In this our final time on this subject , we come full circle - back to The Call: "If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]" (Luke 9:23, Amplified). Undoubtedly, this is a struggle for most, if not all of us, and even as we face that struggle, deep within we know this surrender is what God expects. In his book "Absolute Surrender", Andrew Murray wrote: "Do you expect that in your immortal being, in the divine nature that you have received by regeneration, God can work His work, every day and every hour, unless you are entirely given up to Him? God cannot. The temple of Solomon was absolutely surrendered to God when it was dedicated to Him. And every one of us is a temple of God, in which God will dwell and work mightily on one condition - absolute surrender to Him. God claims it, God is worthy of it, and without it God cannot work His blessed work in us."
The last sentence intrigues me, because it is heart's cry of every sincere believer for God to work in and through us. We however should not lose sight of the fact that God does not expect us to accomplish this surrender in our own strength. As a matter of fact, we cant. Murray continued: "God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you. Do we not read: "it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13)? And that is what we should seek-to go on our faces before God, until our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong. He will conquer what is evil, and work what is well pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you."
I believe that the desire to be fully surrendered to God have to be burning deep in the heart; we have to want it. It is as the Psalmist wrote: "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (42:1-2a, NIV). Do you have that longing? Do you feel that desire?
In closing, I'm reminded of the words penned by Adelaide A. Pollard:
"Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! / Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will / While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! / Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see / Christ only, always, living in me!"
This is my prayer. I hope and pray that it is yours.
Friday, August 31, 2007
The Surrendered Life (Part III)
To dethrone self is one of the hardest task the willing Christian will undertake, yet by His perfect example, Jesus showed us what it meant to deny self and allow the will of God to take precedence in our lives. It is easy to forget that when He walked the earth He did so as a man, and not as God (Philippians 2:6-8). He was faced with the same temptations we face (Hebrews 4:15), and there were times when his human will, the self, was in direct conflict with that of the Father, yet of Him it is written "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God" (Hebrews 10:9).
We see the magnitude of this surrender in the Garden of Gethsename. Matthew recorded that as he spent his final moments with his disciples together, after asking them
to watch with him, "he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (26:38,39). Lest we forget, Satan had previously offered Him a way out (Matt. 4:1-11); a way to bypass the worse form of execution then - death by crucifixion. Jesus, however, knew that from before the foundations of the world God had purposed that He should be so bruised (Gen. 3:15; Isaiah 53:10), and so despite His soul being "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death", He purposed to conform His will to that of the Father. It wasn't easy. Luke tells us, "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (22:44). Can you picture that? What awesome struggle! Despite the ruthless cruelty of the cross, and the weight of the sins of the world upon His shoulders, He willingly surrendered self in order to accomplish God's ultimate
purpose - our redemption!
This is the example that is set before us. Jesus has not asked us to do something He has not done. He has set the standard for what it means to be a true disciple,
and for those who choose to take up The Call, there's no way around that standard. For God's will to get done in the earth, it will require disciples who are willing to
dethrone self and unconditionally surrender their lives, and all it entails, to His service. To borrow the words fromm an old hymn: "Love so amazing, so divine / Demands my soul, my life, my all."
Can you offer that to Him?
We see the magnitude of this surrender in the Garden of Gethsename. Matthew recorded that as he spent his final moments with his disciples together, after asking them
to watch with him, "he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (26:38,39). Lest we forget, Satan had previously offered Him a way out (Matt. 4:1-11); a way to bypass the worse form of execution then - death by crucifixion. Jesus, however, knew that from before the foundations of the world God had purposed that He should be so bruised (Gen. 3:15; Isaiah 53:10), and so despite His soul being "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death", He purposed to conform His will to that of the Father. It wasn't easy. Luke tells us, "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (22:44). Can you picture that? What awesome struggle! Despite the ruthless cruelty of the cross, and the weight of the sins of the world upon His shoulders, He willingly surrendered self in order to accomplish God's ultimate
purpose - our redemption!
This is the example that is set before us. Jesus has not asked us to do something He has not done. He has set the standard for what it means to be a true disciple,
and for those who choose to take up The Call, there's no way around that standard. For God's will to get done in the earth, it will require disciples who are willing to
dethrone self and unconditionally surrender their lives, and all it entails, to His service. To borrow the words fromm an old hymn: "Love so amazing, so divine / Demands my soul, my life, my all."
Can you offer that to Him?
