QUESTION: If I am the problem, what is the solution?
__________________________________________________________________
IV. FOCUSING ON GOD'S IMAGE – NOT YOURS
A. Self-Detachment.
1. Matt 16:24 "deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
i. Such self-denial is not the giving up of ice cream for Lent but is the actual denial of "self " itself. The real question is: "Why are you thinking about ourselves?"
2. 2 Corinthians 5:15 "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again"
i. The call of the gospel is away from self and unto Jesus, because self is the problem and Jesus is the solution.
ii. C.S. Lewis wrote: "But there must be a real giving up of the self. You must throw it away "blindly" so to speak. Christ will indeed give you a real personality, but you must not go to Him for the sake of that. As long as your own personality is what you are bothering about, you are not going to Him at all. The very first step is to try to forget about the self altogether."
B. Death.
1. According to the theories of human behavior proposed by the noted Viennese psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl, the father of logotherapy, "getting off self " is well within our capability. While Frankl's theories certainly do not offer any lasting solutions for human problems, he is one of the few theorists within humanistic psychology who accurately identifies one aspect of the problem. While most teach self-esteem and urge us to reflect positively upon ourselves, Viktor Frankl calls us to forget about ourselves. He teaches self-detachment.
2. Dr. Frankl uses the principle of "self-detachment" as the foundation for his logotherapy approach to helping people work through their personal problems. He urges those who are burdened by the meaninglessness of their daily lives to separate from themselves and become involved in other activities or develop relationships with other people. Frankl speaks of this action of getting away from self as a "coping mechanism built into the human psyche." His understanding and application of the concept of self-detachment is based upon his experiences in the death camps of Auschwitz where he was held captive during the Second World War. He noticed that those who maintained their mental and emotional stability in the midst of the horrible conditions of a concentration camp had detached themselves from themselves and had become engrossed in other activities and relationships. Frankl points out that the more one forgets oneself-- giving oneself to a cause or another person--the more human he is. He says, "The more one is immersed and absorbed in something or someone other than oneself, the more he really becomes human."
C. Understanding the Cross.
1. For the Christian, "getting off self"' is more than merely a "coping mechanism built into the human psyche." Nor is turning away from self a technique or gimmick to make us feel better. It is our only proper response to what God has accomplished in Jesus.
2. Every stance that a Christian occupies toward self and toward God is motivated by the Holy Spirit working through the revealed Word of God, producing a faith response. This is acting on the basis of what God has done! You cannot live the Christian life on the basis of humanistic psychology. While you might succeed in living a fairly decent life, it is not "the Christian life."
3. The Christian life is lived out on the basis and foundation of what God has done in Jesus. God's complete solution to the human dilemma caused by the historical fall of Adam is found in, and only in, another set of historical facts; namely, the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a vital truth! Since our corrupted human nature was determined by the historical fall of Adam, our new identity and life is determined by the historical redeeming work of Jesus.
4. The events that occurred in the city of Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago were decisive events which affected all of humanity, whether they know it or not. In those events are all the benefits and provisions of God whereby we are set free from ourselves and granted a new life in Christ.
5. 1 Corinthians 15:45 "The first man Adam became a living being," the last Adam a life-giving Spirit."
a. God's purpose in sending Jesus into this world was to reverse the results of the fall of Adam whereby all of mankind was corrupted through sin. For this reason, Jesus is referred to in Scripture as the "last Adam."
6. Romans 5:18 "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men."
a. In order to solve the human dilemma, God included and identified all mankind--all of Adam's children--in His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus. As our human life is the result of our identification with Adam since we were born "in Adam," so God grants to us a new beginning, a new identity, and a new life by identifying us with Jesus. We are born again "in Christ." This biblical truth involves a great many practical results in terms of our identity and life. It is a very neglected truth which has, for the most part, not been clearly taught in the church.
7. 1 Corinthians 1:30 "It is because of Him (God the Father) that you are in Christ Jesus!"
a. Because God has included us in Christ Jesus, whatever happened to Jesus also objectively, in the eyes of God, happened to us. If my house burns to the ground, whatever is contained in my house is also destroyed. If God included us in Christ Jesus, His history becomes our history.
b. The answer to the question, "Why should I separate from myself and reject myself?" is found in the truth that in the eyes of God, we died with Christ. The judgment measured against Jesus is the judgment measured against the whole world of sinners. His death was the death of all men and is the God imposed act of judgment upon the children of Adam, even though the sentence was executed upon the Son of God. The execution of Jesus on the cross is a vicarious act. Jesus died in our place, for us, instead of us. Because he had to die, God has judged us as being dead. We died with Him.
