John K. Jenkins Sr - Overcoming Selfishness

Now, how many people in here would be willing to admit that you know you're selfish? Keep the hands up; let me see them. I'm not looking for the hands that are up; I'm looking for the liars whose hands are down. The reality is that all of us have some level of selfishness in us. Amen? Can I get an amen right there? I can look back over my life and see periods and times when I've been selfish. Now, for those of you who didn't have your hands up, obviously, you don't see yourself as selfish, and most selfish people don't see themselves as selfish. If there's any question in your mind about whether or not you're selfish, ask your spouse. I'm sure they'll be able to tell you, or ask somebody close to you if you're not married. I asked my wife if I was selfish, and she began to text me a series of things. Here 's what she said to me: "I don't understand this first one: it's when I want something different for dinner after a meal has been prepared. I come home , and I don't want what you all have already eaten." "No, no, no." All right , here's another one: "Turning on the light when I walk into the bedroom late at night and you're asleep." But if I have no lights , I can't see! "Oh, use a flashlight!" Okay, all right. I didn't know; I know now. Okay, all right, I got you . Would you prefer I not come into the room at all? Okay, never mind-that was selfish. Let me pull it back ; let me pull it back. I'm sorry ; I take it back. Okay, hold on. Let me go on. "Turning the TV on early in the morning when I'm asleep." Oh, but here's what she wrote: "This is all I can think of because you have worked on this a lot." Well, I'm trying! I know there were times in my marriage when I walked home, she'd be watching TV, I grabbed the remote control, and changed the channel to what I wanted to watch instead of-y'all are supposed to say, "Oh!" Some of you need to say, "Ouch!" But some of you do the same thing. But God's working on me; I'm doing better, and I'm here today to talk about it. Amen? I'm doing better, and I thought we should talk about this because I believe there are several selfish people on your row. Amen? If everybody says amen, you don't know I'm talking about you ! I thought we should address it because it is an issue in our culture . It's an issue in the world where people live selfishly. We live in the midst of a culture now where people think it's all about them-it's all about me, what makes me happy. The reality is that selfishness will put a person's own agenda , desires, and wants above what's best for everybody else. Wow, go ahead, Pastor; that's deep! It 's a problem because it's not only prevalent in our culture ; it's prevalent in our communities, schools , families , marriages , and with our kids. It's prevalent in the church . You can tell it when you come to church, as people are fighting for parking spaces and seats in the sanctuary . Not in this sanctuary now, but in our previous building, people would fight for seats - I mean, they would lie and say they had seats when they didn't have any. Really, when you are a believer, when you are a disciple of the Lord, the real mentality ought to be sacrifice. You ought to be thinking of others and giving to others instead of fighting for a parking space . We ought to be saying, "No, you take the parking space." Matter of fact, it ought to be so prevalent in our church and in our hearts and lives , with how we treat each other, that we ought to be saying to each other in our cars, "You go first!" "No, you go first!" "No, you go first!" But the reality is people are so selfish and want what they want that a lot of them will even get up and leave before church is over just so they can get out of the parking lot ahead of everybody else. That is the height of selfishness ! What if everybody did what you did? What if everybody decided to get up and leave before the benediction so they could get a head start on the traffic in the parking lot? What if everyone did that? I'm asking y'all a question: it is the height of selfishness to get up and walk out at the most sacred time of the service . It is the height of selfishness to come and receive from this church month after month, year after year, decade after decade, but never become a part of the ministry and contribute something back . There are a lot of people at this church who come but are not members. They don't belong to any church; they just come and receive the benefits of the ministry but put nothing back in-that's selfish! It's selfish for you to come and claim to be a member of the church and tell people you 're a member of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden and put it on your resume, but you aren't in any ministry. Go on and talk !