Rev. David Holwick I
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 13, 2005
1 Kings 12:26-32, 2 Kings 4:8-37
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I. Some people don't feel very good about themselves.
A. "Make me look like this."
I was channel-surfing one night this week before bedtime.
I came across one of those channels in the nose-bleed section
of the dial that had a documentary on.
It was about teenagers who seek to remodel themselves with
plastic surgery.
Lots of plastic surgery.
One surgeon noted that many teenagers come in with a picture
of a movie star in a magazine and say,
"Make me look like this."
After they get the surgery, they usually aren't satisfied.
B. Should I be the most important thing to me?
1) Certainly each individual is important.
a) We were specially created by God.
b) He knows the numbers of the hairs on our head.
c) He sent his Son to die for our salvation.
2) However, there are things more important than us.
a) Just as Jesus gave himself up for others, we are called
to sacrifice ourselves for others.
b) Discipleship requires denying the self.
II. Narcissism is a central theme in our culture.
A. The story of Narcissus.
1) According to Greek myth, Narcissus was one of the most
beautiful humans on Earth.
Everyone fell in love with him but he loved no one back.
One day he discovered his image in a pool.
As he gazed at that beautiful image, he fell in love with
himself.
But every time he reached out to touch the image, it
disappeared.
His love could not be returned, so melted into the ground
and became a bed of flowers.
2) Narcissus is all about self-love.
a) I am the most important being in the world.
b) MY needs count the most.
c) It has to be that way, according to Unitarian pastor
Rev. Wayne Walder:
It is all about me.
No matter who we are or what we believe, we are the measure
of our lives.
From the time we leave the womb to the time we die, we are the
ones who live and who measure the lives we live.
`We are self-centered beings because we must be.
There is no getting around it.'
Being self-centered is not something to dispel from our lives,
it IS our lives. [1]
If you are an egotist, this must make you feel pretty good.
But you should realize that a Unitarian doesn't accept biblical
truth like we do.
To them, religion and psychology are the same thing.
(The preacher says this in his sermon.)
This reflects a strong trend in our culture....
B. Secular values have replaced spiritual ones.
1) Sin has become sickness.
2) Religion is a cause of disorders, not their cure.
3) Dependence on therapies replaces self-discipline.
C. Even Christians are choosing self-fulfillment over self-denial.
1) Seeker-sensitive mentality.
2) Loving yourself is a sign of the decadence of an evil
generation, the opposite of loving God. 2 Tim 3:1-4
3) The more we focus on self, the less we rely on God.
D. Example from days of Elisha.
1) The nation's spiritual heritage was on the line.
III. A king creates a substitute god.
A. The political crisis.
1) Solomon lost half his kingdom due to his idolatry.
a) He loved women - lots and lots of women - and ended
up worshipping their pagan gods.
b) As punishment, God allowed his kingdom to be split in
two during his son Rehoboam's reign.
c) God had a prophet give the news to Jeroboam, a
politician under Solomon.
2) Jeroboam had opportunity to be blessed by God. 1 Kg 11:38
a) God himself offers Jeroboam the kingship.
b) But Jeroboam also chose idolatry - and egocentrism.
c) Two golden calves were set up as an alternate religion.
1> They mirrored idolatry of the 40 years in the
Wilderness.
2> Jeroboam probably promoted it as "old-time
religion."
B. Immediate religious gratification.
1) His goal was to make their religion as easy as possible -
and as far from Jerusalem as possible.
2) They didn't have to travel to Jerusalem. 1 Kg 12:28
3) High places were spread out; non-Levite priests installed.
4) In narcissistic society, the object of worship is not
important as long as the experience satisfies.
IV. One woman who stood against it.
A. Shunammite woman supported the prophet Elisha. 2 Kings 4:8ff
1) Elisha was one of the few true prophets in the northern
kingdom, and she set up a special room for him,
2) She asked nothing in return, and was satisfied with her
simple life. 2 Kg 4:13
3) Elisha figured she needed something else, and prayed that
this barren woman could have a son. She did.
B. She is a witness against the self-absorption of our day.
1) She had wanted a son, but didn't want false hope. 2 Kg 4:16
2) Hint of narcissism:
a) Don't tell me God is good and will do something for me.
b) I have trained myself to accept a limited reality.
3) Son's arrival was undoubtedly a cause for reflection on
God's faithfulness.
C. Her reaction to her son's sudden death. 2 Kg 4:20
1) By placing body on Elisha's bed, she was acknowledging
the child was God's. 2 Kg 4:21
2) She also was acknowledging God was GOOD, shown by her
25-mile journey to Mount Carmel to get Elisha. 2 Kg 4:27
a) In anguish she laid claim to God's justice.
b) Syro-Phoenician woman did the same with Jesus.
1> Both women risked personal rejection to gain help
for those they loved.
V. Living for something beyond yourself.
A. Jesus on self-denial. Matthew 16:25
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
1) The Shunamite woman modeled this.
2) Theologian Jurgen Moltmann's comment:
"To give up one's life means to go outside oneself,
to love, to expose oneself, and to spend oneself.