c. We will not understand the meaning of, nor grasp in faith the new life offered in Jesus until we are willing to pass the same judgment upon ourselves that God has already passed upon us through the cross. The death of Jesus passed a total, complete judgment upon everything that we are, everything we have done regardless of whether it is good or bad, and everything that we possess in terms of natural gifts, skills, abilities, etc. Because Jesus died, we are dead! We have been canceled out by the cross. God looked at fallen humanity, born out of the perverted root of Adam, and declared, "You are the problem and must be executed!"
d. The cross of Jesus grants to us the only accurate estimate of ourselves and the only relief from ourselves. The implications of the cross are not pretty. Because Jesus died for us and we were included in Him, we are to consider ourselves as being dead .
1) 2 Corinthians 5:14 (KJV), "If one died for all, then we're all dead!"
2) Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ!"
3) Romans 6:11 "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin.."
i) We are to think of ourselves as being dead to sin dead to the Law
4) Romans 7:4 "...you also died to the law"
5) Galatians 6:14 "...through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world".
6) Romans 6 "Should we continue to live in sin in order that grace might abound?" "How can we who died to sin continue to live in it?"
D. Application.
1. The out-working and application of this truth is in the manner in which we regard and judge ourselves. The Holy Spirit calls us to separate from ourselves as separate from that which is dead. Regarding yourself as dead is the ultimate act of self-rejection. It is one thing to feel bad about yourself; it is something far more intense to consider yourself a "dead thing." "Feeling bad about yourself" is considered to be a "psychological sickness" which, according to God's judgment, should be regarded as a "sickness unto death."
2. Because the death of Jesus was our death, living with ourselves and unto ourselves means living with a "dead thing." Jesus calls us to separate from the "dead thing," to lose our lives, to deny ourselves and cling in faith to him.
a. 2 Corinthians 5:14,15 "We are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again"
1) A person who dies is free -- free from any good works and free from any evil works. The person is free from worry and fear, free from sin and death. Centering and focusing attention upon self is merely digging up the corpse, so to speak. If you know that you have died with Jesus, how can you feel good about yourself? A funeral director may make up and neatly dress a corpse, and the family may gather around the open casket and say, "Doesn't he look good?" but the cold facts are, the corpse is dead no matter how good it may look.
E. The Dealings of God.
1. While the fact that we died with Jesus is an objective reality since it is true outside of our experience, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to work this death within us subjectively through the various difficulties, disappointments, problems, temptations, and hardships of life. Through these dealings of God, we are motivated to become disappointed and "fed up" with ourselves and our "dead works" so that we might "get off self" and live our new life in Christ Jesus. In order to accomplish this work, God may even employ the assaults of the devil.
a. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 "Three times I pleaded with the lord to take it away from me.."
1) Paul was being plagued by a "messenger of satan" which God refused to remove lest Paul would become too highly exalted
b. 2 Corinthians 4:10,11 "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body."
c. 2 Corinthians 12:9 "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me"
1) Most Christians today do not realize how important weakness, failure, discouragement, disappointment, suffering, testing, and trials are in the development of their Christian life. Through these dealings of God our natural sinful pride is being dealt with. God calls us away from ourselves so that through burying, rejecting, and denying self we may turn in faith unto our Lord Jesus and experience His life, peace, joy, and power.
F. The Real Enemy.
1. John 15:2 "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit..."
a. The Bible clearly teaches that every branch that bears fruit gets pruned.
2. Hebrews 12:6 "The Lord disciplines those He loves."
a. Many Bible teachers today promote the heresy that Jesus has taken upon Himself all the dealings of the Father so that we might experience His positive blessings, be enlarged, and be comfortable and prosperous in this world. They fail to recognize that we are the problem and God's purpose is to daily deliver us to the work of the cross so that we might leave self behind. Those who offer this teaching to the church are thereby confirming the children of God in childish immaturity.
b. Because of this error, many Christians have failed to learn the value of the disciplining work of God and never come to the place of turning away from self. Rather, contrary to His will, they seek God to enlarge and prosper self. For this reason, they never mature in their relationship with God nor discover all their sufficiency in Jesus. They are unable to understand how it is that they can experience various sufferings and even be allowed to fall into sin. Even though they go through their ritualistic binding of the devil and confess the positive promises of the Word of God, nothing works. This seductive "faith teaching" is embraced by many Christians. It is far more popular to blame the devil than to see yourself as the cause of your own problems. To claim "the devil made me do it" is a cop-out.
c. In dealing with Christians, the devil does not operate through direct confrontation. While he is shrewdly working behind the scenes, the manifest enemy is not the devil, but our own sinful, self-centered, and proud human existence. In the Garden of Eden, it was not the purpose of the devil to tempt Eve to make a choice between worshipping him and worshipping God. Eve would have never given in to that temptation. The choice was between human pride -- the desire to be like God -- and worshipping and serving God Himself. After Adam and Eve fall into sin, the devil drops out of the picture. You hear very little about him in the Old Testament. Once humanity is corrupted and turns in on themselves, they will disobey God and destroy their fellow humans without the devil, reminding them to do so.
d. When Jesus determined to do the will of the Father in heaven and thereby deny His own life, the devil appeared on the scene. The three temptations that he used in the wilderness against Jesus were not directed at committing any great sins against God but were temptations directing Jesus to live unto himself, to be concerned with His own comforts, and to preserve His own life.
e. Many people are concerned today by the increase in occult activities and the growing popularity of satan worship. The devil doesn't care how religious we are as long as we live for ourselves, remain consciously wrapped up in ourselves, try to feel good about ourselves, and cover up the nakedness of empty, meaningless lives through a spiritual charade.
3. There are many hurting, unhappy, discouraged people in our world today. They struggle with their little problems and failures, chasing after every flimsy hope that is held out to them whereby they might overcome and find relief from their personal fears, broken hearts, worries, guilt, and feelings of inadequacy. They buy self-help books, undergo counseling, and seek to discover some gimmick, some way of thinking or acting that will provide relief.
4. Are you hurting enough to give up on yourself? Are you unhappy enough and miserable enough to turn away from yourself with all your problems and failures and seek relief in a relationship with the person of Jesus Christ?
a. Jesus is the answer and does provide help, relief, comfort, peace, and joy, but surrendering and giving up on self is a prerequisite.
b. I believe it was Watchman Nee who told the story about the time that he was standing on a dock by the side of a lake. He was there with a friend who was an excellent swimmer. They were both watching a man who was swimming a rather long way from the shore. All of a sudden the man in the water got into trouble. He began to scream for help and thrash the water. Nee turned to his friend and excitedly asked, "Aren't you going to help him? The man is in trouble." "Not yet," his friend calmly answered. A few moments passed and the man in the lake went down and came up again, struggling and fighting for air. "Save him! Save him!" Nee begged. "Not yet," his friend calmly responded. Finally, the man stopped thrashing the water and all was calm. Nee's friend jumped into the water and with expert strokes swam to the drowning man and began to pull him to shore. Arriving at the shore, Nee's friend administered aid, and the drowning man, coughing and sputtering, was revived. After the incident was over, Nee confronted his friend. "Why did you wait so long to save this man? He could have drowned!" "I had no other choice," his friend responded. "If I would have gone to him immediately, he would have panicked and pulled me down with him. I had to wait until he stopped kicking. Then I could save him."
1) Are you willing to stop kicking? Are you willing to see all your little problems and unresolved conflicts, discouragement's and disappointments, bad habits, negative attitudes, faults, and failures as being means whereby God is at work bringing you to the end of yourself? Are you willing to be nailed to the cross of Christ and buried in the waters of your baptism? Get off yourself! You are the problem. Reject yourself! Forget about yourself You are beyond help. God has given to you Jesus who is your help.
2) C.S. Lewis writes at the very end of "Mere Christianity", Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."
i)When we turn away from and reject self and turn to Jesus, the very first thing that He gives to us is a new, lofty personal identity in Him. No longer must we "find ourselves" in the various means of identification offered by this world. No longer do we need other people to bolster our flagging sense of self-worth. Our endless quest to be somebody and to gain power, influence, fame, and fortune comes to an end. The identity that God gives to us in Christ Jesus lifts us far higher than anything this world can offer.
5. 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come"
a. God included and identified all mankind, all of Adam's children, in His Son, Jesus Christ. His death was the death of all men. Through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, God brought into being a new creation.
6. Romans 5:19 "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous".
1) As the result of the obedience of Jesus, God has given us a new designation. In Adam we are called "sinners." In Jesus, we are called "righteous." We died with Him, and we have been raised with Him to a new life.
G. Ascension of Jesus
1. Ephesians 2:4-6 "But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus."
a. The truth that God has identified us with the ascension of Jesus is a very exciting truth which can literally lift our hearts out of the conflicts of this present life and into the heavenly places. It is not surprising that people have so much difficulty trying to find themselves in this world. They are looking in the wrong place. They are not looking up.