The Surrendered Life (Part II)
In his book "The Knowledge of the Holy", A. W. Tozer wrote: "Twentieth-century Christians has put God on charity. So lofty is our opinion of ourselves that we find it quite easy, not to say enjoyable, to believe that we are necessary to God. But the truth is that God is not greater for our being, nor would He be less if we did not exist. That we do exist is altogether of God's free determination, not by our desert nor by divine necessity. ... The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man. Man's only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing."
The self-deception that Tozer wrote about is at the heart of self-idolatry. We lose sight of the fact that the very essence of who are is a gift from God. The air that we breathe, the houses we live in, the cars we drive, the children we claim as our own, our jobs, the marvellous inter-working of the various parts that makes up our bodies, we owe everything to Him. As Tozer posited, "Man is a created being, a deprived and contingent self, who of himself possess nothing but is dependent each moment for his existence upon the One who created him after His own likeness. That fact of God is necessary to the fact of man. Think God away and man has no grounds for existence." In and of himself, man can lay claim to nothing, he can do nothing, yet like that son of the morning Lucifer, we allow self to rise up to believe we can do without God. Isaiah wrote of him, "...thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (14:13,14).
It is this challenge to God's selfhood in relation to our own of which the unsurrendered life is guilty. We profess acceptance of the sovereignty of God in the earth, but we are just not prepared to acknowledge His sovereignty over our lives. To complicate matters, this attitude is so subtle that we are not necessarily conscious of making that choice. To the unregenerate heart, the asserting of self is natural, a given. In our own eyes, and in our world, is a throne of our making on which we sit as kings and queens. Regardless of our station in life, and the sacrifices we make from day to day, we are never prepared to dethrone self. That is our throne, and we are not prepared to relinquish it for anything, or for anyone. Not even God.
Yet, the echo of Jesus’ words lingers. "If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]" (Luke 9:23, Amplified).
Who is sitting on your throne?
The self-deception that Tozer wrote about is at the heart of self-idolatry. We lose sight of the fact that the very essence of who are is a gift from God. The air that we breathe, the houses we live in, the cars we drive, the children we claim as our own, our jobs, the marvellous inter-working of the various parts that makes up our bodies, we owe everything to Him. As Tozer posited, "Man is a created being, a deprived and contingent self, who of himself possess nothing but is dependent each moment for his existence upon the One who created him after His own likeness. That fact of God is necessary to the fact of man. Think God away and man has no grounds for existence." In and of himself, man can lay claim to nothing, he can do nothing, yet like that son of the morning Lucifer, we allow self to rise up to believe we can do without God. Isaiah wrote of him, "...thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (14:13,14).
It is this challenge to God's selfhood in relation to our own of which the unsurrendered life is guilty. We profess acceptance of the sovereignty of God in the earth, but we are just not prepared to acknowledge His sovereignty over our lives. To complicate matters, this attitude is so subtle that we are not necessarily conscious of making that choice. To the unregenerate heart, the asserting of self is natural, a given. In our own eyes, and in our world, is a throne of our making on which we sit as kings and queens. Regardless of our station in life, and the sacrifices we make from day to day, we are never prepared to dethrone self. That is our throne, and we are not prepared to relinquish it for anything, or for anyone. Not even God.
Yet, the echo of Jesus’ words lingers. "If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]" (Luke 9:23, Amplified).
Who is sitting on your throne?
The Surrendered Life (Part I)
One of the most difficult challenges for today's believer is the absolute surrender of ourselves, especially our will, to God. I use the word "absolute" because from God's perspective, that is exactly what He demands. Jesus, the full representation of God on earth, made it plain to His disciples when He said: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23, KJV). In this Amplified Version, the verse reads: "If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [ disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [ cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]." For sure this is no easy task, and it's no wonder Paul referred to the Christian calling as the high calling of God (Philippians 3:14).
What makes this so difficult is that we live in a secular humanistic world that encourages the pleasing of self above everything else. The Christian is not immune from this malady, and slowly but surely some have, and are, passively engaged in what is perhaps the most offensive of things to God - self idolatry. We become the centre of a world of our making, where the things that are truly important are only the things that makes us, the individual, feel happy. It is to this natural temptation to do that which is self-pleasing that Jesus unveiled what is meant to be a true disciple.
