Ego-Less

Introduction

Thank God for what’s happening at church

Epic last few weekends - Leila, Sharon

Church is growing, 2nd highest attendance all year last week

God is moving in the house - last week HS session

ACCWA conference was amazing

Last session on Faith - believing that this is a house of faith and that God is going to do big things in this church.

This series on the sweetest smelling church has been great hasn’t it?

Reinforcing a culture that is already with us - because we really want it to sink deep into the culture of our church.

I believe that God wants this church to grow - but not just for growth’s sake, we want to grow in the right way.

Building a church with Kingdom culture is growing the right way.

Today I want to talk about one of our cultural pillars that is very close to my heart. And that is the fact that we celebrate being an “ego-less” church.

This is seen everywhere - people can serve in ministries without being here for 2 years and having to “prove themselves first”

People from all backgrounds, cultures and social spheres are welcomed without reservation into our house

Our transition - was so flawless we didn’t believe Dan when he said that it was possible to be announced and received in such a short period of time, but that’s what happened.

I love this culture a lot - and I feel going forward, if we are going to build a church which is not based around celebrity or who’s the most talented/gifted then we need to take a deeper look into why exactly we want to build an ego-less church.

***Let’s pray***

Ego Rejects The Other

Luke 18:9–14 (ESV)

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This is one of those parables we shouldn’t just skip straight through as if we get the point.

It’s true that most parables are told with a singular point in mind - but that does not mean that we can’t learn more than one thing from them.

And immediately the opening verse reveals so much about the ego - and people who are ego-filled.

Luke 18:9 (ESV)

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:

This is a great definition to go by - for what it means to be “egotistical” or filled with ego.

To be egotistical means to be someone who trusts in themselves, someone filled with self-importance.

The truth is that the ego only knows how to exalt itself, it seeks to obtain attention for itself, it seeks to attain glory for only itself.

And in doing so - ego rejects the “other”

The harsh repurcussion of this is that ego becomes an avid opponent of biblical fellowship

Opposite to biblical command - the ego wants to elevate itself above others. And will find any reason to do so.

Note the last part of v9 “treats others with contempt” and observe Luke 18:11

Luke 18:11 (ESV)

11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

The pharisee is not actually thankful to God - he is thankful that he is not like the others, he is thankful that he is not a commoner, that he is not a sinner.

Here is revealed the ugly truth for those who are dealing with ego: Comparison replaces compassion. Contempt replaces care.

Every other person becomes an object of comparison, which one way or another will make them an object of contempt.

Our capacity for compassion and for caring for others begins to be eroded - as the ego begins to take over it pushes out anyone other than the self.

It is a killer of fellowship, a killer of community, a wedge in families, and a bottleneck for our growth as Christians.

It is an ugly smell for any church to have.

Have you been in church environments that are riddled with some twisted form of Christian comparison?

The church that is about who preaches the best, who sings the best, who looks the best, who gives the most, who hasn’t sinned this week

and then those are the only people celebrated and glorified in the church?

Oh man what an ugly place to be, what an ugly smell to have.

You know a clear marker for ego in the life of a Christian - and one that I use often? Offence.

How easily are we offended. How quickly are we to take offence from even the slightest comment, feedback, criticism.

It reveals how seriously we take ourselves. How self-important we are.

The person who is Ego-less lives without this burden because they know how to take themselves lightly.

Offence rolls off them like water off a duck’s back, they hold on to it so lightly.

But when you are filled with ego - you cling to yourself, your reputation, what people think of you, how people perceive you - you cling to it so tightly.

Guess what - you cling to offence tightly too

The person filled with ego takes offence easily because they take themselves too seriously

The bible says that love is not easily provoked - but guess what? ego is.

