Sermon for 09/19/07

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Sermon for 09/16/07
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CHRIST ESTEEM: The Problem

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN

Main Theme: This is the 2nd in a series that explores a movement in modern psychology that is infiltrating the church: the concept of self-esteem. Today the scriptures uncover a very startling fact of life; human beings do not have a problem, WE ARE THE PROBLEM. We are not sinners because we “sin”, we sin because we are “sinners”. We are born broken children of Adam, wrapped up in self. While modern psychology says we must learn to create a positive self-image to cope with life, the Gospel says we must recognize the reality of who we are and give up “self”! Any human attempt to find and fix ourselves leaves us incomplete, empty, lacking inner peace, and true purpose. Scripture says we must deny “self” and focus instead on Christ! If we face the truth, make the right diagnosis, and admit WE are the problem, then a gracious Lord, filled with unconditional love and infinite power can bring us a new identity, and do within us, what we cannot do ourselves. It is in Christ that we find true love, acceptance, security, inner peace and purpose!

1) SELF-ESTEEM ANSWERS? Call us “spoiled with abundance” if you must, but the latest generations in America (no longer solely focused on daily survival) have the rare luxury in history of exploring the deeper meaning of life. Since the 1960’s our youth are constantly asking; “Who am I?”, “What is my identity?”, “What’s the meaning to my life?” Modern psychology stepped forward with self-esteem answers; “If you want to escape the emptiness and meaninglessness of this world, 1) Believe in yourself, 2) Work hard to please others, self, or God, 3) Know you can do anything if you just try hard enough, and 4) Achievement will lead to improved self-esteem! In fact, the identity, meaning, joy, fulfillment, and inner peace you seek are found in developing positive SELF-ESTEEM!” As we discovered last week, this movement quietly infiltrated our society and their self-esteem answers powerfully influence our vocabulary and thinking, even in the church.

2) CHRISTIANITY! But we also discovered last week that Christianity clashes with the Self-Esteem movement, revealing that we are 1) Called to believe in God! (not self), 2) We do not and cannot earn God’s love, 3) It is God who enables and provides, and 4) The divine call to serve God and others gives the greater identity, freedom, contentment, joy, and peace today’s generations seek. Notice; in previous generations, Christianity was well prepared for the dominate question; “How do I get saved and go to heaven when I die?” But we’ve been slow and less prepared to answer today’s youth - “How do I find my identity, meaning, and purpose in life?” Now while Christianity and modern psychology are offering conflicting answers, there is one thing they both DO agree upon; that we must come to a knowledge of ourselves! But for different reasons. Modern psychology says we do so to feel good about ourselves. But Christianity says we do so that we might then turn away from ourselves and discover our new identity and life in Jesus Christ!

3) SINNERS? As you know, I did not grow up in a churched home, but I had a healthy childhood that resulted in what psychologists call high self-esteem. I believed in me! I had a long track record of successes and achievements that convinced me I could do anything I put my mind to! In high school I was popular, athletic, graduating 10^th in a class of 232. Had no money, but worked three jobs to get through college - graduating #1 in my field of technology at Southern Illinois University. When I fell in love with a beautiful Lutheran woman, I reluctantly went to church and was appalled at what I found there! The very first thing Lutherans did in worship was something called the Brief Order of Confession and Forgiveness. They confessed to being “sinners”, admitted to being broken, and sought forgiveness. Naturally, I refused to say those seemly degrading words! Hey, I was proud of my life! I was a honest, hardworking, moral member of society – and while not perfect, by my calculations I was pretty high on the goodness and value scale!

4) I MET JESUS! Then I met Jesus! As the months and years ticked on, I heard more and more about Him, and He was unlike anyone I had ever met. Where my “goodness scale” ended, His began - rising into the heavens. As I compared my conditional love to His unconditional love, I began to feel tremendously humbled. As God’s amazing and original will for my life became clearer, suddenly I realized my so called “good morals” hadn’t scratched the surface of true faithfulness. As I compared Jesus’ divine wisdom with that of the world’s, and measured His divine power against my own, my pride began to dissolve. The scriptures increasingly exposed the Lord’s perfection, purity, and sinless life on this earth, revealing what true humanity was originally meant to look like – and I became disappointed, sometimes even disgusted, with what I saw in the mirror. As I watched an innocent Jesus suffer and die a horrible death on the cross to sacrificially and lovingly save a world of rebellious and sinful children, the selfishness of my own life dropped me to my knees. And all because I met Jesus!