2. Colossians 3:14 "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."
a. We died with Jesus. We are dead to sin, dead to the world, dead to self. We are a new creature.
b. If in God's eyes you ascended into the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, then, as far as God is concerned, you are not even here. You are where Jesus is! For this reason, you have no identity here on this earth. You have no reason to even be concerned with yourself From God's perspective, you have no life to improve and no righteousness or holiness to call your own. You have no great ministry in which you can boast. You are dead, and the person of Christ Jesus, dwelling within you by the Holy Spirit, is your only life.
3. Colossians 3:13 "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."
a. The truth is, God put us to death with Jesus, made us alive in the resurrection, and raised us up with Jesus in the ascension. Our personal identity is in the heavenlies. While the death of Jesus frees us from the "negative self," His ascension frees us from trying to find a "new spiritual self," which can be just as big a problem. It is no fun trying to act spiritual in the company of other people who are trying to act spiritual. They may see through your act. By identifying us with the ascension of Jesus, God took us out of the picture completely. Having been identified with Jesus, we are where He is! Our citizenship is in heaven. Our real life is hidden with Jesus in God.
b. If God would have only identified us with the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, we would still have every reason to become engrossed and centered in ourselves -- our new spiritual, Christian, holy, selves. Because of this failure to identify "self" with Jesus in His ascension, many today boast of their new identity here on this earth. They strive to build their self-image upon what God has done for them. They talk about their spiritual gifts and their victorious Christian lives. They seek to build and defend their great ministries so that they might be known as "great men of God." Nothing has changed! They are still wrapped up and indulged in self.
H. Human weakness/divine strength.
1. 2 Corinthians 11:1 "I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness;"
a. Paul felt foolish when put into the position of speaking of his own accomplishments He was not concerned with himself. His negative self-image was not adjusted by his relationship with Jesus.
2. 2 Corinthians 12:9 "But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness."
a. Paul speaks about boasting of his weaknesses so that the power of Christ would rest upon him. When he looked upon his life that was lived upon this earth, he saw only his human weakness. Paul saw himself as weak, but Christ within him as strong. He downgraded himself, spoke of his weaknesses and his sufferings, called himself a wretch, and identified himself as the "chief of sinners."
b. There are other times when Paul looked away from himself to the throne where he was seated with Christ and found his identity in Christ. He was a conqueror! He was a saint! He was able to do all things through Christ! Whenever he took his focus away from the throne and gazed upon himself, he was weak and miserable.
3. Colossians 3:1 "Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God."
a. This is a very important principle. When you look at yourself, you must see your sin. When you look away from yourself to Jesus, you see your new identity, your perfect righteousness, your glorious position with God in the heavenly places. Your life in this world, your peace, your joy and contentment is not dependent upon "how" you look. It depends upon "where" you look.
I. Right with God.
1. Let's apply this principle of looking to Jesus to the great doctrine of justification by faith. The doctrine of justification is the central teaching of the Christian church which fueled the Reformation of 1517. It speaks of our righteousness before God in Christ Jesus. It refers to our identity, the position that we have in Christ. There are many Christians who do not grasp the significance of justification because they do not understand the focus of justification.
a. In order to get to heaven and stand confidently in the presence of God. God is a perfectly righteous God and no imperfection can stand before Him. The problem is, how are we going to become perfect? Where are we going to get perfect righteousness?
b. The good news of justification is that God has declared us perfect in Jesus and has already seated us in the heavenly places. This is our identity. It is outside of us. By identifying us with Christ, God imputed to us the very righteousness of Christ. It was credited to our account. Christ is our righteousness.
c. We must be very careful to maintain that our righteousness before God is based upon what God has accomplished in Jesus, not what we accomplish for Jesus. We are righteous because God has identified us with Jesus and has imputed to us the very righteousness of Jesus. We can do good works and experience the peace and joy of the Lord because Jesus is in us. Such a distinction is very important. To preserve our assurance of eternal life, we must maintain that our righteousness before God, wherein we shall stand before Him on the day of judgment, is not based on our good works, but because God has given to us a righteous identity in Christ Jesus.
d. Perfect means the identity which God has given to us in Jesus. When we look at Jesus, seated at the right hand of God, we see our perfect righteousness. When we look at ourselves plodding along from day to day, getting old and facing inevitable death, we see our sin. The question is "Where do we choose to look?"
