Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Great Exchange: Dethroning the Self to Enthrone the Savior

Transcript

The Great Exchange: Dethroning the Self to Enthrone the Savior · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome to Reformed thinking, where we take complex doctrines,
0:03
open the sources, and break them down so you can grasp the heart
0:06
of what Scripture teaches. Today we're opening up a
0:09
discussion that's, well, it's completely essential to
0:12
Christian discipleship, but at the same time, it's radically
0:15
countercultural. And that's biblical self denial.
0:19
We live in an environment where you know, everything from the
0:22
ads we see to the shows we watch.
0:24
It all screams at us to pursue our inner desires, to put our
0:27
comfort. 1st to elevate the self.
0:29
Right. To make the self the ultimate
0:31
standard of truth. Our sources put it well.
0:33
They say we're just intoxicated with the self.
0:35
But the call of Christ is so strikingly different.
0:38
It's a call to renunciation, a call to death.
0:41
It's a staggering contrast, isn't it?
0:43
The world's highest good is self actualization, self love,
0:47
self-expression. Follow your heart.
0:48
And then you have the central call of the King of the universe
0:52
in Luke 9 and Matthew 16, which is self renunciation.
0:56
Christ doesn't come to us and say I'm here to affirm your ego.
0:59
No, He demands the very opposite.
1:01
He doesn't place a crown on our heads, He lays a cross on our
1:05
shoulders. So our mission for this deep
1:07
dive is to take a really close, careful look at that singular
1:11
command. If anyone would come after me,
1:14
let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
1:18
We want to define what genuine self denial looks like, and
1:21
maybe just as helpfully distinguish it from all the
1:24
religious counterfeits that pop up.
1:26
And then we need to anchor the whole idea firmly in the gospel
1:29
of grace. We want to know not just what
1:30
we're giving up, but what we're gaining.
1:33
OK, let's start right there with that conflict.
1:36
The world sells a very specific gospel.
1:39
It does. It's a gospel of self esteem, of
1:42
expressive individualism, the idea that the very worst thing
1:45
you can possibly do is deny your inner feelings or your
1:49
subjective truth. I mean, that's the air we
1:51
breathe. And that entire cultural
1:52
framework, what you could call the regime of the autonomous
1:55
self, that is the very thing Christ comes to overthrow.
1:58
We have to resist this tendency to try and domesticate.
2:01
Christianity. What do you mean by that?
2:03
Well, the assumption that faith is just a spiritual accessory,
2:06
you know, a tool for personal fulfillment or something to help
2:09
you manage anxiety, that's a complete failure to see the
2:12
claims of Christ's Lordship. He doesn't just slot into our
2:15
existing life plan, no. He demands A fundamental,
2:18
absolute allegiance. He comes to disrupt, not to
2:22
integrate. And it's so key to grasp that
2:25
this call to deny yourself, it's not a special spiritual
2:30
challenge for the Super zealous. It's not for people pursuing
2:33
some kind of monastic life. Not at all.
2:35
This describes the very essence of Christianity.
2:38
The crisis is absolute because the allegiance is exclusive.
2:41
You can't have two masters. So the moment you truly come to
2:44
Christ, you're faced with a crisis.
2:46
An immediate crisis of who sits on the throne of your life?
2:48
Is it your preferences? Your comfort?
2:50
Your cravings, or is it Christ? The call to deny yourself is
2:54
just the practical outworking of the answer to that question.
2:56
The sources really highlight that the immediate biblical
2:59
setting for this command is vital to understanding just how
3:01
serious it is. This conversation happens in
3:04
Matthew 16, specifically at Caesarea Philippi.
3:07
What does that location tell us? It tells us everything about the
3:10
rival claims Christ was dealing with.
3:12
Caesarea Philippi was well geographically, was stunning at
3:17
the base of Mount Hermon, a source of the Jordan River, but
3:19
politically and religiously it was very complex.
3:22
It was a site dominated by paganism.
3:24
Utterly. You had grottoes dedicated to
3:27
the God Pan, and the city itself was a monument to the might of
3:30
the imperial cult. It was named in honor of Caesar.
3:34
So just imagine the scene. Roman power, Pagan worship, the
3:38
claims of the earthly emperor, they were everywhere.
3:42
And it's in that environment, surrounded by these massive
3:45
visible claims to sovereignty, that Peter makes his confession.
3:49
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
3:51
He correctly identified the true King.
3:53
That confession, identifying the true king, it seems to be the
3:56
prerequisite for the demand that comes next.
3:59
So right after this, Peter stumbled.
4:01
Jesus starts to speak about the necessary cross, that he must
4:04
suffer and be killed. And Peter, in that incredibly
4:06
human moment, rebukes him. He tries to protect Jesus from
4:10
suffering. He says, Far be it from you,
4:12
Lord, this shall never happen to you.
