Explore the Bible Series for June 10: Replacing selfishness with faith

Posted: 5/31/07

Explore the Bible Series for June 10

Replacing selfishness with faith

• Obadiah 1-4, 10-13, 15

By Kathryn Aragon

First Baptist Church, Duncanville

The “Me Generation” has borne its fruit. We live in what may well be the most selfish generation ever. Let me clarify by saying I don’t really believe people today are worse than in the past. People always have struggled with selfishness and pride. It’s just that today—with mass communication, cell phones and technology—selfishness has become a mass movement.

And as with most cultural movements, selfishness has permeated our churches. Even those of us who claim Christ struggle with the reality of God’s call against selfishness. “It’s just the way things are done,” we might tell ourselves. But if we we’re honest, we have to admit it’s the world’s way, not God’s.

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Selfishness is so prevalent we don’t recognize it anymore for what it is. We call it charisma, strength, a strong will. We rarely call it by its name. But unless we are willing to recognize our selfishness and remove it from our behavior, we remain in disobedience to God.

Obadiah’s message is clear. God hates selfishness and pride: “The pride of your heart has deceived you. … Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down” (vv. 3-4). We must take an honest look at ourselves, identify our selfishness and ask God to strengthen us to overcome it.

The true definition of selfishness

Let’s begin by trying to understand selfishness. What is it and where does it come from? Our first biblical record is the familiar story of Cain’s reaction to Abel.

Cain and Abel each gave an offering to God. Cain’s was rejected, while Abel’s was accepted. “So Cain was very angry” (Genesis 4:5). I like God’s response: “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it’” (Genesis 4:6-7).

Based on God’s response, I believe God already had laid out the regulations for offerings, and they probably were the same as or similar to the rules he gave the Israelites in Leviticus. So Cain wasn’t acting in ignorance; rather, he was being selfish. Knowing God’s desires, he was looking for God’s limits. How little could he give God before God considered it too little? How far could he compromise God’s rules before God noticed? If Cain were really innocent, he would never have become angry at being caught.

If we are going to be honest, we must admit the degree to which we relate to Cain. Our real struggle, as Cain’s, is not with trying to overcome selfishness but with preventing it from showing. Notice Cain isn’t concerned with fixing his jealous nature. He’s merely upset he was found out.

Cain’s story is significant because his struggles look like our own. In a way, we can find comfort in his story because he knew God in a way not possible for us. Yet even with his intimate, first-hand knowledge of God, Cain struggled to obey God. He wanted his own way enough that he was willing to cheat God and murder his brother. Essentially, Cain’s sin was selfishness. He wanted his own way more than God’s.

So what is selfishness? For those who are not Christians, selfishness is merely self worship. It is the desire to do what we want to do, when we want to do it, the way we want to do it. And heaven help anyone who gets in the way. For those of us who claim Christ, selfishness is basically faithlessness. Of course, it also is self worship, a refusal to accept God as the Lord of our lives. But its root is an inability to take God at his word.

God tells us we will be judged for our thoughts, actions and words, yet we continue to act in ways God doesn’t approve. Jesus tells us plainly we are to love others more than ourselves, yet we continue to look out for No. 1.

We are like children playing on the playground at school. If the teacher doesn’t respond right away, we believe we are getting away with something. Next time, we may try to get away with more. But we aren’t children, and God isn’t a teacher at recess. God’s words will happen exactly as he says. His reactions may seem slow by our standards, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t noticed. Neither does it mean we won’t stand before him to explain why we wouldn’t obey.

Returning to faith

Obadiah makes it clear. God demands obedience. “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head” (v. 15). Our only hope is to humble ourselves and accept God at his word. We must return to true faith and change our ways.

As always, though, changed behavior begins with changed thinking. We must begin by recognizing our behavior as sin. We must be willing to stand before God and man and say, “Hello, my name is … and I struggle every day with selfishness.” We also must recognize that the struggle with sin is a never-ending battle. The day never will come that we won’t need to strengthen ourselves with a strong dose of God’s word and stand firm against temptation.

We also must be willing to repent. Acknowledging sin doesn’t mean anything if we aren’t willing to fight against it in the future. Obadiah merely reminds us of what God has told mankind throughout the ages. The message is plain:

• He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses (Proverbs 28:27).

• Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Luke 6:37-38).

• And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again (2 Corinthians 5:15).

• Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself (Galatians 6:2-3).

We must take God at his word. Our selfishness is idolatry at its worst, faithlessness at the very least. But we must not be deceived. As they say, what goes around comes around. Let’s take God at his word and humble ourselves. Let us be known not for our selfishness but for our faith.

Discussion questions

• To what degree to you relate to Cain?

• What are the areas of your life that seem impossible to obey God in?

• Are you willing to take God at his word and obey him even if it hurts?

• Are you willing to humble yourself and begin putting God’s will before you own?