DISCLAIMER: This text is not a verbatim transcript. Communication Access Real Time Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication credibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. >> Grant: Well, good morning, and welcome to the First Colony Church of Christ. We exist to honor God and to lead people into a growing relationship with Him. That is our mission vision. That's who we are. That's what we do. It's what we get to live in to this morning. Hey, if you're joining us online, it's a great time to joust go ahead and log in, say hello in the chat so we know that you're here, worshiping with us this morning. For all of us, let's start just preparing our mind and our hearts for worship. We can go ahead and just stand, and let's think about the things we want to bring to Him with praise; the things we want to bring before the Lord this morning as we get to worship Him. Let's enter into a time where we do just that. Richard? >> Richard: Amen! Let's worship the Lord! He is good! ("Raise a Hallelujah" playing) >> Richard: Sing it out! >> Richard: Amen! (Applause) >> Richard: Our worship packs a punch; amen? ("Rescue Story" playing) >> Joel: Good morning, everyone. You may have a seat. It's so good to be with you on the Lord's Day. So my Bible verse today I want to talk about comes to us from Philippians 2:3-4. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit or vainglory but ultimately honor others ahead of yourselves. Think of others more highly than you think to have your own several. For my object lesson, I have a nut and bolt here. I will hold it still. Nice when we were in Bible class. I had this inspected by some children. There are officially no buttons on this piece of nut and bolt here, and you'll be amazed at what it does in a moment. But many of you know I lived in Portland for a long time and had some friends, and my friends -- one was the president of a bolt company called Portland Nut and Bolt. And they actually -- some of their bolts have been utilized in the Golden Gate Bridge as well as Lambeau Field. What is interesting is if you have a bolt -- let's suppose the bolt is like us and gets kind of conceited and says "You know what? I'm like the best bolt there is." "I'm really special. I'm, like, better than anybody else," and it doesn't do its job. As you can see -- I will hold it right here like so. And it is starting to get continue seat. "Man, I'm really good; I'm really good; I'm really good." Oh. And then the head pops off and you're like, what? If the nut isn't on there, it loses its power. Now, some of you are looking and saying, "Oh, man, there's something in your hand. There's something in there; there's got to be something in your hand. You have to do that again because I will figure it out." Well, good luck with that. All right, check this out. Little secret -- sit up near the front and can see these things. (Laughter) Getting conceited. Here it goes! Boop! Oh, oh, oh! As you can see, it's right on the edge. Well, there you go. Bottom line: you can get conceited and you can think very highly of yourself and you can glorify yourself; or you can follow the principles of Scripture and put others ahead of yourself and do your job. Just like any sport when a team comes together and everybody does their job, they do well together. But if you're vain, you're conceited, it's over. All right, thank you very much. (Applause) >> Grant: Always a great lesson. My kids love listening to Joel every week. This is a time we're about to enter into our communion, and John and Maria Ricks will lead us in our time. If you're at home, you can start gathering your supplies. If you're here, you can go ahead and get out your cups. If you don't have one, we have some on the back tables. After we're finished, you can put those into those plastic bags and put them into the baskets at the end of your aisle. With that, let's have a time of communion. John? >> John: Good morning. My name is John Ricks and this is my wife Ana Ramirez Ricks. As it turns out, today, October 11 -- six years ago -- 2014. My mother passed away. I'm sure all of us can experience or know of a loss that you've had of a close family member or close friend. Well, almost 2000 years ago, the Disciples of Christ lost their Leader and their Brother; their close friend. The difference is three days later, He rose from the dead; and while all of us can know firsthand what it was like for them to lose the one they loved and followed, we can only imagine the exhilaration they each had when they found He has raised from the dead. We're here at this time to commemorate that event that of course saves our lives. Let us pray. Father, we thank You so much for the gift of Your Son Jesus; for the life He lived and the way He taught us to live; the love He expressed; and then the blood He shed so that each one of us could have our sins forgiven. At this time, we take the bread that represents His body and the fruit of the vine that represents His blood shed on the cross; and we truly thank You -- thank Him -- for this opportunity and this love that You share with us. It's in His Name that we pray. Amen. >> Ana: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I'm going to read from John 3:3-6. The Scripture will be on the screen for you to follow along. Excuse me. (Continuing to read) Amen. ("Who You Say I Am" playing) (Applause) >> Grant: Amen! That was a beautiful, beautiful song. Mike Calvert will lead us in our offering prayer so Mike? And as he's coming up, I think it's this guy's birthday tomorrow so if you see him after service, maybe wish him a happy birthday. Thanks, Mike. (Applause) >> Mike: This is our offering time, and we want you to know that these offerings are NEVER taken for granted