4:14
Peter wanted the coronation without the crucifixion.
4:17
He wanted the glory of the crown, the triumph of the King,
4:20
but he wanted to bypass the shame and suffering that was
4:23
required to get there. Peter's instinct gives voice to
4:27
that universal fallen human desire.
4:30
We want a comfortable Messiah. We'll accept Jesus as Savior
4:34
from hell, but maybe not as Lord over our conveniences or our
4:37
reputation or our security. And that shows that even
4:40
disciples who know who Christ is are naturally bent toward
4:43
avoiding the cost. Which makes Christ's response to
4:46
Peter all the more severe. I mean, it's one of the sharpest
4:49
rebukes in all the Gospels. It is shocking.
4:51
Jesus identifies Peter's impulse.
4:53
Not Peter himself, but the impulse as satanic, he says.
4:57
Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me.
5:00
That severity shows us the gravity of the spiritual battle
5:03
here. It does.
5:04
A Christianity that's divorced from this necessary self
5:07
surrender, a gospel that promises blessing without
5:10
demanding death, is, well, according to Jesus.
5:13
It's a devilish deception. It's anti gospel.
5:15
Any attempt to follow Christ while trying to preserve the
5:18
sovereignty of the self is at its root aligned with the
5:21
adversary who wants to undermine God's redemptive plan.
5:24
So if the world is selling a gospel of self exaltation,
5:27
Christ is demanding the polar opposite.
5:30
The main proposition from sources is that discipleship is
5:34
a fundamental disruption. It's a regime change.
5:37
It's the decisive dethroning of the self, the autonomous ego, to
5:41
enthrone Christ as the absolute sovereign.
5:44
This is where that theological concept in cavatus in Sanae
5:47
comes in. Right.
5:48
It's language from Augustine and later used a lot by Martin
5:51
Luther. The idea is that the natural
5:53
man's heart is so bent by sin that it is curved in upon
5:56
itself. So it loves, trusts, and serves
5:59
itself above God in everything. Yes, uses God, uses other
6:03
people, uses creation itself, all for its own benefit.
6:06
That really helps clarify the target.
6:08
We're not denying the value of the human being made in God's
6:10
image. We're denying the authority of
6:12
the self that's been inward. Precisely.
6:15
Discipleship is the process of reversing that curve.
6:18
We're confronted with a piercing question.
6:21
Are you your own ultimate source of value and truth and
6:25
authority, or are you a servant of Christ?
6:28
It's an identity crisis. Initiated by God's calling.
6:30
Yes, you belong to another. You've been bought with a price.
6:35
Self denial is the practical confession that you are not your
6:37
own property. OK, we've established that
6:39
crisis of allegiance. Now we need to get exegetically
6:43
rigorous. What exactly are we commanded to
6:45
give up? How do we define true biblical
6:48
self denial without slipping into, say, Stoicism or legalism?
6:52
Well, the basic definition is this.
6:54
Biblical self denial is the deliberate spirit enabled
6:57
refusal to allow the self to be the center, the measure, or the
7:00
master of your life. So it means surrendering what
7:02
the rebellious self holds dearest.
7:04
Things like our comforts, our natural cravings, our
7:07
reputation, and especially our perceived rights.
7:09
All of it surrendered to King Jesus.
7:11
It is an intentional act of repentance.
7:13
It's so vital we clarify the boundaries.
7:14
What is self denial not? OK, first, it is absolutely not
7:18
self hatred. It's not rejecting yourself as a
7:20
person. The goal isn't to despise the
7:23
creature God made, but to put to death the sin that corrupts the
7:27
creature. And 2nd.
7:28
It is not the rejection of lawful created pleasures.
7:31
God gives us good things, food, rest, relationships, beauty,
7:35
richly to enjoy. The problem isn't the thing
7:37
itself. The problem is when sin turns
7:39
God's gifts into our ultimate source of meaning.
7:42
Creating an idol out of. Them.
7:44
That's it. Self denial targets that
7:46
autonomous will that insists I want this and I will have it now
7:50
no matter what God's law or Christ's path demands.
7:53
So the goal isn't to starve the body, but to starve the ego.
7:57
Self denial is the practical refusal to feed that inward sin
8:00
curved self. Exactly.
8:02
It's saying my desires are not my ultimate law, my emotions are
8:05
not my ultimate compass, my comfort is not my final God, and
8:08
this is a direct attack on modern expressive individualism.
8:11
The idea that authenticity means obeying whatever desire just
8:14
pops into your heart. Right.
8:16
Christ redirects us. He says follow me, not follow
8:19
your feelings because he knows that the heart left to its own
8:22
devices is deceitful and just leads to a harsher slavery.
8:25
To really get the scope of this command, we have to look the
8:28
original language, Matthew 16.24.
8:31
The sources we reviewed made it really clear that the grammar
8:34
here preaches the doctrine. It really does.
