Dealing with Self

This evening we are going to continue on a theme that we looked at this morning in our service… a theme that is critical to our walk with God and our service to Him.

This morning, we talked about the importance of denying our self in relation to following Christ. A person cannot follow their self-interest and follow Jesus at the same time… this is why our self must be denied… it must be crucified with Christ and no longer live so that Christ can come alive within the life of the believer.

Tonight, we continue our series First Church, and as we study the book of Acts and look at the ministry of the First Church, we find a passage that highlights this important action of self denial.

Paul has been working to bring the gospel message to the region. Led by the Holy Spirit, he has diligently preached the Word to both Jew and gentile. He is doing all that he can to make sure people have the opportunity to “turn to God in repentance and have faith in Jesus.” (Acts 20:21)

While presenting the gospel message of grace, Paul had encountered opposition along the way.

He had suffered greatly for the cause of Christ. But this suffering never once caused him to back down in the calling placed upon His life.

Our study tonight finds Paul on the road headed to Jerusalem. Again, the Holy Spirit had instructed him to return there and he didn’t know what to expect when he arrived. And while he was traveling, he sent had opportunity to meet with the elders from Ephesus. He speaks of the ministry that took place and even mentions that the Holy Spirit had warned him of the hardships he encountered…

Imagine for a moment God calling you to minister to a certain people group or region and also telling you, “Just so you know, you’re going to face hardship and even prison as you walk in obedience to this calling.” Would you go? would you follow the instruction? You would if you had the same mindset as Paul.

Look at his words in Acts 20:24. This was Paul’s response to the warning given by the Spirit.

Acts 20:24 NIV

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

Paul was willing to follow Jesus no matter the cost. Here’s the deal: Paul was not just willing to lay his life down… Paul had already laid His life down for Christ!

Paul had fully surrendered to Christ BEFORE the call was given. He had denied himself long before Jesus required him to give of himself.

Paul’s aim was to finish the race… TO FINISH STRONG… to complete the task. But before ANYONE can finish the race, they must be willing to start running the race! They have to take to the track, stay in their lane, and give their absolute best.

This last year, Mason’s relay team had the opportunity to run at state. They worked hard to get there, but I knew they were going to have to work hard in order to compete with the other great teams that would be competing.

I coached by saying this. “Leave it all on the track. If you get off the track and you have something left, you didn’t give it all.”

The team moved from 13th to 8th and shaved 17 seconds off their previous time. THEY GAVE IT ALL. And when the race was done, you could see they had nothing left to give.

How much more important is it that we give it all… not for a state competition but for the completion of the work Christ has called us to accomplish?

Self… at anytime… can disrupt the race God has laid out before us. Self can make us pause, can make us count the cost, can make us hesitate for discomfort or inconvenience. Self places personal agenda in front of the Spirit’s leading.

If you desire to take to the track… if we desire to get on the mark, to stay in the lane, to run our absolute best for Jesus, then we have to drop our love for self and place all our love and devotion in Jesus. Self has got to go!

Self is a problem! And interestingly enough… Scripture says that self will become an increasingly bigger problem in these last days.

Overcoming self requires we be real… with our self. Overcoming self requires we do away with self once and for all. Overcoming self requires that we understand that self will lead us in the wrong direction. The problem with self is: Self causes a person to look inward instead of upward. Self causes a person to miss the will of God.

Tonight we are going to look at the problem and solution regarding self. This problem is rampaging through our culture and even creeping its way into the church. The first church expanded as the people of God were willing to be used of God despite what their self would try to tell them. God moved as their self was placed on the shelf.

The Problem with Self.

This evening I want us to look at the problem of self… and while this passage does not come from the book of Acts, it does come from the person that Acts was writing about.

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul shares some words regarding the issue of self.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 reads,

2 Timothy 3:1–5 NIV

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Paul begins this chapter by basically saying PAY ATTENTION. Mark this… mark my words… be on the watch for… don’t be surprised when you see… Paul is calling out what can be expected in these last days. And look at what is at the top of this list: PEOPLE WILL BE LOVERS OF WHAT? THEMSELVES!

Church… we are living in the last days… the last of the last days! And we are beginning to see the terrible times unfold and yes… the issue of loving self is at the forefront of many of the issues at hand!

Consider this for a moment… does anyone know what the most popular form of photography is today? The… wait for it… the SELFIE!

Selfies are pictures that people take of themselves doing various things. Maybe they are cooking, playing with the dog, hanging out in the yard, sitting on the beach, or lounging in their favorite chair. Whatever the scene might be, selfies are taken and shared and spread all over social media for the world to see and to comment on.

People are consumed with how many likes they get on Facebook, they are concerned with how many people follow them on Twitter. They desire for their posts to be liked so much that they will like their own post!

