Now you may recall that Narcissus was the mythical Greek
youth who was so enamored with his own beauty that he stared at his own
reflection in a pool of water until he eventually fell in and drowned.
One of the first alleged glimpses of Obamic narcissism they
point to is his first victory speech in Chicago’s Grant Park on November 4,
2008. You may remember it. Even more “liberal” commentators like Evan
Thomas and Jon Meacham, formerly of Newsweek,
pointed it out.
On November 5, the day after the election, Thomas and
Meacham were on with Charlie Rose.
Meacham said, “Obama is very elusive which is fascinating for a man who
has written two memoirs. At Grant Park
he walks out with the family, and then they go away…he is the messenger.” Thomas chimes in, “There’s a slightly creepy
cult of personality about all this. I
mean, he’s such an admirable figure. It
just makes me a little uneasy that he’s so singular. He’s clearly managing his own spectacle. He’s a deeply manipulative guy.”
And then they comment on a visual from that night in Grant
Park that I haven’t forgotten. The newly elected President of the United States,
all alone on stage, turns to look behind him at the giant video screen. And Meacham captures it perfectly when he
says, “Here he is, watching us watch him!”
Now irrespective of whether Barack Obama is a narcissist or
not, narcissism is rampant in our day and much of social media proves it. While, according to the experts only 1% of
the American population has NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder), all of us
have some narcissistic traits and tendencies and chief among them is a self-focus.
I have a friend who wrote a book over twenty years ago in
which he identified the first rule of conversion: Generally, people are more interested in
themselves than they are in you. And the corollary is equally true: You are by nature more interested in you than
you are in other people.
And I want to remind you that Jesus knew that. That’s why He says, “…And love your neighbor
as yourself.” You see, Jesus wasn’t into
self-loathing; He was “into” reciprocity.
He doesn’t say, “Hate yourself and love them.” He says, rather, “Love them as you love
yourself.” And nothing gets in the way
of doing that any more than narcissism.
This week we are going back to the Book of Acts to find a
perfect illustration of what loving and serving your neighbor looks like. The context is critical. The church of Jesus Christ has just scattered
from Jerusalem, and the first people to whom the Gospel is taken are the
Samaritans. Amazingly God sends Philip
to Samaria to preach the Gospel and hundreds are saved. But God doesn’t stop there. In less than one full chapter He sends Philip
to an Ethiopian eunuch. This time Philip
doesn’t preach, he rides. He doesn’t
address the crowds, he listens to the cry of one man and guides Him to
Christ. It’s a perfect example of what
God calls us to do by getting our eyes off ourselves by loving and serving our
neighbor.
In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the
following when reading Sunday’s text – Acts 8:26-40.
1. Who
is Philip and why would God send him first to the Samaritans and then to the
Ethiopian?
2. Why
does Luke give us so much detail in verse 26?
3. Note
the textual variant reading in verse 26.
4. What
similarities and differences are there between Philip and the Ethiopian?
5. What
is the nature of the command in verse 29?
6. What
is the nature of Philip’s question in verse 30?
7. What
is the Ethiopian asking for in verse 31?
8. What
does verse 36 indicate about serving our neighbor? (Check out the meaning of the word hodoygeho.)
9. What
was the prompt for the Ethiopian’s question in verse 36?
10. Why does
the Holy Spirit do what He does in verse 39?
See you Sunday – our first weekend of SERVICE!
Remember, there are still some “SERVE” slots open for you!
