Denying Self and Following Christ # 1

Denying Self and Following Christ # 1

"You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and  take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you" (Matthew 5:38-42).

We have already studied these verses twice. First, we looked at them in general, reminding ourselves of certain principles which govern the interpretation. Then we considered the statements one by one in detail, and saw that our Lord's concern is that we should be set free from all desire for personal revenge. There is nothing which is so tragic as the way in which many people, when they come to this paragraph, become so immersed in details, and are so ready to argue about the rightness or wrongness of doing this or that, that they completely lose sight of the great principle here expressed, which is the Christian's attitude towards himself.

These illustrations are used by our Lord simply to bring out His teaching concerning that great central principle. "You." He says in effect, 'must have a right view of yourselves. Your troubles arise because you tend to go wrong at that particular point. In other words, our Lord's primary concern here is with what we are, rather than with what we do. What we do is important, because it is indicative of what we are. He illustrates that here, and says: "If you are what you claim to be, this is how you will behave."

So we must concentrate not so much upon the action as upon the spirit that leads to the action. That is why, let us repeat it again, it is so essential that we should take the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount in order in which it is given. We have no right to consider these particular injunctions unless we have already grasped, and mastered, and have submitted ourselves to, the teaching of the Beatitudes.

In this paragraph we have our attitude towards ourselves presented in a negative manner, in the paragraph that follows it is presented positively. There our Lord goes on to say: 'You have heard that it has been said. You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.' But here we are concerned with the negative, and this teaching is of such central importance in the New Testament that we must consider it once more.

We have already found more than once that the Sermon on the Mount is full of doctrine. There is nothing quite so pathetic as the way in which people used to say some thirty or forty years ago (and some still say it) that the only part of the New Testament they really believed in and liked was the Sermon on the Mount, and that because it contained no theology or doctrine. It was practical, they said; just on ethical manifesto, which contained no doctrine or dogma. There is nothing quite so sad as that, because the Sermon on the Mount is full of doctrine. We have it here in this paragraph. The important thing is not so much that I turn the other cheek, as that I should be in a state in which I am ready to do so. The doctrine involves my whole view of myself.

No man can practice what our Lord illustrates here unless he has finished with himself, with his right to himself, his right to determine what he shall do, and especially must he finish with what we commonly call the 'rights of self.' In other words we must not be concerned about ourselves at all! The whole trouble in life, as we have seen, is ultimately this concern about SELF, and what our Lord is inculcating here is that it is something of which we must rid ourselves entirely. We must rid ourselves of this constant tendency to be watching the interests of self, to be always on the look-out for insults or attacks or injuries, always in this defense attitude. That is the kind of thing He has in mind.

All that must disappear, and that of course means that we must cease to be so sensitive about self. This morbid sensitiveness, this whole condition in which self is on edge and so delicately and sensitively poised and balanced that the slightest disturbance can upset its equilibrium, must be got rid of. The condition which our Lord is here describing is one in which a man simply cannot be hurt. Perhaps that is the most radical form in which one can put that statement. I reminded you in the last chapter of what the apostle Paul says about himself in 1 Corinthians 4:3. He writes: "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yes, I judge not my own self." He has committed the whole question of his judgment to God, and thus he has entered into a state and condition in which he just cannot be hurt! That is the ideal at which we should be aiming - this indifference to self and its interests.

A statement which the great George Muller once made about himself seems to illustrate this very clearly. He writes like this: "There was a day when I died, utterly died, died to George Muller and his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame of even my brethren and friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God." That is a statement to be pondered deeply. I cannot imagine a more perfect or adequate summary of our Lord's teaching in this paragraph than that. Muller was enabled to die to the world and its approval or censure, to die even the to approval or censure of his friends and most intimate companions. And we should notice the order in which he put it. First, it was the approval or censure of the world; then the approval or censure of his intimates and friends. But he said he had succeeded in doing both, and the secret of it, according to Muller, was that he had died to himself - to George Muller!

There is no doubt that there is a very definite sequence in this matter. The furtherest removed is the world, then come his friends and associates. But the most difficult thing is for a man to die to himself, to his own approval or censure of himself. There are many great artists who treat with disdain the opinion of the world. The world does not approve of their work? "So much the worse for the world," says the great artist. But then there is the approval or censure of those who are near and dear to you. You value their opinion more highly, and you are therefore more sensitive to it.

But the Christian must reach the stage in which he surmounts even that and realizes that he must not be controlled by it. And then he goes on to the last, the ultimate stage which concerns what a man thinks of himself - his own assessment, his own approval of himself and his own judgment of himself.

~Martyn Lloyd-Jones~

(continued with # 2)