and they are always prayed over. We also want you to know that giving online is safe, secure, and simple to set up. Just click on the link on your screen, and you may also text to give. Also, there are marked boxes at the exit doors to the Worship Center. Please know our offerings make a difference for Jesus and His mission in this world. Let's pray. Dear Father, we know You made us in Your image. There's no one who shows love more or better than You. Bless us as we show our love for You through this offering. Bless each member, our staff, and leaders of our church as we work together to expand Your kingdom. Through Jesus, amen. >> Grant: All right, church, we can stand for our fellowship greeting time and you can pass out some of your best socially distanced high-fives, all right? If you're online, it's a great time to check in to the chat box and say hello. ("Our God" playing) ? So much greater ? ? He's greater ? (Applause) >> Ronnie: Richard and team, thank you so very, very much. Please, everyone, go ahead and have a seat. And to those of you watching online, a very special welcome to you. So glad to have you with us in our 11:00 a.m. service here at the First Colony Church of Christ. My name is Ronnie. We would love to hear from you, and even if you're a part of our church family or maybe part of our church village watching from wherever you might be today we'd love to hear from you. And there is someone ready online to pray with you today in the power of the Holy Spirit. To those of you in the room, first of all, great to see you. So glad that you're here. And you can turn in a prayer request as well. Just use your church app. In our first service today -- congratulations! In our first service today we celebrated some new members -- Anna and Reagan Stanley, another member, and a baptism. We continue with a message series called vice grip. Today's message is entitled "Image is Everything." You will remember that from an advertising a few years ago from Canon, their cameras. "Image is everything." Andre Agassi was the spokesperson for that. It's a pretty clever tag line when you're advertizing for a camera. Image is everything. Gang, it's not a good motto for life. That excessive obsession for attention, applause, and approval -- that will wear you out. So that's our topic today. We've been walking through the seven deadly sins -- really, the originally known as the seven capital vices. A vice is a little different from a sin. A sin is a one-time thing but a vice is a groove in the concrete of the character. It's a tendency, a habit; and as we walk through these seven capital vices, you don't need to view this as a heavy guilt kind of thing. To the contrary. It's like going to a doctor and getting a good, healthy diagnosis and you get a-ha moment. This is the Lord's way of helping us to say, "You know, you might think this is a way to happiness but really, it's not. It's a pitfall that will drag you down and wear you out. There's a better way." As we talk about these capital vices in the series vice grip, we do so from a posture of grace and justification. Now we're pursuing growth in the Lord. So here's the list. Last week we started with envy and today vainglory, which is a term you probably don't use with regularity but is an all-too-common phenomenon. Here's the definition -- and I will quote Rebekah DeYoung and her fabulous book on the topic. Vainglory: the excessive and disorder desire for recognition and approval from others. It's excessive glory hunting and obsessive concern with how I'm being perceived, how I'm being viewed. You know, how am I playing these days? Vainglory can be motivated by pride -- you know, all about me -- or can also be motivated by fear, that sense of inadequacy that craves approval. It's that attention junkie. Listen, gang, we all need attention from one another. We all need some approval and feedback. That's part of being human and what we do in a family and in a church family. We're created. It's not good that we be alone, says Scripture. We're created to know and be known; to celebrate and be celebrated; to forgive and to be forgiven; to encourage and to be encouraged. It's a good thing. It's a WONDERFUL thing. But that GOOD, good gift -- if we're not careful it can get out of control; and if we get caught up in the vice of vainglory, we depend too much of the horizontal need for approval, applause, attention. It can paralyze you. Now, again, the reason I'm talking about this is God wants for you to live in the land of shalom, in the land of peace where you're connected in a healthy way to Him; you're connected in a healthy way to one another; and you're connected in a healthy way to yourself. A couple of statements -- let me put them up here on the screen. We are created, as I mentioned, to know and be known by others and celebrate and we are created to praise God and to give glory to Him. Glory is a nice church word. What does glory mean? Glory is simply goodness on display. It is goodness on display so much that it elicits a response so when we give God glory, what we're saying is: "God, Your goodness is so incredible and so obvious and Your goodness has been so good to me." We give Him glory because He is worth it. So what are dangers of vainglory? Let me mention three. First of all, going along to belong. Augustin told a story about when he was a teenager. He and his friends didn't have much to do and decided to steal pears from a neighboring farmer. They didn't need the pears; they didn't really want the pears. He said he didn't particularly like pears. They ended up just giving the pears to a group, a bunch of pigs. They took the pears just for the fun of stealing, and as he thought back on that particular crime, he tried to figure