Are You Sober?

Romans 12

3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

If you are going to take your faith to a personal level we need to understand that others are better than you.  Not in a “woes is me – sadistic way “ – but in a “Jesus- loves- you -as -much –as- he -loves -me way.”

Following Christ doesn’t make you a better person. This is one of those things we need to rethink. Many Christ followers believe that they are better people than those who don’t follow Christ. We may not say the words but our body language and our verbal comments totally give it away.  Many Christ followers are what I call spiritual bullies. If you are on Facebook just read some of the comments on controversial moral issues from some of the Christ followers. Some are down-right mean and many times  scripture is used out of context to prove a point. Many Christ followers act superior and are spiritually haughty.

I heard the story this past week on a podcast. The pastor was sharing about evangelicals and how we are to be the bearers of the Good News. He moved into house in Kansas City, Mo. When his family moved in, his neighbor decided to move out – why? – because he was an evangelical and the neighbor was a liberal. The neighbor immediately put their house up for sale.  After a few neighborly conversations, they became friends and they took their house off the market.  The evangelical loved the liberal and the liberal loved the evangelical. Evangelicals aren’t any better than liberals and liberals aren’t any better than evangelicals.

Following Christ is not about becoming a better person or proving the scriptures are right and true or being spiritually haughty. It is about becoming a living sacrifice. It’s about allowing God to change the way we think.  It’s about being the light of the world. It’s about being the salt of the earth. It’s about spiritually maturing and learning to love our enemy, love those who persecute us. It’s about understanding that we are called to love and not to judge. Mother Theresa once said, “if you judge people you have no time to love them.”

This is important. Because when you judge someone  you are saying that you are better than them.  When you love them you are saying they are important to God. Isn’t that the message we want to communicate? Those evangelicals who think they are better than the rest of the world get in their own  religious silos and totally miss the opportunity to be the light of the world or the salt of the earth. Their sole focus is making sure they get themselves  to heaven. In fact for many, that is their only agenda.

As Christ followers it is not about being better than anybody. Jesus never consider himself to be better than anybody. Look at Philippians 2. He said that he made himself lower than the lowest servant. He gave up a lot. Vs. 7 says, “he gave up his divine privileges;  he took the humble position of a slave.” ^. Jesus didn’t think he was better than anyone.  Anybody can better themselves. Anybody  can behave well in public. Anybody can have good morals. You don’t need to be a follower of Christ to accomplish those things. Following Christ  has never  been about becoming a better person, Getting to heaven, or being socially isolated from the world.  Following Christ is about how well you love the person who cuts you off while driving. Following Christ is about how well you serve others. Following Christ is about how well you love your enemies. Following Christ is about understanding that the other person is just as important to God as you are and making yourself their servant.

Not only are we not to think we are better than everyone – we are not to think too lowly of ourselves.

Luke 14:11 teaches us, “those you exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” In other words if you think you are better than everyone else, you will be  humbled. If you think to lowly of yourself – you will be humbled. Being humble (according to the scriptures) is not thinking about yourself at all. A few entries ago  I shared with you the story of the ant and the grasshopper. According to Mark (the little boy in the story), the ant didn’t think of himself at all. He simply gave it all to the grasshopper.

Paul says, “Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” Or as the NIV puts it, “ think of yourself with sober judgment.” In other words, Don’t get drunk on yourself. How do you know if you are drunk on yourself?

• You complain about life a lot. Life is never fair.
• You have the attitude that you are always right.
• You think of yourself as better than a person or certain group of people.
• You think only about how the certain circumstance is going to benefit you.
• You think of yourself as the worse person in the world.
• You think perfection is possible.

Who can give you this evaluation  of yourself?

• Others can’t
• The media can’t
• Parent’s can’t
• Coaches can’t
• Your spouse can’t
• Your significant other can’t

No one can give you an honest evaluation.  Some of these people think too highly of you and some of these people will tell you, you can never measure up. Only God can give you an honest evaluation. Genesis tells  us that you are “very good” and that you are created in the image of God. Romans tells us that you are his chosen one. Hebrews tell us that we are part of his priesthood. The psalmist teaches us that you are created by God. All of scripture teaches that you are God’s greatest asset.