Lest we misunderstand the difficulty of the nature of The Call, it is worth remembering that during Jesus' day, the cross was a symbol of suffering and shame; carried by the condemned person to the place of his execution. Introduced by the Romans, it was the means to a slow and agonizing death, and this would have been the picture in the minds of the disciples as they listened to their Master speak. There would be nothing easy about being a follower of Jesus Christ, and nothing has changed since then. Today's believer who have accepted The Call, have also accepted the challenge of absolute surrender; the disowning of self and all that pertains to self for the purpose of conforming ourselves to the image of Christ, even if it means dying to achieve such a cause.
The life that is fully surrendered has only one focus. I believe this was what Paul had in mind when after doing an inventory of all he had accomplished before coming to Christ, he wrote: "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. (Philippians 3:7-10, KJV). Absolutely awesome stuff, and a great example of the surrendered life. Can you say the same thing as he did?
What makes this so difficult is that we live in a secular humanistic world that encourages the pleasing of self above everything else. The Christian is not immune from this malady, and slowly but surely some have, and are, passively engaged in what is perhaps the most offensive of things to God - self idolatry. We become the centre of a world of our making, where the things that are truly important are only the things that makes us, the individual, feel happy. It is to this natural temptation to do that which is self-pleasing that Jesus unveiled what is meant to be a true disciple.
Lest we misunderstand the difficulty of the nature of The Call, it is worth remembering that during Jesus' day, the cross was a symbol of suffering and shame; carried by the condemned person to the place of his execution. Introduced by the Romans, it was the means to a slow and agonizing death, and this would have been the picture in the minds of the disciples as they listened to their Master speak. There would be nothing easy about being a follower of Jesus Christ, and nothing has changed since then. Today's believer who have accepted The Call, have also accepted the challenge of absolute surrender; the disowning of self and all that pertains to self for the purpose of conforming ourselves to the image of Christ, even if it means dying to achieve such a cause.
The life that is fully surrendered has only one focus. I believe this was what Paul had in mind when after doing an inventory of all he had accomplished before coming to Christ, he wrote: "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. (Philippians 3:7-10, KJV). Absolutely awesome stuff, and a great example of the surrendered life. Can you say the same thing as he did?
Knowing The Opponent (Part II)
As we noted last time, the Christian is engaged in a spiritual battle. Despite the action being in our earthly experiences, Paul reminds us that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). Having encouraged the church at Corinth to not be ignorant of how the enemy worked (2 Cor. 2:11), he now exhorted the church at Ephesus to not only be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, but to "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (trickery/subtlety) of the devil" (vv. 10, 11).
A quick look at the components of "the whole armour of God" - truth, to gird our loins, the breastplate of righteousness, the preparation of the gospel of peace for our feet, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, and prayer. The admonition to put on God's armour suggests two things: 1) we cannot confront the enemy in our own strength, and 2) we need to protect the areas where we are most vulnerable. We should note that all the pieces, except one, are for protection (defensive); we have only one offensive weapon in our arsenal - the Word of God. Secondly, there are no optional pieces! The instructions were explicit - "Put on the whole armour of God!"
Paul also gives us an idea of what the enemy will throw at us - "fiery darts". Space limitations do not allow me to expand on this, but suffice it to say that in a figurative sense, the Greek word translated 'fiery' suggests "to be inflamed (with anger, grief, lust)". The enemy's sole mission is to steal, kill, and destroy, and he will do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal. Thank God, however, the child of God do have an insight into the enemy's playbook, and we have the insight into how he can be defeated. In His temptations in the mountains, our Lord not only recognize the enemy's subtleties, but countered them and defeated him using the Word (Matt. 4:1-11).
Do you know the enemy? Has he entered your home, your life, your experiences, where due to a lack of recognition you have entertained him as you would a welcomed visitor? He is everywhere and especially in the daily choices we are confronted with. I pray God will grant the wisdom to recognize him, and grant us the grace to face him, fully clothed, and with much prayer, in the armour of God. It is only then can we be assured of victory.
A quick look at the components of "the whole armour of God" - truth, to gird our loins, the breastplate of righteousness, the preparation of the gospel of peace for our feet, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, and prayer. The admonition to put on God's armour suggests two things: 1) we cannot confront the enemy in our own strength, and 2) we need to protect the areas where we are most vulnerable. We should note that all the pieces, except one, are for protection (defensive); we have only one offensive weapon in our arsenal - the Word of God. Secondly, there are no optional pieces! The instructions were explicit - "Put on the whole armour of God!"
