SELFLESS IN A SELFIE GENERATION

Matthew 20:28 NLT

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve other and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Let us pray…

Welcome to the new series for February – SELFLESS

Before I begin, can I ask a favor? Pwede ban a after the service, you’ll post a status in you’re your social media
accounts your reflection on today’s message with this #SelflessInASelfieGeneration
For the last few weeks, I have been praying and thinking as to what series as we going to start for Feb.
Well, we all know that it’s a month of love but I am looking for something new, something to excite me.

So I ask God about my desire. And over and over again, He continue to prove that those who seek Him with all their
hearts, He surely can be found. Amen?

And so what happens next what very surprising. Then I encountered a book from Ps. Jentezen Franklin entitled LOVE
LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN HURT.

This book is out for pre-order but he gave the chapter one for free. So, during my reading, God began to minister and I
literally cried. So then, I shared this to my wife, and she called for meeting. We then convene to discuss about the series
– SELFLESS.

Honestly, I can’t thank God enough for the pastors and leaders we have in the church.
Can we give them a clap? And also, YOU. Can you give a clap for yourself?

Your commitment, your passion to the work of the Lord, your desire and your love, God sees all these.
But I believe there’s got to be more… Do you agree? Especially in the aspect of LOVE.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT says,

4 LOVE is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud

5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

In other words, LOVE IS SELFLESS.

Story:
A lady answered the knock on her door to find a man with a sad expression. "I'm sorry to disturb you," he said, "but I'm
collecting money for an unfortunate family in the neighborhood. The husband is out of work, the kids are hungry, the
utilities will soon be cut off, and worse, they're going to be kicked out of their apartment if they don't pay the rent by this
afternoon." "I'll be happy to help," said the woman with great concern. "But who are you?" "I'm the landlord," he replied.

So today, I’d like to entitle my message – SELFLESS IN A SELFIE GENERATION

The generation today so considered as the SELFIE GENERATION.

There has never been a generation who truly love taking pictures of themselves except today’s generation. Right?
Tanungin mo nga yung katabi mo. Nakakailang selfie ka ba sa isang linggo?

I also notice that this is the generation is very sensitive. It seems like today’s generation has tons of baggage on their
shoulders. Probably, I’ve never seen a generation as wounded, as hurt, as pained as today’s generation. Tama ba?

Andaming kwentong at istorya. Tama ba? And the dilemma of being hurt and wounded is that, THE MORE YOU ARE
HURT, THE MORE YOU BECOME SELFISH.

KEYPOINTS:

1. TO BE SELFLESS IS TO LOVE LIKE YOU’VE NEVER BEEN HURT.

Mark Twain said, “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal
difference between a dog and a man.”

Twain was right. You can care for a dog that has been abused. You can love it. You can nurture it. You can feed it. You
can call it your own. Despite the pain that this animal has endured and because of your love for it, this dog will become
your best friend. He will greet you at the door every day. He will come when you call. And he will be loyal to you until his
dying day.
As true as this mutually sacrificial relationship is of dogs, it is not always true of human beings. In fact, I believe the very
people we love the most will hurt us the most.
WE HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO LOVE LIKE WE’VE NEVER BEEN HURT.

WE, AS PEOPLE OF GOD, AS A CHURCH, SHOULD LEARN MORE HOW TO LOVE LIKE WE’VE
NEVER BEEN HURT BECAUSE GOD LOOK FORWARD TO USING US TO BE HIS HANDS AND
FEET TO BRING HEALING TO THE BROKEN WORLD WE LIVE IN.

This is critical because, as sure as you are listening today, someone is going to break your heart. Someone is going to
abandon you or leave you. Someone is going to say something hurtful to you. Someone is going to disappoint you.
Someone is going to let you down, lie to you, stab you in the back. Someone is going to reject you.

Chances are, someone already has. As you hear these words, you may be picturing the face of the person who has
caused you pain. The parent who left home when you were five years old. Issues with your marriage. The sibling who
refuses to talk to you. The child who has chosen to rebel. The friend who betrayed a sacred secret. Whatever it is, you
have loved hard and were wounded. This someone has cut off your love supply. And you are not living fully, the way God
intended, because you do not know how, or if it is even possible, to love like you’ve never been hurt.