ILLUSTRATION: One time a kid offended me

You know - I’m not preaching this out of unfamiliarity. I was once a young man and easily offended as well. Well, if you’re easily offended can I tell you right now that God will make you serve in youth ministry at some point in your life - because those kids don’t give a turd about whether or not they offend you. Can I tell you about the time I realised I had an ego problem? It was in youth ministry a long time ago. I was preaching an event that was big for our youth group at the time. And honestly the event went really well - preached a banger sermon, full response, ended the service - and walked off the stage to receive my compliments (don’t judge me, I was young). And man they were coming in hard and fast - well done pastor Jon, awesome sermon ps Jon, you wrecked me ps Jon. And then this chubby young kid came up to me - and out of nowhere was just like “Ps Jon, why do you like to wear such tight shirts?” boom. At first I laughed it off, “haha not as tight as yours buddy!” But when I went back home, and I was lying in my bed that night - you know all I could think of was that comment. What did he mean? Was he talking about how muscular I was? Does he not know the difference between muscle and fat? Man I probably sat on that small comment for days. My ego would not let it go - and that amazing event which God moved in was suddenly overshadowed by this one small comment. From that day, I swore to myself I would never let my ego get the better of me again.

Pastor Benny used to tell me - Learn to take your faith seriously, and you will discover how to take yourself lightly. And it’s true. Ego and faith are not compatible, as we’re about to find out.

Ego Mistakes God’s Gifts For Our Achievements

Here’s the thing - the pharisee should not be mocked for declaring his commendable record, this was actually very common practise in Judaism

Luke 18:12 (ESV)

12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

The problem here is that the pharisee mentions God but does not actually PRAY to God - all he does is rest his case on his catalogue of virtues.

He states his service as above and beyond the call of duty in a manner that puts God in His debt.

The pharisee is standing on his merits, which in themselves are not wrong, but the fact that he is standing on them is.

Ego will make us do this - we begin to view our service to God as a form of currency that we use to win over the favour of God

And the outworking of this is incredibly dangerous - because it can only lead down the path of meritocracy.

That is - our actions, our service, these things can be used to pay off our debt to God, in fact more than that we may even believe that the things that we do can put God in OUR debt!

Ego will make our relationship with God transactional - the higher we view ourselves, the higher we view our actions and service - the more tempted we can become to give them some form of righteous value that can be used against God.

“God I did this, so I deserve that.” “God I do all this, why would you do that to me?” “God I deserve better than this.”

Yet the truth of the matter is Isaiah 64:6

Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)

6 We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

The glorious truth is that not a single Christian would be accepted by an perfect, holy God unless the righteousness of Christ were imputed on us.

And when we are filled with ego, we begin to forget this.

And it robs us of our gratitude - it robs us of the joy of serving, because we make serving about us - not about God, not about the church.

You know sometimes the gifts that God gives us can tempt us into an attitude of supriority rather than humility and gratitude.

When God gifts us materially - we can be tempted to think that it makes us better than others, or that because we give more to church we are owed special privilege

When God gifts us spiritually - we can believe that our contribution is of greater value than someone else’s, when in fact there is a greater burden on us to use those gifts to serve others.

We forget that every single thing that God has given us is a grace, whether it is finances, abilities, health, position. Every single thing given by God is a grace that should be used to advance His Kingdom and build His church.

The moment we let ego into the equation we run the danger of believing that these gifts have been given to expand OUR territory.

There’s something so sweet smelling about a church WITHOUT transactional relationships. There’s no “this for that” attitude. “I served last week so you better not roster me on for the next month.” “I gave heaps for that building fund so you better not expect offering for the next month.” “I came to church this whole month so you guys better not expect me for another month.”

We want to build a church where people serve and attend freely. You’re not here because you HAVE to be - you’re here because you GET to be

Man I get to be on coffee today, I get to steward the next generation in kids, I get to come to church today and be a part of this community

Our faith is not transactional - every single thing we do is a privilege and should be done out of place of immense gratitude to God. This is the only posture we should have - anything less than that is when our ego starts to creep in and we make it about ourselves, about convenience, about our time, our enjoyment, our energy.

David Livingstone once said: “If commission by an earthly king is considered an honour, how can commission by a heavenly king be considered a sacrifice?”

and yet - ego will do this to us.

ILLUSTRATION: Examples from the church

But aren’t you glad that we belong to a church that’s ego-less? And can I tell you we have so many champions of this specific culture pillar here.

