Lonnie Jones on Selfishness

This week we're having a gospel meeting with Lonnie Jones. Below there is an excerpt from one of his lessons where he is addressing the problem of selfishness. It will give you a taste of the good preaching we're hearing this week.

The common denominator behind all sin is selfishness. Regardless of what your sin is—and we talk about big sins and little sins and we talk about public sins and private sins—but the bottom line is your sin, whatever it is that you do, whatever it is that I do, is the manifestation of selfishness in my life. John 3:16—“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son”—that’s the ultimate selfless verse. James 3:16 says, “For where you have selfish ambition, you have every evil thing"—the ultimate verse on selfishness.

If you want a formula for creating any kind of evil, all you got to do is come up with a good dose of selfishness, because selfishness is the opposite of Christianity. You can’t be a Christian until you do what? “If anyone will come after me let him deny self, take up his cross, and follow me.” You can’t pick up a cross until you get rid of self. The opposite of love is not hate, the opposite of love is selfishness. Xavier Anton LaVey, who was the minister for the Church of Satan, said the ultimate practice of Satanism is the worship of self.