“Dying To Self”
Romans 6:4
01/27/2008
by
Dcn. Chris Nerreau
READ PASSAGE
“Dying To Self”
INTRODUCTION: May the words of my lips and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, giving praise, glory and honor to Your name our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen!
Have you ever asked yourself – “How do I grow in intimacy with God?” If I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me I would be well off and if I had a dollar for every time I have asked God myself, I would be extremely wealthy!
Unfortunately most pastors only give half an answer to this question! They simply say you need to read more scripture, pray more, attend church more often or engage in the sacraments more, none of which are wrong, but all are incomplete. So what is the answer? Let me try to illustrate it for you.
ILLUSTRATION: Returning home from a long journey was a Pirate, he had spent many years lying, stealing, and cheating in a far away land, storing up a great chest of treasure for himself. The pirate held on tightly to that chest because he saw in it, something of much more value than just jewels and gold, rather he saw in that chest, the fulfillment of all his dreams, hopes and aspirations. He knew that, that treasure was his key to the “good life”.
The pirate having made his fortune decided it was time to return home and after boarding the ship and having traveled a great distance from the shore, a storm arose. It did not take long for the storm to overtake the ship and soon the ship began to break into pieces. Eventually the pirate and his treasure plunged into the cold sea. He began to sink holding on desperately to that chest. As the pirate was sinking, all that raced through his mind was – “how can I get my treasure to the surface?” Slowly the pirate began to realize that life was not in the chest, but on the surface and that holding onto the chest would cause him to die. Reluctantly the pirate let go of that chest and began to swim upwards toward the surface.
We are a lot like that pirate, holding onto our agenda’s, ego’s and fleshly desires, thinking all the while that they will bring us life. But in reality, they are pulling us down toward death. As such...
PROPOSITION: Growing in intimacy with God occurs as we die to ourselves (let go of our treasure), that we may begin to swim upward toward Christ who is "life".
ORIENTATION: Today I want to discuss with you what it means to die to self (letting go of the treasure) and also what this new life is that Paul describes:
1. Dying to Self
2. Newness of Life
TRANSITION: So let’s begin by looking at what it means to …
I. Die To Self – v.2
EXPLAINATION:
What caused Christ’s death was His unwavering commitment to fulfill the will of His Father and this is the death that we enter into in Baptism. Jesus is our example of what it means to die to oneself, He always set the will of the Father above His own.
Observation – (v. 2)
v. 2 “We were buried therefore with Him, by baptism into death…”
• Jesus death began at the incarnation and ended at the crucifixion
• v.2 “Buried” – To be buried with Christ is to have begin our own personal journey toward Calvary.
• What is this death that we have entered into?
o Death To Our Agenda – Submission to the Fathers Will – We are called to trust in God and His plan for our lives when it agrees with our agenda and when it does not.
“Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done.”
o Death To Our Ego – A Forfeiting Of Our Right To Strike Back – Forgiveness always costs us something! As Baptized Christians we have entered into Christ’s death and part of that death is setting aside our right to strike back.
Mt. 4:39 – “But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” This has to do with insults, a figurative slap across the face, or a word or act done to us that hurts our ego’s.
Lk. 23:10 – The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. 11 And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then, arraying him in gorgeous apparel, he sent him back to Pilate.
o Death To Our Material Possessions- Believing God’s Owns It All – One of the areas that goes last is money and material things. But to die with Christ is to surrender all of our material wealth.
Mt. 19:18 “Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.”
Mt. 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Interpretation – (v. 13, 14)
• In our baptism we died to self and now we must crucify ourselves by –
o Nailing our Rights to the cross
o Nailing our Desires to the cross
o Nailing our Agenda’s to the cross
o Nailing our Ego’s to the cross
• In (Phil 2:6) it says that Jesus emptied Himself, became a servant and did not count equality with God as “something to be grasped.”
Illustration –
A young man went out to the desert to meet a desert father for instruction. When he arrived he said “Abba, what is Christian perfection?” The desert Father excitedly said – “follow me!” and he lead the young man into a cemetery. They approached a fresh grave and the old man stood on top of the grave and speaking to the dead man said – “you were the most miserable person that ever lived, you were ugly, mean and the world is far worse off for having you in it, your death could not have come soon enough!” The old man paused after saying this and looked at the young man, asking – “how did the dead man respond?” The young man replied – “he is dead, he did not respond.” Then the abba looked toward the grave again and said – “you were the most wonderful person I had ever met, Everything you did was wonderful, you were so handsome and splendid, the world is a far worse place with you having left it.” The abba again turned to the young man and asked – “what was the dead mans response to what I have said?” Again the young man said – “the man is dead, he has no response.”
