From Celebrity to Ministry

The Problem

We are often tempted to think that are value comes from what we can produce, what others think about us or what we possess.

Spiritual Formation…Growing/Maturing in Christ.

And last week, we talked about the temptation that the world offers for us to find value in what we produce. Or we place our identity in what we do. Human Doings instead of Human Beings. We then talked about how we can combat that temptation with grounding our identity in who God says we are and by celebrating the Sabbath. Finding rest and having fun.

Who has an identity statement that God gave them?

Who has a quick story about some fun that they were able to have this past week, on purpose?

Tonight we are talking about the second tempation that Christ faced in the wilderness. An so if you have your bibles, we are in

Matthew 4:5–7 “5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’””

Temptation: To find value in what OTHERS say/think about me.

One of my favorite country artists is Brad Paisley. He is a talented musician/guitarist and he is quite hilarious to boot.

Quite a few years ago he wrote an amazing song...

Celebrity

Someday I'm gonna be famous, do I have talent well no These days you don't really need it thanks to reality shows Can't wait to date a supermodel, can't wait to sue my dad Can't wait to wreck a Ferrari on my way to rehab

'Cause when you're a celebrity It's adios reality You can act just like a fool People think you're cool Just 'cause you're on TV I can throw a major fit When my latte isn't just how I like it When they say I've gone insane I'll blame it on the fame And the pressures that go with Being a celebrity

I'll get to cry to Barbara Walters when things don't go my way And I'll get community service no matter which law I break I'll make the supermarket tabloids, they'll write some awful stuff But the more they run my name down the more my price goes up

But the temptation that the world offers is that we will be valued or validated by others and their opinions of us.

Temptation: To be Famous, to be a celebrity, to be spectacular, to be a star.

But what it boils down to is the temptation to find our value in what others say or perceive about us.

I am valuable when others say I am.

Or, another way to notice this is when you are living for the applause of man. And if the applause dries up…your left wanting.

Jesus was tempted in this area as well.

Let’s look at Matthew 4:5-7

Matthew 4:5–7 “5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’””

The enemy of our souls tempts Jesus by offering to him do something spectacular, something that could win him the applause of man.

And we might be tempted to think that this tempation doesn’t exist in the church, but experience has proven otherwise…especially today.

We celebrate celebrity pastors. We honor those lone wolves who have all the answers. We put them on platforms and build entire structures around them.

Our seminaries are just as guilty.

We train our pastors well to preach, administer the sacraments, to counsel, in administration, in leadership training and equipping, in management and running a board and then hand them the keys to a building and say good luck!

And then every time you gather together in a pastoral setting, it’s where do you serve and how big is your church, as if those numbers represent a kingdom value and the pastors value is determined by it as well.

It’s like after we train our pastors with all the tools and stuff they need, we put that all in a huge backpack and push them out into the great unknown, where they are called to do the work of the ministry and pull out the right equipment at the right time on the trail in order to help the people that we would meet along the way.

What disciplines can combat such a hard temptation?

Ministry- shared

Secret giving.

The Task: Accountability- Mutual Ministry

Define in your own words:

Account-

Ability-

Mark 6:7–13 “7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. 8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”

The Disciplines: Confession and Forgiveness

Hiding Running

__________ and __________ are two of the most common symptoms of a person who deeply struggles with living for the praise of man.

Hiding- Keeping things in the dark because if they only found out about X… then they would never accept me.

Running- Emotionally escaping from reality.

This can be with anything…you can run to anything to deal with that secret shame of not being known for who you are, but who you portray yourself as.