Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.. – Romans 6:12

One thing that God has been teaching me, and in my own daily experiences, all times that I can think of when there is strife, pain, difficulty in this life it’s rooted in a few things.  Primarily sin as and in our reaction to sin, the sin of unbelief in the gospel, and at its base it is all rooted in pride.  This is easily seen in the unbelievers life, as I went over Matthew 7 with my children at the dinner table last evening, we discussed the different kinds of fruit.  We talked about the differing natures of the two kinds of trees the fig three and the thorn tree, as they symbolize Faith, and Unbelief.

However once we are believers and Justified, why is it that we continue to sin?  And there are somethings, some pains, some remembrances of sin that hinder our growth.

I have been meditating on hurts and pains of so many and then their reaction to the sin of others.  We have in each decision a choice to make.  Wow God does give us a choice as believers, we will either be a slave to sin or to righteousness, and it says in Romans that if we are believers WE are no longer slaves to sin!!!

If we’re no longer slaves to sin why do we still have sin going on?  I believe that in our justified state, we often times lose sight of the cross.  Some do this  in their laziness and apathy, others forget what Grace means and really is, just like the Israelites failed to remember what God had done, when things get hard or difficult we delve on the circumstances of our own lives and we are failing to look at Christ.  We in fact look at whatever problem, or difficulty in light of our own flesh and we focus on ME.   I heard a preacher on the radio say the other day, I’m not sure who to attribute the quote to, but he said repentance is turning from Self and Faith is turning toward Christ.   We must in our moments of pain, difficulty, and strife, turn away from self-pity, self-crying, and though somethings hurt us to the core of our being, we must turn to our only hope Christ in faith and belief.

I was reading a Spurgeon Sermon that helped me in this regard.

We have seen that God justifieth, that He justifieth the ungodly and that He justifies them through faith in the precious blood of Jesus; we have now to see the condition these ungodly ones are in when Jesus works out their salvation. Many awakened persons are not only troubled about their sin, but about their moral weakness. They have no strength with which to escape from the mire into which they have fallen, nor to keep out of it in after days. They not only lament over what they have done, but over what they cannot do. They feel themselves to be powerless, helpless, and spiritually lifeless. It may sound odd to say that they feel dead, and yet it is even so. They are, in their own esteem, to all good incapable. They cannot travel the road to Heaven, for their bones are broken. “None of the men of strength have found their hands;” in fact, they are “without strength.” Happily, it is written, as the commendation of God’s love to us:
When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6).
Here we see conscious helplessness succored—succored by the interposition of the Lord Jesus. Our helplessness is extreme. It is not written, ” When we were comparatively weak Christ died for us”; or, “When we had only a little strength”; but the description is absolute and unrestricted; “When we were yet without strength.” We had no strength whatever which could aid in our salvation; our Lord’s words were emphatically true, “Without me ye can do nothing.” I may go further than the text, and remind you of the great love wherewith the Lord loved us, “even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.” To be dead is even more than to be without strength.
The one thing that the poor strengthless sinner has to fix his mind upon, and firmly retain, as his one ground of hope, is the divine assurance that “in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Believe this, and all inability will disappear. As it is fabled of Midas that he turned everything into gold by his touch, so it is true of faith that it turns everything it touches into good. Our very needs and weaknesses become blessings when faith deals with them.

We have seen that God justifieth, that He justifieth the ungodly and that He justifies them through faith in the precious blood of Jesus; we have now to see the condition these ungodly ones are in when Jesus works out their salvation. Many awakened persons are not only troubled about their sin, but about their moral weakness. They have no strength with which to escape from the mire into which they have fallen, nor to keep out of it in after days. They not only lament over what they have done, but over what they cannot do. They feel themselves to be powerless, helpless, and spiritually lifeless. It may sound odd to say that they feel dead, and yet it is even so. They are, in their own esteem, to all good incapable. They cannot travel the road to Heaven, for their bones are broken. “None of the men of strength have found their hands;” in fact, they are “without strength.” Happily, it is written, as the commendation of God’s love to us:
When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6).
Here we see conscious helplessness succored—succored by the interposition of the Lord Jesus. Our helplessness is extreme. It is not written, ” When we were comparatively weak Christ died for us”; or, “When we had only a little strength”; but the description is absolute and unrestricted; “When we were yet without strength.” We had no strength whatever which could aid in our salvation; our Lord’s words were emphatically true, “Without me ye can do nothing.” I may go further than the text, and remind you of the great love wherewith the Lord loved us, “even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.” To be dead is even more than to be without strength.
The one thing that the poor strengthless sinner has to fix his mind upon, and firmly retain, as his one ground of hope, is the divine assurance that “in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Believe this, and all inability will disappear. As it is fabled of Midas that he turned everything into gold by his touch, so it is true of faith that it turns everything it touches into good. Our very needs and weaknesses become blessings when faith deals with them.

