Death to Self

Honor kevin and amber

start with thankfulness (its important that we thank God) (not just generic gratitude)

The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank." - G.K. Chesterton

What makes christian thankfulness unique is not when we are thankful for the food on our plate or the thousands of dollars worth of trinkets we have, but what makes christian thankfulness unique is that we reach the pinnacle of gratitude not when there is food on our plate but when there is christ in our hearts

Im going to talk about death today. If i were to give a title to this message i would call it the martyrs worship

I want us to pay close attention.

Every word has 1000 behind them.

If we just pondered some of these realities they would really touch us. Don’t move so fast and miss it.

Give context, Jesus’ response to peter denying Him 3 times. Imagine a husband having an adulterous affair. Imagine their first conversation back and how high tensions would be. That would be similar to this conversation between Jesus and peter

John 21:15–19 (ESV)

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Ever do something and your just like wait what God, why did i do that? I really do love you. Why did i just sin against you? I love you!

In the same breathe that jesus restored peter, jesus says, this is how you will die.

Judas too denied jesus, what was the difference? Peter repented and started following Him,

If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny Himself, take up His cross, and follow me.

AHA! I get it now.

The same grace that was available to Peter was available to Judas. What was the difference? Peter repented.

Peter went on to die for Jesus

He is essentially saying, if you love me, die for me.

Why? why do we have to die? Didn’t he already die?

We die for Him not to pay the price for our sins, HE DID THAT, we die for Him to be like Him.

We say that we want to be like Him, but in order to be like Him we must die like Him

Thats why Jesus said take up your cross.

Thats why Paul writes

Philippians 3:7–11 “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

What is the means to knowing christ?

What I mean by the means to knowing Christ, I mean death

For some, christ has become the means to their end and not their end.

Pains and sufferings have become a paradise for me because I should suffer with my God. I found myself tethered to that cross with Him, and I find consolation there, because He is there - brother lawrence

Where you go ill go where you stay ill stay where you move ill move i will follow you. That means you will get up on that cross. Thats where He went.

The path to Christianity is the path to the cross.

This is what loving Him will lead you to. Death

Revelation 12:11 “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

I am going to deploy a set of stories into our hearts today that we might see the beauty of the means to knowing Christ

Story of Martyrs

Justin martyr: 100-165 AD. Justin was a seeker who wandered from philopshy to philosphy in search of the truth. First he was influenced by the stoics, but since they knew little of God, nor did he think it necessary, he kept searching, then he followed an itinerant sage, but he was turned off by how much he cared about money, then he joined the pathagoreans. They wanted him to study additional things like music and geometry, and he was just impatient to get the answers to the fundamental questions of life which made things like music and geometry worth knowing in the first place. It wasnt until he came to the works of plato. Justin wrote that platos conception of this world gave his mind wings, in the end though, it couldnt teach him how to fly. It gave him an idea of who God was but never brought him to God.

Justin was discouraged. But one day he met an old man on a beach who told him about the hebrew prophets. Unlike the philosophers, the prophets didnt just theorize about God, they actually knew Him. they proved themselves because they made predicitons about events that came to past centuries afterwards. The man on the beach told Justin that the writings of the prophets pointed forward to jesus christ.. What the greek philosophers glimpsed in part, Jesus revealed in full. Justin came to believe in christ and spent his whole life explaining to people in the greco roman empire that Jesus was the true philosophy. At the age of 65, he was swept in the persecution of marcus aurelius. He was given the opportunity to save himself by offering a sacrifice to the gods of rome, but he simply replied. “No man in his right mind turns back to falsehood once he has seen the truth.” For that response he was beheaded alongside some of his students. Which is how he earned the surname, martyr.

In the year 202 AD. the Emperor outlawed the conversion to christianity for the first time. During this time, two women named perpetua and filicity were arrested. they were new believers, they had not yet been baptized. Perpetua had children, And filicity was 8 months pregnant. We know about them because perpetua kept a prison diary in which she records a heart wrenching argument with her father, who was not a christian. Her father visited the prison several times to plead with her to have pity on his grey head and to tell the authorities she was not a christian. However, both perpetua and filicity got baptized in prison to seal their fate. Felicity was worried that she would not be able to be executed along with perpetua and a few other believers because she was pregnant. Because romans wouldnt execute pregnant women. She prayed earnestly that she would be able to give birth before execution days so that she could die for her savior alongside perpetua and the other believers. WIth two days to spare, her prayer was answered. she gave birth to a baby girl who was immediately adopted by another christian family.