8:37
Jesus uses a structure known as a first class conditional
8:40
sentence. And what that does is it
8:42
basically binds the condition and the consequences into one
8:46
inseparable unit. That's right, it sets up an
8:49
unbreakable, necessary link. It starts with the condition,
8:52
the pertasis. If anyone desires to come after
8:55
me, the Greek is itis the lie. And that word, the lie, is key.
8:59
It is. This isn't just a passive wish,
9:01
it signifies an act of willing volition.
9:04
But this immediately raises a huge theological question,
9:07
especially for those of us who hold to a reformed view of
9:10
Scripture. Right.
9:11
If we believe what Romans 3.11 says, that the natural man does
9:14
not see God, then where does this desire to follow Christ
9:18
even come from? The presence of this act of
9:20
will, this the lie in the soul of a fallen person, is itself
9:24
the result of grace. This desire is the work and the
9:28
evidence of the Father's drawing power.
9:30
Like John 6.44 says, no one can come to me unless the father who
9:34
sent me draws him. That's it.
9:36
This grounds the entire command in God's prior action.
9:40
The capacity and the desire to deny yourself flow from God's
9:43
work of effectual calling where He supplies the will that He
9:46
commands. So that guards us from falling
9:49
into legalism right from the start.
9:50
The willingness to follow as a gift.
9:52
It's not a natural human output. OK, so the condition is met by
9:55
grace, and that grace then leads to the consequence, the
9:58
epidosis, which has three distinct linked commands.
10:03
The 1st is let him deny himself or Aparnasastish.
10:06
Let's talk about the tense here. It's the aerist imperative.
10:09
And the aerist tense is critical.
10:10
It signals A decisive, urgent, fundamental rupture.
10:14
It views the action as a complete event, a non negotiable
10:17
break done once and for all. It's a spiritual crisis of
10:20
identity that starts everything. And the word aparnasastit itself
10:24
is powerful. It means to utterly disown, to
10:27
renounce, to claim no connection with.
10:29
Which as we said, is the exact term Peter when he swore.
10:33
I do not know the man when he denied Jesus.
10:36
And we are commanded to do that very spiritual act of
10:39
renunciation to our former master, the autonomous ego, the
10:42
old man. We have to look at that part of
10:44
ourselves that demands self sovereignty and say decisively,
10:47
I do not know you, you are not my king.
10:50
I claim no connection with your demands.
10:52
It's an act of spiritual regicide.
10:54
A violent initial pulling of the idol off the throne of the
10:57
heart. The second command follows right
10:59
after it with the same decisive tense.
11:01
Let him take up his Cross era two, another aerist imperative.
11:05
So if denial is the internal verdict, then cross bearing is
11:09
the public external execution of that verdict.
11:12
And we really have to resist the temptation to make the cross
11:15
just a metaphor for some personal inconvenience, like a
11:18
difficult boss or a headache. Oh, absolutely.
11:21
In the 1st century, the cross was not an object of sentiment.
11:25
It was the instrument of a humiliating, agonizing public
11:28
execution to carry the crossbeam.
11:31
The petibulum meant you were condemned.
11:34
You are a dead man walking stripped all dignity and rights.
11:36
So the aerist imperative here means accepting that verdict of
11:40
death on the self decisively, right at the beginning of the
11:43
path. It means embracing the shame and
11:45
forsaking the idol of respectability.
11:48
You forfeit your worldly dignity and your presumed right to
11:51
safety and comfort for the sake of following Christ.
11:53
OK, so we have two decisive aerist actions, decisive denial,
11:57
decisive acceptance of death. But here's the critical point,
12:00
the one that can be confusing. Luke 9.23 adds A requirement
12:03
take up his cross daily. If denial and cross bearing are
12:07
these decisive once for all aerist acts, how do we reconcile
12:11
that with the need for a daily action?
12:13
That's an excellent question, and it's the key to linking
12:16
justification and sanctification.
12:18
The biblical answer is that the decisive heiress act, that
12:21
initial spiritual death we experience when we're united to
12:23
Christ by faith, is the basis for the continuous action.
12:27
So the life is surrendered entirely and definitively at the
12:30
start. Yes, but because the flesh, the
12:33
remnant of sin, continues to exert its influence, we have to
12:36
live out that initial verdict every single day.
12:40
We die definitively, and then we spend the rest of our lives
12:44
living as those who have been judged and crucified.
12:47
So the daily action in Luke 9.23 explains the need for
12:52
progressive sanctification. That's right, the life starts
12:55
with that decisive break. But that death has to be applied
12:58
to the sin that rises up every hour in our thoughts, our words
13:01
and our actions. It's a daily renewal of the
13:04
initial commitment, a daily specific repentance that reminds
13:07
the self, you have been crucified.
13:09
You are not in charge here. That makes perfect sense.
13:12
The Christian life starts with a spiritual execution, but the
13:15
corpse keeps twitching. A very good way to put it.