We’ve got Senior Pastor who had Pneumonia who still rocked up to commission both Sharon and flew to singapore for a Christian conference even though she ended up being hosptialised there - she didn’t have to, but she GETS to.

We’ve got people like Oscar, who’s family is going through an incredibly difficult time right now - when I told him he could take a break from the building search, he’d just say “nah this is important” and still lodges every application, every viewing request, turns up to every inspection - he doesn’t HAVE to, but he GETS to.

We’ve got people like Bronwyn, who’s running cubs - but then sees a need in service team, and you know what, why not - steps up to run BOTH ministries at the same time. She’s super capable, but that’s no easy feat. - She doesn’t HAVE to, she GETS to

We’ve got people like Ossy, who could just treat MCing like it’s something he has to get through - but he takes time and effort to make it special, make us laugh, bring props for crying out loud every time he’s up. He serves his heart out up here even it it’s only 5 minutes in a service. - He doesn’t HAVE to, he GETS to.

Man there are so many more people I could mentioned - but are you catching the picture yet? Let’s build an ego-less church. It’s far more beautiful that way.

Ego Edges God Out

But you know in all of this - perhaps the most dangerous thing about ego is that it Edges God Out.

How does it do that? Ego prevents us from seeing that the only ‘merit’ we can bring to the table is our unworthiiness.

I say merit because our unworthiness is what forces us to rely on God.

Look at the tax collector Luke 18:13

Luke 18:13 (ESV)

13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

The term “a sinner” in the greek is actually tō hamartōlō which means THE sinner, just highlighting the degree and awareness of his sin and unworthiness.

The acute awareness of this man’s sin was what drove him to such a desparate prayer

Paul was onto this in 2 Cor 12:9

2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

It’s only when we are aware of our unworthiness, aware of our inability to save ourselves, aware of our inability to even be good - this is where the work of God begins.

We are like jars of clay - God is revealed through the brokenness and unworthiness of our vessel.

The pharisee stood before God in self-congratulation and it prevented him from seeing the greatest thing we can bring to the table - our unworthiness, our brokenness.

The tax collector stood before God in contrite prayer, and brought ONLY his brokenness and unworthiness - and yet he was the only one that went home justified that day

Church, perhaps the greatest thing our ego can steal from us is our brokenness.

Our brokenness is what releases a fragrance that is sweet smelling, not just to man - but to God. He is drawn to the contrite and broken in spirit.

Our brokenness is what gives us the ability to let God work in our lives.

If we trust only in ourselves then there is no margin for God to work - natural power - yields natural results

But being ego-less means that we are forced to trust in God. Supernatural power will always yield supernatural results.

I want to be part of a church moving in the supernatural - don’t you? Be Ego-less

They say that church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners.

I wholeheartedly agree.

ILLUSTRATION: Roxanna

You know the first time that I preached at Heart for the City and probably only the second time I actually attended this church it was at southside. And a lovely latino lady by the name of Roxanna got up to MC. She did such a good job, and then halfway through the MC she shared how her father had literally just passed away a few days ago and that she was thinking of not doing the segment but she pushed through. You know she gave me the loveliest introduction - got the crowd cheering, introduced me as the new Central pastor (even though she had never met me before). Throughout the sermon she was avidly taking notes, she was always shouting me down. After the sermon, she closed the service, thanked me - was just so lovely.

You know even though I had never been introduced to that culture of ego-less before, I didn’t know it was a thing - there was this woman who was just living it out in front of me. And her brokenness drew me to her, it was not only inspiring - it was so comforting. I saw this was just a church of broken people who love and serve even more powerfully because of their brokenness. This is a church of ego-less, ordinary people that reveal a EXTRA ordinary God through their brokenness.

I made a beeline for her after the service to thank her for being so hospitable - and to give my condolences for her father. I joked with her that she should have taken the week off - surely someone would have covered for her.

That’s when I heard it for the first time - that line that has come to really define the ego-less culture we have in this church.

“It’s true pastor - I didn’t have to serve today. But I GET to serve today.”

Altar Call

People who want to drop their ego today