And it is to the other side of the pain or difficulty we must look.  We must raise our eyes to look into truth, and preach this truth to ourselves, because our emotions and feelings fail, and are often tainted with sin, when not accompanied with truth.  May God grant us the ability to believe, help our unbelief Lord!

Some of the quotes -

“The Danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the bible, Instead we may be worshiping our selves.”

“The price is certainly high for people who don’t know Christ and who live in a world where Christians shrink back from self-denying faith and settle into self-indulging faith. While Christians choose to spend their lives fulfilling the American dream instead of giving their lives proclaiming the Kingdom of God, literally billions in need of the gospel remain in the dark.”

Somehow we believe we can still serve God and mammon.

“We are afraid that if we stop and really look at God in his Word, we might discover that he evokes greater awe and demands deeper worship than we are ready to give him…. So the challenge for us is to live in such a way that we are radically dependent on and desperate for the power that only God can provide.”

I am only in Chapter three of the book, I have many pages left, but I am already stirred to re-examine my life. I pray God grant me more grace.

I find myself now settled in the city, and after reading part of this book to be re-examining my own dependence upon Christ.  Once we set back in our creature comforts inside our homes, the suburbs and the city don’t look a lot different inside the house, it’s only on the outside things are different. On the inside our dependence upon our schedules, upon our material things, dependence upon our own ideas settle in and our dependence upon God is weakened. We begin again our self-indulgence vs. our self-denial, and we attach to this world as we consume and consume and consume.

Here’s what the sick part as I read the book, we use Jesus to indulge ourselves in Christainity vs. as a motivating factor of denying ourselves. There is a time to study the word, and much time needed, there is a time for retreats, there is a time for conferences, there is a time for music, and preaching, there is time for these things. Yet if these things don’t motivate us to LIVE the self denying life are we denying ourselves picking up our cross and following Jesus? If we are consumers of God’s word only and are not doing what it says what brings us to a different place that some other self-indulgence that we have.   The scary thing is we heap condemnation upon ourselves because we are accountable for what has been made known to us.  We know so much.

However, of we are not taking risk for His Kingdom, His Glory, His purposes, then are we walking out the faith we are consuming Him for ourselves?

Has it gone beyond the mind, has it moved to the heart? If it has in any degree someone’s going to think “You’re Crazy.” What’s wrong with them, they have all of this opportunity for “STUFF” for “SELF-ASSURANCE” for “MONEY”, “SECURITY” yet they deny themselves, what’s wrong with them?   

The world, and even most of the American church will think you’re out of your mind if you live this way.

Two bystanders hurt in gas station crash

Question:

Why would you move somewhere unsafe?  Why would you move to the city?

Answer: Jesus

This morning I was reading a blog and I read a quote that sparked me, or ignited me rather, it was attributed to Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China who was one of the first and primary missionaries to the Chinese people bringing Christ to Asia in more modern times.

Hudson Taylor was an English missionary to China who founded China Inland Mission. During his 51 years of service in China, his China Inland Mission established 20 mission stations, brought 849 missionaries to the field (968 by 1911), trained some 700 Chinese workers, raised four million dollars by faith and developed a witnessing Chinese church of 125,000. It has been said at least 35,000 were his own converts and that he baptized some 50,000.

The Quote that was attributed to him was, “Unless there is the element of extreme risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.”

We have moved to the inner-city, and although we have no such faith as Hudson but we believe that moving to the city was worth the risk. Yet so far we do not have the visible fruit comparatively, yet we hope in God. Several people have joined us in moving to the city and we are praying for both converts, and for more to consider moving into places that they would not choose to live in if their flesh were in control as it screams out ( please bring me worldly comforts ), but we must go to places where our flesh would cringe, but where God would be exalted and glorified by our lives.
The most typical argument is that God can be glorified anywhere, and I believe this, I don’t believe everyone should be moving to the city, yet at the same time I believe that we should be going the opposite direction of our flesh, “Right Where We Are!”