5) KNOWLEDGE OF SIN! I was beginning to grasp what CS Lewis had meant when he wrote “Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay.” Any mature Christian knows that an “in-depth knowledge of sin” is a painful but necessary step in Christian growth. Modern psychology condemns this step – for it tears down the “self-esteem” instead of making a person feel good about themselves. But history’s great theologians and most effective Christian servants understood the need to arrive at an “accurate self-knowledgement of our sin” (based on God’s assessment of their lives) as a painful but necessary step in finding true life in Jesus Christ! Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, CS Lewis – they were not afraid to acknowledge their “sinful nature”.

6) SIN AND GRACE! In observing the relationship between sin and grace, Paul Tournier once wrote:

“This can be seen in history; for believers who are the most desperate about themselves are the ones who express most forcefully their confidence in grace… Those who are the most pessimistic about man are the most optimistic about God; those who are the most severe with themselves are the ones that have the most serene confidence in divine forgiveness… By degrees the awareness of our guilt and of God’s love increase side by side.”

If we do not come to grips with the depth of sin within our hearts, our relationship with Jesus will remain superficial. Acknowledging our sin opens the door to grace!

7) FEAR! Do you know WHY I believe most people don’t read their Bibles, or attend Bible studies? It’s NOT lack of time! We find time for TV, recreation, and entertainment. No… the real reason for not plunging into spiritual knowledge and growth is the fear that the experience might force us to get to know ourselves! We’re afraid of what we might find! Our sinful pride fights against the exposure of our true thoughts, intentions, motives, and desires. But without such exposure, we become easy prey to temptations and the forces of evil in this world that know our hearts and are able to expose our weaknesses. Blaise Pascal once wrote: “Truly it is an evil to be full of faults, but it is still a greater evil… to be unwilling to recognize them.” Think about it; if we fail to unmask the reality of our broken condition, are we not “living a lie”? And yet we so much want to be thought of as a “good person”, we allow our lives to be controlled by what other people think of us! Despite the “good self-image” we work so hard to create and portray, in the end we find ourselves tired, and still void of any lasting identity, contentment, meaning, joy, satisfaction, fulfillment, or inner peace. These are the things ONLY found in Christ. We need to ask ourselves; is the fear of this journey of painful self-discovery what is keeping us from studying God’s Word? And… is that fear keeping us from discovering our true life and identity in Christ Jesus?

8) WANT TO CHANGE? Perhaps one of the things we fear upon honest self-discovery is realizing that in as much as we sinners may want to change – we won’t be able to. The self-esteem movement says that it is the responsibility of each individual to create within themselves a positive self-image. As Christians we often mistakenly apply that “thinking” to our faith walk! But the more we try to force ourselves to conform our life to the “divine standard”, the more we become frustrated! We discover we want to change but have neither the power or ability to change. We relate so well to the Apostle Paul who said, “I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18) Have you ever wanted and attempted to become a “disciplined Bible reader” or a “constant prayer” but you failed? Despite the fact that the self-esteem movement says self-improvement is our responsibility, experience will eventually make it clear – spiritual self-improvement is doomed to fail! Fact is, try as might, no matter what we do on our own – the old sins and failures continue to stick up their ugly heads. We want to change but we can’t! What’s up with that?

9) WRETCHED MAN! Well, if we keep reading in Romans we find Paul crying out “What a wretched man I am!” (Romans 7:24) Wow! Strong language! But if you meditate on those words long enough you begin to see that Paul has come to an amazing and truthful diagnosis of his condition. The Apostle Paul doesn’t HAVE a problem – he considers himself to BE the problem. See Chapter 7 in Romans is all about the DEFEAT Paul is feeling as he admits his sinful failure to “fix himself!” And Chapter 8 is all about the VICTORY he discovers in Christ that leads him to proclaim “I am more than a conqueror!” (8:37) But there, smack in the middle, the hinge between that “defeat” and the “victory” are those words “What a wretched man I am!” It is the key and rightful diagnosis that leads to true life in Christ! Have you and I come to that truthful diagnosis?

