Sermon Tone Analysis

Call To Worship Scripture

Philippians 4:10

Sermon Scripture

Our question in reading through the scripture this morning is why?

Why does Jesus live how he lives?

Why does He heal on the Sabbath?

On whose accord does He act?

And not only why but how?

How does Jesus determine what He does?

My thesis this morning is that selfishness is not of God’s nature but is wholly and fully of the nature of man.

Selfishness is that evil twin to pride and must be thought of correctly for a healthy Christian walk.

Yet with selfishness bing of the full nature of man, the problem or observation sought then is how does Jesus being fully man, refrain from acting in the fullness of the fallen nature of man which is selfishness.

To be selfish is to regard ones own interest either as chief, meaning above all else, or regarding ones own interest alone.

Such regard is the influencer of ones actions, regarding to one a private or even public advantage.

To be honest, many would be fine with saying that Jesus acts selfishly and that is to our good.

However there is a great distinction here between selfishness and just or righteousness.

To act in selfishness for a just or righteous purpose appears to be a great contradiction.

For example to make a seemingly wise decision for the benefit of self, in scripture is more closely related to the actions and decision making process of Adam and Eve than that of Christ our Lord.

Let me explain:

We are inherently selfish beings but God is not.

Our selfishness is inherent in that selfishness has been passed down to us by Adam.

If we go back to the fall of man we see that Satan in his deception deceives Eve by twisting this truth.

He seeks to paint God as selfish and thus encourage Eve to step out of “God’s selfishness” in regard for herself and Adam.

This is painted as better for them as if being “like God” will enable them to be better than God in not being as so called selfish as God.

Notice the seeing it as good for food, delight to the eyes, the making of one to be wise are not deemed good, just or righteous in any way.

As a matter of fact they are wholly not good, unrighteous and unjust, simply because they go against what God has decreed.

(But this does not make God selfish, though in the partaking of it, man became innately selfish)

Now move forward to the ministry of Christ.

I would have us look at this, because a renewed understanding of this will profoundly change the how and why we make decisions in our lives.

John 5:1

This act by Jesus appears to be unselfish, and I would affirm that it is..however, this same act by someone else could be entirely selfish.

Yes, the act of caring for the hurt can be rooted in selfishness, just as religious acts can easily be rooted in selfishness.

John 5:10

The three statements by Christ here are huge:

Take up your bed, and walk

See, you are well!

Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you

My Father is working until now, and I am working

The first two are profound in how they relate to the Christian walk and life, and the third is just as profound in this sense but also gives us insight to how Christ is oporating.

Notice his conection to the Father.

This connection to the Father is what sets the Jews out to kill Him and yet it is the very thing that will display the nature of His unselfishness.

Now in verse 19-47 is going to unpack some profound insight into unselfish godly living verse selfish religious masquerading.

John 5:19-

The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but the Son does as the Father does.

The Father loves the Son and shows the Son what He is doing, the Son does them, that we may marvel.

The Father has given judgment to the Son that all my honor the Son

The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him

These words heard and believed are eternal life.

Selfishness or unselfishness is about an inwards relationship between us, the Son of God, and the Father....Listen

In Genesis as we just read, mankind sought not God, but sought what looked good, looked pleasurable and seemed wise for life and found death.

In John we read that the Word of God, the seeking of the Father, the honoring of the Son (not self) brings life and that of the resurrected life.

John 5:30

Here is the revelation of revelations.

verse 39...

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life”

note: they search because “they think” not because “God said”…belief is absent...

“it is they (the scriptures) that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

why? because it’s not what they think…they can’t see for their thinking.

Now go back to verse 30 and hear what Jesus prefrenced this with:

John

The scribes are using a method for determing the scripture that not even Jesus is using.

Jesus is not the Christ because He thinks himself to be the Christ.

Jesus being the Christ is dependent upon the Father sending Him as the Christ and the Spirits testifying of Him as the Christ.

Jesus has come not in his own name, but in the name of the Father.

However the religious leaders of this time seek to be justified by what they think of the scriptures and their justification is found by what others in the leaders circle feel about their teachings and the glory that they receive.

The Word of God because used only as a launching point of their own thought for their own glory...

John 5:41-

So now I return to where we began…we are selfish, God is not.

Both truths are just as equally important.

When I say that we are selfish beings, I am not meaning that we are selfish because of our actions.

An action of itself as demonstrated in the interaction between Christ and the religious leaders is not selfish or unselfish.

Rather we are selfish down to every fiber of self which creates a bondage to selfish action and a war within ones own self.

This is the war that Christ is addressing within the religious leaders.

Ultimatley, even in there study of the Scriptures, they still want the glory, even in the service of others, we still want the credit...

Selfishness does not so much describe how we treat others as much as it prescribes an illness within self that can/is as a result harmful to others and self.

Allow me to illustrate:

The heart seeks to tell us what we feel

The mind seeks to tell us what to think

The Word of God tells us what to know

However our feelings seek to determine our thinking and our thinking our knowledge.

(Adam and Eve)

Or...

Our thinking seeks to determine our feeling and our feeling our knowledge (the religious leaders)

Now notice that selfishness (like all diesease) begins by a micomunication from within self.

Wires get crossed.

The heart is jealous of the mind

The mind of the heart

Feelings of thought

Thought of feelings

and both are jealous of what belongs to God.

The message is simple.

We are sick.

And when left to self, we cannot help but to go astray each to his own way.

Selfishness is a battle within us.

The cure is as described by Christ in

“I can do nothing on my own.”

or the sister passage :

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”

This is why we must be so determined to do as we are instructed in , to renew our minds.

Our decisions when based on what we think (a phrase far to common today “I think...”) whether purposed for good or bad cannot help but be rooted in selfishness which is of the fallen.