13:17
And that brings us to the third command, where the grammar
13:20
shifts dramatically. And follow me, Okola, teach you.
13:23
And this command is in the present active imperative.
13:26
And this shift is what preaches the whole doctrine of
13:29
discipleship. The present active imperative
13:31
commands a continuous, habitual, ongoing action.
13:35
It is a long, continuous process.
13:37
So the syntax itself maps out the spiritual life.
13:39
It does. It begins with a decisive death
13:41
and denial. That's justification and the
13:44
definitive break with sin, and that decisive start must issue
13:48
forth in a lifetime of continuous walking.
13:50
That's progressive sanctification.
13:52
This structure seems designed to just completely forbid the idea
13:56
of a carnal Christian. You know the popular notion that
13:59
someone can accept Christ as Savior, but reject Him as Lord
14:02
over their daily behavior. The grammar obliterates that
14:05
dichotomy entirely. If the initial decisive denial
14:08
and death were real, if the aerist was genuine, then it must
14:12
produce the continuous walk of the present imperative.
14:15
If there is no continuous following, no akaluthia Tate,
14:18
then we have to seriously question whether there was ever
14:21
a true denial, a true Aparna such.
14:23
The disciple is committed to a long obedience in the same
14:26
direction. Sustained entirely by grace.
14:29
We've established the gravity of the command, but now we have to
14:31
address the sheer difficulty of it.
14:33
This call to daily death would be crushing.
14:36
It would lead to despair or hypocrisy if it were just
14:39
presented as law without gospel. It would.
14:41
Our sources are clear. Self denial has to be understood
14:45
as a fruit, never a root. And if we attempt self denial as
14:48
a root, as a ladder we climb to earn God's justification or
14:53
acceptance, we've just turned it into works righteousness.
14:57
It's legalism, and legalism always fails.
14:59
So we have to start with the unshakable comfort of our
15:02
acceptance. The bedrock is Romans 8.1.
15:05
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are
15:08
in Christ Jesus. Our acceptance is settled.
15:11
It's finished by Christ's work on the cross.
15:13
So once that verdict is settled, no condemnation.
15:16
How does that change how we see self denial?
15:19
It becomes a response of gratitude and a declaration of
15:21
ownership. The gospel never says deny
15:23
yourself so that God will love you.
15:24
It says God has loved you in Christ.
15:26
Therefore, deny yourself because you are no longer your own.
15:29
Our obedience is the fruit of grace.
15:31
It's the natural response of a heart that recognizes it's been
15:34
purchased. First Corinthians 6 tells us we
15:37
were bought with a price. We are not our own.
15:39
We must honor God with our bodies.
15:41
And the mechanism for this is our union with Christ, the dying
15:45
and rising motif we see all through Paul's letters.
15:48
This is the theological engine of self denial.
15:50
It's participation in Christ's death and resurrection life.
15:54
When Paul wrote in Galatians 2.20 I have been crucified with
15:58
Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
16:00
Christ who lives in me. He was talking about a change in
16:03
identity. An ontological shift.
16:05
Yes, the old I that served self as sovereign has been
16:09
definitively judged and executed in Christ.
16:12
So the Christian believer is simply living out God's verdict
16:15
on that old self. It must die.
16:17
That's mortification, and it must live unto God.
16:19
That's vivification. We're realizing in practice
16:22
what's already true of us positionally.
16:24
This moves the struggle far beyond just raw willpower.
16:28
It's something worked in us because of who we are in Christ.
16:30
But where does the ability, the strength to do this actually
16:33
come from? It comes solely through the Holy
16:35
Spirit. The command is not a bear
16:37
demand. Without divine supply.
16:39
We aren't spiritual orphans who have to bootstrap ourselves into
16:42
holiness. Romans 8.13.
16:44
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by
16:47
the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will
16:51
live. We fight sin by the Spirit.
16:54
So we fight not for acceptance, but from acceptance.
16:56
Exactly. The battle of self denial is
16:59
sustained by superior treasure. The flesh shouts.
17:03
You need this pleasure, this comfort, the sin to be
17:05
satisfied. But faith, empowered by the
17:08
Spirit, answers no. In Christ I have something
17:10
infinitely better and more satisfying.
17:12
The only way the heart releases an idol is by finding something
17:16
more precious to grasp. And the Spirit enables us to see
17:19
and savor Christ as that greater treasure.
17:21
And we can't forget that Christ isn't just the source of our
17:24
strength, He's the ultimate model for this obedience.
17:28
He didn't just command self denial, He loved it perfectly.
17:31
His entire life was the paradigm of self renunciation and it all
17:35
culminated at the cross. The classic text is Philippians
17:39
2. He didn't consider equality with
17:42
God something to be grasped or held onto selfishly.
17:46
He. Emptied himself.
