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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

The Cure For Selfishness

As parents, do you ever notice times when you feel like your kids are becoming selfish?

Maybe they are wanting and constantly begging and needing and their room is full of toys or whatever it is, but they want more.

Do you ever notice that in your children, parents?

My wife grew up in Africa the first 9 years and she remembers when her parents noticed that little characteristic starting to crop up.

They would gather some of the toys they didn't play with very often and would go give them away to people in town that had very little.

And so when we got the opportunity to go to Meru, Kenya with some of you that are here, the idea was to do the very same.

And so I don't have sound on this, you don't really need it, but here we are at 1 of the boarding schools, this is an elementary boarding school, so these are little kids, All they have is a tiny chest and everything they have is in that chest.

I'm trying to remember if they even split the, excuse me, split the chest with somebody else, but we got permission to go in with some of these stuffed animals.

And so Elizabeth is there with a bag handing out some of our kids' toys and stuffed animals.

And so each 1, we had to have 1 for each of these young people to put on their chest so when they came they received and had something fun there to to be to enjoy And I don't know if you can see, it's not too big, but the smiles on these kids' faces and on our kids' faces as they're handing out and giving away.

I mean, these stuffed animals were at home before and they were sad.

They were just in this pile or in the corner and they weren't getting loving.

And now, all of these, I promise you, have gotten a lot of loving.

Truly, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

There's a joy that comes in giving that I think is beautiful.

First Timothy chapter 6 verse 10 it says, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

You know the Love of money is 1 of the clearest manifestations of selfishness.

Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 2, for men will be, and this is describing people in the last days, lovers of themselves, selfishness, Lovers of money.

Do we live in a time when people are in love with themselves?

You know, I'm just gonna put out there, there is a myth that many have bought into and that is the simple idea that stuff, that things, that money equals happiness and it's not true.

In fact there are plenty of examples where the inverse is true.

You know, if we just had a car that was more reliable, if we just had a this or that to enjoy and so on and so forth, then we'd be happy.

Happiness does not come from what you have.

If you've been on a mission trip, you know you have seen people that have essentially nothing.

And they have more joy on their face than these Americans that have everything.

Evangelism 633 says, selfishness is the root of all evil.

Steps to Christ, page 43, the warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought.

I think certainly part of the answer is in giving.

It says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

By giving of our time and our resources, we help put at bay this idea of selfishness.

Matthew 6, 21, for where your treasure is, what?

All I have to do is look at your credit card statement or your checkbook or or whatever it is and I can tell very quickly what is important and of value to you.

Councils on Stewardship says this, the Lord places in our hands his gifts in order that we shall divide with those who are needy and it is this practical giving that will be to us a sure panacea or solution or we could say cure or remedy for all selfishness.

If we're selfish, we need to Give, not less, but more.

But that works against, well, exactly, against my selfishness.

Because I want to do this and I want to do that.

I'm saving for this, that, and the I want to be comfortable.

And here we're told that the solution, the cure, the remedy for selfishness is in giving.

I find it interesting as Adventists we believe in the 3 angels messages, yes, of Revelation chapter 14 And at the heart of this message is a people keeping the seventh day Sabbath.

And we know that when we talk about prophecy and end times that the Sabbath is part of this thing.

Certainly We know from Revelation chapter 13 that there's going to be a national Sunday law and that ultimately it will lead to a death decree.

And so really the idea is are you going to follow God and keep the 10 Commandments or are you gonna compromise and follow man for self-preservation?

But here's the question I want to ask of my Seventh-day Adventist audience.

If we believe there is a time that is coming when we would rather die than break 1 of God's commandments, what about today?

Today, are we breaking 1 of the 10 commandments And thinking it's a light thing that doesn't so much matter?

Is there stealing in the church that's taking place today?

What is 1 of the commandments that we have here?

The eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal.

Malachi 3 verse 8 says, will a man rob God?

But you say, in what ways have we robbed you?

And the response, in tithes and offerings.

Sometimes we think, well if I just check the tithe box, I'm good.

But this verse says quite to the contrary.

I don't have to check just the tithe box, but God wants me to return offerings as well.

Because he knows it's a cure for my selfishness.

That's where I wanted this quote that was quite a ways back.

I'm not sure I'm gonna go back, but she says, it's a very solemn thing that I have to tell you.

It's in Councils, is it on Councils on Stewardship?

Anyway, I could find it, Christian Service.

It's a very solemn thing I have to tell you, and that is not 1 in 20 is prepared and will be ready just because their names are on the church books that when Jesus comes they will be found not ready and will not be going to heaven.

And so we have this idea if I my name is on the church books if I return tithe but you know the offerings I'm not such a big I'll put a few $1 bills in the offering plate when it comes by but I have a lot of things that I need to do.

And could it be that's the Petri dish that fosters the selfishness, the self-preservation, the me first attitude that ultimately could lead to my destruction.

Perhaps this is more serious than we thought.

Percent of active, this is the Seventh-day Adventist members who return, excuse me, return tithes by age.

And you'll notice there, 20 to 29, they're having a harder time letting it go.

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The Cure For Selfishness

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