Many people have testified that they were more convicted by the opening line of the best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life, than any other point in the book. It says, "It's not about you." Why is this line so convicting to so many people? The answer is obvious. Because even though most of us spend a great deal of time making everything about ourselves and our wants, intuitively we know there's more to life than that.
As Christians we recognize this truth. It's not about us. It's about God. That is the greatest theme of the Bible. Genesis 1:1 begins with "In the beginning God…" God is the Alpha (beginning) and Omega (End) and everything else in-between. We know this. But how do we make it real? How do we learn to say with sincere hearts, "More of you God and less of me?" [1]
The first thing that must occur is that we take an honest assessment of who we are. [2] As a classic devotional writer says, "In order for one to get beyond just knowing about the Lord Jesus, and enter into a consistent and growing personal knowledge of and fellowship with Him, one must FIRST come to know oneself." [3] In other words, we have to "Know thyself." [4] However, this is where we need to take caution. There is actually a way to move away from selfishness that God will honor and work through, and there is a way to try to move away from selfishness that will actually backfire, and God cannot work through it. Today, we will look at both directions: the wrong way and the right way.
There has been a large movement, outside of the church as well as within the church, to be more introspective. To be introspective simply means to take a reflective look inward. It means to thoroughly examine one's own thoughts and feelings. In the world of discipleship, introspection can actually serve as an obstacle to growth. When does this sort of introspection become detrimental?
When being introspective takes precedent over God's revelation (what God says is true), this turns into a socially acceptable form of self-worship. We begin to make personal thoughts, feelings and experience too authoritative in our lives. Have we been guilty of this? The truth is that we do it every single day. Anytime we do something with a motive other than faith in God, we are living according to our own thoughts, feelings and experience. The Bible labels this sort of living as sin. [5] It's less about black and white offenses against a clear-cut ethic; and more about the source and motivations by which we are living. It is the sin of self.
So if examining ourselves is the first step in getting to know Christ in a deeper way, then what is the right way? The Bible calls this sort of personal examination revelation by the Holy Spirit that is confirmed by our experience. What is the revelation about ourselves that the Holy Spirit brings? It is that our natural self is dead and mortal. [6] This is confirmed by our daily experiences of failure and sinfulness. Then, we are able to confess before the Lord by agreeing with Him that there is nothing good that lives in us. Nothing good, that is, in our natural selves. [7] There is no way that we could do what is good. Even if we were to happen upon doing the right thing, there is no guarantee that it is in the right manner. Even if we do the right thing in the right way, we can say for certain that we haven't done so for the right reason unless God does it through us in His Spirit.
1. How do you personally identify with the idea that our natural self is sinful?
2. Read Psalm 139 and pray that the Holy Spirit would help you to examine yourself in the right way.
I remember a time in my walk with Christ that I became very disillusioned with the whole idea of growing in Christ. It seemed as if I had tried everything recommended by the current litter of books found on the Christian bookstore shelves. Yet I found myself to still be lacking in many ways. I wasn't a horrible person. I just couldn't see how my life lined up with the normal description the Bible shows us of a Christian. Mind you, I wasn't aiming at perfection. I had given up on trying to be perfect a long time ago. I wasn't even aiming for my Christian experience to be better than other people's. I just wanted to be normal–according to what the Bible says should normally happen in the life of a Christian.
So what is the normal Christian experience, according to the Bible? This is Paul's primary subject in Galatians 5 when he names the fruit of the Spirit. He says that a Christian who is walking in step with the Holy Spirit should be marked with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness and self-control. [9] Jesus says it this way:
I knew that if I looked at my fruit and characterized my Christian experience thus far, I was not heading in the right direction. So what was the problem? The first was that I didn't understand the difference between my old self and new self that we discussed in yesterday's devotion. But once I did understand this difference, the natural question became: What do I do about this conflict? Today we will look at the few options available for each and every Christian.
The reason this option makes sense is because it is those who are being controlled by their sinful nature, because it is fallen, who are primarily responsible for the decaying influence on our society. Hardly anyone can argue with this fact. But if withdrawal were truly the answer, then who exactly are Christians supposed to withdraw from? Where do we begin and where do we draw the line? What if it's not just society, but our close friends? What if it's not just our close friends, but our family, even our spouses? Are we supposed to withdraw into the mountain, desert, monastery or the mission field to become more spiritual? While the motive is good, the method is clearly flawed. As A.W. Tozer said, "It is not Scriptural to believe that the old Adam (sin) nature can be conquered in that manner." [10] It is altogether too tough to be subdued in this manner. [11] Plus, Jesus told us that even though we are to be different from the world and the world will hate us because of it, we are still to engage in the world in order to provide light in the darkness. [12] Even though the answer is not withdrawal, it is actually several steps lower than withdrawal.