Paul also gives us an idea of what the enemy will throw at us - "fiery darts". Space limitations do not allow me to expand on this, but suffice it to say that in a figurative sense, the Greek word translated 'fiery' suggests "to be inflamed (with anger, grief, lust)". The enemy's sole mission is to steal, kill, and destroy, and he will do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal. Thank God, however, the child of God do have an insight into the enemy's playbook, and we have the insight into how he can be defeated. In His temptations in the mountains, our Lord not only recognize the enemy's subtleties, but countered them and defeated him using the Word (Matt. 4:1-11).
Do you know the enemy? Has he entered your home, your life, your experiences, where due to a lack of recognition you have entertained him as you would a welcomed visitor? He is everywhere and especially in the daily choices we are confronted with. I pray God will grant the wisdom to recognize him, and grant us the grace to face him, fully clothed, and with much prayer, in the armour of God. It is only then can we be assured of victory.
Knowing The Opponent (Part I)
In sports, players and coaches on successful teams attribute some of that success to not taking any opponent lightly. Whether in corporate boardrooms, or when planning military strategies, the same principle is adhered to. Knowing one's opponents, the strengths and weaknesses, their characteristic patterns and styles of work are crucial to gaining victory. To not take these factors into consideration is to invite failure, and perhaps disaster. One thing we can be assured of; the enemy is studying us as well, intent on exploiting every weakness that could bring about our downfall.
The Christian is involved in a spiritual warfare (2 Cor. 10:4), and our enemy is out to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). In the natural, if we knew of such an enemy, we would take every step to protect ourselves and those we hold dear, yet in the spiritual realm, how easy it is to overlook, to not recognize the style and pattern of how this enemy works. Earlier in his letter, Paul cautioned the Corinthian Church to not be ignorant of the devil's sly ways (2:11, MSG). Webster defines being sly as "clever in concealing one's aims or ends"; in other words, if we are not careful and able to discern what the enemy is about, we can be deceived and be made to believe that what seems like a right course of action only ended up leading us down the wrong path.
In the Scriptures, we find the perfect example; the story of Eve. Even before we're given the account of her conversation with the serpent, we are told something about him; he "was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made" (Gen. 3:1). It was this subtlety, this uncomplimentary cunningness, that provoked Eve to believe the half-truths of the serpent over the sure Word of God, and so committed the first recorded sin. As Bible Commentator Matthew Henry noted, "There is not any thing by which the devil serves himself and his own interest more than by unsanctified subtlety."
The child of God cannot be ignorant of how the devil works. We are confronted every day by choices: take the easy way out over doing what is right by the Word; overlook this/that because it is not so bad; do this/that, who will know?, and it continues. Yet in every decision that looks like the right one is the potential to fall into the devil's trap; to sin against God. How well do you know the enemy of your soul? Do you know how he operates?
May God grant us the wisdom to be aware of the enemy's schemes, and may He enable us to discern the way we should go when we arrive at the crossroads of our experiences.
The Christian is involved in a spiritual warfare (2 Cor. 10:4), and our enemy is out to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). In the natural, if we knew of such an enemy, we would take every step to protect ourselves and those we hold dear, yet in the spiritual realm, how easy it is to overlook, to not recognize the style and pattern of how this enemy works. Earlier in his letter, Paul cautioned the Corinthian Church to not be ignorant of the devil's sly ways (2:11, MSG). Webster defines being sly as "clever in concealing one's aims or ends"; in other words, if we are not careful and able to discern what the enemy is about, we can be deceived and be made to believe that what seems like a right course of action only ended up leading us down the wrong path.
In the Scriptures, we find the perfect example; the story of Eve. Even before we're given the account of her conversation with the serpent, we are told something about him; he "was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made" (Gen. 3:1). It was this subtlety, this uncomplimentary cunningness, that provoked Eve to believe the half-truths of the serpent over the sure Word of God, and so committed the first recorded sin. As Bible Commentator Matthew Henry noted, "There is not any thing by which the devil serves himself and his own interest more than by unsanctified subtlety."
The child of God cannot be ignorant of how the devil works. We are confronted every day by choices: take the easy way out over doing what is right by the Word; overlook this/that because it is not so bad; do this/that, who will know?, and it continues. Yet in every decision that looks like the right one is the potential to fall into the devil's trap; to sin against God. How well do you know the enemy of your soul? Do you know how he operates?
May God grant us the wisdom to be aware of the enemy's schemes, and may He enable us to discern the way we should go when we arrive at the crossroads of our experiences.
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