17:47
He took the form of a servant, becoming obedient to the point
17:50
of death, even death on a cross. His self denial wasn't for self
17:54
improvement, it was for the redemption of his people.
17:57
So the disciple just follows the path of the crucified savior,
18:00
recognizing that the shape of his life will have to be cross
18:03
shaped. It will be.
18:04
And we see the sharpest edge of this model not in his physical
18:07
suffering, but in his spiritual surrender in the Garden of
18:10
Gethsemane. Gethsemane is the purest
18:12
definition of self denial. It's the surrender of a
18:15
perfectly holy human will to the divine, redemptive will of the
18:18
Father. Faced with the dreadful cup of
18:21
God's wrath, Christ prays. Father, if you are willing,
18:24
remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but
18:27
yours be done. And that prayer is the goal of
18:30
our daily denial. When we bring our own rebellious
18:33
preferences, our insistence on our comfort, our desire for a
18:37
different path, when we bring all that to the foot of the
18:40
cross, we are praying the prayer of Gethsemane.
18:42
That's the highest form of self denial.
18:44
Since the flesh doesn't just give up after that initial
18:46
break, self denial has to be a continuous daily rhythm.
18:50
This means costly obedience isn't an exception or some
18:53
unfortunate side effect. It's the normal expected shape
18:56
of following Jesus. We have to acknowledge the
18:58
reality of conflict. We live in a world that hates
19:01
Christ's claims. We have the devil who actively
19:04
seeks to destroy us, and we have the stubborn remnant of the
19:07
flesh inside us that insists on self rule.
19:10
So if our faith never clashes with our desires, if it never
19:13
forces us to change a habit or cost us anything?
19:16
Then we have to seriously question whether we're following
19:18
the real Christ or just a comfortable projection of Him.
19:21
Conflict is a sign of life, not a sign of failure.
19:24
And that daily life of self denial is captured in the
19:27
constant rhythm of repentance and faith.
19:29
How do those two things drive the process?
19:31
They're inseparable. Repentance is the daily turning
19:34
away from self rule and it needs to be specific.
19:38
We don't just vaguely apologize for being sinful, we confess the
19:42
specific idol we bowed to, the specific word we shouldn't have
19:45
said, the specific comfort we put above Christ.
19:48
And because condemnation has been removed in Christ, we're
19:51
free to be brutally honest about our failures.
19:54
We can be without falling into despair.
19:56
We confess our sin toward God's already secured mercy.
20:00
And faith is the other side of that coin it.
20:02
Is it's the daily clinging to Christ and His promises.
20:06
It's choosing His wisdom, His goodness, and His future grace
20:09
over the immediate impulse of the flesh.
20:11
Faith makes future grace believable enough to choose
20:14
costly obedience now. When the flesh screams for
20:17
immediate indulgence, faith looks ahead.
20:19
It does. It says what Christ promises for
20:21
tomorrow is far better than what this sin offers today.
20:24
Faith is the only engine that drives that turning.
20:26
This rhythm is often described in that classic reformed
20:29
language of mortification and vivification.
20:31
Can you define those for us and explain how they relate?
20:34
They are two sides of the same coin and they have to always go
20:36
together. Mortification is sin, killing
20:39
it's actively putting to death. Therefore, what is earthly in
20:42
you as Colossians 3 says? It's refusing to negotiate with
20:45
sin. Right.
20:46
It's cutting off the provisions for sin, fleeing what inflames
20:49
temptation, severing habits that nourish the flesh.
20:52
John Owen, the Puritan theologian, famously said.
20:55
Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.
20:57
It hurts because idols don't die quietly.
21:00
They don't, but we have to see that pain as a kind of spiritual
21:04
surgery. It's a merciful pain where a
21:06
Paris is being removed from the soul, the Christian says.
21:09
I will not let this live. And mortification that necessary
21:13
no to self is totally incomplete without vivification.
21:17
Vivification is the act of putting on of Christlike
21:20
virtues. It means moving right from put
21:22
to death to put on compassion, kindness, humility, patience,
21:25
love, as it says in Colossians 3.
21:27
So the goal isn't to achieve some kind of sinless emptiness
21:30
or stoic apathy. No, the goal is to be filled
21:33
with the Holy Spirit and to be actively cultivating Christlike
21:37
affections and actions. We deny the impulse to gossip so
21:41
that we can actively pursue kindness.
21:43
We say no to the demanding flesh so we can say a deeper yes to
21:47
kleist like love and service. Real freedom isn't the absence
21:51
of restraint. It's the divinely given capacity
21:54
to do what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful with
21:57
increasing joy. OK, let's move this into
22:00
concrete areas of daily life where self denial is most
22:03
visible. The sources break this down into
22:05
several arenas. The 1st and most obvious is the
22:08
denial of sinful desires. This is the battlefield where
22:11
the fight is most immediate. It looks like fighting lust in
22:14
pornography with radical vigilance, not passively
22:17
entertaining fantasies. It means refusing envy when
22:20
other people prosper or succeed, and instead actively rejoicing
22:24
with them. It's denying gluttony,
22:26
drunkenness. And other forms of bodily
22:28
excess. Remembering our body is a temple
22:30
of the Holy Spirit and shouldn't be ruled by its appetites.
