Galilean Pastors                                                                                                                                                            Teachings
SELFISHNESS, SPIRITUAL THEFT
“Self”- is defined in Webster’s dictionary as “belonging to one’s self or own.”
    Do we as Christians belong to ourselves?  And if so, why did Christ come to earth as a man, teaching and giving of himself as a sacrifice for mankind?  Jesus came to the earth for a very selfless reason.  He gave of his life so we may have a new life on earth and life eternally.  Jesus set the example, He talked it, walked it, and lived it.  We are to follow His example, His attitude, (Php 2:1-5) and the way he talked, walked, and lived.  
“Theft”- is defined as, “The act of stealing,”
 
    A spiritual thief is a person who steals the glory for God and gives it to one’s self.  They may set out to do ministry, but their needs are to have an audience, someone who will pat them on the back and spread the news about great accomplishments they are doing.  With false humility and a reluctant heart, they will give some of the credit to God but their motives are still self seeking, they are looking for praise from man rather than God. (John 12:43)  If the heart isn’t right, the intentions aren’t either--regardless of word or deed. (Lk 6:43-45, Gen 4:3-7--Cain’s heart was what God looked at, his word and deed appeared to be honoring God, but his heart showed otherwise.)
   
    False humility is a thief of truth.  Those who practice false humility announce that all glory is given to God, but neglect to do ministry unless someone is there to give them the glory and to spread the news about what they are doing or what they have done.  They have the need to be patted on the back and told what a good and faithful servant they are, even though they neglect those in need when they don’t have an audience.  Their motives are purely selfish, stealing from God and giving glory to themselves.