There are some people who think that there is no way they can be God’s greatest asset. How can I be God’s greatest asset? I have messed my life up. I have made too many mistakes. I have sinned against him. Many have this attitude that there is no way I can be God’s greatest asset. You don’t have to do anything to be God’s greatest asset. You simply need to be in relationship with Him. The doing will come later. While being in relationship with him you will discover that you are his greatest asset.

• The woman at the well discovered it and went and told her whole village about Jesus.
• Zaccheus discovered it and gave back 4x’s more than what he stole from people.
• The woman who washed Jesus’s feet with tears and her hair discovered it. She couldn’t stop kissing his feet.
• Peter, who denied he knew Jesus 3x’s, discovered it and thousands came to know Christ because of his ministry.
• Paul, who persecuted the church, discovered it and he spread the Good News.

God doesn’t base what kind of asset we are by what we do for Him. In other words, Billy Graham is no more important than you and you are no more important than Billy Graham. In the kingdom of God, there is not a spiritual  hierarchy. By being in relationship  with him you discover that you are His greatest asset. This is the best thing about being a Christ follower – you discover that you are the greatest person ever created by God. You discover that God puts his confidence and trust in you. You discover that God is not against you but He is very much for you. You discover that there is nothing that can stop God from loving you.

You discover that God has so much confidence and trust in you that he says,

1. If I gave you the ability to prophesy then go and speak out as much faith as God has given you.
2. If I gave you the gift to serve others – then serve others well.
3. If I gave you the gift to teach others – then teach well.
4. If I gave you the gift to encourage others – be encouraging.
5. If I gave you the gift of giving – then give well.
6. If I have given you leadership ability – then lead well
7. If I have given you the gift for showing kindness to others – do it gladly.

You are the greatest person that God has ever created. He has given you gifts and abilities to help others. Despite what you think of yourself. Despite your hang-ups. Despite your shortcomings, and your insecurities. God loves you. When you love him back, you will discover His mercy, His forgiveness, His grace, His compassion. They are all new every morning. You will discover the trust and confidence He has in you.

Not everybody knows this.

Many evangelicals are really good at finding the faults in other people. We are good at looking at the splinters in everyone else’s eye but we can’t see the log in our own eye. In other words we see ourselves as better than everyone else. I believe this is one of the reasons why people don’t like to be a part of a church or Christianity

JE’s story:

“J.E.”,  was a very angry man. In fact, at age 54 he’d been an angry person for many years. In a Bible study one night, many questions had been raised in his mind. Talking with the leader afterward, J.E. said, “I asked Jesus to be my Savior when I was 9 years old. But nobody ever taught me about who I am in Christ, that I’m accepted by God or that Christ lives in me.”

“What were you taught?” the Bible study leader asked.” “Where I grew up, we heard all the time about how perfect Christ was and about how we should learn to live like Him – if we didn’t, God would judge us.” J.E. went on, “It didn’t take me long, I’d say in my teen years, to figure out that I was never going to cut it. So I gave up trying. I guess I’ve been living in guilt and running from God ever since. Off and on through the years I tried to go back to church, but I just got more guilt piled on top of me. I’ve sat under so many teachers who made me fearful that I was afraid to turn in any direction because God was going to get me. This is the first Bible study I’ve ever attended that gave me any hope” J.E. concluded.

Make this personal

Don’t get  drunk yourself. Don’t think too highly of yourself or think too lowly of yourself. In fact, don’t think of  yourself at all. Always think of others as better than yourself. Not in a sadistic, self righteous way but in a “Jesus- loves- you -as -much –as- he -loves -me way.”

Not everyone knows that they are God’s greatest asset.

Not everyone knows that they are unconditionally loved by God.

Somebody needs to tell them.