Self-Denial (8-30-12)

Matthew 16:24 - "Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.""

Jesus says that denying yourself is essential to being His disciple. That is, when you put your trust in Jesus Christ alone for your eternal salvation, you confess Him as Lord and give Him total rights to your life. He owns you. He bought you with His own blood and when we accept His sacrifice on our behalf we give Him complete authority (Lordship) of our lives and live for one thing, and one thing alone - to please Him. We are no longer looking out for our own interests but rather seeking the interests of Christ.
In Philippians 2 the apostle Paul was talking about the lack of like-minded believers to assist him in the work of the Lord, and he says in Philippians 2:21 - "For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus." From that verse we see this very basic principle, when you are seeking your own interests you cannot be seeking Christs. And when you are seeking Christ interest you cannot be seeking your own. I know it's simple, but it's essential. We cannot be seeking the Lords interests and our own interests at the same time. It's one or the other. "No one can serve two masters." Denying ourselves means seeking the interests of Christ.

At the end of Luke chapter 9 the Lord Jesus interacted with three different would-be disciples, and to each of them He made this point clear that if they would follow Him they must seek His interests and deny their own. Luke 9:57-62 says - "As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”" Any time there is a "me first" attitude in our relationship with Christ, we have neglected to give Him Lordship and have begun seeking our own interests instead of the interests of Christ. The Lord Jesus said in Luke 14:26,33 - "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple... So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." Following Christ costs us everything. We have to realize that if we are saved we are not our own, our relationships are not our own, our possessions are not our own, everything we have and everything we are belongs to Him. Sure, He gives them to us, but He gives them to us in order that He might be glorified, and if at any time He chooses to move you to a different job or city or country, or any time He chooses to take away your possessions or relationships or health, it is in order that He might be glorified. And any time we find ourselves in one of these trying circumstances we need to recognize that the Lord gave it to us for His glory and He has taken it away for His glory. When we deny ourselves we count nothing as belonging to ourselves but all as belonging to Him.

The apostle Paul is a great example for us of someone who didn't seek his own interests but those of Christ. He says of himself in 1 Corinthians 10:33 - "just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved." Christ is interested in the salvation of souls. Paul strove in every way, not to seek his own interest and his own comfort, but he sought to reach out to the lost in every possible way in order that he might reach them with the gospel. That's denying your own interests. Becoming all things to all men in order that you might win some. Paul recognized that his life belonged to the Lord, and that his ultimate purpose was to glorify Him. He says in Philippians 1:20-21 - "according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." He says later in the same book, in Philippians 2:4-5 - "do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
You want to know the key to not seeking your own interests? Paul said it in verse 5 - "Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus." If you want to seek after His interests you need to have His mind. It's only by His own working in and through us that we can deny ourselves and seek His interests. This chapter goes on to tell us how Christ humbled Himself, stepped out of eternity, became a man, the lowest of men, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. It was His great love for us and for His Father that caused Christ to lay down His life in our place. What an example! Christ was not seeking His own interests, but out of love He was seeking ours, and now we're called to return the favor. According to 1 Corinthians 13:5 love "does not seek its own." We need to allow the love of Christ to fill our hearts in order that we might not seek our own interests but strive after His. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 - "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." Christ died for us that we might live for Him. That we might not seek our own interests but His.

May it never be said of us "they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus."