Death to Selfie

#Death to Selfie is a five part sermon series by Stephen Furtick. In his first sermon Furtick deals with the identify crisis our society is having, how people put on airs and facades, take perfect selfies to cover up their true selves. To illustrate the identify battle we saints are having in this contemporary world, Furtick takes the story of Esau and Jacob, and how Jacob is from the womb is trying to become first, grabbing the heel of Esau as he came out, and the scheming Jacob did to earn the blessing by posing as Esau, the First Born, before his father Isaac. Death to Selfie is not turning on our selves, and become full of self abasement, but rather rediscovery who we really are without all the masks, props, and artificial makeup we use to hide who we really are. Furtick says, "many people know God, but many people do not know themselves." In this world we are fed a steady diet of "me" and selfishness, and yet paradoxically the more we chase the stuff, status, and success the less we know our true self, and risk what Jesus said, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul (or self)." (Luke 9:27, Matthew 16:26).

Death to Selfie is an intimate look into who Immanuel made you to be, and how we can break free of this crisis of identity. Even in churches we put on the mask of piety to hide our anxieties and shortcomings, and so this series is meant to strip away the fake tunic and hair of Esau that Jacob wore to get a blessing from his Father Isaac at cost of his own identity. Pastor Furtick quoting C.S. Lewis says, "the philosopher C.S. Lewis said that we do not take joy in the possessing, but in having more than others. This is why we aren't content to be smart, we must be smart-er, not strong but stronger, not thin but thinner, not ripped but rippeder, there is an er to everything." I would add that er, that need to be bett-er leads to the ER or emergency room where only Emmanuel Redeemer can repair the damage we have done to our soul and self.

The Selfie World I once talked about in another post is very real (always has been since Genesis) but has grown to full maturity and dominance in today's culture. People want to present a perception of a perfect self, they seek to project an image that is not quite them. Sometimes this isn't wrong, they want people to see who they want to be, even more virtuous and kind, yet firm in faith and values, but on the road to transformation (Romans 12:2) we often end up conforming to the world by what Pastor Furtick says is, "faking it." Or to put it in common vernacular, "fake it tell you make it." We create the perception we have arrived, when the truth is we are still arriving in our walk with Christ, and the other areas of our life. We even add titles, no longer can garbage man be called that, he is recologist, making his profession sound more like ornithologist or dermatologist, when a garbage man is no doctor, but a cleaner and hauling of our discarded possessions. Pastor Furtick says, "notice that he tells Moses I am God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He doesn't say Jacob's new name Israel, because He's the God of Jacob's too, the God of the messed up, God of your victory and defeats, God of the struggle, God of your former self and the transformative self." It is a hard balance to strike as a Christian, not lying and pretending to be perfect in piety and saintly beyond a fault, and at same time not calling ourselves sinners when we are a "new creation in Christ, the old is gone, the new is here." (2 Corinthians 5:17, also see Romans 6:1-18). The balance of our mess and the message God is making our of our lives is not easy, but the point is God is Lord of both, He knows you want to be closer to Him and be transformed, but He also knows your weak self, "for in your weakness He is shown to be strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9, Paraphrase). Jesus does not discard us when we don't measure up to our ideal self, but rather He holds our broken person and urges us on in His process of repairing us; but that's just it, its a process, as the Apostle Paul said, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been perfected, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 3:12-14), and "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18). One day we will say, "I have fought the good fight (echoing Jacob's wrestling, see the video attached), run the good race, and kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7).

In fact I discovered in Pastor Furtick's sermon that when God (PreIncarnate Christ) gives Jacob a new name (Israel) this is connected to when Jesus in Revelation says, "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it." (Revelation 2:17). The fact that Jesus asks Jacob, "what is your name?" asking Jacob to reveal who he really is, the same question his Father Isaac asked, but Jacob said "Esau" is the same question God is asking you today? Who are you? Are you the celebrity and person who wants to be doctor, even though you secretly would like to be clothing designer or author? Are you the mask or the man or woman beneath it? Are you going to honest as Jacob was to God after wrestling and receive your new name and identity "Israel" or will you be content to keep hiding your name under Esau's name, tunic, and hair? God wants us to be honest, to bear ourselves to Him, and even you can say, "God I can't do this, I can't pretend anymore, I don't even want to be the head of mega church, I want to write books or draw art, or even go into business." Trust me, God wants to encounter the real you, not who you pretend to be or think other people want you to be; remember Christ made you and all that you are (John 1:1-15, Colossians 1:10-18), He wants you to be the real you as He wanted Jacob to be Jacob and eventually transform through the process of God's fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-14) into Israel. It is a process, we aim to become better Christians and grow closer to Christ, but Christ knows we are in a fallen body in a fallen world and we are weak, but thankfully, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me," (2 Corthinains 12:9), and "He who is last will be first, and he that is first will be last (even in the race of faith, you may feel insignificant in this life via ministry, but in next find you are ahead)." (Matthew 20:16).

Please watch the whole sermon by Pastor Furtick. He inspired me to write this post, but his words via Holy Spirit are stronger in the sermon than written herein. Sometimes we have to hear the words and the voice than just read it, thus why I believe preaching can never be outdone by the pen, they are different mediums with different strengths for Christ's glory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku96rSBE5bY