    The disciples gave us a great example.  They started arguing amongst themselves as to which of them would be considered the greatest.  Jesus responded by taking a little child and having him stand beside him and then saying, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  For he who is least among you all--he is the greatest." (Lk 9:46-48)  Of course, Jesus had no problem taking the “wind out of the sail” of the disciples and their self-inflated image of who they thought they were.  Jesus referred back to a child and a child’s innocence.  
    It is funny that after the scolding from Jesus, John still attempted to draw attention to the elitist status the disciples thought they had.  John said to Jesus, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us." (Lk 9:49--underlining is added for emphasis.)  Jesus replied with "Do not stop him,...for whoever is not against you is for you." (LK 9:50)  Jesus was not concerned at all that this man was driving out demons in Jesus’ name, although the man probably had quite an audience, and I doubt he really had any clue what he was doing short of a show.  This man doesn’t seem to have been a disciple of Christ, for all we know he was a pagan doing something that appealed to him and it seemed to work.  John, on the other hand, knew better, he knew where credit was to be given and he also knew the power by which it came.  Just think about how easy it is for us to get caught up in the glory and majesty of what God is doing through us and unintentionally receive praise from man as if we did it.  It’s easy to do if we don’t keep our eyes focused on Jesus as well as test the spirit.  
    Paul and Silas gave us an excellent example of focusing on God rather than ourselves and our situation.  Paul and Silas were thrown in Prison (Acts 16:16-40) because they exposed and cast out a demon controlling a slave girl.  Now, the power and the “goose that laid the golden egg” was gone.  The slave owners were furious because their income was gone.  I don’t think they were concerned at all about Roman customs, as they alluded to, they were only looking out for their financial interests, they were only out for selfish gain.  With their means of financial gain gone, they blamed and attacked Paul and Silas, drumming up false accusations and having them arrested and thrown into jail.  Neither Paul nor Silas cast that demon out to draw attention to themselves, they did it to bring order and focus as they ministered.  God honored their faithfulness by giving them peace while they were in jail, allowing them to minister, and by miraculously setting them free.   While they were being falsely accused and wrongfully jailed, God used them to save the life of the jailer and bring his entire family to believe and trust in the Lord.  God blessed Paul and Silas because of their faithfulness and willingness to focus on God instead of themselves.  Paul and Silas could easily have grumbled and complained.  But they were above that and chose to focus on God, not their circumstances.  How do we behave when we are falsely accused and wrongfully punished?  Do we keep our focus on the Lord and continue to serve Him or do we focus on ourselves and how we’ve been wrongfully treated?
    Jesus said in Mt 19:17 to keep/obey the commandments.  Do not steal and do not give false testimony are two of the commandments Jesus stated.  When we give false testimony, that is stealing.  We are taking away from God and giving it to ourselves or someone else.  Testimonies are given by God for His glory.  We are not to abuse His name to draw attention to ourselves or something we are doing.  Is this not taking God’s name in vain? (Ex 20:7)  God may use our testimonies but it’s not about us, it’s about what God is doing and has done through us.  Testimonies are for building the body of Christ up and bringing glory and honor to God, if it is used for anything other than that, it is character theft.  In worldly legal terms it is called, “defamation of character.”
    My wife and I have two very different testimonies.  Jenifer has always known the Lord for as far back as she can remember.  Her family did not live as Christians but she knew the Lord and grew up living in the presence of the Lord, her surroundings didn’t matter.  My life was just the opposite.  I was raised up in a religious family and couldn’t wait to get away, desiring to live a life I thought was, “the good life.”  My testimonies are too numerous to give, short of a book.  But Jenifer’s is short and simple and the best testimony of all, she didn’t have to go through a time of rebellion and disobedience to learn her lessons.  Jenifer wanted to do God’s will, so God has always been a huge part of her life, no testimony could be greater.  She has been tempted and could have fallen to temptation but her heart was on the Lord.  At any time Jenifer could make up an elaborate testimony to impress others, or stretch the truth a little to make her testimony just a bit more exciting, but if she would, she would be lying, baring false testimony.  Jenifer would be removing the Glory from God and putting it on herself.  She could easily give a false testimony and the readers would not know the difference, but God would and hold her accountable not only for the theft but for any destruction caused to others.  False testimony is Spiritual theft!  Stealing the glory from God and placing it on one’s self.  
    Jesus had choices every day of his life, just as you and I do.  Jesus made the choice to keep his focus on His Father, taking it away from himself. (John 5:41-44; 8:50, 54)  John 6:38  “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”  If we would focus on doing the Father’s will instead of our own, we would be much further along in our walk and much closer to the Lord having the refined ability to hear the voice of the Lord.
    Think about what Jesus did for us, what He went through.  God is not asking us to physically go to the cross, that’s been done already.  He is asking us to spiritually go to the cross, daily (Mt 10:38-39); to be persons of character and to give of ourselves as Jesus gave of himself.  It’s such a small price to pay compared to the price Jesus paid.  We need to focus on being obedient, putting others before ourselves for the sake of Christ.
    My wife and I had a house given to us once after a long period of  homelessness (a long story).  Not just any house, but a good sized house on a big lake, where the influential live.  We wanted to be good servants, not greedy or self seeking, so we refused the house and agreed to move in with the person, thinking we were undeserving and doing the right thing.  We were undeserving,  but that’s not our decision to make, that is God’s and God’s alone.  By refusing the house we were disobedient, all the while thinking we were doing the humble thing.  But we needed to do what God wanted, not what we felt was the humble and subservient thing to do.  We went overboard the opposite direction, letting our thoughts and feelings get in the way of what God was doing in our life, as well as the life of the owner of the house.  Because of the choice we made, due to our lack of focus  on the Lord, we brought suffering to us and the home owner.
      The man who owned the house had made it his “god,” his life rotated around his house, and God told him to give it up.  He was obedient, he did what God asked of him but we refused and that drove him even deeper into his self-centered life.  God only knows how far reaching the suffering has traveled through friends and family, because of this one act of disobedience.  I can tell you that we are still suffering because of our disobedience.  Blessings were robbed, joy was taken, and suffering occurred, because of a seemingly good intended decision.
    As they say, hindsight is 20/20.  We can see how destructive our motives were, even if they were well intended.  Note:  I said, “our motives.”  If our motives are out of God’s will, no matter how good the intentions are, they are self gratifying.  We are learning to go to the Lord for all of our decisions, not just the big ones but the small ones as well.  We are not perfect at doing so, but we recognize the need to stay focused on God’s will and plans for our lives.  Seeking His will daily, learning how to be obedient, and understanding that God really doesn't need our help but wants our hearts, we need to focus on His purpose for our lives, refine our hearing, become accustomed to the voice of God, and learn to act on His voice. (Eph 5:1-20)
    You see selfishness comes in all flavors, even if intentions are good, they can still be selfish.  Selfishness is run by our thoughts and feelings:  not allowing us to move out of our comfort zones, keeping us from being the person God intends us to be.  Selfishness says, “What will others say about me?” or “Will I look good while doing it?” or ”How is this going to effect my image?” or “How is this going to effect my relationships?” and so on.  Selfishness is always about self.  What I want, what I need, how I look, it’s all about “I,”  “Me,” and my selfish ambitions.