22:33
And it has to include those respectable sins that we often
22:36
excuse, especially in Christian communities.
22:38
Yes, the sins that damage the soul and the church but don't
22:41
result in public scandal. Things like gossip that we try
22:44
to rationalize as sharing prayer concerns, or sarcasm and
22:49
cynicism that disguise cruelty and bitterness toward others.
22:52
Or even the pervasive habit of constant trivial entertainment
22:56
that dulls our conscience and makes us less sensitive to the
22:59
spirits leading. So self denial here is just
23:01
admitting my cravings are not my king.
23:04
My need for control or self soothing is not my law.
23:08
This is the ongoing daily repentance that refuses to
23:11
coddle what Christ died to kill. OK, the second arena is the
23:14
denial of ego and rights, where the self often hides behind the
23:18
feeling of being owed respect or vindication.
23:20
This is maybe the most painful form of denial because it
23:23
involves our reputation and our sense of justice.
23:25
The natural self insists on what it deserves.
23:28
Recognition, the last word, the truth being told its way.
23:33
So self denial in this area looks like refusing to always
23:35
win an argument. It's choosing gentleness over
23:38
force and preferring peace in the room over proving yourself
23:41
right even when you know you are.
23:43
It also looks like taking criticism, even unjust
23:46
criticism, without that immediate defensiveness.
23:49
It's recognizing that your identity isn't built on being
23:52
untouchable or flawless. If our ego is centered in
23:55
Christ, then criticism of our performance or personality is
23:58
painful, but it isn't shattering.
24:01
This also effects how we relate to service and recognition.
24:04
Absolutely. It means serving when you're
24:06
unnoticed. It means giving generously and
24:08
secretly without meeting credit or recognition.
24:11
This is the truth of Matthew 6, where Jesus talks about the
24:14
reward from the Father who sees in secret it's.
24:17
Refusing to protect the ego at all costs.
24:19
And it means confessing sin quickly rather than trying to
24:22
manage or preserve your appearances.
24:24
The world demands we guard our image.
24:26
Christ demands we carry the cross of humiliation.
24:29
The third arena is comfort and convenience, the idol that seems
24:32
to wield so much power in the modern West.
24:35
This is the tyranny of the immediate self.
24:37
Denial looks like choosing obedience when it's inconvenient
24:40
or when you're just tired. It means praying when you feel
24:44
spiritually dull or opening the Bible when your mind is sluggish
24:47
instead of reaching for some immediate stimulation or
24:50
distraction. It means gathering with the
24:51
church on Sunday, when you'd much rather stay home.
24:54
When you want that quiet, leisurely morning, yes.
24:58
The self demands comfort. The disciple chooses the path of
25:02
fellowship and worship, even when it costs energy.
25:05
And it's also revealed in how we treat the people around us.
25:07
It's choosing patients with difficult people, your spouse,
25:10
your children, your colleagues, rather than cutting them off or
25:13
venting frustration. The Christian life is not a
25:16
refuge for people who just want an easy life.
25:19
It's a family redeemed by grace and we're called to bear all
25:23
things, which includes bearing with one another's
25:26
imperfections. This also gets into the issue of
25:28
integrity and commitment. Keeping promises when it costs
25:31
you. Choosing integrity over
25:33
convenience. Enduring hardship without
25:36
constant murmuring or complaint. Knowing that God is purposeful
25:40
in our trials. Self denial is often not
25:43
traumatic, it's just small repetitive choices.
25:47
Choosing the harder path of obedience over the easier path
25:50
of indulgence. It's following the Lord not just
25:52
when he makes life easy, but when He leads us through
25:55
difficulty. OK, next let's look at
25:58
possessions and money. This is an area where the self
26:00
clings very tightly to control security and the future.
26:05
Self denial here manifests as generosity that genuinely cost
26:08
something, not just giving away what we don't need or what's
26:11
leftover. It means viewing our personal
26:13
budgeting and spending as acts of stewardship, not
26:16
entitlements. It means refusing the consumer
26:18
itch. The promise that happiness is
26:20
just one more purchase away. It's cultivating contentment,
26:24
learning to say with Paul in Philippians 4 that Christ is
26:26
sufficient in both plenty and in want.
26:29
The self demand security and bank accounts.
26:31
The disciple lays up treasure in heaven.
26:34
This stance also puts us at odds with the prosperity spirit
26:37
that's infiltrated some parts of Christian thought.