On execution day, the two women were brought to the arena to fight off wild animals. they were attacked by a wild cow and a leopard. The chronicler says that they maintained their dignity. Felicity helped perpetua tie her hair back so that she wouldnt look like a woman in mourning as she died. After the captives were good and wounded. They put the animals away and brought out roman soliders, they lined the christians up side by side on their knees to behead them. The soldier that was to behead perpetua was very nervous, his hands were shaking and his first attempt to kill her cut her but did not sever her head. but perpetua actually took his sword, guided it to her throat, and this time he finished the beheading.

You cannot take the life of a man who has found it elsewhere

You cannot steal from those whose possessions are stored in heaven

You cannot ruin the reputation of one who lives to die and be forgotten

A Christian has nothing to lose. And for the rest of eternity, everything to gain

Soren Kierkegaard, a 19th century philosopher says, The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.What is the means to knowing christ?

What I mean by the means to knowing Christ, I mean death

For some, christ has become the means to their end and not their end.

Death reveals our beliefs.

You can say you believe in something, but you will only live for what you are willing to die for

10 of the 12 apostles were killed for their beliefs.

We learn about scripture not as we recite it, but as we live it.

Why is it that 2000 years later we are trying to receive any form of the kingdom of God without any form of sacrifice?

Romans 8:16–17 “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” ‬‬

Whenever i am suffering with loss, heartache, and hardship, my immediate question is God where are you, but when i read this passage I realize that is the very path to the cross, thats the very path to His feet,

if your suffering is deterring you from the father than your expectation of who Jesus is and how to get to Him is wildly off the mark

Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, 195, Westminster Chapel,

“The events that happened on Calvary's hill are in every respect the most crucial in all of human history. To Christian people there is nothing more important than this. Everyone of us most ask ourselves this question, "does the Cross mean that to us? Is it to us everything? The power of God. The wisdom of God. Is it the whole basis of our life? Is it the thing that we rely on in every respect?"

-John Stott, The Cross 14 Christ

"the rulers sneered at him, shouting: 'He saved others, but he can't save himself!' Their words, spoken as an insult, were the literal truth. He could not save himself and others simultaneously. He chose to sacrifice himself in order to save the world." -John Stott, The Cross 14 Christ

A couple years ago I went through a breakup. I felt what one sided love feels like. To love someone who doesnt love you back might be one of the most painful experiences in all of life

I loved someone, and they didn’t love me back. and it hurt me so much. And in that moment I realized all the times that God displayed His love for me and I didn’t love Him back.

I cried to God, “I DON'T UNDERSTAND LOVE! I DON'T UNDERSTAND SELFLESSNESS. Im selfish! I love those who please me! I love those who serve me, i love those who are attractive, have status, and have money. I don't serve with the heart of jesus, i don't serve when it doesn't make sense! I serve only when I benefit from it.

We need to love even when its costly. Thats the only instance love is real.

Earlier we read about peter when He started to get it, when he started to understand. I want to look at a passage long before He understood what loving unto death was

Mark 8:31–Mark 9:1 (ESV)

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

“And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.””

Steffany Gretzinger says, "Many of us ask Him to come but when He comes we don’t want the cost.”

Death to self is about leaving behind what we want in life and choosing to live for Him.

Francis Chan says this, “Many of us make decisions based on what brings us the most pleasure. This is how we choose our homes, jobs, cars, clothes, food, and churches. We pursue what we want; then we make sure there are no biblical commands we are violating. In essence, we want to know what God will tolerate rather than what He desires. Maybe we are afraid to ask what will bring Him the most pleasure. Ignorance feels better than disobedience.”

IT cannot be what we want

it needs to be what what He wants!

Fear of Death

Hebrews 2:10–11 “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,”

Hebrews 2:14–15 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

To live is christ and to die is gain

WE CAN'T HAVE A FEAR OF DEATH. Some of us are going to get free today. Some of us are still scared of death!

Why does jesus call us into suffering? Didnt he already suffer?

we could never atone for our sin. Only He could do that, by us getting on that cross isn’t to pay for our sin but it’s that we might be with the one who did

John Piper says, “The path of love that leads from the cross of Christ to the glory of Christ is a road of sacrifice. Christ's superior beauty over Satan and sin is seen best when we are willing to suffer for it. One of the greatest blows against the power of darkness comes from the blood of martyrs. “

Stretch out your hands

Psalm 44:20–22 “If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Do you see the contrast here? David is saying, LOOK GOD! We didn’t stretch out our hands to other Gods. But FOR YOUR SAKE WE WERE KILLED.

It was common in the ancient culture to stretch out your hands towards the god you were praying to.

1. as an act of worship

2. As an act of impartation. (to receive a gift)

How did Jesus die? (on a cross)

The very design of the cross is to put us in a posture of worship

On Tuesday we asked God to show us a deeper side of His love. John 15:13 says

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Lets pray

God, show us how to love you. Teach us how to die.