For some the comforts of this life have such a hold on them and the most pertinent and prudent thing to do would be to leave those comforts in faith and go seek out a new country, city, but others it may be take a risk in inviting a neibhor, a family member, a co-worker home for a meal so that they may know you and you may share Christ.

What have we done to forsake this life and embrace eternity now?  The kingdom is at hand, the Kingdom is now.

I have been reading a book by Richard Baxter, and it has ignited my heart along with another book by Horatiaus Bonar we’ve been reading on Saturday mornings men’s group. These books question the sincerity of the minister, and not only the minister but of the Christian who does not long for souls, and call in to question the believer’s salvation who can sit by while others in the world are perishing.

The heart of this post isn’t to urge/discourage people where they are at, I believe that God can be glorified no matter where anyone is however, I believe so often we take no risk, so few acts of “faith” are visible and we call what we do, living by faith when it is not.  I confess my own guilt of trusting in me and what I can see so much.

One of the things I believe so many Christians somehow allow themselves to rest in, is the fact that that they are justified and saved by Christ (AND WE ARE)therefore, ……..

that’s just it, therefore…. I live my life like Christ in much the same way I lived my life before only now with a Christian exterior?

In the ease of my justification (I’m safe in Christ) which is a true truth,we pervert it in a sense in the rest of our full assurance, with so much of our spiritual life only concerned with ME, or ourselves.  And we don’t see the lack in this….. ( I’m speaking not of something we would say outrightly, we would not say we rest in our justification, but we live as if we have not been given a mission by God after our salvation, as if we have already obtained the prize.)

To ease our conscience, we say to ourselves; I am no longer of the crowd that drinks or smokes ( in bars ) or out “in the world” yet, when we do a sharp comparison we see that Jesus himself, who is the exact image of the invisible God was with people, sinners.

And WE my friends, WE are called to go into the world and teach them to “observe” all that Christ commanded, and to make disciples?

And yet we rest in the fact that we have made it past the earthly finish line of salvation and have in our self-absorbed American Christianity forgot about the millions of souls who are being lost.
I have heard from men, well God will have to deal with that, I can only present the truth. But are you presenting a truth that you believe? Would there not be more of an attempt to tell people the truth if you were under conviction of the desperate state of the reality of their situation?
Some say we’ve moved beyond speak of Hell as a “fear tactic” in Christianity, but if we don’t tell men about hell how will they know of God’s love to keep them from hell? Yet God would use all means within His grasp to save men, and he uses warnings in scripture, Hell, and Love, mercy and GRACE and all of these things to bring men to the understanding that they are absolutely in need of GOD for their very next breath, they are unable, incapable of their own doing to come to Christ.

We have lost the effect of the crippling truths of God’s word, they have been relieved of their sting to appease the wicked desires of carnal and lost world, and to soften the blow. In effect when we remove these, we remove the truth effectively gutting the gospel and remove its effect.

We can no longer as the “young and reformed” look through the eyes of our post modern lens and take away the truth from people who are perishing, and have not heard about it. This is in effect hyper-Calvinism, not in doctrine but in practice. We believe in God’s sovereignty so much that our emotions, and the power in God’s word has been lessened.

Let me make one qualifying statement, I am not speaking of “harshness.”  But explicitly if we care about men, and we believe that there is a hell, and we believe that we are all eternal, how many people, friends do we let pass by without a word?

I fail in loving people as I should, both Christians, and non believers, I pray God teach me to love, as He loved on the cross for me.  I want to love this way to the world that they may know Him.

Consider taking an extreme risk this week, and ask a neighbor, an old friend, someone you care about, about their story, and when God brings the right time, ask them about their soul.  Tell them of Christ and this love.

Do this “Right Where You Are!”

It’s been good because we’re able to meet at 6:00 am in one of the homes, and by God’s grace we’ve been treated well in hospitality by the host home.  This has been a time of focus and of reflection.  Often I have noticed that in the way that “Church methodology or ecclesiology” is set up, people truly believe often that the way they are holding it  is the “only” way.  As we have moved through the book I get a great, and deeper sense that Jesus is the only way, John 14:6 the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father but by him… however he’s made diversity in His bride to be able to look differently in many many different ways, and yet they need to contain many of these basic elements which often in our American culture are super-ceded by that which demands our attention or the thing that is easier. We compromise what’s valuable eternally with that which takes over as immediately important now, and those things are often what’s important to the flesh.

