Passage: Luke 9:23; Luke 16:15

The Big Idea

The world says, “Be who you are. Believe in yourself. Chase your dreams.” But Jesus told the self-confident Pharisees that what people esteem highly is detestable to God. God hates pride: the heart that says, “I don’t need God.” When Jesus called fishermen, He swept away their old identity and plans with two words: “Follow Me.” The way to follow Him is no to self (renouncing dependence on the flesh) and death to self (taking up the cross daily). There’s no reform program for the flesh; God’s plan is to crucify it. The answer to our problems isn’t self-esteem. The problem is self. The answer is Christ living in us.

The World’s Message

“Be who you are. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Give it your best. Go for the gold. Trust yourself. Believe in yourself. Chase your dreams.”

Man-centered thinking often treats self-esteem as the cure for everything. But it isn’t a new idea. Some of history’s greatest experts in it lived two thousand years ago. The Pharisees thought pretty highly of themselves. Here’s what Jesus said to them:

“You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).

What is it in the human heart that God finds so detestable? Proverbs tells us: pride.

Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 16:5).
Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate (Proverbs 8:13).
The wicked in his pride does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts (Psalm 10:4).

Pride is a mind consumed with self. Pride says, “I don’t need God,” or worse, “God should accept me as I am because I deserve it.”

Long ago, the enemy fell through pride. He was lifted up until he forgot his need for God and thought he could do what he wanted without Him. That’s the root of all rebellion and sin: “You don’t need God.”

“Follow Me” (Matthew 4:18-20)

Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

Simon and Andrew had an identity and a plan. They were fishermen, like their father. They were trained, skilled and secure. They thought they could always get done what they needed through effort and know-how.
Then they met Jesus, and all their plans went out the window.
Jesus didn’t care about all their years of preparation and investment, or that being a fisherman was where they found their identity.

Jesus walked up and tore away their old identity, their self-confidence and their self-sufficiency, with two words: “Follow Me.”

You’ve had plans. Leave them.
You’ve had pursuits. End them.
You’ve followed the work, the fish and your own plans. No more leading the way for you.

“And I will make you fishers of men.”

I will do something for you. I will make something of you. Not “make something of yourself”!
What you’ve been doing would never save a single person. I’m going to use you to save people. I’ll make you effective. That’s My job, My ministry to you.
That’s grace: God’s power at work in your life.

“But what about my plans and abilities?” Leave them behind. “Follow Me” means follow Me. It used to be about you. Now it’s about Him. Turn your back on your plans, abilities, ideas and desires.

The Way to Follow (Luke 9:23)

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

This is the way: No to self. Death to self.

No to self: deny yourself

To follow Jesus, we renounce all dependence on our flesh. Paul did:

I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find (Romans 7:18).

Paul knew he had no ability in himself to be good.
He couldn’t depend on his natural abilities to do what they could never do.
People can fake doing good. Being good is the problem. Spiritually, we’re bankrupt in ourselves.

“Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Only through deep connection with and trust in Jesus can we bear the fruit of righteousness.

That’s how Jesus lived too:

“I live because of the Father” (John 6:57).
“The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10).

Jesus didn’t do good just because He was naturally that good. He lived through His connection with the Father, not in independence. He chose the Father’s will over His own.

He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). How far did He go in trusting His Father? All the way to death.

Death to self: take up your cross

Death to self isn’t comfortable. If I had to describe it, I’d say it feels like dying!
Who likes to die? Yet people choose to lay down their lives, for their country, to save innocent lives. What do they have in common? Love.
What makes us willing to die to ourselves? Jesus’ love for us, and our love for Him in return.

To follow Jesus, we lay down everything we expect out of life:

comfort,
blessings,
success,
plans,
riches,
talents and abilities,
recognition,
happiness on our own terms,
any expectations at all.

And we start cleaning some toilets and washing some feet.

We bring nothing with us when we follow Jesus, especially not our tainted, flesh-based abilities. Leave the old, self-sufficient self behind.

“Just Give God Your Best”?

A popular message in Christian circles says, “Just give God your best, and He’ll make up the rest.” But that’s backward. Our “best,” when it comes from self-reliance, is rooted in the flesh and pride, and God opposes pride.

When we tell someone to just try harder or give more effort to follow Jesus, we’re sending them up a mountain on legs that don’t work.

It’s self that needs to die, not be relied on.
Our self-reliant works need to be repented of, not encouraged.
There’s no reformation project for the flesh. God has no plan to fix it. His plan is to put it to death on the cross.

God loves you, but He opposes your flesh. Think of Esau and Jacob (Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:13). Esau was a man’s man: big, hairy, a hunter. But Esau trusted only himself and despised God’s promise. Jacob was just as much a sinner. But one thing set him apart: he was willing to acknowledge his need for God. After some wrestling (Genesis 32), he depended on God’s blessing, not himself.

God knows your heart. He knows whether you depend on yourself. He loves you and wants to bless you. But if you insist on depending on your flesh, He will resist you, because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).

If you’re not experiencing God’s grace right now, maybe something in you needs to die.

Crucified With Christ

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Galatians 2:20-21).

Our lives are meant to experience and show the wonders of God’s grace.
Grace is His gift to those who renounce dependence on the flesh and trust His Son to bring resurrection into their lives.
We can’t do anything right through the law. Only the death of Jesus, and our faith in it, fills us with the real life and obedience that can change the world.

Grace Takeaway

The answer to your problems isn’t self-esteem. The problem is self, and the answer is Christ. The world will call that foolish. That’s fine. Whenever you think about yourself, when you counsel others, when you train your kids, when you hit a midlife crisis, even when you’re asked to wash the dishes, remember: No to self. Death to self. And then, Christ lives in me.

← No Fear in Love: The Perfect Love Relationship | All Topical Messages notes | Exceedingly Great and Precious Promises →

No to Self, Death to Self