26:39
Absolutely. The prosperity mindset assumes
26:42
that faithfulness guarantees ease, wealth, and upward
26:44
mobility. Self denial forces us to
26:47
acknowledge that obeying Christ may in fact cost U.S. financial
26:50
advantage. It means refusing dishonest gain
26:53
or turning down a lucrative compromise.
26:55
Or trusting God's provision rather than grasping at security
26:59
through worldly means. We have to constantly fight the
27:02
urge to use God as a means to achieve comfortable
27:05
self-sufficiency. And finally, the sharpest test
27:08
of self denial how we respond when we're wronged.
27:11
The denial of retaliation. The autonomous self demands
27:15
payment. It demands vindication and the
27:17
last word. Self denial looks like refusing
27:20
retaliation and choosing forgiveness, prayer for the
27:22
offender and truth spoken in love instead of vengeance.
27:26
It means not storing up grievances, not rehearsing
27:29
insults to keep the anger warm. Not using silence as a weapon,
27:33
we choose to absorb offenses, especially minor ones, rather
27:36
than escalating them into a courtroom drama designed to
27:38
defend our ego. And this requires entrusting our
27:40
reputation to God. It requires faith that God is
27:43
the just judge. We're following the example of
27:46
Christ, who, when he suffered, did not retaliate but continued
27:50
entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
27:54
When the self wants to crush the offender or defend its own name.
27:58
The disciple remembers the mercy he has received and hands the
28:01
burden of justice over to God. In all of these areas, the
28:04
constant question is, is Christ worth more to me than this
28:08
fleeting pleasure, this sense of control, or this right to be
28:11
comfortable? That's the question.
28:13
Because self denial is so central to the Christian life,
28:16
the enemy consistently tries to counterfeit it.
28:19
The flesh can sacrifice intensely, but only to feel
28:21
superior, which means the self is still secretly on the throne.
28:25
So we need absolute clarity on what biblical denial is not, so
28:28
our efforts aren't wasted on a religious illusion.
28:30
We have to reject any practice that turns spiritual discipline
28:34
into a payment to God, a punishment of creation, or a
28:36
license to avoid obedience somewhere else.
28:38
Clarity here is our spiritual protection.
28:40
OK, first, self denial is not legalism.
28:43
Right. Legalism is that transactional
28:45
belief that extreme discipline earns God's favor or blessing.
28:49
It confuses self denial with justification.
28:52
It operates by an internal calculator.
28:55
If I fast three times a week, God owes me spiritual
28:58
breakthrough. It replaces Christ's finished
29:00
work with human effort. Which leads to boastfulness when
29:03
we feel we're succeeding, or deep collapse and despair when
29:06
we fail. Gospel self denial flows from
29:09
acceptance, not toward it. It's the spontaneous fruit of
29:12
gratitude, not the coerced price of admission. 2nd, it's not
29:16
asceticism. Asceticism is based on the idea
29:19
historically from Gnosticism that created things.
29:22
The physical bodies, lawful pleasures, food, marriage are
29:26
inherently evil and holiness is achieved by despising them or
29:30
punishing the flesh. Paul warns against this.
29:32
He does. He warns against those who
29:34
forbid things God created to be received with Thanksgiving,
29:37
recognizing that creation is good and sin is the corrupting
29:40
element. A person can meticulously starve
29:43
their body and still have a massive gluttonous pride in
29:45
their spiritual discipline. Biblical self denial is about
29:48
refusing to turn God's gifts into idols, not about despising
29:52
creation itself. Precisely. 3rd, we have to
29:55
distinguish true self denial from antinomianism.
29:58
This often presents itself as spiritual relaxation, but it's
30:02
really just practical laziness hidden behind a slogan of grace.
30:05
This is the. Problem of cheap grace.
30:08
It's claiming the grace of God while at the same time coddling
30:11
and embracing sin. It says since Christ forgives,
30:14
it doesn't really matter how I Live Today.
30:16
It treats the cross like a cosmic insurance policy.
30:19
Giving us permission to pamper the flesh, but the grace that
30:22
justifies also trains us. Titus 2 says The grace of God
30:26
that brings salvation also teaches us to renounce
30:28
ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled,
30:32
upright and godly lives. The Christians battle against
30:35
sin isn't an attempt to earn salvation.
30:37
It's the necessary, inevitable outworking of a heart that has
30:40
been saved and freed from the dominion of sin. 4th We have to
30:44
reject the therapeutic or prosperity gospel which subtly
30:48
re enthroned the self under the guise of Christian blessing.
30:51
These Gospels invert discipleship, prosperity.
30:55
Teaching frames faith as a guarantee of material comfort
30:59
and success. Therapeutic Christianity frames
31:02
Christ primarily as an agent who exists to affirm, soothe, and
31:05
validate our inner narrative. Both use Christ as a means to a
31:09
self-directed end. Comfort, ease, success,
31:12
happiness. Rather than seeing him as the
31:14
ultimate end himself, Jesus calls us to surrender comfort,
31:18
not guarantee it. He names the autonomous self as
31:21
the core problem when it tries to compete with His Lordship.