out what was it that fueled his desire to steal. And he came to the conclusion that if he had been alone, he would not have stolen the pears. He said, "I did it just because I wanted to impress my friends." Have you ever done the same thing -- you know, and as a parent, how many of us as parents or grandparents have talked to our kids about "Live by your values; live by your standards. Don't get sucked into peer pressure." But even as adults -- you know, it's not just for kids. For adults, too. Have we ever -- have you ever sold out your values or standards because you wanted to sit at the "cool" table? Vainglory says, "I want approval, attention, accept tens SO much that I'm willing to go along to something that violates my standards just to be in that group at that table." That's the danger. Here's another danger: hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is that desire to receive praise from others -- and listen -- the hypocrite is more worried about giving the impression of doing good than actually doing good, more concerned about just giving the impression of doing good than doing good. Now, let me be clear: in our culture today, people tend to think something is hypocritical if you do something and you don't feel like doing it. That's not being hypocritical. That's actually pretty good character. That's actually being obedient, doing a good, noble thing even when you don't feel like doing it 100% of the way. Here's what hypocrisy is: hypocrisy is doing something ONLY for the positive press it brings. Hypocrisy is doing something good primarily just for the positive press it brings. Now, Jesus talks about this, I think, in such a profound way in the Sermon on the Mount and will give you a couple of His statements and they're going to sound paradoxical but is beautiful and symmetrical. First of all, Matthew 5. Jesus says -- (reading). You. That's you. (Continuing to read) I will stop right there for a moment. He says, you take a town, you build it on a hill, and what? You with me? It cannot be hidden. Then He says, so how do we, as believers, how do we show goodness without being a show-off? Well, there is a sense you can't help but be seen and noticed. You show me a person who's filled with the Holy Spirit. You show me a person who's living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That person is obvious. That person stands out. Your righteousness, your peace, your joy in the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, that's not a bad thing. You can't hide it. And not only CAN you not hide it, you shouldn't hide it. He goes on to say -- (reading). This little light of mine. I'm going to let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? No! You shouldn't do it. You really can't do it, and now, listen to what Jesus says. (Reading) You let your light shine BEFORE others. Isn't that hypocritical? No. You're letting your light shine before others so that they may see -- so that they may see your good deeds and they glorify your Father in heaven. Jesus says, it's a beautiful thing to live in such a way that others may see and notice and pay attention and they are inspired in their faith. Now, here comes the paradoxical statement. In the very next chapter, Matthew 6:1 (reading). Notice this: "to be seen by them." There's your motive. The primary motive is what? Positive press, just to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Then Jesus goes on and gets specific and mentions things like prayer. Don't pray just to be seen; pray to God so that you change reality. When it comes to giving, don't give only when you're seen and noticed. When it comes to fasting, fasting is a good thing it will help you. When you're fasting, don't go around putting on your sad, fasting face for everybody. "Ronnie, are you okay?" "No; fasting." (Scattered laughter) He says, if you do all this JUST to be seen, you got your reward. Now, there's nothing bad. There's nothing wrong with appreciating, recognition, and encouragement that comes your way. Let me just go ahead and mention, you know, it is good to have that magnanimous spirit. It is SO good to just leave and to magnanimity, that bigness of heart, that largest of heart, that is generous; that is ready to do good; that is ready to help and bless; and you know what? And when you live in that kind of magnanimous spirit, sometimes people will praise you for you or thank you for it. There will be times when it's not seen and is overlooked and that doesn't bother you because you're leaning into this magnanimous spirit. You're looking to be a blessing, an instrument, a servant of Jesus. When you're patted on the back and thanked and noticed, that's great. It doesn't go to your head. You're thinking, "Lord, thank You that I've got this opportunity to serve You." And if you're not praised and noticed in the spotlight is not there, hey, that's okay. A lot of spotlight come my way anyway. Lord, thank You again that in this moment I'm able to be Your servant. That's a beautiful spirit, a beautiful spirit. But vainglory can lead to going along just to belong and hypocrisy, doing good things JUST to be noticed and get the press. Thirdly, it can leave to divisiveness and specifically these kinds of spirits -- being obstinate, contentious, disobedient. Obstinate -- that intellectual vice that says "I'm just unwilling to even consider the perspective or opinion of another to attach to my own." That speech vice of being contentious -- just argumentative, quarrelsome. Remember what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2? You cannot be an effective servant of Jesus when you're too quarrelsome. By the way, I know of people -- you've heard of the vow of silence? A lot of people mistake what the vow of silence