15 Jul 2018: It’s Not About You
Featuring Beauty and the Beast (non-animated)
Visualize the scene where Gaston is wooing himself at the mirror.
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We are to be sharing a Christ centered gospel, not a “me” centered one.
Philipians 2:1-11
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my Joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important that yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
No matter our best efforts, we are each Gaston. It’s the nature of mankind to be self-focused. In the me-universe, Christ is not a part of it.
Pride is the cause. How I feel, what I want or need. This goes beyond the basics of self-survival.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less – Rick Warren.
Humility is not self-deprecation.
Consider, Jesus didn’t die on a cross for Himself. In fact, there was a time in the Garden of Gethsemene when He didn’t want to do it. Think about it: Jesus didn’t want to take on the sins of the world – your sins – and He didn’t want to take it through death on a cross. He could have walked away; He asked God to take the charge from him!
But He chose to do it anyway. Even after having been beaten and scourged. He could have got to the base of the cross and said, “Nope. I’m done. Burn all y’all.” He could have. But despite the worst treatment, He chose to put US ahead of Himself.
He put others first.
So you, stop putting barriers between yourself and what you can do with Kingdom Authority. Don’t go whining to God, “But I really need this; you don’t understand the suffering I’ve been through…”
It’s not easy, but it is simple. Is your personal junk getting in the way of pursuing Christ? Do you want to do what Jesus do? What we are called to do? Or do you want to stand at the mirror and stroke yourself like Gaston?
SO. It’s NOT easy. Why should we do this? See verse 2.
To be unified of one purpose. Unity. All believers in Jesus Christ, who meant the “yes” you said when you accepted His grace, need to meet the needs of others first.
Some of us are like, “I see her looking out for him, and him for those guys over there, but no one cares about me”. God cares about you and that is enough! It is enough for you to put the mirror down and serve others.
Your life is not your own if you’ve submitted to Jesus Christ. If you’ve submitted to Jesus Christ. If you’ve submitted to Jesus Christ.
Your life is a billboard, so that lost and struggling people can lift their eyes and see you, see us and say, “those people are doing something different!” When you overlook an offense, when you power through a trial, you are putting aside a temporary pain so that the body can get to its destination.
You do this when you kick off your flip-flops and burn your feet on the hot pavement so that your WHOLE BODY can get into the pool!
Gaston is at least honest. He’s the villan of the story, but he’s popular in the village. But everything that he did was to build himself up. All his charity was to make himself look charitable. So much so that when he loses Belle to the Beast, he sets out to destroy him.
“Burn all y’all”. It’s not right.
Let’s make this personal. This particular building, this local body, was founded in 1909. There have been a tremendous number of saints that have passed through here. The founders who preached holiness, and sacrificed to make it possible, to make the planting in the first place: what did they want to achieve? Their name on the wall to be read 100 years later? Or to love God and People? To serve Christ?
Paul, in writing this, is reminding us of our motivation. If Jesus means anything to you, then who cares if you’re uncomfortable, but if you can put that aside and lift someone else up, then it becomes possible that someone may experience the Love of Christ. Glorify God, worship Jesus, love people. You may show someone a love they have never seen before.
The Church, this church, this Body of Believers, was here for you when you were outside the church. Now that you are inside, realize that the church is for outsiders. And so are you.