31:24
So the ultimate measure of a true gospel is whether it
31:26
challenges your current life arrangement, not whether it
31:29
confirms it. That's a great way to put it.
31:31
If your faith is making your life easier, wealthier, and more
31:34
affirmed by the world, then you have to ask, am I carrying the
31:37
cross or am I asking Christ to carry myself?
31:39
Help Baggage. True self denial requires that
31:42
we accept discomfort and even rejection for the sake of His
31:45
name. And finally, self denial is not
31:47
mere mysticism or pragmatism, the pursuit of thrills or
31:50
results over simple obedience. True biblical self denial
31:54
submits to Christ's revealed word, not to spiritual
31:57
experiences or emotional rushes. Pragmatism often denies truth or
32:02
cuts corners on obedience to gain large crowds or visible
32:05
results. And mysticism.
32:07
Mysticism often ignores the clear commands of Scripture in
32:10
favor of pursuing sensational inner experiences.
32:13
Biblical self denial, by contrast, often looks utterly
32:17
unglamorous. Steady obedience to the word.
32:20
Quiet repentance after failure. Patient endurance of suffering
32:23
and faithfulness and small things, regardless of immediate
32:27
spectacle or quantifiable results.
32:29
The test of the disciple is whether he is aligning his steps
32:32
with the path of the Master, even when that path is
32:35
difficult, hidden and uncelebrated.
32:37
We should bring this discussion to a close by returning to the
32:40
motive. We started with the immense cost
32:42
of self denial, but we have to conclude with the surpassing
32:45
worth of the reward we deny ourselves because Christ is
32:48
better than whatever the self is desperately clinging to.
32:50
This is the core engine of Christian action.
32:54
The heart only releases a cherished idol, whether it's
32:57
comfort, control, or reputation, when it finds a greater treasure
33:00
to hold onto Jesus, His presence, his approval, and His
33:05
promises. He is the surpassing worth for
33:07
which any sacrifice is utterly reasonable.
33:10
The momentary loss is dwarfed by the eternal gain.
33:13
It is. And this denial is not a
33:15
solitary effort. We keep coming back to the
33:18
source of strength. We deny ourselves because the
33:20
Lord who commands is the Lord who strengthens.
33:23
Self denial is never a grit your teeth, isolated campaign.
33:26
It's sustained by our communion with Christ, by abiding in Him,
33:29
by feeding on His promises in the Scriptures.
33:32
And by drawing encouragement from the fellowship of the
33:34
Church. We fight by the Spirit and the
33:35
Spirit constantly points us back to the finished work and the
33:38
superior person of Christ. The ultimate reward of this
33:41
daily denial, which feels like loss of control, comfort,
33:44
rights, is actually a paradoxical freedom in life.
33:48
That's the beautiful mystery of the Gospel.
33:51
The self enthroned is a cruel tyrant.
33:53
It's always demanding to be fed, defended and validated, and that
33:57
leads to ceaseless anxiety and insecurity.
34:00
But Christ's yoke is kind, and his burden is light.
34:04
When you deny yourself and surrender that false tyrannical
34:07
sovereignty. You step out of the present of
34:09
self justification and into the glorious liberty of the Kingdom.
34:13
You gain a clearer conscience, a humbler, softer heart, and a
34:16
growing resemblance to the Savior.
34:18
You are finally free from the exhausting task of being your
34:21
own God. And the suffering this daily
34:24
death is temporary. Our hope is fixed on the
34:26
resurrection. The cross is never the final
34:28
destination. It's the narrow road to glory.
34:31
The pattern of Christ's life is humiliation followed by
34:34
exaltation. We carry the cross with our eyes
34:37
fixed on the future joy that was set before Him.
34:39
We lose our lives into Christ's hands, knowing that after the
34:42
narrow way comes the crown. The bodily resurrection, the end
34:46
of all sin, and the eternal uninterrupted presence of
34:48
Christ. We will be like Him because we
34:51
will see Him as He is, and obedience will finally cease to
34:54
be warfare. So if we've spent this time
34:57
analyzing the call to dethrone the self, to enthrone the
35:00
Savior, what is the single provocative thought for the
35:03
listener today? Remember that the life clung to
35:06
is lost, but the life surrendered to Christ is finally
35:09
found. Ask yourself, what is the one
35:12
thing the autonomous self is defending or justifying today?
35:15
That one idol, that one right? That one comfort, That one
35:18
deeply rooted sin that must be surrendered to gain the true
35:22
freedom of Christ's rule? That is precisely where the
35:25
cross is waiting for you this morning.
35:26
Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into biblical
35:29
self denial. We trust this discussion is
35:31
giving you substantial material to reflect on as you walk the
35:33
path of continuous obedience.