Good morning. Today, I wanted to touch on a topic that I was given in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago. And for the next few weeks, I think I will be doing some hit and miss topics, instead of starting a new series. So today, we are going to take a look at being selfish, or self-centered.
But first, let’s see if we even have a selfishness problem or not. This is audience interactive time. In the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy, the guy who does “You might be a Redneck if…” is this useful list of, “You might be selfish if...” So just listen, and you judge whether or not this sounds like you. If so, you might be selfish.
You might be selfish if…
• You have a genuinely difficult time letting someone else have the remote control.
• You pick up the last piece of chicken, take a bite out of it, hold it up and say, “Does anybody want this?”
• Your favorite picture at home is the mirror
• You’re on a date and say,“Enough talk about me, let’s talk about what you think of me”
• You’re a baby, a toddler, a preadolescent, a teenager, or an adult male or female.
Well, I guess what I am trying to say, is that we all have a tendency to be selfish. In fact, we are by nature, living for self. The reason that so many people seem to be selfish at times is because we’re born self-serving creatures. From the day we’re born, our worlds revolve around ourselves, and society teaches us to watch out for # 1!
Now, before we get started this morning, let’s open with a word of prayer. Let’s Pray!
So, what do I mean by selfishness? The definition of selfishness is acting or thinking of one’s own well being alone. Here are some examples of selfishness, or self-centeredness:
Making huge decisions without consulting someone else
Always talking about yourself
Not being concerned about others
In a way, it is saying, “It’s my way or the highway!”
Now, I want us to look at a passage in Acts this morning. We are going to look at some verses in chapter 5 and then go back to chapter 4. So go ahead and turn with me to Acts 5:1-11. Here in this passage, we see a little bit of selfishness on someone’s part, as they try and fool God. Listen to these verses. Acts 5:1-11 says, “1”
So, in chapter 5 we see Luke, who is the writer of Acts, giving us the account of Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias saw where the other believers were doing all kinds of things to take care of the needs of others. And I think that he got a little jealous. And I think that he wants to look as good as the other believers, but he was not willing to be as generous as they were.
So he conspires with his wife to sell a piece of property, take the money, give some of it to the apostles, and hold the rest back for himself. But, they decided that they would lie and say they gave it all to the disciples. Notice something in this passage. It says he kept part of the money back for himself. He wasn’t even thinking about his wife and yet he got her in on the deal anyway. Peter confronts them and says, you haven’t lied to men but to God. Ananias drops dead. Then 3 hours later his wife is confronted and she dies too.
You see, selfishness leads us to do whatever it takes to look our for #1—even if it means lying to God. We will lie, pout, manipulate someone, distort the truth, whatever it takes to get our own way. But you know what? I don’t think that God will honor a life like that. It doesn’t please Him. I mean look at what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. When God comes into our lives, He radically changes our hearts where there is a love for people and a lesser love for things. We see that in the believer’s lives in chapter 4. They were unselfish.
In fact, why don’t you go ahead and turn over to Acts 4:32-36 with me. The section is titled, The Believers Share Their Possessions. Listen to these verses. Acts 4:32-37 says, “2”
Do you see how unselfish these believers were? They never missed a beat. A distinguishing mark of a child of God is how unselfish they are. So, just how were these believers unselfish?
First, they understood that it was no longer “I,” but “We.”
In II Corinthians 5:15 it says, “And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”
I think this is where we first need to hit selfishness. The understanding that we are not the only ones on this planet. There are others that we need to consider as well. The believers in this passage had an “it’s not all about me anymore attitude.” Verse 32 says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind.” You see, they knew their purpose. This great God who touched us enables us to touch others.
When they saw a need, they wanted to help and meet that need. They wanted to see what was best for everyone, and not just for themselves. They defiantly got the big picture. Let me share a little story with you. A few weeks ago, Nellie and I took some of the little ones to GattiLand. It was a lot of fun, all the way up until the end. At the end of the day, right before we were ready to cash in our tickets, one of the kids lost their key that had all of their tickets on it. Now this could have been a bad thing, however, one of the other kids was willing to share what they had.
You see, that child could have spent her tickets that she had earned on herself, but she was willing to be unselfish, and share with her friend. The believers in chapter 4 were the same way. They understood that it was no longer “I,” but “We.”
Secondly, no one forced them to give.
