The Master's Guide To Your Best Self

THE MASTER’S GUIDE TO YOUR BEST SELF—Mark 8:27-38

What is the one topic everybody in the world is interested in?

It is not sports…not politics…not who will be the next Bachelor…not _____ (Pastor: Be creative and specific.)

All you have to do to find out what people care most about is go on social media, where you will find lots of…selfies. We are all interested in ourselves.

We hear it all the time: I want to…find myself…be true to myself…fulfill my self-potential. I need to…take care of myself…look out for myself…love myself…indulge myself…stand up for myself.

That is not all bad. In fact, Jesus says our most important concern in life should be our “self.” In Mark 8:36-37, he says, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

(The Greek word for “soul” is psyche. The soul is not, as some people think, an amorphous, immaterial part of us, disconnected from daily life. It is the essence of who we are, both now and forever.)

Yet Jesus says some surprising things about how to become your best self!

Read Mark 8:34-38 (Pastor, if you have not yet read the entire text, you might read 8:27-38 here.)

HOW DO WE BECOME OUR BEST SELF?

Jesus says something that goes against almost every message about self-care: “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35-36)

Jesus is not against taking care of ourselves. In Mark 6:30-31, we read, “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’” Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and we should take care of our physical and emotional health.

But a life focused on oneself is empty and futile. Billy Graham said something like, “The smallest package in the entire world is a person wrapped up in himself.” Maybe you know people who make everything about themselves. Their lives get lost in themselves.

Jesus recognized that our purpose in life is bigger than ourselves. Our purpose is found the gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ. Our best self finds it place in God’s glorious kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy.

How do find our place in God’s kingdom? Jesus tells us how, and he shows us the way: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)

1. DENY SELF

What does Jesus mean? Does he want us to deny our value and put ourselves down? Does he want us to be passive, wimpy, or weak—a doormat so others can walk all over us? Should we work so hard at being humble that we can’t accept a compliment? No!

Jesus is our example, and Jesus did not have a low view of himself. In verses 27-29, Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was, and Peter answered, “You are the Messiah” (Christ in Greek). Jesus was THE MAN! He was the one all the Jews were praying would come. He boldly claimed to be the glorious Son of Man prophesied in Daniel, and even more boldly, he claimed to be the Son of God!

So what did it mean for Jesus to deny himself? The three temptations he faced in the wilderness before he began his ministry were mostly about the question, “Who are you going to live for?” The devil tempted him to use his power as the Son of God to make bread for himself, to save himself from harm, and to establish an earthly kingdom for himself. Jesus beat the temptations, refusing to make his life all about himself and his desires.

Jesus said clearly what denying himself meant for him, in John 6:38, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”

Not my will, but God’s will, be done.

The Apostle Paul spoke of self-denial in terms of his “rights,” in 1 Corinthians 9:1-12, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle?...Don’t we have the right to food and drink? Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?...But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.”

DENYING SELF INVOLVES GIVING UP OUR RIGHTS.

We give up the right to indulge our desires.