It’s easy to love others when we have no conflict with them. Or when we share the same viewpoints. Or the same
theology. Or the same standard. It’s easy to love when marriage is in the honeymoon stage, when our children act right
all the time, when we have our health and our happiness.

But no one lives in that kind of state all the time. Jesus told us that in this world we would have trouble (John 16:33). In
Matthew 18:7 (nkjv), He even says, “Offenses must come.”
Getting hurt is part of life. It’s inevitable. But that is not the end of the story.
God does not want us to be the walking wounded. He intended for us to be healed and to be whole. He created us to
love like we’ve never been hurt because that is what He does, and we are made in His image.

Story:
James Garfield had been the twentieth president of the United States for only four months when he was shot in the back
on July 2, 1881, by a would-be assassin. He lived just under three months more.

You would think it was the shot that killed him. It wasn’t. You see, the bullet did not penetrate any vital organs. It got
stuck behind his pancreas, but it was not a fatal injury. But back then, doctors weren’t concerned about germs; they did
not even believe they existed because they couldn’t see them. So minutes after President Garfield was shot, doctors
pressed in around him to stick their fingers and push unsterilized instruments into his wound. They poked and prodded
as far as they could in his body, hoping to find the bullet and remove it. They continued to do this for eighty days while
President Garfield languished in the hospital.As we today would expect, this regular unsterilized digging worsened the
president’s condition. He developed infections and eventually died.

Funny—we tend to do this with our own wounds. We replay the bad memories again and again. We talk about them
repeatedly to anyone who will listen. We think of ways we can exact revenge. We poke and prod at our gaping wounds.
In the process, we become bitter. Hardened. And, often, we withhold our love from those who need it most.

BUT THIS IS NOT HOW GOD WANTS US TO LIVE. HE WANTS TO GIVE US A NEW BEGINNING. A NEW STORY. A FRESH
START. HE WANTS TO HEAL WHAT HAS BEEN BROKEN. HE WANTS TO RECONCILE WHAT HAS BEEN TORN APART.

2. TO BE SELFLESS IS TO THINK OF YOURSELF LESS.

I believe that SELFLESS IS NOT THINKING LESS OF YOURSELF; IT IS THINKING OF YOURSELF LESS.

Philippians 2:3-8 NLT

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though He was God,[a]
He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
He took the humble position of a slave[c] and was born as a human being.
When He appeared in human form,[d]
8 He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

LOVE MATTERS!
God made you and me OUT OF LOVE.
Psalms 139 says that “YOU ARE FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE.”
And because LOVE MATTERS, RELATIONSHIP MATTERS!

Sadlt, many of us fail to realize that what matters most in life is relationships.
An abundant life does not consist of the abundance of stuff. The world does not place much value on
relationships. It tells us money is important. Titles are important. The right zip code is important. Looks are
important. Fast cars and big homes are important.
Do you remember when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was?

He replied, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’”
(Matthew
22:37–39 nkjv).

Here Jesus emphasized in a big way the importance of relationships.

This is what life is about—loving God, loving ourselves and loving others.
I get what it’s like to be hurt. I’m not telling you to do something I have not done myself—and even made
mistakes along the way trying. I know the temptation to not want to let go of hurt or disappointment.

Life is an adventure in forgiveness. It is all about releasing and reaching. Release the past
and reach for the future. The only way to do this is to love like you’ve never been hurt. This means loving so
intensely that it overrides all your natural instincts for bitterness and revenge.

You will never get ahead trying to get even. When you have been wronged, a poor memory is your best
response. A good forgettery is what all of us need.

Have you ever noticed how a jeweler shows his best diamonds?
He sets them against a black velvet backdrop. The contrast of the jewels against the dark background
accentuates their luster.

In the same way, God does His most stunning work where thing seem hopeless. Wherever there is pain,
suffering and desperation, Jesus is there. There is no better place for the brilliance of Christto shine.

I do not know what is going on in your life as you. But I do know this: The pain you feel today is the pain you
can heal.