Sermons
The Unselfing Of Ourselves
Series: The Way Of The CrossTHE UNSELFING OF OURSELVES
Sermon By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / September 23, 2018
We are exploring eight words to discuss what it means to travel the way of the cross.
Thus far we have spoken about sincerity … single-mindedness … and surrender.
This morning we want to consider a fourth key word (in this case, a hyphenated word): self-denial.
Self-denial is not something we talk about a whole lot these days.
We hear about self-fulfillment and self-actualization, but very little about self-denial.
Yet self-denial is so very CENTRAL TO TRUE DISCIPLESHIP. How can one seriously contemplate traveling
the way of the cross and not consider the necessity of self-denial and taking up one's own cross?
For many the answer is a simple one (perhaps derived by our tendency to rationalize).
Jesus was sent by God to procure our salvation by denying Himself and taking up His cross.
That assignment was for HIM, not US.
The problem with that simple solution is that it is not completely true.
It's is true to say that Jesus led a life of self-denial. But it is not true that God doesn't expect the same of us.
Here, at the outset, we need to hear the clear spoken words of Jesus.
Someone has candidly opined: the hard sayings of Jesus are not those that I don't understand,
rather, it is those which I do understand - - words that are unmistakably lucid and emphatically unclouded .
So let 's begin by permitting me to re-introduce to us the “ipssisima verba” (the very words) of Jesus.
I have chosen to cite these words from Christ Jesus from Luke's Gospel (Lk.9:23).
They can also be found in the gospels of Matthew (Mt.16:24) and Mark (Mk.8:34).
With slightly different verbiage, John's gospel records this same concept as heard in today Scripture reading (Jn.12:24f).
Lk.9:23 reads: And He was saying to them all,
If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
I want to approach our word study by asking two questions. First, we want to ask, “What is meant by self-denial?”,
Secondly, in discussing “submission” in next Sunday, we will ask, “What is meant by taking up one's cross?”.
WHAT IS MEANT BY SELF-DENIAL?
This question needs examination because some of us some are quite mixed-up in our understanding.
Self-denial is not self-hated. Neither is self-denial simply the deprivation of things in this life that we enjoy,
like giving up chocolate for Lent. Some religious groups have gone even further in misconstruing the meaning
of self-denial by demanding that a priest must forego marriage and/or that a monk must withdraw from society.
None of these ideas capture the biblical meaning of “self-denial” as spoken by Jesus.
A better explanation of the self-denial that Jesus is requiring has been expressed as, “...a way of coming to under-
stand that we do not have to have our own way...that our happiness does not depend on getting what we want.”
I often look to the respected scholar James Packer when I'm trying to better grasp hard-to-understand theological concept. He writes, “Jesus Christ demands self-denial, that is, self-negation, as a necessary condition of discipleship.”
Packer elaborates: “self-denial is a summons to submit to the authority of God as Father and Jesus as Lord and
to declare lifelong war on one's instinctive egoism. What is to be negated is not personal self or one's existence
as a rational and responsible human being. Jesus does not plan to turn us into zombies, nor does He ask us to
volunteer for a robot role. The required denial is of carnal self, the egocentric, self-deifying urge with which we
were born and which dominates us so ruinously in our natural state.” (James Packer in Hot Tub Religion, pgs, 72-23).
The Scriptures call us live HOLY lives.
The apostle Peter writes in 1Pet.1:14 - - as obedient children, do not be conformed to the
former lusts which were yours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy
yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'
I have borrowed the title for my sermon this morning from a definition of holiness provided by Frederick Faber - -
Holiness is an unselfing of ourselves.
One more short reference from another well-studied on this subject will help us fine-tune the meaning of self-denial.
Timothy Keller has written: “The essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or
thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less. True gospel-humility means I stop connecting
every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about myself.”
In the words of the title of a popular Max Lucado book, It's Not About Me!.
Leonard Bernstein, the celebrated orchestra conductor, was asked, “What is the hardest instrument to play?”.
He replied without hesitation: “second fiddle. I can always get plenty of first violinists, but to find one
who plays second fiddle with as much enthusiasm or second French horn or second flute,
now that's a problem. And yet if no one plays second, we have no harmony.”