The abba then said – “This is Christian perfection, the dead man stands before his God and hears Him alone, he is unswayed by condemnation or praise, truly this man has achieved Christian perfection.”
Application –
• Do you want to grow in intimacy with God? It begins with dying to oneself.
• People often say to me – “I cannot hear God”, But in order to do so we must first turn down the volume of self. How are you doing in this area.
• Note: This does not happen in a single moment or day, it is a lifelong process of slowly moving toward intimacy with God. There are times where we fall back and times when we move drastically forward.
• Each success we have in emptying our treasure chest leads to future success as we see the intimacy we so long for and the faithfulness of the provision of God.
• I am calling you to die to yourself beginning today, to take inventory of the priorities of your life and to emulate the sacrificial nature of our Lord.
Transition – The reward for dying with Christ is to be also raised with Him…
II. The New Life – v.3
EXPLAINATION:
What is the new life that Christ promises to those who belong to Him? Well, it is to walk in the freedom of Christ, we have looked at dying to self now let’s look at the results of our death.
In the Orthodox Church it is said and believed that the theologian is not the academic, it is the person of prayer and sacrifice, because they walk in a newness of life…
But what is this newness?
Observation – (v. 3)
v.3 What it means to “Walk in newness of Life…”
Examples of the newness that can be ours…
• Newness In Prayer - Lk. 6:12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God.
• Newness In Compassion - Mt. 14:14 “As he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.
• Newness In Hearing God – John 6:40 “For this is the will of my Father…”
• Newness In Courage – Mt. 11:15 “And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; 16 and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple.”
• Newness In Insight –Mt. 7:29 “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”
• Newness of Promise - Mk. 10:29 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many that are first will be last, and the last first.”
Interpretation – (v. 13, 14)
• The life that we seek is the life that Christ lived! We are called to grow in His likeness and the fruit of this is:
o Growing in intimacy with the Father, the gift includes:
Intimate prayer
Compassion
Hearing God in your life
Knowing The Father’s will and heart
Courage to stand boldly for what is right
Insight into heavenly things
And a promise that a great reward awaits you!
Illustration -
I have often said and hear other Christian’s say – “I want to be close to God more than anything!” my question to you is – “do you want it enough to surrender everything?” God is ready to assume full responsibility for your life as soon as you are willing to die to it!
In the movie the gladiator , at the very end, there is a scene where the hero is walking through a field of grain toward his family in paradise. The war was over, the fighting complete, the sacrifice finished and all that was left was freedom and joy. If you watch this scene you can not help but desire it, it is the longing of the soul and it is the reward for all of those willing to die to themselves and live unto God!
Application –
• What are you really willing to put into your relationship with God? Are you willing to die to yourself in order that you may experience the life of Freedom that Christ lived?
• Christ said it is for freedom that He set you free, Gal. 5:1 – To enter into this freedom will stretch you, but in the end you will find the price to be cheap in comparison to the intimacy that is yours in God!
• Will you enter into this freedom, will you die to yourself that you may live unto Christ?
Conclusion
• Growing in intimacy with God means we have to empty our treasure chest. You cannot drag it to the surface you must let it go in order to be set free.
• In our baptism we entered into this life of death (to ourselves), and we have been given the strength to complete it!
• Today, I call upon you to remember your burial with Christ that you may experience your resurrection into a Newness of Life, even today….
Closing Illustration:
Peter said unto Jesus, in the Gospel of Mark 14:31 “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And then of course we know what happened to Peter.
Please understand that giving up control of our agenda’s, ego’s and fleshly desires, our lives, is scary! And God is not condemning you, nor is He threatening you, He is inviting you to trust in Him as you submit all of your life to Him. And He is promising you that if you will enter into the suffering of Christ, you will also, both in this life and the next enter into His resurrection! And the newness of intimacy with God Himself!!!!
Amen!
