Today we are going to look at the battle that rages inside every single one of us that stops us from having momentum in our life. That battle is between selfishness and being selfless. So:
We have to battle selfishness to be selfless.
But what do those words really mean? Let’s look at it.
Selfish: lacking consideration for others; concerned primarily with one's own personal benefit.
Selfless: concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own; unselfish.
We all want it to be my way, whether we like to admit it or not. We find ourselves putting ourselves first before other people.
There is something inside of us that makes us think about ourselves first and others, well not so much. Even though we know what Jesus says about living the life of a servant we have found it’s easy to blow off how he lived and what he said.
It’s that war between selfish and selfless. We can see a need and look away and never even raise a finger to help because it is all about me.
I find great comfort to know that Jesus' disciples struggled with this as well. If you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John there is one issue that comes up over and over again for the disciples. Which one of them is the greatest? Seems like they were always vying to be number one. They thought fulfillment and a life of meaning came from making their name great.
Mark 9:33-37 says, “They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."
The disciples were probably trailing behind Jesus having their typical fight over which of them was the best. When they went into the house Jesus asked them what they were arguing about. The disciples got really quiet because they knew that their fight was out of line with the teachings and the life of Christ.
After a moment of silence Jesus took a small child; the Greek tells us that the child was probably a toddler, probably just able to walk to Jesus when he called, and Jesus placed this child in front of the disciples.
The book of Matthew gives us a little more detail about what Jesus said to the disciples.
Matthew 18:3-4 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
From this passage we can lean into our next point:
Humility is the key to true greatness.
The one who genuinely considers himself the least is the one who God considers the greatest. Jesus looks at His disciples and says, guys, I want you to think about this child. A child is dependent and helpless. A child doesn’t have any ambition to be great in the eyes of anyone else. Gentlemen if you want to rise in my kingdom you must make yourself low.
The disciples must have thought that Jesus was joking because two chapters later the issue over who is the greatest comes up again.
This time James and John’s mom come up to Jesus and she asks if her sons could sit at the places of honor when Jesus came into his kingdom. Every one of the disciples believed that Jesus was going to set up an earthly kingdom and she just wanted the best seats in the house for her two boys.
Now you can’t blame Mom for this. All she wants is the very best for her kids but when the other disciples heard her request they got mad.
Matthew 20:24 says, "When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers."
I can hear them now, “James and John, you guys are a bunch of momma’s boys. I can’t believe you put your mom up to this.”
Why are these guys so mad? I think they are mad because they didn’t think about asking for that position first.
Matthew 20:25-28 says: Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Why is Jesus so frustrated with the disciples? What is wrong with being successful and rising to the top? There is nothing wrong with that. God has no problem with successful people. Abraham, Joseph, Job, David, Nehemiah, all of those people were successful and ambitious but they kept their priorities straight. They didn’t strut their stuff, they for the most part kept their eyes on God and wanted to please him in everything they said and did.
They used their position not to gain glory or notoriety for themselves but they used their position to help others and advance the kingdom of God. Isn’t this what we are supposed to be about?
Philippians 2:3-4 says that we are to…"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 also to the interests of others."
The author of Philippians warns us against these things because we know that:
Selfishness will never lead to happiness.
When we make any aspect of our life about ourselves we are heading for trouble. Let me break it down for you. Because, from what I see a lot of students have believed a lie from the world. That lie is personal happiness is the highest good. So in the worldview that culture teaches, it would actually be a good thing, the best thing, to do whatever makes you happy.
However, Jesus is counter cultural. Jesus teaches a deeper truth. Jesus says, If you want to find true joy and fulfillment in life, not just temporary happiness, then you can’t make life all about you and embrace selfishness. We need to serve others.
In order to do that, we have to embrace humility. But that’s hard, especially when we live in a culture of pride.
Pride makes us believe that we are bigger and smarter and quicker than everyone else. It causes us to look down on others and it makes us believe that there are certain things that are beneath us. Now of course the antidote to selfishness and pride is humility and servanthood.
Being a humble person doesn’t mean you are a doormat. It doesn’t mean that you let other people walk all over you. Being humble means you have an accurate understanding of who you are and who you are in Christ. So who are you? We are sinners who have been forgiven. We are liars that have found the truth. We have fallen and stumbled more times than we can count and yet we have a God that still believes in us.
We are also children of God and we represent him in every word and deed. We are supposed to not only do acts of service but to be servants in every environment we enter into. We are to be the ones who see a need and then meet that need.
Here is what is interesting. Jesus said we would be blessed if we lived like this. Do you know what that means? It means there would be a joy inside of us that would fill us with purpose and peace in our lives.
When you study what Jesus means when He says He wants us to be a servant He is not just talking about serving for a few hours as a volunteer. Jesus is talking about serving others in every aspect of our life. He is talking about being a humble person. He is talking about being selfless. It becomes who you are, not just something you occasionally do.
When you do this you are going to find things are going to change in your life for the better. Here is what we often experience. We feel much better about ourselves. Happiness is fleeting. Joy is a state of being. Being a servant leads to joy. Relationships improve. When you care more about others, they notice. Once you start being a servant it gets easier as you go. It becomes part of who you are. But, change is hard. Serving is hard. I mean if we could just do it once in a while that would be ok. Let’s be honest, we aren’t sure if we want to be a servant, but anything worth doing isn’t easy. It is when we are serving others that we find joy.
Have you ever considered how we truly find purpose? I want to leave you today with a challenge to help you grasp how we can achieve our true meaning and value in life. When we serve others, then we can truly find our purpose, and it is in serving others that we feel the smile of God upon our lives as well. Over this next month try seeing a need, then meeting every need you see. By doing this, you'll be amazed at the value you find in your own life, and the meaning you add to others. Let's not keep blindly living without helping someone else, let's give our best to God and serve His children.
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