I want to add a very important admonition at this point.
Earlier I made the observation that some people try to evade the dynamic call of Jesus to
deny yourself and take up your cross, by arguing that this was something God called Jesus to do, but not us.
Another approach that some have taken to explain away the plain words of Jesus is to contend for two levels
(or degrees) or discipleship. One level is for the super-committed, but it is not mandatory for all believers.
One reason I chose Luke's gospel was to emphasize that Jesus spoke these challenging words not
just to the Twelve Apostles. Mt.16:24 begins by noting, “Then Jesus said to His disciples...”
Mk.8:34 reads, “And He summoned the multitude with His disciples...”.
Lk.9:23 specifies, “And He was saying to them all...”
Some try to dichotomize Jesus' audience (i.e., to divide them into two groups).
One group is the hardcore disciples - - the apostles in particular - - the super zealots.
The other group is the rest of us - - normal, ordinary, run-of-the-mill followers of Jesus.
For the super zealots, life in Christ brings hardship, deprivation, sacrifice, and perhaps even martyrdom.
You might be required to go to another “hard soil” culture and live in difficult or even dangerous conditions.
You will probably be required to live at a poverty level, while your fellow Christians back home live in relative luxury.
The other track, for the rest of us “normal” people, is the more sensible plan.
You can pursue your dreams for success and personal fulfillment, live in increasing levels of luxury,
and generally enjoy the good life - - all while in good standing with the church. Every once in a while you need to
drop something in the offering basket. But you don't need to worry about sacrifice, cross-bearing or self-denial.
Surely you don't need me to tell you this is a fanciful, farcical & flawed interpretation that is an insult to Christ.
Indeed, such a dual-track comprehension of the meaning of Jesus' words in Lk.9:23, will literally kill the church.
To contend for such a view will result in making Christianity a laughing stock to the world and, furthermore, it
will erode and undermine any positive influence that we might have in trying to spread the gospel of Christ.
The word “deny” means to “repudiate, renounce, disown”.
I know, these are strong synonyms - - words that push us beyond our natural inclinations.
What we are trying to say here is that following Jesus begins and continues to the very end with a DEATH TO SELF
- - the unselfing of ourselves.
Open your Bible to Jn.12:20ff and let's read anew the words of Jesus.
Now there were certain Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast;
these therefore came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying,
'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.' And Philip came, and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.
And Jesus answered them, saying, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth AND DIES, it remains by itself alone;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates (loves less)
his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and
where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
Vance Havner tells the story of how some missionaries bound for Africa were laughed at by the boat captain,
“You'll only die over there”, he said. But one of the missionaries replied, “Captain, we died before we started.”
The kernel of self-denial is this: DOING THINGS GOD'S WAY, NOT MY WAY.
I appreciated much about Senator John McCain. That song, I Did It My Way, made famous by Frank Sinatra,
was sung at his request at his recent funeral. While it might be commendable to be a maverick in the
U.S. Senate, when it comes to being a disciple of Jesus, there is no room for such a thought. I realize
that this popular song wasn't meant to be a hymn. Yet, from a biblical perspective, there is something
quite troubling about the overall sentiment of that song, and in particular, the closing stanza:
For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught the right to say the things he
feels and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows I took the blows and did it my way.
This song captures the American spirit (the spirit of 1776), but it is blind to the sacred Scriptures.
There is an important contrast and distinction that is made in these two slightly differing phrases:
“on that cross He was crucified for me” and “on that cross I am crucified with Him”.
If any of us are living for SELF, we are not following Jesus!
Perhaps you're wanting me to spell out all the specific and detailed ways that you can and ought to “deny self”.
That's your assignment for yourself and that's my assignment for myself.
This is a sobering assignment that comes to all of us who choose to follow the way of the cross.
Let's get at it. A lifestyle of self-denial requires more than dying initially in the waters of baptism,
it will demand that we “die daily” (1Cor.15:32b) in our walk with the Lord - - all throughout our life.
One more verse of Scripture and then we will close in prayer. Gal.2:20 - -
if you don't know this text, you need to embrace it, memorize it, and put it into practice daily.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.