In this passionate renunciation one's whole life
becomes alive because it makes other life alive."
B. Living for God.
1) All humans need a higher goal, a higher power.
a) Addicts have found it is the only way to recover.
b) Most great social movements are motivated by it.
2) Once we surrender to God, we should seek his will.
a) Live the Golden Rule - do positive things for others.
b) Seek out human need, practice justice.
C. Living for others.
In January 1982, Air Florida's flight 90 crashed into the frozen
Potomac River in Washington, D.C.
Initially six people survived the crash; they were seen in the
water, clinging to the tail section of the sinking airplane.
A helicopter was brought in and hovered over the survivors,
lowering a lifeline and flotation ring.
The craft could only handle one person at a time.
Each time the helicopter returned and lowered the line, one man
who was in his 50's, balding, and with an extravagant
mustache, would pass the line on to one of the others.
When the other five had been rescued and the chopper returned
for him, the man had gone under the water, another victim
of the crash.
One of the rescuers in the helicopter later said, "In a mass
casualty, you'll find people like him.
But I've never seen one with the commitment."
The man in the water was later identified as Arland Williams.
He could not have anticipated this tragedy, nor the role he
would play in it.
But there must have been some earlier commitments in his life --
to such things as caring and selflessness -- that equipped him
to keep passing the lifeline to others when his own terror
had to be crying out for him to cling to the line himself.
#1266
VI. What do people see in us?
A. Make me look like Jesus.
Remember the television show I watched, about the plastic
surgery?
One of the teenagers they interviewed had a crisis.
She had done all this surgery and still wasn't satisfied.
Her mother suggested the problem was not how she looked, but
how she was inside.
The mother's advice was that her daughter go to church and
seek her peace with God.
The girl went, and everything in the sermon spoke to her heart.
She gave her life to God that Sunday.
God gave her an inner peace that surgery had failed to do.
B. What do you look like?
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
This sermon is patterned after an article by Don Simpson called "Renouncing
Self-Love," in Discipleship Journal #7, Jan/Feb 1982. It is outlined below.
[1] From sermon "Selfishness, Part 1: It's All About Me," by Rev. Wayne
Walder, Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, http://www.web.ca/~nuuc/Sermons/talks.htm. His
quote that equates religion and psychology is, "Religion, spirit,
myth, psychoanalysis, magic, mystery, is really another language
for dealing with the unconscious or soul."
#1266 "Passing The Lifeline To Others," author unknown, "Proclaim" sermon
series, September 2, 1990, page 3.
Another good resource is #1484, "Am I Supposed To Love Myself Or Hate
Myself?" by John R. W. Stott, Christianity Today magazine, April 20,
1984, page 26.
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Discipleship Journal #7, Jan/Feb 1982
"Renouncing Self-Love," by Don Simpson
I. Modern people have given up concern for others and society.
A. Narcissism is a central theme in our culture.
1) Dr. Lasch - inner-focus ignores betterment of society.
B. Secular values have replaced spiritual ones.
1) Sin has become sickness.
2) Religion is a cause of disorder, not a cure.
3) Dependence (on therapies) replaces self-discipline.
a) Initiative and objective thinking are also gone.
II. New paternalism preaches not self-denial but self-fulfillment.
A. Christian values are not widely promoted in culture.
1) Christians are adopting society's views into evangelism.
2) The more we focus on self, the less we rely on God.
B. Example from days of Elisha.
1) With division of country, spiritual heritage was cut away.
III. Background of Jeroboam's sin.
A. Solomon lost half his kingdom due to his idolatry.
B. Jeroboam had opportunity to be blessed by God. 1 Kg 11:38
1) He also chose idolatry - and egocentrism.
2) Two golden calves.
C. Immediate psychic gratification.
1) They didn't have to travel to Jerusalem.
2) High places were spread out; non-Levite priests installed.
3) In narcissistic society, the object of worship is not
important as long as the experience satisfies.
IV. A woman who stood against it.
A. Shunammite woman supported Elisha.
1) She asked nothing in return, was satisfied with simple life.
2) Elisha prayed that she could have a son.
3) When son died, she road 25 miles to force Elisha to heal
him.
B. She is a witness against the self-absorption of our day.
1) She had wanted a son, but didn't want false hope.
2) Hint of narcissism:
a) Don't mislead me by telling me God is good and acts on
my behalf.
b) I have trained myself to invent reality.
3) Son's arrival was undoubtedly a cause for reflection on
God's faithfulness.
C. Her reaction to son's death.
1) By placing body on Elisha's bed, she was acknowledging
the child was God's.
2) She also was acknowledging God was GOOD, shown by her
journey to Mount Carmel to get Elisha.
a) In anguish she laid claim to God's justice.
b) Syro-Phoenician woman did the same with Jesus.
1> Both women risked personal rejection to gain help
for those they loved.
V. Therapy has replaced faith.
A. "Meaning" and "love" are simply our emotional needs.
B. Narcissism will be a sign of the last days. 2 Tim 3:2
1) Jurgen Moltmann on self-renunciation.
2) The Shunamite woman modeled this.
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