Instead, they looked for opportunities to be unselfish. There is something about the Christian faith where when we are touched by the love of God the Spirit of God comes in and ignites a desire to help others. And it doesn’t have to be money. We can give of our time, our resources, and our abilities. But it has to be because we want to, and not because we have to.
God’s not up in Heaven keeping tabs on how much of your time you give or how much money you give. Notice the scripture says they shared everything they had. There was no limits to their giving. No boundaries. If there was a need, it was met. In the story of Ananias and Sapphira Peter said, “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?”
As we go back to that GattiLand story, realize, that no one asked that little girl to share her tickets, she was willing to do it because she wanted to. That is the kind of unselfishness that we all need to have. A willingness to share, even when you are not asked or forced to.
You see, Ananias and Sapphira didn’t have to give any of that money to the disciples. They only did it, because they were trying to look good. To them, it was an obligation to give, and not a privilege or an opportunity to give.
The believers in chapter 4 gave, not because they had to, but because they wanted to. That’s the big difference. So, no one forced them to give.
And finally this morning, there was no need too big, they weren’t willing to meet.
The trip to GattiLand showed me that there are some people like that still. The girl that gave up some of her tickets not only gave them up, but she gave the majority of them to her friend in need. She could have very easily gotten what she wanted, and then given the rest of the tickets to her friend. But instead, she allowed her friend to pick first, and then she picked. By doing that, she gave her friend more tickets than what she used, and she was the one that had earned the tickets. That is real unselfishness.
In our text of chapter 4, we find that they sold their fields. They sold their houses. Can you imagine that? What kind of needs would cause someone to need help so bad it would take someone else selling their home? Would it be persecution? Fire? Another natural disaster? What is it that makes a person willing to give up their house in order to meet a need?
I believe that part of the answer to that is that they saw their possessions not as their own. How willing are we to meet that need? There was no limit to their giving. Our giving isn’t necessarily sacrificial. A lot of times, we will give of our time and our money as long as it doesn’t inconvenience us.
Mother Teresa once said, “If you give something that you can live without, it’s not giving.” You see, our giving needs to be sacrificial. It needs to mean something.
We are given an example of someone in the scripture who saw that a need wasn’t too big that he wasn’t willing to help meet it. Joseph, also called Barnabus, sold an entire field and brought the money to the apostles feet so they could be the one to distribute.
Because of his actions in his life, Joseph was given the nickname “Son of Encouragement.” When I think of nick names I think of the names I was given over my lifetime. We are given nicknames based on something we did, or we said, or we looked like in my case. Back when I had my old glasses, they were really thick, and Nellie and some of her friends would call be “Harry Potter.” Now I would just rather forget that one, but it usually has its way of coming up occasionally.
“Son of Encouragement” wasn’t a nickname Joseph desired for himself. He didn’t get a selfishness about himself and ask for that nickname. Instead, others started calling him that because of his willingness to be a blessing to others. I wonder how many of us could be called “Son or Daughter of Encouragement” because of our desire to be a blessing to others? Or would our nicknames be something more like this: “Son of Selfishness?”
Now, you may be asking yourself, “What do I do if I struggle with selfishness?” If that is the case, then real quick, let me give you the ABC’s Of Defeating Selfishness.
A. Ask yourself, “What is making me so selfish?”
Maybe it’s because you are not a Christian. The ultimate selfish act is to hear what Christ has done for you and say “I don’t need you.” Maybe it’s the result of another sin in your life. Maybe its just you have gotten in the trap of accumulating a lot of stuff that it has its hold on you. So ask yourself what it is that causes you to be selfish.
B. Ask God to change your attitude.
Psalm 119:36-37 says, “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.” You have to be willing to change your attitude, but then you need to ask God to help you with that change.
C. Look for opportunities to be unselfish.
In the NLT version of the Bible, in Philippians 2:3-4 it says, “Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.” So, with that, I challenge you to look for at least one opportunity this week to meet a need. Ask God to lead you to someone to help meet a need.
As we close this morning, allow me to read for you about a family that was trying to be less selfish. A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, age 5, and Ryan, age 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. “If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, “Let my brother have the first pancake; I can wait.”” At that, Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, “Ryan, you be Jesus!”
Well, the kids may not have fully understood the lesson, but one thing is for sure. When we begin to live for God, our selfish lifestyle is replaced with a lifestyle of servant hood.
Let’s Pray! |
