<p>  Denying Self "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).   Jesus left heaven and humbly denied Himself all things to become God's greatest servant. In Luke 9:23, He said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" so if we want to follow Jesus then we also must deny self. The Bible tells us of many great men and women of faith who, like Jesus, denied themselves all things to serve God. These saints humbled themselves and turned their backs on worldly power, position and wealth to serve the living God whom they loved more than life. The following examples highlight the self-denial we are all called to.   Humbling ourself In Luke 14:7-11, Jesus tells us not to take the best seat at a gathering otherwise the host may ask us to move so that he can give the seat to a more honoured guest. We should take a less important seat and the host may honour us by moving us to a better place. Jesus said, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:11). The first step to becoming a disciple is to be humble because "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (1 Pet. 5:5). Denying self starts with being humble.   Power and position Peter was the leader of the Jerusalem church and a powerful, miracle-working Apostle yet he referred to himself as just a fellow elder. He didn't lord it over his fellow workers but wrote, "To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder … be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers - not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock" (1 Pet. 5:1-4). Peter put serving others ahead of power, titles and money. Denying self includes treating others as equals and not lording it over anyone.   Probably our greatest example of humility and servant-hood is Moses. We are told in Num. 12:3 that he was "more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." At forty years of age, he no longer wanted to be part of Pharaoh's family (Heb. 11:24-27). He chose to leave his great wealth and power in Egypt to become a simple shepherd in the desert for forty years. Then, when he was chosen to lead Israel out of Egypt, he resisted that powerful position but God commanded him to go. Moses was a very humble man who denied himself enormous power, authority and wealth in order to serve God. Denying self includes answering God's call at the expense of all things.   Wealth Many Christians seek wealth but, in 1 Tim. 6:8, Paul said, "if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." Paul had absolutely no interest in money or the things of this world. Writing from prison he said, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8). The only thing Paul wanted was a greater knowledge of Jesus. Like all the great men of God, power, position and wealth were meaningless to him.   Money can cause terrible problems, even the loss of faith. We are told in 1 Tim. 6:10 that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." We need money for our basic needs but, other than that, the only thing money is good for is giving, either for the Gospel or to help those in need.   Regarding giving, in 2 Cor. 9:7, we are told that "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" and 2 Cor. 8:13 gives the reason for giving: "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality." The generosity of our giving is not determined by the amount we give but by the amount we keep. Jesus praised the poor widow of Mark 12:42-44 because she gave her last two small copper coins, all she had to live on. He said that she had given more than all the others because she had given not out of her wealth but out of her poverty. If what we give doesn't affect our lifestyle then we really have nothing to boast about to anyone, least of all to the Lord. Denying self includes not clinging to our wealth.   Reputation Because of our pride, one of the most difficult things to give up is our reputation. We are easily offended by what others have to say but we must put our reputation firmly into God's hands, just as Jesus did. 1 Pet. 2:23 says, "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." Jesus didn't allow His pride to rule His actions and, in Matt. 5:11-12, He said that there is a great reward for those who do the same: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Denying self includes putting our reputation into God's hands.   Finally Denying self is one of the greatest challenges in our Christian walk. We can't be a disciple of Jesus and love the things of this world at the same time; we must be willing to deny ourself worldly power, position, wealth and reputation; anything we put ahead of God is an idol. 1 John 2:15-16 tell us, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world." We only have a short time on earth in which we can honour and serve the Lord so let's fight our sinful nature and deny our cravings, lusts and boasting and humbly serve Him while we can.   This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html   It can be read online at http://www.christianissues.biz/blog/wordpress/?p=871   Mick Alexander Email: leeandmick@gmail.com Website: www.ChristianIssues.biz                    </p>
Keep Your Hand On The Plow
Every Christian is called to be God's servant and should strive to serve with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Luke 9:62, Jesus said, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Jesus is telling us not to look back at the world and our old way of life but to to keep looking to God for all things. He seems to be speaking mainly to those in ministry, however, it applies equally to all believers. Even though everyone is not called into ministry, all believers are called to be servants for life. The Bible does not mention part-time Christians, part-time service or early retirement for anyone. Once a person accepts God's call into ministry, he becomes God's servant for life and should continue in service for as long as he or she is able. Once we have put our hand to the plow, we should not look back otherwise we will drift off the path God has chosen for us. If we long for what we have left behind, we will soon become worldly and backslide to become unfit for service in the kingdom of God. Our focus must always be on God and how to serve Him better.