We are in fact American’s and one of our greatest difficulties is, attempting to live in an opposite way the world is living which appeals to the flesh. This way is primarily to seek comfort, comfort, comfort, at all cost. Our flesh gravitates toward ease. If we can find something and label “comfort with Jesus” on the outside we have in the American mindset, this accomplishes what’s needed in our Christianity. We have eased our conscience, to say that we have Jesus in addition to whatever it is we like to do, or hobby or selfish desire etc. True faith requires us to live with our rest and comfort in Christ, and long for the real comfort of heaven in eternity with Jesus, but not comfort for comforts sake, here and now. 

Our greatest challenge it seems is the subtle, slow, drowning of our Christian faith in worldly possessions, activities, and hobbies. We are easily pulled to those things with a “Jesus” type label or sticker but I heard one preacher ask this weekend, what are we doing that is distinctively “Christian” ?  Matthew 23 comes to mind..

What is it that we’re doing in our lives that we would not be doing if we weren’t Christians and how different does our life look to the world around us?

The Trellis and the Vine is a helpful tool to help re-focus ministry on the main thing which is spiritual growth and discipleship.  Growing and reproducing people who are devoted followers of Christ.  This is done as Jesus did it, and why I believe Jesus came in the flesh and was called Emanuel “God with us.  This is done with human interaction as we see the Gospel lived out.

Here are the questions for the discussion of chapter 8 and 9 which is provided by Mathias Media.

1. Look at the three models of pastoral ministry described on page 94-101.  How would you describe the pastoral model at your church?  Does it fit in one of these categories, or is it a mixture?  Or something else entirely?

2. “Sunday sermons are necessary but not sufficient?”  (ch 8 Page. 102)  Do you agree?  Why or why not?  What Scriptures would you use to support your position?

3. What would your church learn from the example of Richard Baxter? (ch 8 Page 104-107)

4. Look back at the seven people you jotted down in the last discussion.  If you only had time to meet with two of them personally, which two would you choose and why?

5. Read 1 Corinthians 3:5-9; 16:15-18.  What do we learn from these passages about the nature of team ministry?

6. To what extent does your congregation operate with a team of co-workers?  What is going well in this regard?  What could be improved?

7. What are the key things to look for in gathering a team of co-workers?

They were challenging to me personally as we consider all of these things, as I hope they are to you!

We have been blessed this year that in the business of the season we were able to have a group of ladies come over one day last week and bring baked goods.  And although we were able to taste test the goodies this was an effort to consider others & reach out to those whom need encouragement and whom need Christ this Christmas Season.

The ladies pre-baked their goodies and brought them over and were able to divvy up all of the cookies to make a combination platter for 5 neighbors each.

The next effort was husband and wife taking these treats to the neighbors, and I can say that we had several neighbors who were seemingly shocked by the gesture.  We pray that this simply had an impact for Christ, that it is out of the overflow of our love for Christ love men and women.  There was no bible verse painted on each cookie, or even a card with a verse yet we had our phone number in hopes that if there is a need that we might be called.  We will follow up as ‘Evangelism’ is in the air for so many in the North East and we are hopeful that these are just relational building blocks for Kingdom conversations in the future.  To give goodies and not give the gospel is not the Great C omission, thus we continue to pray for everyone here and in each of our neighborhoods that they may know Christ, and that we may be used.  We were not the only ones to participate in this and thus the ladies were able to fellowship and have a good time contemplating their neighbors and neighborhoods and how to be intentional about sharing Jesus.  Each one will present these things differently in their own way, yet with the common goal in mind to tell others about the good news.

These are not the only ideas this Christmas, that we’ve discussed either.  There have been discussions of making phone calls to people whom you haven’t had time to communicate with, or people whom you’ve had conflict with in the past for the explicit purpose to share Christ, and seek reconciliation.

One of the discussions we had with our children in regards to Christmas was to encourage them to consider Jesus and what God our father gave by giving His son.   It is from this sense of God’s courageous giving of His own son that we find in Acts 20:35, the verse regarding Jesus saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”   This is a giving we have no context to understand entirely, those closest we get is to imagine giving up our children.  This spectacular giving

Some other ideas were:

• * Sending Individual Christmas Cards with hand written notes telling the other party about God’s grace you see in their life, leaving a door open for prayer if they are ever in need.