This is a tricky subject to address. Although a decision on our part to live according to the Spirit and a devoted allegiance to Christ is central to our growth, this is not to be confused with a commitment to change. This is widely misunderstood because of the culture of self-help in which we find ourselves. There is little difference between much of the self-help materials found in Barnes and Noble bookstores and the self-help materials found in the Christian bookstores. Why is this true? It is true because the "self" is still alive and well in both cases and thrives on the attention, even if it is negative attention.
If we are able to change certain valued characteristics about ourselves through discipline, the temptation is to become prideful and want glory for this. If we are unable to change the things we are trying to work on, the temptation is to become disillusioned and cynical towards any attempts at living a virtuous life. Either way, Satan wins. So if the answer is not a commitment to change, what is it? It is lower still than a commitment to change.
Is dying to self even a relevant alternative in our day? With so many choices about how to change–losing weight, getting an education, controlling emotions–self-denial is about as marginalized today as ever. Think about it. We have actually figured out a way to not only have our cake and eat it too, but we can still lose the weight in the process. Now, I am not condemning this reality, because the truth is that I take advantage of such advances every day. But I am saying we should look critically at the fact that self has remained the real god for most people.
After Tozer said that the self "is altogether too tough to be killed" [13] through the means of withdrawing, he said, "nothing less than the death of the cross" [14] will accomplish what is needed. The apostle Paul shapes Tozers view when he said:
Likewise, Jesus shaped Paul's view when He said:
And of course Jesus remains the final authority on all such matters. Jesus' idea for us was not to help us out of a jam, but to save us. This salvation is first a rebirth, but second it is a new identity. This kind of salvation can only come through death. [15]
When we begin to see the extent of the awful tyranny of the self-life, or we have realized our endless struggle against it, something happens to us. We start to become intensely concerned about learning how to deny the self. The result of such denial is a newfound freedom to rest and grow in Christ. Through the centuries and certainly in today's world, man has many ways of learning to deny the self; God has only one way. Today we will look at several man-centered ways that have been tried and found inadequate and on the final two days we will examine God's only way of growth in Christ.
A few years ago, I had an opportunity to change jobs but would have some time in-between to be out of work. Even though it was tough to get used to, I eventually welcomed the opportunity to not have to work normal nine to five hours and decided to make the most of it. I wanted to grow spiritually and conquer some of the ways I had become slipshod in regard to my Christian discipline.
So the first thing I did was to make a chart. I outlined my day and marked down all of the ways in which I spent time; beginning with what time I woke up. I then wrote down exactly how much time I spent doing spiritual activities–prayer, Bible study and whatnot. I then devised a plan to increase the time by five minutes each week, concluding that by the end of a week, I would be up to an hour in prayer. I made sure that my goals were attainable and sustainable. I decided to begin on a Monday.
By Wednesday I realized that this plan was not going to work. I had not anticipated all the extra stuff I needed to take care of for my wife (a honey-do list on steroids) and how much rest I needed after the difficulties I had endured in my previous ministry. So I made a new plan that was less aggressive. I failed again. By the next Monday, I realized that my plans weren't working because I had not made myself accountable to someone, so I shared my goals with a close friend. By Wednesday I was ignoring the phone calls from my friend and had thrown my plans away. I would have to just ask for God's forgiveness for a lack of discipline.
What was the problem? Were we really created to have a love relationship with God even though most of the time we have to force ourselves to do so? Perhaps you're more disciplined than I am and you actually followed through on a similar plan, but realized after a while that the time you were spending with God was forced and routine. Maybe you have adopted a plan, even managed to make it enjoyable, but are not seeing any sort of real difference in your life. The truth is that we were created for a love relationship and called to life transformation, but we have a tendency to go about it all wrong. To get an idea, imagine trying to nail down a board to the fence outside using the handle of the hammer while holding the head. The problem isn't the idea of a hammer but it is user error.
The error described above is a man-centered method called "Conquest." It is the idea that the goal of the believer is to conquer and control this rebel self through more meetings, more Bible study and more prayer. The problem with this approach is that God does not endorse it nor is it working in real practice. Even so, we all have a tendency to try and tackle our problems using our own efforts to gain the victory. Unfortunately, conquest is not the only man-centered method we employ when trying to deny self and follow Christ.
Another popular error is to try and create our own religious "Christian sub-culture." This philosophy says that proper training in Christian schools or the right home environment will finally subdue the sin of self. These are dependent as well on radio, television, apparel and literature that is strictly Christian. Most objections to this approach come from those in the church concerned about evangelistic efforts. They rightly ask of us: How can we win the culture for Christ when we aren't in it? This is true, but there is also a discipleship concern. The concern is: How can the modern Christian culture, with all of its Christian trinkets and toys, still be so far from what the Biblical vision of Christian faith? [16] Could it be that we are attempting to control self with man-centered tools like institutions and merchandise rather than God's prescribed ways?