Webster’s Dictionary defines selfish as follows:   Regarding one's own interest chiefly or solely; influenced in actions by a view to private advantage.
     Philippians 2:3  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  This even applies to the simplest acts of life.  Think about being at the dinner table; there are two pieces of bread left, one fresh, the other kind of dry, which one will you take, leaving the other one for someone else?  Remember, we are to think of others above ourselves (even relatives).  How about when we give food to the food shelf or to someone in need.  Do we give the same name brand food we eat or do we give the less expensive brand because of where it is going?   Paul rebukes the church of Corinth about their selfishness at the Lord’s Supper. (1 Cor 11:17-22)  All the people were gathered around the table grabbing bread and drinking wine getting drunk , leaving nothing for the rest.  Jesus said, "...this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me." (1 Cor 11:24)  Now, what is our attitude?  Jesus willingly took the sin of you and me upon his shoulders so we could be free.  We need to think of others above ourselves.    
    Selfishness can also create control problems.  Pastors frequently fall to spiritual control, thinking that being the spiritual leader of a flock they need that control.  But what about God?  Pastors are tools through which God gives spiritual authority over a flock, God guides the pastor, the pastor guides the flock.  A controlling pastor guides the flock under his own strength and uses God’s name to justify his reasoning.  We all need to give God control, pastors, ditch diggers, and all in between.  If God isn’t the controller of our lives we can only expect discord and confusion, order and focus cannot be established and God’s full and complete purpose will never come to pass outside His will.  The need to control is very prevalent in husbands, wives, government leaders and officials, sports figures, intellectuals, and people trying to be somebody they aren’t.  It is a never ending list which we can easily be a part of if we allow selfishness to reign in our lives.  Remember, the temptation is always there, but the tempter can only take what we give him.
 
    Jesus gave nothing to the tempter, he was steadfast.  “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.” (Matt 3:16)  Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. (Matt 4:1)  The tempter, Satan, knowing Jesus was very hungry made a simple suggestion, “tell these stones to become bread.” (Matt 4:3-4)  Realizing that didn’t work, the tempter said to a weary Jesus, “throw yourself down...” (Matt 4:6)  But Jesus knew not to put the Lord to the test, by forcing God to manifest His powers:  sending angels to keep Him from harm. (Matt 4:5-7)  And lastly, knowing that Jesus’ flesh was weak, the tempter offered Jesus all the kingdoms and splendor of the world (Matt 4:8-9), but Jesus answered, "Away from me, Satan!  For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” (Matt 4:10)  You see, Jesus had the Spirit of God, (Matt 3:16) the same Spirit you and I have been given, we need to learn how to depend on, call upon, and live in the power we’ve been given.  We need to rely upon the living God, our source, for all our needs, big and small .  Jesus knew there was nothing He could do under His own power.  There is nothing we can do under our own power.
    Selflessness, what God truly wants of us, really comes down to sacrifice, and a sacrifice is something that costs us something valuable.  If it doesn’t cost anything it’s not a sacrifice.  I’m not talking about money, time, or things,  I am talking about giving back what God has given us--our life.  It may take some of our time, money, and things, but God wants us.  He wants 100% of you and me.  The real us, not the self-centered, game playing, candy-coated Christian--but the real person He created us to be.  (Lk 9:23-24; Matt 10:37-39; John 12:23-25; Luke 14:25-34; Romans 12:1)
    Spiritual theft is taking from God and giving to one’s self or others.  God has given us wisdom and understanding, protection and prosperity, blessings and joy.  To deny what God has done is to deny God himself.
Testify to God’s Goodness:
 Live it Out,
and Give All the Glory to God!

Don’t Steal it Away!