• * It sounds old fashioned but consider Christmas Caroling. It only takes three or four people; a bass, tenor, alto, and soprano, to go Christmas caroling, and most carols draw attention to Christ. This can be an outreach in and of itself. Be intentional about who’s homes you go to etc and bring a gift for each house.

• * Write old friends who knew you before you were saved, and write to them your testimony.  Tell them about what Jesus has done, but know that this also needs to ask the question about them, and where they are at spiritually.  It’s not until you go from first person to second person in your testimony, that the Gospel question is being put to them in a personal way.

• * Invite someone who is spending Christmas alone to celebrate it with your family. Include him or her in family traditions and activities centered on Christ.

There are many other things one could do but the objective here more than any other time of year is to combat the inate selfishness which comes with this season of the year, in which our culture has made this about receiving, and replace this me receiving attitude with one of giving to others, and especially giving the gift of the Gospel to others!

This video is an hour long but if you long for a more real, radical Christian life, this is a biography that will inspire you, as you see Keith go from lost to new birth, to radical lover of God.  He walked outside of normal convention which had an amazing impact on many and is still having an impact today.

Enjoy !

Paul Washer Open Air Preaching in Lima (English Subtitles) from I’ll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting.  In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice.  Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time (Isa 41:17, Luk 18:1-8). Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest.  It stems from trust in God’s goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all.  This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will (Gal 5:23). BLB-Lexicon

Interestingly enough either in our prayer to God for things, or our attempts at faithful and obedient living, we are often ambushed by the circumstances of life. Three months ago we before school was out although we were greatly under the stress of everyday life there seemed to be direction in our lives, and a confidence of our path.

Our lives filled with purpose and yet when hit with affliction God graciously allowed for us to bounce back. Hit again, and by God’s grace bounce back once again, though stunned the second time God has met us with the ever abundant bounty of Grace for each moment. Yet hit a third and yet a fourth time over the summer in various trials in various ways, we find ourselves empty. No real other way to put it but empty. Trusting God but with no clarity as to what next….

This being a good place perhaps but it seems so opposite to what was taking place just a few months prior, yet if what Paul Mallory sent me is true ( Which it is ) we can rest in the fact that all of these trials, or pruning’s, or things we go through on this side of eternity are for our good. The branch will come back stronger. It’s just that sometimes it feels like the pruning is more than I would have taken off, but it is God’s sovereign choice not mine.

The Christian life isn’t so much being able to look back, seeing God’s hand, but it is living ‘in the moment trusting God’s word, and not just trusting God’s word but seeing the demonstration of faith in our reacting God’s way in the moment.  Often present blog author included, I begin to lean on one side or other of the pit. On the one side the abyss of self-pity looking inward, and to the other side the pit of self- righteousness demonstrated by self-assertiveness and self-confidence.

Lloyd Jones elaborates on this some and I could barely stop reading although I’m beyond this part in the book each part of the book is well worth some heavy mediation on the subject.

Page 53 Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Anyone who thinks he can live the Christian life himself is proclaiming that he is not a Christian. When we realize truly what we have to be, and what we have to do, we become inevitably ‘poor in spirit.’ That in turn leads to that second state in which, realizing our own sinfulness and our own true nature, realizing that we are so helpless because of the indwelling of sin within us, and seeing the sin in our best actions, thoughts and desires, we mourn and we cry out with the great apostle, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ But here, I say, is something which is still more searching —-‘ Blessed are the meek.’

Now why this? Because here we are reaching a point at which we begin to be concerned about other people. Let me put it like this. I can see my own utter nothingness, and helplessness face to face with the demands of the gospel and the law of God. I am aware, when I am honest with myself, of the sin and the evil that are within me, and that drag me down. And I am ready to face both these things. But how much more difficult it is to allow other people to say things like that about me! I instinctively resent it. We all of us prefer to condemn ourselves than to allow somebody else to condemn us. I say of myself that I am a sinner, but instinctively I do not like anybody else to say I am a sinner. That is the principle that is introduced at this point. So far, I myself have been looking at myself.  Now other people are looking at me, and I am in a relationship to them, and they are doing certain things to me. How do I react to that? That is the matter which is dealt with at this point. I think you will agree this is more humbling and more humiliating than everything that has gone before. It is to allow other people to put the searchlight upon me instead of my doing it myself.

