only those who love you, what reward will you get? Even the tax collectors do that much!

Pope Francis May 28, 2015 “Christians must ask themselves whether they help people in need of salvation or whether they just keep Jesus for themselves & are deaf or indifferent to others. "It would be good for us to have an examination of conscience" & see if we are Christians who Bring People To Christ Or Push Them Away”. Three kinds of Christians exist, Those Who Are So Closed Up Inside Themselves, They Are Not Aware Of Others In Need; Those Who Hear The "Clamor" Of Suffering But Choose To Do Nothing About It; & Those Who Do Hear & Help Bring People Healing. Christians who are INDIFFERENT "DO NOT HEAR. They believe life is there in their little group. They're CONTENT. THEY'RE DEAF to the clamor of so many people who need salvation, who need Jesus' help, who need the church. Such Christians are "self-centered, living for themselves. They are unable to hear the voice of Jesus,"

(Note: Always speak as one on the journey as a forgiven sinner, not as one who has it all together. When you point at the congregation, remember four fingers point at you!)