Living for Self vs. Self-Denial

· Lately, I’ve been reading through the New Testament in the Message Bible. That’s what I was doing as the Lord began to give me this "sermon". You’ll notice I quote many of the Scriptures in that version. I believe that will help your ears to perhaps hear Scripture in a new way.

I have 12 points, a few quotes, and over 40 Scriptures!

1) Introduction to “resisting the pull”

James 5:5 - You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.

Amplified - [Here] on earth you have abandoned yourselves to soft (prodigal) living and to [the pleasures of] self-indulgence and self-gratification.

James 5:20 – (James’ final comment to his book) - Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Message - Go after them. Get them back and you will have… prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

This is what I see in the American church – an epidemic of wandering away from God. Sure there’s still the veneer of religiosity – church attendance, etc. But according to…

Titus 2:12 – we are to… say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

Message - We're being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life… WOW!

Have you turned your back on a godless, indulgent lifestyle? Or, are you chasing worldly passions like everyone else?

Are you resisting the pull?

Do you remember when you studied Greek Mythology in school? Do you remember learning about the “call of the sirens”? Let me read a little bit of it to you:

“The Sirens, they say, had maidens' features, but from the thighs down they had the form of a bird. One of them played the lyre, another sang, and another played the flute. By these means, and by clever and deceitful words, they persuaded passing mariners to linger, thus causing their destruction. That is why the island where they lived was full of the bones of those who had perished.

When the Argonauts sailed past the Sirens, Orpheus chanted a counter melody to protect his companions, but Butes swam off to the Sirens, and would have perished had not Aphrodite carried him away.

Odysseus stopped the ears of his comrades with beeswax, and ordered that he should himself be bound to the mast, so that he could hear the lovely voices of the Sirens, who sang:

"Draw near ... illustrious Odysseus and bring your ship to rest that you may hear our voices. No seaman ever sailed his black ship past this place without listening to the sweet voices that flow from our lips, and none that listened has not been delighted and gone on a wiser man.”

When he heard their persuasive song, he strongly desired to linger and begged to be released, but his comrades bound him tighter, until they had sailed past them.”

These sailors struggled greatly to resist the pull of the Sirens. It sounded “sweet”. It made promises to its listeners: “None that listens has not been delighted and gone on a wiser man”. But, their words were “clever and deceitful”. The Siren’s “persuasive song” caused them to linger, causing their destruction. Their island was “full of the bones of those who had perished.”

To resist the pull, the sailors had to sing counter melodies, stop their ears with wax, and tie themselves to the mast.

The call of the sirens is a made-up story. But I believe it paints a very vivid picture of the culture that surrounds us and the lure it has on us.

2) Living for self vs. self-denial

Revelation 3:14-19 – (Message) Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God's Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God's creation, says: "I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.

"The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they'll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!”

The Church of Laodicea was:

• self-reliant (in great need, but thought they had it all together)
• self-focused (not passionate about God)
• self-led (living independent of God).

Sounds to me like the American culture. It’s all about me and self-fulfillment. I want it. I need it. I deserve it.

American culture is all about self! self-fulfillment, self-sufficiency, self-dependence, self-will, self-indulgence, and self-preservation

BUT God has called us to self-denial!

He has called us to surrender!

Mark 10:45 tells us why Jesus came. He came to… give away his life

I John 2:15, 16 – (Message) Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

Amplified (vs. 16) – For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things]--these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

I John 3:16, 17 – (Message) This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

Are you living up to your best?

Or, are you – like the sailors – lingering somewhere that will cause your destruction?

Resist the pull!