10) RUBBISH/DUNG! In Philippians 3, Paul reflects upon his old identity, once proudly based on being a circumcised member of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a religious Hebrew, an educated Pharisee! But after facing the truth about this identity (based on religious works, self-pride, and self-righteousness), he concludes “I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” (vs 8-9) He called the components of his old identity “Rubbish!” or as the King James version says “Dung!” Strong language – dung, rubbish – “wretched man as I am!” Or as Watchman Lee put it, “Lord, I see it now! Not only have I done wrong; I am wrong!” Have we also been tempted to base our Christian identity on our accomplishments and achievements? …our good and religious works? Or are we honest enough to shed our need for building positive self-esteem based on rubbish and dung? Can we also face reality and declare to God our wretchedness? Can we also accept the fact that as sinful humans we do not have a problem – we are the problem?! And Jesus, is the solution!

11) WE ARE THE PROBLEM! Now, as appealing as “more self-esteem” seems; it just adds to the rubbish pile. Relying on our own efforts to become “more Christ-like”, not only ends up in failure, it simply adds to Paul’s dung heap. No, we do not HAVE a problem, we ARE the problem! We don’t feel good about who we are, because we’re not supposed to! We don’t have a negative self-image – we have a negative self! The old joke says, “He didn’t have an inferiority complex. He was simply inferior!” Again, we do not HAVE a problem, we ARE the problem!

12) HONEST DIAGNOSIS! See, we need an honest diagnosis of the human condition. We are damaged goods. Unlike Adam and Eve who were selfless before the fall, we are now born self-centered! That was not God’s intent! We were designed originally to be God-centered! But after the fall in the Garden of Eden, we went from God-centered to self-centered! That was the original sin! We’ll explore that more next week, but for now we need to see that our search for a changed life and victory over sin needs to be built upon the right foundation – an honest diagnosis of the human condition! Surprisingly, God is not in the “repair business.” He doesn’t run around like a father who is busily fixing his children’s toys. He does not repair and adjust human life! He forgives it! God knows our sinful nature is beyond earthly repair! You see, we are not sinners because we “sin”, we sin because we are “sinners”. That is the divine and honest diagnosis!

13) JESUS = SOLUTION! Now obviously God’s honest diagnosis goes against popular thinking! But reflect on this; if it were possible for us to obtain enough positive self-esteem to “fix ourselves” and regain our “original identity”, would we have needed Jesus at all? Would He have had to come and die on the cross if we could just repair ourselves with a little “religious hard work”? No! And while it initially ruffles my pride to discover God’s diagnosis AND His solution – Jesus is the ONLY life-giving way! God says “I” am the problem, and “Jesus” is the solution!

14) EXTERNAL! Wow! Imagine how long modern psychologists would stay in business if they told their clients, “My friend, you do not HAVE a problem – you ARE the problem!” To offer such a diagnosis would require having an external solution to this dilemma, and no such external human treatment exists to change our sinful nature! So it is much easier and far more appealing to assure the clientele they are fine, wonderful, and valuable people who just need to adjust their thinking and drink in a healthy dose of self-esteem! But it changes nothing! We are still sinners! We need to thank God for showing us the truth; that the answers to our dilemma do not reside within ourselves, but the solution resides in Christ! Are we ready to face the truth and stop wasting time trying on the impossible; fixing ourselves? The self-esteem movement may be unable to provide an external solution, but God can! He offers us a new and better identity in Christ! Wouldn’t we rather spend all our time focusing on this external source of a new life? New life found as Jesus Christ lovingly forgives, saves, embraces, and joins us to Himself?

15) IN CHRIST! I admit, I struggle immensely every time His truth works over my pride, and awakens me to the painful fact: I do not HAVE a problem – I AM the problem! And I suspect that some here maybe finding this tough stuff to swallow! But when the Holy Spirit helps us let go of “self”, and we let God be God – we are blessed with a new identity, contentment, meaning, joy, fulfillment, and inner peace. And it all comes to us in Christ! Question is; Are we interested in and ready to accept the truth? Maybe some of us have not yet “crashed and burned” enough to be ready to accept this truth. Perhaps our pride and determination to find happiness through our own self-esteem efforts, has not yet tired us out. Our idols may not be tarnished enough yet to give up on them. But that time will come, and God will be patiently waiting. With the truth! And… with new and life-giving answers to the questions: “Who am ?” “What is my identity?” “What is the meaning to my life?” The answer to our identity and meaning questions is found in Christ!

16) THE ENEMY! Friends, God does not reveal that “we are the problem” to leave us “wallowing in the mud” of our sin! And yet this loving God deals in reality! And He wants us, His children, to face this reality concerning our sin, so we can be freed from the self-esteem illusions that we can “fix ourselves”. His Spirit is leading us to abandon self, and reach up to God – the loving creator of the universe! But first, before we can grow closer to our true friend and giver of salvation, we must turn our back on “the enemy!” And as we discover ourselves – we discover the enemy! As the comic strip character Pogo put it: “We have met the enemy, and it is us!”