is. The vow of silence is not saying, "Okay, from now on I'm never saying anything else." No. A vow of silence is where you say, "You know, for the next three days -- for the next five days -- I'm not going to say anything about me. I'm not going to promote myself for the next five days." Now, if your boss asks for your opinion, you need to break that back, okay? But generally speaking -- and what happens is we start to pay attention to how much of ourself we promote; and we start to pay attention to "Am I truly listening to the other and to another?" And then the disobedient spirit -- man, "It's my way or no way." There is a Jewish storyteller named Noah benShea who tells a parable of a father telling his children a story about a giant. "Oh, dad, we want to hear about a giant. Tell us the story." Well, there was a dad whose son wanted to go see a parade, and his had did a, I'll take you to the parade. They go to the parade. They're standing there, but the crowd is almost like a wall. The son said, "Dad, I can't see anything." He said, "Get on my shoulders." So the boy is sitting on his dad's shoulders and can see the parade and he said, "Oh, dad, I wish You can see the parade and see things. You can't see this. You're not aware of what is going on." The boy just started to think, "I can see so much more than you can." Then the storyteller said to his kids, "But here's the problem with the boy. The boy did not understand WHY he could see what he could see." And then he stopped. One his kids said, one of his daughters said, "That's it? I thought you were going to tell us a story about a giant." He said, "I did. I told you a story about a boy who COULD have been a giant because a giant is anyone who remembers that we're ALL sitting on somebody's shoulders." Not a one of us got where we are just on our own. And vainglory says no; I did it. And vainglory compels us to exaggerate ourself and actually demean the contributions and input of others. Instead of giving appropriate glory to another and ultimate glory to God, such a person imagines that it's truly all about them. We all sit on another's shoulders. And there will be times you may sit on mine and I'll sit on yours. Vainglory -- these dangers you can think of others -- but divisiveness and hypocrisy and going along just to belong. What can we do? How can we make steps forward? First of all, I encourage you to suit up, show up, abound in good deeds; and you leave every result to God. In other words, you lean into that magnanimous lifestyle and mind set. "Lord, here I am. I'm available." Gang, let me just remind you: God is honored by a well-taught child, and God is honored by a well-decorated room; and God is deck honored by a well-crafted presentation and well-diagnosed patient and well-run business seeking to honor the Lord with excellence. That's a beautiful thing. And there will be times people will pat you on the back, and they will praise you and they're going to applaud you; but you don't live for that. You appreciate it. You can take it in, and you can give thanks to the Lord for it; but you're going to suit up and show up and do the next right thing, and you're going to abound in good deeds. If you get applause, great. If you get a spotlight, that's great; but if not, that's okay. It's okay because YOU are ready to abound in goodness. Secondly, sink your roots deep into God's affirming love for you. Sink your roots deep into God's affirming love for you. There was a teacher, Christian teacher, hundreds of years ago who gave this advice to one of his students. He said, "I want you to go to the cemetery. I want you to go to the cemetery, and I want you to abuse the dead. You just abuse them. Speak poorly of them." "Why?" "Just do it." And so his pupil goes and does that, comes back. And the teacher said, "Well, what did they say?" His pupil said, "They didn't say anything. They're dead. They didn't say anything." He said, "I want you to go back to the cemetery and this time, I want you to bless them. You bless them all." "Okay." He go and does it and comes back. His teacher said, "Now, what did they say?" And the pupil said, "They're still dead. They didn't say anything." Here was the lesson, he said. "Like the dead, take no account of people's scorn or praises because it might be that you are OVERLY sensitive to criticism; overly needy for praise; but in both cases you're showing that you're overly needy for the affirmation of people instead of God Himself." I think that's a little bit of an exaggerated teaching. I don't think we can be dead to input, but we have to know how to filter it. And here's my point: if we can be secure in the recognition of who we are before the Lord -- you talk about image. You're created in God's image. You have been made, created -- either male OR female -- in the image of God, and that is very, very good. As Christians, if we can be secure in the love of God for us, then we can shrug off maybe what needs to be shrugged off; and we can accept what needs to be accepted; but if we're trying to build a sense of acceptance on the flimsy, sandy foundation of input and applause and approval, that will never work. This is not -- Aristotle is not in the Bible but was a smart person. Aristotle said if you try to build a life on seeking honor and being viewed as an honorable woman or an honorable man, it's a dead-end street. You say, "Well, how can that be?" He said because you can't control people around you, you can't control their perspectives. Rather than trying to pursue a life that's viewed as honorable, you pursue a life that's WORTHY of honor. That's the only thing that we can control. Now, last of all, I want to remind you that you are wired to connect, and you are wired to praise. You are wired