The final error we are going to visit today is that of "Experiences and Revivalism." This is what youth ministers have labeled "the church camp syndrome." It relegates the Christian experience into making decisions for Christ to change, only to fail again and commit again and so forth. This turns into a vicious cycle that repeats itself every few months if not years. There is little, if any, noticeable growth and the growth that does occur is short lived. Even if one does not make a public decision periodically after many failed attempts, a cycle like this can be replicated in a personal way. Because this is the only form of advancement we have been shown, we assume it will work on a personal basis with God. Our days, weeks and months with God consist of nothing but confessions and new resolutions until we are so spiritually tired we quit praying altogether. This is not God's plan for any of our lives, so for the next two days we will look at God's answer for denying the self.
1. Finish today with an honest prayer before God, praising Him for His goodness and asking Him for a sincere encounter with His Spirit today.
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The key to realizing the life we have in Christ is a simple shift in focus. I believe that the one person who says it best was the prophet, John the Baptist. John said to his own disciples who were questioning his influence compared to Christ's, "Jesus must become more important, while I become less important." [17] Paul says it to the Galatian church when he writes, "I no longer live, but Christ lives within me." The King James renders this passage as saying, "Not I, but Christ."
If we are honest, we will admit that this is a question we deal with everyday. We are always questioning our own influence compared to that of Christ's. Who is more influential for you, Jesus or self? Our daily theme must be, "Jesus must become more important, while become less important. Not I, but Christ." But how does this take place?
It has been said that baseball is a game of inches. True students of the game will notice that there are dozens of smaller "games within the game." One example is something called "the shift." Each hitter that comes to the plate has been studied thoroughly by the opponent's scouting team. They know how many times the hitter has hit the ball in the air or on the ground. They know if the hitter tends to pull the ball or hit it to the opposite field. From time to time a batter like Barry Bonds, who is known for pulling the ball to right field, will force the other team to shift their entire defense in order to compensate for this trend. The result is that many times the batter will either hit it to a place in the field that would normally result in a hit, but because of the shift someone catches the ball for an out. The other advantage for the defense is that the batter will try and hit the ball somewhere away from his strength. Either way, the shift has been successful.
If the key to realizing the life we have in Christ is a simple shift in focus, then what is it about our focus that needs to shift? Also, what are the advantages for the Christian to shift our focus?
The first shift that must occur is that instead of looking at the reality of our present condition as being a work in progress, we need to look at the reality of our present position as being a work that is already finished. If this sounds easy to do, trust me it is not. Which is easier to focus upon in the heat of daily life, our inadequacies or Christ's all-sufficiency? Which captures our attention more often, our problems or God's grace? It's not just a matter of thinking about God more; it's really a matter of thinking about God more correctly. As a matter of FACT, our old self has been crucified (past tense) with Christ, so it is no longer us that live, but Christ that lives in us. It is finished, done, over. Is this something that we really believe as a regular rule of thumb? If not, we are living in disagreement with God throughout most of our days. Does this mean that we never sin and never fail? Does this mean we've already arrived? Absolutely not! It just means we have shifted our primary focus from one side onto another.
What are the tangible benefits of such a shift in our focus? There are too many to name all in one place, but here are some major ones:
Not only must we shift our focus from focusing upon our condition to primarily focusing upon our position; but we must also shift our focus from our own activities onto the activity of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we know well the truth about our forgiveness in regard to the guilt of sin. We are also at least familiar with the renewed relationship that has been afforded because of the death of Christ. But how much have we actually experienced of the victory over sin that has resulted from the finished work of Calvary?
If there is a place in the Bible where this is most evidenced, it is the book of Galatians. "In one place the cross is spoken of as the reconciliation for guilt. [18] But there are three more places where the cross is even more plainly spoken of as the victory over the power of sin, as the power to hold in place the death of the self-life; of the flesh and of the world ." [19] [20] As we learn to know this truth, believe it and consider it to be true (reckon) for ourselves, the Holy Spirit will begin to faithfully and effectively apply that work of the cross to the condition of our self-life. This is what it means to live the "not I, but Christ" life.
Today's exercise might prove to be challenging for you. On the image below, make a list on the left of all of the problems that you tend to focus on throughout your daily life. On the right, make a list of some of the truths about you that God has put into effect because of the finished work of the cross. I have put an example in the image so you get the idea. Finish your time by thanking God for the work He has done in your life.