Christ-Centered Living

Introduction

This weekend’s topic was born out of an observation of a problem I have seen in society, as well as in myself. This is a problem that has existed since the very first sin in the garden as we are going to see. This problem is self-obsession or self-exaltation. I want to start discussing this by looking at the fall of man.

I want you, church, to see that this problem we have is rooted in the sin we have inherited from our first parents. Then, in response to this problem, I want to advocate for a healthy self-forgetfulness from 1 Corinthians and an all-encompassing Christ-centeredness from Galatians 2:20.

Yes, we will be jumping around a little, so have your bibles ready to turn with me to these passages as we tackle this problem together.

PRAY

Self-Obsession

Genesis 3:1–6 CSB

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Before the Fall

Adam and Eve were living in the most real paradise that this Earth has seen. They walked in loving communion and daily fellowship with God. They literally would walk with Him in the garden. They would talk to Him. They lived a life without any shame. Their eyes were fixed on their Creator, and they were content.

And then the Devil comes into the Garden. We don’t know how or when, but we know that the Devil, in the form of a serpent, sought out Adam and Eve. This is an angel of God, one who was supposed to be a worshiper of God, but rebelled. It is believed to be his words recorded in Isaiah 14:

Isaiah 14:13–14 CSB

“I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly, in the remotest parts of the North. I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

Satan was not content with being a servant of God. He wanted to himself be like the Most High. This doesn’t mean he just aspired to be like God, as if God is his role model. This means Satan wanted himself to be God. But we all know that this plan of his to usurp the throne failed horribly because Satan is not God, no matter how much he wants to be. He was cast out for his rebellion and now he sees God’s good creation and he hates it. Satan sees this perfect relationship between God and man and he seeks to distort it by infusing into them the same discontentment he is sick with.

The First Temptation

Genesis 3:1 CSB

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Satan begins his process of disrupting the peace in the garden by questioning God’s Word. He tries to make their one Authority, God, seem like a liar and a deceiver.

Genesis 3:1–6 CSB

“No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Do you see the temptation the Satan sets before them? “If you eat this fruit, you can be like God.” Up until now, Adam and Eve’s eyes were focused on God in submission and worship. But Satan has adjusted their eyes from God to themselves. “I could be like God? I can know what God knows? I can be greater than what I am?”

Before they realized it, they were no longer content with what they had and who they were. They felt the need for more. What’s so aggravating about this is that Adam and Eve were already like God! They were created in His image. They were more like God than any other being that existed! Yet, they wanted to be more like God—like Satan did, they wanted to be gods of their own lives and no longer submit to their Creator. So Eve grabbed the fruit, she saw that it would fill her belly, she saw that it looked good, and she knew it would give her more wisdom and knowledge and she ate. And Adam stood idly by as his wife sinned and then he participated in it with her.

All that was right was destroyed in an instant. They immediately felt shame and sought to cover themselves. They hid from their Creator. The One who loved them and breathed life into them, who gave them paradise—they hid from Him. He was no longer their God whom they had a perfect relationship with; instead Adam hides from God because he is ashamed of his nakedness and does not want God to see him. When God asks Adam what happened, Adam blames, not only Eve, but he blames God! Look what he says:

Genesis 3:12 CSB

The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

Adam says “You placed this woman here and she gave me this fruit.” He is essentially saying that this is God’s fault. Any love or reverence that existed between God and man had been lost in a moment.

Self-Exaltation Passed On

And so, Adam and Eve’s sin passed down on to all their children. All the way down to us. This desire to exalt ourselves to be gods is still in us. It has led us to be self-obsessed even. We are obsessed with us and how we look to others and how awesome we are compared to others, or how awesome we feel we need to be in comparison to others. This discontentment in knowing God is rooted deep in our hearts and it has festered and grown throughout humanity. Now we are more self-obsessed than ever.

We constantly talk about ourselves and what we have going on; we feel the need to justify all of our actions so that we can protect our image others have of us; we spend our time and schedule our weeks with us at the center of the universe and when there is another opportunity to do something else we say, “You think I have time for that? You know what I have going on?” We undermine everyone else’s schedules, we undermine the needs and events of the church and we exalt ourselves higher; we spend all day every day comparing ourselves to others simply so that we can feel better about ourselves; we do all we can to feed our ego, not realizing your ego is an insatiable black hole that is never satisfied, so more and more we feed and feed: at least I am better at my work than that person; I may not be the prettiest, but I’m definitely prettier than her. Or even the other side of it: I’ll never be like so and so. I wish I was skinny that so and so. I wish I was as smart as so and so. We put ourselves down, but really we do this under the impression that we deserve to be better than all these people we compare ourselves to. Then when we find someone who is struggling with their self-esteem, how do we help? We prop them up. “You are amazing. You are beautiful. You are strong. You are…” What happens then? The ego is inflated with air.

But what if, church, we didn’t have to live like this? What if we didn’t have to live in bondage to our ego? What if we didn’t have to run this stupid rat race of trying to be better than everyone else so we can feel okay about ourselves. What if you could have joy and contentment and it was not based off of your view of yourself at all? Well, you can because Paul did. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3 and let’s look at Paul’s practice of self-forgetfulness.

Self-Forgetfulness

Context on Corinth

The city of Corinth very closely resembled our society today in this issue. These were an extremely prideful people, constantly looking for ways to prop themselves up and feed their ego more and more. This is seen in the Church of Corinth where there were factions based on who baptised and discipled who—the church members would use their leaders to make themselves look better. This is seen in their obsession with spiritual gifts; they were not content with some, but wanted all. They wanted more and more gifts for their own image. This is seen in there services which completely lacked order—everyone was singing, preaching, prophesying, speaking in tongues, praying all at once. They all wanted to be seen and recognized. And this is especially seen in the disgusting sin that everyone saw in the church, but ignored and never confronted. They liked to pretend they were all so good, but they were failing miserably. This is the church Paul is speaking to.

Paul’s Example

And so in response to this gross pride, Paul models this humility that is unheard of.

Leveling the Field

1 Corinthians 3:21–23 CSB

So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours—whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—everything is yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

First, Paul points out that they are not on different levels, but all at the same levels. When he says everything is YOURS, the word for YOURS is plural. That means he is really saying, So, let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is ALL OF YOURS.

Paul simultaneously humbles and unites them. He is telling them that they have no need to take pride in these leaders because each leader is ALL of theirs; furthermore, Paul tells them that ultimately, they belong to Christ. So what have they to boast other than the fact that they ALL belong to Jesus Christ.

The Leaders’ Humility

1 Corinthians 4:1–2 CSB

A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God. In this regard, it is required that managers be found faithful.

Now he is showing them their humility as leaders. He is saying that they, as leaders, who may in the Corinthians’ eyes have the right to boast in themselves, are actually mere servants of God. They are not special. They do not view themselves more highly than they ought to—rather they are just servants of Christ.

Forget Yourself

1 Corinthians 4:3–4 CSB

It is of little importance to me that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself. For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me.