to connect with one another -- with family, with a church family, to know and be known; to love and be loved; to celebrate and be celebrated. It's a WONDERFUL thing, and I hope we're one another's biggest cheerleaders and encouragers. Don't be afraid to over-encourage one another and over-celebrate one another. But may I also give you this warning? Please don't let an obsession with perception keep you from getting help as you need it. "Well, what will people think of us if we get help for our marriage?" They'll think you're in the same boat that we're in. We are all fellow strugglers. "Well, what will people think of us If ..." They will love you; they will cherish you; they will respect you; they will celebrate you; they will cheer you on and pray for you; and if not, don't let that be a driver in your life. Don't let vainglory keep you from letting someone pray for you or teach you or encourage you or counsel you. And so we're created to connect, and we're created to praise God. Listen carefully: you have been blessed with WONDERFUL gifts and WONDERFUL abilities and resources and opportunities; and as you use them, you don't need to feel guilty at all that someone says to you, "Thank you" and "Bless you" and "You serve me well." You don't need to feel badly about that because here's going to be your attitude. Your attitude will be one of "Lord, these aren't my gifts anyway. These are your gifts. I'm the steward of what you have seen to give to me, and if I'm able to use some of this to -- you have given this to me to enjoy. I will share and be a steward of these abilities or talents or resources. That's a WONDERFUL thing and a beautiful privilege. It's that magnanimous spirit." Remember that statement from the Old Testament: when a righteous person gets blessed, EVERYBODY in the community celebrates. Why? Because everybody around feels the rippling effects. You remember Mother Teresa was once asked if she could maintain her humility with all the good that she had done in her lifetime and serving the poor in India, the international awards she had received. Mother Teresa said this: "When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and when He rode into Jerusalem on the back of the donkey; and all the people were throwing branches and palm branches and they were singing praises to Jesus, do you think for one minute that donkey thought all of that praise and worship was for him?" No. Mother Teresa said, "I'm just the donkey. If I get to carry the story of Jesus along in my life in just a little bit, if people applaud me and celebrate me I simply say thank you, and I'm thankful. And I look to my God in heaven and I say thank You for the privilege, the privilege of being Your servant." Johann Sebastian Bach in all of his great music on every piece of music, he would write these words: "soli Deo gloria;" glory to God above. You're created for this. There's a hole in your heart that's only filled by knowing and loving the Lord God and by allowing Him to love you back. And no one will ever love you like Jesus loves you. He blesses you. He wants to be your friend.. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you for joining us online. Mike Calvert, my good friend, one of our elders here, will come up and lead us in our closing prayer. And so everyone, let's join together as we pray. >> Mike: Dear Father God, hallowed be Your Name. Free us from an excessive desire for attention and approval from others. May we never fall into the rut of vainglory. As we conclude our worship to You this morning, please guide and direct our daily worship to You through the way we act and interact with others. Help us to find a way to glorify Jesus each day. Sanctify us, Father, through Your Word, for Your Word is truth. Unite us in love, Father. Make us one as You and Jesus are one. Unite our country, Father. May our differences of opinion be expressed peacefully and civilly. May we never be obstinate with our opinions. Father, You know the needs of each other person here and those online who are bringing to You specific requests at this time regarding sickness; grieving the death of a loved one; family difficulties; marriage problems; economic hardship, and many others. We bring each request to You, Father, and ask that it will be Your will to grant those requests. May Your will be done on all things on earth, Father, as it is in heaven, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever and ever. Through Jesus, the King of King and the Lord of Lords, amen. >> Grant: Amen, amen. Thank you. A few reminders as things kick into swing this fall. The Student Ministry is meeting Wednesday night in the courtyard. Bible study 9:45 class is back on, on campus. For all ages, excited that is going again. Then we also have our Connection groups meeting in homes and online. This is a great time to getter gauged and reconnected. We have a fantastic outdoor service at our Foster Creek campus. Our family love it and the weather is fantastic so just a ton of ways to connect with different engagement. If COVID has been a time where you disengage, take it up as a season to re-engage. If you're online with us, click on the "Get Connected" tab. If you're here, go on the phones on the app and click the Connection card. Sign up and show up. This is a great time to re-engage. At this time, let's stand and we will read our Scripture together here. Words will be on the screen. Let's read it loud and proud together as we just let the words of Scripture flow over the church this morning. Blessed be the reading of the Word of the Lord. Amen, amen. Let's close with one more song. Richard? >> Richard: Amen! ("Our God" playing) >> Richard: Thank you for worshiping with us today! Go be blessed. You are dismissed.