Selfless Living

Jason and I have just finished Matthew, the first Gospel and first book of the New Testament. Jason is a young man I'm helping to find his way in his walk of faith; some might call this discipleship. Anyway, we are, through the course of the next three semesters, reading through the New Testament, excepting the Revelation of John, in search of what it means and what it looks like for us to die to ourselves and take up our cross. As I've read through the pages of Matthew's Gospel letter, I've found with the help of the Holy Spirit bits of wisdom and elements of truth here and there concerning the theme at hand. Overall, what I found throughout the entire book was something I had not anticipated but should have expected.

As I read through the chapters of Matthew as he's retelling Jesus' story, I found myself confronted with not a collection of clues or a list of principles by which to live a life of selfless surrender, but rather the life and character and very nature of God as it was demonstrated in and through Christ. As I was looking for a method or a philosophy to help me shape my life into the self-denying image of the Christians that inhabited the first century church, I found instead a reason to shape my life into such a pattern of living. Reading about Jesus and his life among his creation, I began to see that I was approaching this study with a slightly skewed focus. When I drew up this study, my goal was to comb the scriptures from Matthew to Jude for wisdom and principles to guide my pursuit of life dead to self, completely surrendered to Christ. The error of this approach is best captured by one of Jesus' parables in chapter twelve of Matthew.

"43When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation."

Building up to this passage, Matthew records the Pharisees testing Jesus, calling him Satan or a demon, and then demanding a sign. Then it's with the story of the return of an unclean spirit that he tells the Pharisees why he doesn't give them a sign. If they had proof that Jesus was in fact the son of God, they would, in the habit of their ingrained cultural mindset, attempt to follow and be devout to Jesus on their own power, apart from the Holy Spirit, forsaking the old covenant by which the Jews at his point in God's story received their communion with and blessing from God. They would, in an attempt to serve God in the only way that they knew how, leave themselves wide open to the influences of the enemy, the evil and unclean spirits of the world. Without the indwelling power of Christ's Holy Spirit and the righteousness that only He can give, a life in pursuit of pleasing God would prove disastrous (the Pharisee's demonstrated this with their customs and religiosity). The only thing staying the fatal wrath of God for them was their connection to Abraham and their citizenship in God's nation). As they would stray form God's Law that came by Moses, trying to follow Christ's teachings, they would leave their lives open to all kinds of outside influences.

My point in all this is that as Jason and I are seeking to find the path of God-honoring selflessness, to die to self, we must not leave our hearts and souls vacant. As we learn how to kill ourselves in a manner of speaking, we also need to seek to replace the freshly vacant place in our lives with something that will firmly and permanently occupy it, or it will be filled with something that we won't like, or that is not good for us. As we die slowly to ourselves, we need to look to Christ to fill that empty space that's been created. This is exactly what was stated in the intent of this three semester study Jason and I are undertaking, but up front, I didn't see what it really meant. As we lay ourselves down, we need to pick up the cross of Christ. Part of that is knowing what the cross is all about. And knowing what the cross is all about, we must know what Christ is all about. In short, the gospel of Matthew and the others (Mark, Luke, & John) are not places to glean principles for living or clues on how to live a Godly, selfless life. The Gospels are a place to look for a reason for living a Godly, selfless life. It is only on this strong foundation that the teachings and wisdom recorded in the acts of the apostles and their epistles can be applied in a Christ centered and God honoring way. To die to self and take up our cross literally means to lay down ourselves and take up Christ. Do this, set yourself aside and make Christ your entire purpose for living, and you will see a new world unfold before you eyes and experience a joy that was previously unthinkable.

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." --Matthew 16:24