The plague of every relationship is the epidemic of self-centredness. This message was given on July 26, 2015 by Pastor John Ferguson at New City Church in Calgary. For more info, please visit: www.newcitychurch.ca

1. The Plague of Every
Relationship
image: mafleen
~Genesis 3:1-13~

2. Love, Marriage,
& Sexuality
image: mafleen
~ How the Gospel Shapes Our Relationships ~

3. The Plague

4. The Plague of Every
Relationship
image: mafleen
~Genesis 3:1-13~

5. 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty
Genesis 3:1-13
than any other beast of the field that the
Lord God had made. He said the woman,
“Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat
from any tree in the garden.”

6. 2 And the woman said to the serpent,
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You all not
eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the
midst of the garden, neither shall you
touch it, lest you die.’”
Genesis 3:1-13

7. 4 But the serpent said, “You will not
surely die. 5 For God knows that when
you eat of it, your eyes will be opened,
and you shall be like God, knowing good
and evil.”
Genesis 3:1-13

8. 6 So when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was a
delight to the eyes, and that the tree was
to be desired to make one wise, she took
of its fruit and ate, and she also gave
some to her husband who was with her,
and he ate.
Genesis 3:1-13

9. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked.
And they sewed fig leaves together and
made themselves loincloths.
Genesis 3:1-13

10. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, and the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord
God among the trees of the garden.
9 But the Lord God called to the man
Genesis 3:1-13

11. …and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of
you in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
Genesis 3:1-13

12. Genesis 3:1-13
11 He said, “Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten of the tree of
which I commanded you not to eat?”

13. Genesis 3:1-13
said to the woman, “What is this you
have done?” The woman said, “The
serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
12 The man said, “The woman you gave
to be with me, she gave me fruit of the
tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God

14. homo
incurvatus
in se
a person
curved in on
oneself
“Narcissus”
Caravaggio (1594-1596)

15. “Like salvation, sin is a
word that belongs to
the traditional Christian
vocabulary. ‘I am not a
sinner,’ people often
say, because they
seem to be associating
sin with specific and
rather sensational
misdeeds like murder,
adultery, and theft.
~ John Stott (1921-2011)
Anglican Minister

16. “But ‘sin’ has a much wider
connotation than that….
What the Bible means
by sin is primarily
self-centredness….
For God’s two great
commandments are first
that we love him with all
our being and secondly
that we love our neighbour
as we love ourself.
~ John Stott (1921-2011)
Anglican Minister

17. “…Sin, then, is the
reversal of this order.
It is to put ourselves
first…our neighbour next
when it suits our
convenience, and God
some-where in the
background.”
~ John Stott (1921-2011)
Anglican Minister

18. ἀγάπη = agapē
LOVE
self-sacrifice in the service of others

19. “…people will be
lovers of self…
rather than lovers
of God.”
~ The Apostle Paul in
1 Timothy 3:1 & 4

20. “The Way You
Make Me Feel”
~ Michael Jackson

21. “I Love The Way You Love Me”
~ John Michael Montgomery

22. “The Greatest
Love of All”
~ Whitney Houston

23. “Love…is not self-seeking.”
~ 1 Corinthians 13:5

24. “Indeed, the myths we load into
weddings almost doom marriages
to fail. Weddings are centered
around the romantic “coupling” of
two star-crossed lovers, as if
marriage was an extended
exercise of staring deep into one
another’s eyes—with benefits. But
even then, my spouse is one
who sees me, will meet my needs,
will fulfill my wants, will “complete
me.” Even our romantic coupling
becomes a form of self-love.”
~ James KA Smith

25. “The most difficult lie I have
ever contended with is this:
Life is a story about me.”
~ Donald Miller
Blue Like Jazz

26. The plague of every relationship
is the epidemic of self-centredness.

27. Receive the diagnosis1

28. “…for all have
sinned and fall short
of the glory of God.”
~ The Apostle Paul in
Romans 3:23

29. “…the hearts of
people, moreover, are
full of evil and there is
madness in their
hearts while they live.”
~ Ecclesiastes 9:3 (NIV)

30. “Self-centeredness…is
the ever-present enemy
of every marriage.
It is the cancer in the
centre of a marriage when
it begins, and it has to be
dealt with.”

31. “One of the best
weddings gifts God gave
you was a full-length
mirror called your
spouse. Had there been
a card attached, it would
have said, ‘Here’s to
helping you discover
what you’re really like.’”

32. Seek the Great Physician
2

33. “…many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus
and his disciples.… And the scribes of the Pharisees, when
they saw that he was eating with tax collectors, said to his
disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
And when Jesus heard it, he said to the, ‘Those who are
well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’
~ The Gospel of Mark, 2:15-16

34. Apply the Remedy
of the Gospel
3

35. image: Christopher Brown
“And he died for all, that those who live should
no longer live for themselves but for him who
died for them and was raised again.”
~ The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:15

36. “The Christian
principle that needs to
be at work is Spirit-
generated selflessness
—not thinking less of
yourself or more of
yourself but thinking of
yourself less.”
~ Tim Keller, Pastor
The Meaning of Marriage

37. “…as the Lord has
forgiven you, so
you also must
forgive one
another.” ~ The Apostle Paul
in Colossians 3:13

38. Love, Marriage,
& Sexuality
image: mafleen
~ How the Gospel Shapes Our Relationships ~

39. Q & A

40. Next Week
“Redeemed Sexuality”

41. Next Week
“Redeemed Sexuality”
In Two Weeks
“The Gift of Singleness”

42. image credit: mafleen
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mafleen/8472558582/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
flickr images courtesy of:
image credit: Katheo Pinto
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kokopinto/1744766359/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
other images used for educational purposes:
"Narcissus-Caravaggio (1594-96) edited" by Caravaggio - scan. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Narcissus-Caravaggio_(1594-96)_edited.jpg#/media/File:Narcissus-Caravaggio_(1594-96)_edited.jpg
http://www.playbuzz.com/omerlb10/which-michael-jackson-song-best-describes-your-life
image credit: kilokon.tw
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21748859@N02/7005385404/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/
https://midwestix.securemytix.com/event/JMMontgomeryFCFair
https://benpalpant.com/2012/11/01/lectures-by-james-k-a-smith/
Image: Laura Dart: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/19/donald-miller-christian-iconoclast.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/27/chvrches-whitney-houston-cover_n_4002838.html
http://kids-myshot.nationalgeographic.com/photos/view/73800/corinthians-13-4-shot-by-photophanatic
http://gallery4share.com/d/doctors-office-sign.html
Image: Christopher Brown
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/