I remember there was a time when I took what is called a 360 evaluation at my place of employment many years back. I was surprised to find out at the time that my peers evaluation of me wasn’t as ‘good’ as I thought my own evaluation of how I was doing within the company. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t where I had thought it would be. I was personally devastated; I mean these were all supposed to be my friends yet what they had to say was hurtful in some ways. This was well before I understood Reformed Doctrine and had a clue about my own depravity yet there was something in me that took this evaluation and at first wanted to jump off the cliff into self-pity. It wasn’t even my work they had comments about but they were things which from my perspective, I couldn’t see clearly about myself.

This was the first clue I had in my saved life that I was blind to my own pride. I often tell my wife she is my other eye now so that she is able to see me and tell me where I am sinning or where I am off the mark.

My second reaction to this was a ‘knee Jerk’ reaction, and I tried to take care of these issues in my own strength. I became concerned daily about making sure I protected my work and overly confident in certain areas of my work to try to compensate so that my next evaluation would be better than this one.

What I slowly began to notice was the fact that on either side I was thinking again too highly of myself. There is a biblical balance in the tightrope walk of humility with two completely different manifestations of pride on either side of the abyss.
Lloyd Jones continued to talk about it and it’s remedy in our Christ likeness through the virtue or the beatitude of ‘Meekness’ that we see in Jesus.

More Lloyd Jones Page 56. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

What, then, is meekeness? I think we can sum it up in this way. Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in an attitude and conduct with respect to others. It is therefore two things. It is my attitude and conduct towards myself; and it is an expression of that in my relationship to others. You see how inevitably it follows being ‘poor in spirit’ and ‘mourning’. A man can never be meek unless he is poor in spirit. A man can never be meek unless he has seen himself as a vile sinner. These other things must come first. But when I have that true view of myself in terms of poverty of spirit, and mourning because of my sinfulness, I am led on to see there must be an absence of pride. The meek man is not proud of himself; he does not in any sense glory in himself. He feels that there is nothing in himself of which he can boast. It also means that he does not assert himself. You see, it is a negation of the popular psychology of the day which says ‘assert yourself’, ‘express your personality.’ The man who is meek does not want to do so; he is so ashamed of it. The meek man likewise does not demand anything for himself. He does not take all his rights as claims. He does not make demands for his position, his privileges, his possessions, his status in life. No, he is like the man depicted by Paul in Philippians 2. ‘ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’ Christ did not assert that right to equality with God; He deliberately did not. And that is the point to which you and I have to come.

Then let me go further; the man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensive. We all know about this, do we not? Is it not one of the greatest curses in life as a result of the fall — this sensitivity about self? We spend the whole of our lives watching ourselves. But when a man becomes meek he has finished with all that; he no longer worries about himself and what other people say. To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is nothing worth defending. So we are not defensive; all is gone.

By God’s grace he’s allowed the opposite to happen in the past few years where I have received more positive evaluation than I deserve, but there are still tons of layers of pride.  Looking back at that first 360 evaluation it was the secular form of reproof and rebuke and it was the start of what I thought was a healthy way to be able to see my blindspots of sin.

This evaluation had more than just the impact on me for the year but would echo in the back of my mind for the rest of my life giving me a grounded view of self.  Then once someone showed me my sinfulness and depravity, it would later become a memory of my life which changed so many things.  It was used as a place to always remember when I was confident about anything apart from God’s word. – 1 Corinthians 10:12

God is good to keep us neither wollowing in self-pity thinking too highly of self, nor in self-righteousness thinking too highly of self, but thinking right of self in light of God with Christ as our hope, our mediator, our adovcate.  Whether prayer is answered, or unanswered, whether circumstances make sense, whether people hurt us,  we can rest in the fact that what Don Whitney preached Sunday, God by the testimony of His word, establishes His truth, and we can trust Him.

 This is what I was reading this morning in my study on the Sermon On The Mount. I may comment later but the passage speaks for itself.

Page 261 Studies in the Sermon on the Mount By Dr. Martyn Lloyd –Jones

And the whole trouble is just self and self-assertion. That is self regarded doctrinally. But self always means defiance of God; it always means that I put myself on the throne instead of God, and therefore it is always something that separates me from Him.

