Deny Self. In his book City of God, Augustine of Hippo tells us about the beginning of sin.

Transcription

1 Deny Self When we hear the word idol, what automatically comes into our mind? Is it a golden calf like we have seen pictured in our lessons about the time when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Law? Is it a totem pole like we see in old western movies in an Indian camp? There are many pictures which may come to mind. However, most of us know, idols have never been about physical shapes or representations. Rather, idols are about the contents of our hearts. Idols are not primarily made by the hands of man, but formed within the core of our desire -- our hearts. Idols may be and are anything that messes up our priorities and take the place that only God can and should occupy. It is anything that we rely on for security, satisfaction and identity. Hold on to these three things-security, satisfaction, and identity. We reflect on the history revealed in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) or even our study of ancient history, where idols were more obvious as they were in the form of forged figures. We are so much more enlightened today. In those days, superstition led people to fashion figures of some deity to protect them, to bless them, or to help them be known by their neighbors. See the connection: security, satisfaction, and identity? In his book City of God, Augustine of Hippo tells us about the beginning of sin. 1

2 Pride is the beginning of sin. And what is pride but the craving for undue exaltation? And this is undue exaltation - when the soul abandons Him to whom it ought to cleave as its end, and becomes a kind of end to itself. In his argument, Augustine points out that Satan was smart and beautiful and his pride led him to seek to be greater than God. Augustine sees a pattern in humans as we sin against God. We just stated the idols may be anything that messes up our priorities and take the place only God should occupy. When we take this and the idea presented by Augustine, we can see that all idolatry will stem from one idol that so many of us fail to recognize -- and that idol is the self. Humans have the strongest and biggest tendency to idolize themselves, and everyone has fallen into the trap of placing the self as the idol. That is a strong statement. Where is the Bible to support this? Well, let s start with the words that Paul wrote to Timothy as found in the third chapter of Paul s second letter to the young preacher. But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good (Lit. not loving good), treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness (Or religion), although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB) 2

3 Notice how the list starts with being a lover of the "self" because the love of the self above other things is the root of the love of money, pride, arrogance abuse and every desire that goes against God. We idolize money because of the perceived security it brings to us. We idolize alcohol, drugs and sinful pleasures because of the perceived satisfaction they bring to us. We idolize work and success (which are good things, but too much of anything is bad) because of the perceived identity it brings to us. We can idolize anything that brings a certain benefit to the self, and at the end is the greatest root which is the idol of the self. One of the foundational plots of the Bible is the story of people who denied themselves to follow God. Abraham denied himself the dependence upon Isaac for happiness and giving it to God. Daniel denied his own desire to live to continue to walk in God. The disciples denied their own professions to follow Jesus. The widow who denied her trust in finances by giving all she had to God. The story of the poor widow come in the Bible when Jesus had been tried by various questions: should we pay taxes? Who will be the husband after the resurrection, of a woman married multiple times? What is the greatest commandment? We are told in Mark 12:38 that religious leaders like to receive respect and preferential treatment. Then in the 41 verse, we read: And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, Truly I say 3

4 to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus (or abundance), but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on. (Mark 12:41-44 NASB) This widow did not hold back. She did not hold anyone or anything above her devotion to God. In Luke the 9 th chapter, Jesus had fed the 5000 and they were full so they left. Jesus is alone with His disciples and praying. He then asked them Who do the people say that I am? (Luke 9:18 NASB) We know the various answers given and, when asked directly But who do you say that I am? (Luke 9:20 NASB), Peter gave the answer The Christ of God. (Luke 9:20 NASB). Jesus then tells them about the coming crucifixion and resurrection. He tells them that the religious leaders will be the very ones who will allow their rejection to lead to His death. Then, He tells His disciples one of His count the cost warnings about following Him. And He was saying to them all, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26 NASB) Powerful words of Jesus addressed to His disciples: If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself. When Jesus put the word must in this phrase, I 4

5 don t see any loopholes. This is an imperative to deny ourselves. Maybe there is some relief if we look at the word deny. Well, the word deny that is used in Luke 9:23 is the Greek word ἀπαρνέομαι (aparneomai) pronounced ä-pär-ne'-o-mī. The meaning according to Vine s Complete Expository Dictionary is: a) to affirm that one has no acquaintance or connection with someone; b) to forget one s self, lose sight of one s self and one s own interest. When we read this, we probably never thought about idolatry. Yet, as we said earlier today, an idol is anything that messes up our priorities and take the place only God should occupy. That's why Jesus said. The denying of the self means to deny the idol that is the self. No, the implication is not to forget ourselves and our needs completely, but to surrender them to the Christ of God. We need to see Him for what He is. Jesus the Christ addresses all of the reasons people lift up idols. Jesus is there to meet the needs that we try to address our self when we allow self to become an idol. We began, this morning, noting that people turn to idols to address a need for security, satisfaction, and/or identity. In Jesus we have all of these needs met. We have security in Jesus. He has told us: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20 NASB) In Hebrews we are told: Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU, so that we confidently 5

6 say, THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME? (Hebrews 13:5-6 NASB) Jesus has promise to meet our hungers and thirsts. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. (John 6:35 NASB) Then in the 7 th chapter of John. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38 NASB) In Jesus, we have our identity. We become children of God. We are in Christ and truly a part of Christ. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13 NASB) Now you are Christ s body, and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27 NASB) In Jesus, we have the entire package. In Him, we have our satisfaction, security and identity. We have all three by His will and power. We have all things we need and seek in the one who tells us: If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 6