You must die to self in order to live in Christ!
There is one over-riding motive that stands to pollute a Christian’s walk and keep him or her from entering into the fullness of God’s rest and empowerment, and that is serving self above Jesus Christ.
All who are born of Adam’s race naturally attend to their own interests, but born anew, a Christian is supposed to be broken from that as his or her core motivation, and seek first God’s glory, and obedience to the Lord.
How people may dance around this fact, and reinterpret the doings of their lives betrays what yet motivates them, but a tree is known by its fruits. That is, our results prove who we primarily serve because God is almighty, and He has promised to come through for those who obey Him.
Put more plainly still: If God is almighty, is your life the best He can do? Is all of God’s will for you being fulfilled by Him? If not, what’s stopping Him? Is it because God does not want to lead you into the truth of discipleship, and to know Him in a deep, non-counterfeit way? Is it because He is unable to do it?
John 15:5-8 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Jesus said if we abide in Him – as He defines it, not necessarily our favorite theologian – we bear fruit, and “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”
Be clear: The core goal of the gospel is to bring glory to the Father through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
If this is not happening, it is not God’s will and any spiritually honest person will know that to the degree that it is not, self is very likely standing in God’s way.
To chronicle all the myriad nuanced ways in which people serve self would require books, but in brief, when one’s heart’s desire is not the Lord’s will, His glory, and one is unwilling to “swear to his own hurt and change not” (Ps. 15:4), he’s missing the mark.
Self interests include, but are not limited to taking care of what we think we need, including food, clothing, shelter; love, acceptance, approval, validation for ourselves; fun, enjoyment, hobbies, interests, and pursuits.
Of course there is nothing in and of itself wrong with these very normal needs and wants. The question is where is one’s heart, and is he/she following Jesus and is He, His will, and seeking His glory – as defined by the Lord’s voice (Jn 10), the inner witness of His true Spirit (2 Cor 11:4) – truly the top priority?
No Sales Pitch
2 Cor 2:17 – 17 For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.
While the gospel does have many promises for the Christian – abundant life, righteousness, peace, joy, family, friends, blessings beyond counting on up to heaven – it was never presented as a pure benefits package as the natural human counts one.
Paul the apostle said he preached the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), and did not peddle the word of the gospel that led people to Jesus. Put another way, Paul said he was not giving a sales pitch. Indeed, the Lord Himself said to count the cost! (Lk 14:28-33)
Every sales pitch has at its core “what’s in it for you” and how many people came to Jesus because someone presumed to emphasize that they’d benefit greatly.
John 6:26 – Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Jesus corrected His followers whose primary motive was to gain a blessing – even something so fundamental as a free meal when they were hungry.
Jesus was the one who said “My meat is to do the Father’s will,”(Jn 4:34) and He knew their heart was not in the right place.
Being self-serving by nature, even when people heard Jesus Christ first hand, they thought of their own stomachs ahead of what he was actually trying to feed them.
Die to Self
John 12:24-26 – Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.
Jesus said we must “die” if we hope to live a fruitful life that produces “grain.” This death is death to the self-life. The key Greek word is psuche which denotes soul – the mind, will, emotions of the natural person.
Dying to self is not optional! This is the “message of the cross,” and determines whether a person is really all in, or not.
Self-First Motives Must Be Ruled Out
One sure way to grab a Christian’s attention is to tell him/her they are on the wrong path, or in grave sin, or not really following Jesus because this may threaten their primary security – their status before God.
This kind of rhetoric often gets started in theological debates – such as whether it’s OK to marry after divorce, or whether Christians may go to war, or whether we should sell all to feed the poor, or whether one can lose salvation or it’s irrevocable, etc., etc.
Underlying all such discussions, which have been the occupational hazard of so many, is the unspoken message that such a person is not following true Christianity. That implication is particularly threatening to the self-centric person, because it attacks his or her core security and hope of heaven, or at least rewards, God’s approval, or the like.
That Christians are so caught up in these sorts of foundational discussion while neglecting prayer and coming to know Jesus’ voice betrays: 1) Their self interests are still core to why they seek to serve Jesus, 2) They have not made the transfer to being centered on Jesus, the glory of God, and being as trusting children who put others first.
Romans 9:1-5 – I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
If you want an example of what God’s goal for a believer is, look at the heart cry of the Apostle Paul. He was so full of the Holy Spirit and the love of God that he said he would forfeit his place in God’s kingdom and go to hell for the sake of those he loved!
For man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.
The solution to inverted motives in your very being is to come to Jesus with the right heart! Seek Him while He may be found (Isa 55), seek Him more than in talk only, but in prayer spend time with God, and ask Him to lead you. He is faithful. God is faithful!
Truth is, all humans are naturally self-centric, self-focused, selfish, and it’s impossible for anyone without the power of God to escape this paradigm.
We do have need of many things, and God knows that, but if we play mental games with this and straddle the fence, we are kidding ourselves.
Matthew 6:19-34 (NKJV) –
Lay Up Treasures in Heaven
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.The Lamp of the Body
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
You Cannot Serve God and Riches
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clotheyou, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The answer in all of this is to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness. Jesus said “without Me you can do nothing,” (Jn 15) and He is calling you to have honesty of heart and believe “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” (1 Ths. 5:24)
He is testing your heart. He would empower you to do what you never could before, but will you obey and not squirm out with semantic twists, and dishonesty?
We shall all answer to God what we did with His truth. God says self must die if Christ is to live in us in spirit and truth.
May the Lord bless you.