It’s all about self! It’s all about being in the spotlight! It’s all about promoting image, agenda, opinion, and gaining fame. And with all the different outlets today… the world certainly has plenty of opportunity to promote self!

Self believes it will find significance in the things of this world. Self believes it will find its worth through the praises of other people. Yet similar to a drug… no amount of praise or likes on social media is ever enough.

Paul began this list to Timothy with this issue because it is the gateway to the issues that follow. Self is the gateway for sin… it is exactly what the enemy played on in the Garden of Eden AND it is what he will try to coerce in your life as well.

Self places all attention on… you. It turns your eyes inward and places you at the center. God might be a part of the picture for your life but so long as self is at the center… you have chosen to deny His power that wants to work in you!

The only way for God’s power to be realized in our lives comes when God is truly at the center of our life.

Listen to me: It is through God that we find our significance. It is through God that we find our identity. It is through God that we find our purpose, our meaning, our direction. It is through God that we find our value and worth and acceptance. If we truly desire to know and experience such things in life, then a person must STOP looking inward and start looking upward! We must clear out our self and place God at the center of who we are!

As we talked about this morning… that self must be crucified with Christ so that I, my self, no longer lives… no longer is the main influence in my life. This gives room for Christ to come alive within us… this places Christ at the center!

So we know the solution found in Galatians 2… but I want to unpack what this looks like on a daily basis.

Becoming a Living Sacrifice

Romans 12 is where we find this description… and I want us to look at verses 1 and 2. Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Here believers are encouraged to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice - as one who is fully surrendered to the will of God and to the ways of God. A living sacrifice has placed God at the center and will live a life that is holy and pleasing to who? To GOD! They do not aim to please their self or the ways of this world.

A living sacrifice is separated from the things that would separate them from the Lord.

Sin separates us from God. The ways of this world separate us from God. Those who have been justified by faith - made righteous in the eyes of God through the work of the cross - must choose the things of God over the things of this world.

The world will work to please your self. The world will play on your fleshly desires, on your emotions, it will try to get you to crave what it has to offer. The world will temp you through your self.

But as a living sacrifice, all of that has been surrendered or arrested for the cause of Christ. Believers see through the deception and choose not to conform to its ways.

In in choosing not to conform… the mind is renewed by the goodness of our God.

The last little bit of Romans 12:2 shows the amazing results of what comes our way when a person chooses not to conform. Scripture says we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - WE WILL BE ABLE TO KNOW HIS WILL!

Our self gets in the way of knowing or accepting God’s will for our lives.

Go back to Paul in Acts 20 for a moment. Paul did not operated in accordance to his will but in accordance with the will of God. Even when warned by the Spirit that hardship was ahead, Paul remained in the fight! Paul kept running the race!

Why do you suppose that was? Because Paul KNEW what… rather WHO would be waiting for him at the finish line! Paul wasn’t running this race for earthly gain… look at his words in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

1 Corinthians 9:24–25 NIV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

For the runner of God’s race awaits a crown that will last forever! But this crown will NOT be received through self… it can only be achieved by presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice… willing to give up the things and ways of this world for the glory and honor of God!

Closing

Our world is pushing self with intensity and passion. Our world believes that happiness and satisfaction is found through self gratification. Such could not be further from the truth.

Self is what opened the door for sin for mankind. Self is what typically leads a person away from God and into the destructive pattern of this world. Self tends to think it knows what it wants… but it has no idea what it really needs.

God desires for us to STOP looking inward to our self and start looking upward. We need to STOP giving in to what our self desires and surrender to what the Lord would lead us to do.

Paul decided long before his foot ever hit the path that he would give all for Jesus. Suffering for the gospel was not a deterrent to the call God placed on his life. His life was dedicated to the service of Jesus. Paul knew and lived out what it meant to be a living sacrifice.

If we want the best God has to offer, then God must be at the enter of who we are… not our self. If we desire to find purpose, meaning, satisfaction, hope, peace, and comfort, we must learn to look upward in ALL things and not inward to self.

If we desire to know the plan or God’s will for our life, we must stop conforming and be transformed. Our self needs to be dealt with and the only One who can properly deal with it is… Jesus.

Our self MUST be crucified with Christ in order for Christ to come alive within us!

If we want to run the race… to complete the work… if we desire to get on our mark… then we must first deny that self, choose to be a living sacrifice, and embrace God’s will for our lives.

I find it interesting that God directed us here both this morning and this evening. In these last days, Scripture warned that people will be lovers of themselves and we see that happening throughout the land.

Let’s make sure that it’s not happening throughout God’s church! let’s choose to place God first… to place God at the center of our life and run the race He sets before us.

So in our closing prayer… I wonder if you will join me in saying goodbye to self? Do you desire to go as God leads? Do you desire to know His will and live out His plan? Then let’s wave bye bye to self and place God at the center!