Going into ministry
Jesus warned those who wanted to follow Him that He had no place to lay his head and if anyone wanted to follow Him then they must leave their old life behind (Luke 9:57-62). Elisha is a perfect example of the attitude needed by a person accepting God's call into ministry. In 1 Kings 19:19-21, we are told that Elijah anointed Elisha to succeed him as prophet. At the time, Elisha was plowing with his oxen. After Elijah anointed him, he went home to say goodbye to his family. He then slaughtered his oxen and burned his plowing equipment to cook the meat as a feast for the people. Then, after burning his bridges, he set out to follow Elijah and become his attendant. Elisha knew he was going into ministry for life so he completely cut himself off from his old way of life; he left family, friends, cattle and land to serve the Lord. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Elisha denied himself all things and completely relied upon God.
Remaining faithful to the call
Not all who go into ministry remain faithful. For example, Balaam loved the world more than he loved God and he became wicked (2 Pet. 2:15). Initially, going into ministry may not be such a hard thing to do but it can become very testing. It seems that when we first go into ministry, and also when we first get saved, we go through a honeymoon period with the Lord. We strongly sense the Lord's presence and everything goes very well (I floated on clouds for ages). However, after a while the Lord withdraws those feelings somewhat and the honeymoon ends, so to speak, because God wants us to live by faith, not feelings.
Continuing in faith
Some years ago, I quit work and went into full time service for the Lord. In Mark 10:29-30 Jesus promises to provide for anyone who, like Elisha, leaves everything for Him and the Gospel. He said, "I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life." For many years I had no trouble believing this promise but, with age, my faith has weakened at times. It is easy to trust in something that is a long way off but the real test of faith comes when we are face to face with the situation. Jesus' disciples were very confident that they would not desert Him but they soon scattered in fear when He was arrested. In the same way, my faith is being tested as I face old age.
This testing of my faith resulted in serious agitation at times and a complete lack of peace for long periods. Recently, worrying that the Lord would not provide for me, I considered getting work to stop my bank account from emptying but that thought brought an even greater lack of peace. After much prayer, I came to understand how I was sinning against God: I was seriously offending Him in two ways:
I had previously fully committed myself to Him but now I was considering going back into the world and removing myself from His service. Num. 30:2 came to mind and heavily convicted me. It says, "When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said." If I went back to work then I would be breaking my word and that would make me a liar.
I was calling God a liar because I was no longer trusting His promise to provide for those who had left everything for Him and the Gospel.
It's no wonder that I had no peace. God doesn't like being lied to or being called a liar so it is easy to see why He had taken my peace away. Thankfully, once I came to see that my weak faith was leading me into great error, I repented and, needless to say, the peace of God returned. There is no doubt that in the future I will waver from time to time but big mistakes leave big scars and I am not likely to forget this lesson in a hurry.
Finally
When we look back, it is always easy to see our error but, the truth of the matter is, sin often creeps up and can overcome us like cancer. It starts out small but if we don't deal with it quickly then it will grow and cause us to sin. A lack of peace is a sure sign that there is sin between us and God; He always removes our peace when we sin. Sin can start out small but if it is not quickly repented of then it can soon cause big problems: A lie can utterly destroy relationships; dislike can lead to hate and even murder; a lingering look or touch can lead to lust and immorality; a covetous thought can lead to theft or jealousy or worse and our emotions can lead us into error just like my fear led to unbelief. For this reason, if we want to keep our hand on the plow and honour God then we have to keep our eyes on Jesus and deal with sin as soon as the Spirit convicts us. As soon as we lack peace we should ask God why He has taken our peace away. In this experience of mine, I was far too slow in seeking God and I suffered for it. I should have looked to Him much, much sooner. I have an article on hearing and following the Lord's voice, called The Way Of Peace, at
http://www.christianissues.biz/thewayofpeace.html
(Please note that this article is about my personal walk with the Lord. I am not saying that it is wrong to be in ministry and work at the same time. Paul worked as a tent maker during his ministry.)
This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html
Mick Alexander