All moments of unhappiness in life are ultimately due to this separation. A person who is in real communion with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ is happy. It does not matter whether he is in a dungeon, or whether he has his feet fast in the stocks, or whether he is burning at the stake; he is still happy if he is in communion with God. Is not that the experience of the saints down the centuries? So the ultimate cause of any misery or lack of joy is separation from God, and the one cause of separation from Him is self. Whenever we are unhappy it means that in some way or other we are looking at ourselves and thinking about ourselves, instead of communing with God. Man, according to the Scriptures, was meant to live entirely to the glory of God. He was meant to love the Lord God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind and with all his strength. The whole of man was meant to glorify God. Therefore, any desire to glorify self or safeguard the interests of self is of necessity a sin, because I am looking at myself instead of looking at God and seeking His honor and glory. And it is that very thing in man which God has condemned. It is that which is under the curse of God and the wrath of God. And as I understand the teaching of Scripture, holiness eventually means this, deliverance from this self-centered life. Holiness, in other words, must not be thought of primarily in terms of actions, but in terms of an attitude toward self. It does not mean essentially that I do not do certain things and try to do others. There are people who never do certain things that are regarded as sinful; but they are full of pride of self. So we must look at it in terms of self and our relationships to our self, and we must realize again that the essence of holiness is that we should be able to say with George Muller that we have died, and died completely, to this self that has caused so much to ruin our lives and experience.

Now, lastly, let us come to the highest level and look at the problem of self in the light of Christ. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God ever come into this world? He came ultimately in order to deliver mankind from self. We see this selfless life so perfectly in Him. Look at His coming from glory of heaven to the stable in Bethlehem. Why did he come? There is only one answer to that question. He did not consider Himself. That is the essence of the statement that Paul makes in Philippians 2. He was eternally the Son of God and was ‘equal with God’ from eternity, but He did not consider that; He did not hold on to that and to His right to the manifestation of that glory. He humbled Himself and denied Himself. There would never have been the incarnation had it not been that the Son of God put self, as it were, aside.

Then look at His selfless life here upon earth. He often said that the words he spake He did not speak of Himself, and the actions He performed He said ‘are not mine; they have been given to me of the Father’. That is how I understand Paul’s teaching of self-humiliation of the cross. It means that, coming in the likeness of man, He deliberately made Himself dependent upon God; He did not consider Himself at all. He said: ‘ I have come to do thy will, O God,’ and He was wholly dependent upon God for everything, for the words He spoke and for everything He did. The very Son of God humbled Himself to that extent. He did not live for Himself or by Himself in any measure. And the apostle’s argument is, ‘ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’

We see it supremely of course in His death upon the cross. He was innocent and guiltless, He had never sinned or done anyone any harm, yet ‘when he was reviled, (he) reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously’ (1 Peter 2:23). That is it. The cross of Christ is the supreme illustration, and the argument of the New Testament is this, that if we say we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that He has died for our sins, it means that our greatest desire should be to die to self. That is the final purpose of His dying, not merely that we might be forgiven, or that we might be saved from hell. Rather it was that a new people be formed, a new humanity, a new creation, and that a new kingdom be set up, consisting of people like Himself. He is ‘the first born amoung many brethren,’ He is the pattern. God has made us, say Paul to the Ephesians: ‘We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. ‘We are ‘to be conformed to the image of his Son’. That is the language of Scripture. So that we may say that the reason for His death on the cross is that you and I might be saved and separated from that life of self. ‘He died for all’, says the apostle again in 2 Corinthians 5. We believe ‘that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all.’ Why? For this reason, says Paul: ‘that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.’ That is the life to which we are called. Not the life of self-defense or self-sensitivity, but such a life that, even if we are insulted, we do not retaliate; if we receive a blow on the right cheek we are ready to turn the other also; if a man sues us at the law and takes away our coat we are ready to give our cloak also; if we are compelled to go a mile, we go twain; if a man comes and ask something of me I do not say, ‘This is mine’; I say rather, I have died to myself, and my one concern now is the glory and honour of God.

That is the life to which the Lord Jesus Christ calls us and He died in order that you and I might live it. That God the gospel also goes on to tell us that He rose again and that He has sent into the Church, and into every one who believes on Him, the Holy Spirit with all His renovating and energizing power. If we are trying to live this kind of life in and of ourselves, we are doomed; we are damned before we start. But with the blessed promise and offer the Spirit of God to come and dwell in us and work in us, there is hope for us. God has made this life possible. If George Muller could die to George Muller, why should not everyone of us who is a Christian die in the same way to self that is so sinful, that leads to so much misery and wretchedness and unhappiness, which finally is such a denial of the blessed work of the Son of God upon the cross on Calvary’s hill?