17) NEW FOUNDATION! Friends, I suspect some you assumed this series on self-esteem was going to help you find ways to develop some. You may have been eager to hear positive and warm strokes about how wonderfully made you are, how valuable you are, how essential you are to God’s creation. You may now be reeling from today’s reality check and conclusion that we are the problem. And this may be opening a hundred new questions! But be patient, the Holy Spirit will reveal in the weeks to come what God wants you to know! If any of you feel that the walls and foundation of your identity and life have been hit with God’s wrecking ball today – I assure it is with the intention of creating a brand new foundation that can support the solid walls of a bigger faith… and a deeper relationship with God! It’s a new foundation that promises to bring you a greater and more meaningful life. That new foundation is Christ, not self!

18) LOVES YOU TOO MUCH! Christ comes today, to take away the blinders that keep us focused on self. Jesus loves you too much to allow you to stay a prisoner of the self-esteem movement. Your Lord loves you too much to leave you under the illusion that you can escape the emptiness and meaningless of this world, by your own efforts. Christ loves you too much to leave you thinking the problem is found anywhere but in the mirror. The enemy is self! It is because your Lord so loves you that He gave His life for you on the cross to provide what “self focus” cannot; a new identity, true contentment, meaning, joy, fulfillment, and inner peace. God loves you too much not to provide a solution to the problem! And that solution is not found in self-esteem, but in Christ-esteem! Praise God! AMEN!

Sermon/Confessional Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we confess that are attracted to the idea of obtaining more “self-esteem”. We slip too easily into the world’s understanding that it is up to us to “fix ourselves”. We strive to feel good about ourselves through our achievements, successes, or the approval of others. In trying to protect our self-image we have blinded ourselves to the truth – we do not have a problem, we are the problem. Forgive us Lord, and empower us to see ourselves as you do – broken, and sinful until death.

Lord, we confess that in our search for identity and meaning, our focus has been internalized. Rather than looking up to you, and inviting you in, …rather than trusting in you to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, we have sought to find and fix ourselves. Forgive us, empower us, inspire us through your Holy Spirit living inside us to find a new identity, true contentment, meaning, joy, fulfillment, and inner peace in you! Fill us not with self-esteem, but with Christ-esteem.

And now Lord, although you know us better than we know ourselves, listen as we share in a moment of silence, those other parts of our lives that need to be forgiven, washed clean, healed, and recommitted to you! (made anew.)

(Silence)

Lord, we are awed to discover, that while we are broken and unrepairable – you love us still! Though we will remain sinners until we die, you graciously and mercifully forgive us – having paid our penalty on the cross with your own blood. Though we have neither the power or ability to change our wayward hearts, you come to live within them and do what we cannot – make us acceptable to our Heavenly Father! Help us to surrender our prideful self, and increase within us – that we may serve you and reflect your light and love to all in need! In Jesus Name We Pray. AMEN

Assurance of Forgiveness:

Friends, listen to the good news: The Lord, who provides the perfect solution to our problem, …that Lord has mercifully heard your confession and eagerly forgives you all your sins. Go now, and remember: You and I do not HAVE a problem, WE are the problem – but praise be to God, He provides the solution in Christ! AMEN

Opening prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we stand before you this morning with empty hands. We have no successes or achievements this week to lie before you as proof of our worthiness. We have no perfect works to lay at your feet by which we can claim righteous and pure hearts. We have no gifts good enough to earn your love. But we come knowing you love us anyway! It is because of that amazing and unconditional love we dare to enter - dragging our sins behind us, confident that you long to forgive and wash us clean. Besides our sins, we bring our open wounds – some emotional, some physical, some spiritual – and we trust in your Holy Spirit to begin the healing process that only comes from above! We bring broken relationships, and await wisdom and guidance. We bring worries, and anxieties caused by a broken world, and know you desire to take them from us – freeing us to focus on You and others! Though we will remain sinners until the day we die, you have chosen to claim us, heal us, empower us, and use us to reflect your light and love to a broken world. And so we come to bring you the humble gifts of praise and thanks for a lopsided love that lovingly errs in our direction! Though we are unworthy, fill us with your life-giving Word today, and help us to recognize and rejoice in this amazing fellowship as we worship you as the family of God! In Jesus Name we pray! AMEN!

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