Getting Rid Of Self

Introduction

For the last few years, until we made some changes, we had been wrestling with our vacuum cleaner. It sucked, well not literally, it actually didn’t suck very well at all. One of the problems was that it had a filter on it which always got clogged with dirt and needed to be cleaned. The enemy of good suction in a vacuum cleaner is dust. Such a little thing on the inside prevents it from working the way it should.

If you have ever tried to take a walk with a stone in your shoe, you know that a little stone can begin as a minor irritant, become a major irritant that prevents you from enjoying your walk and eventually become such a huge problem that you can’t even walk at all.

In both of these cases, there is something inside which prevents things from working the way they should.

There is also something inside of each one of us that prevents us from living a Spirit filled, effective Christian life. That something is self. It prevents us from being effective for God and it prevents us from living a holy life.

How can we get rid of the dedication to self that prevents a free and effective walk with Christ?

Last week we thought about what it means to live a holy life. We realized that holy living is what God expects of us. We also were encouraged that we can’t do it in our own power and strength. God, by His Spirit empowers us to live holy lives. On Pentecost Sunday we were reminded that the Bible teaches that God calls us to be His servants. We were also reminded that being effective servants of God also happens by the power of the Holy Spirit. So it is clear that Spirit empowered Christian living happens when self is dethroned in our lives and the Holy Spirit is enthroned in us. The question is, “how do we dethrone self?”

I have been reading the book Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray which talks about these things. One of the chapters is a sermon on the life of Peter, the disciple of Jesus, and how he moved from self centeredness to being a Spirit filled disciple. Of all the people in the Bible, Peter is one of the ones who gives us great comfort. He was so full of failures, but also so effective and so his life is one that we can both identify with and learn from. This morning, I would like to follow this sermon, and look at Peter the devoted disciple of Jesus, who was actually quite full of self and then at how God brought him to repentance and what he became by the power of the Holy Spirit. His life is a human example of what we talked about last week. If you want to read Murray’s sermon or even the book, it is available on the internet if you google “Absolute Surrender and Andrew Murray.”

1. Peter The Devoted Disciple Of Christ

Right from the beginning of his life, we discover that Peter was a devoted disciple of Christ.

A. Peter was a man of absolute surrender

He was a man of absolute surrender to Christ. In Matthew 19:27 we read the words of Peter who said, “We have left everything to follow you!” Peter had left his nets and his livelihood. He was not afraid to leave behind the things of his life in order to follow Jesus.

B. Peter was a man of ready obedience.

Peter was also a man of obedience. In Luke 5:4,5, we read about an encounter between Jesus and Peter. Jesus came to Peter and said to him, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Jesus was commanding Peter to go fishing. Jesus was a carpenter and Peter was the master fisherman. He knew when there were no fish around. As a professional fisherman he had tried to fish all night, but caught nothing. However, Peter answered “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Even though he knew things about fishing, he was willing to obey Jesus when he commanded.

C. Peter was a man of great faith.

Peter was also a man of faith. Matthew 14 tells us the story of how the disciples were traveling across the lake in a storm when Jesus suddenly came to them and He was walking on the water. When Peter saw Him he said in verse 28, “Lord, if it’s you tell me to come to you on the water.” At the voice of Christ, he stepped out of the boat and walked on the water. He trusted the word of Christ.

D. Peter was a man of spiritual insight.

One day Jesus asked the disciples what people were saying about Him. When He then asked the disciples who they thought He was, it was Peter who replied in Matthew 16:16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus affirmed this and recognized that it was not Peter’s own insight, but the Father in heaven who had revealed it to him. In other words, Peter was in tune enough with God to be able to discern and communicate a word from God. He was a man of spiritual insight.

Peter was identified by Jesus as a “rock” and also as the one who would have the “keys of the Kingdom.” He was a devoted disciple of Jesus, and if he were living now, everyone would say that he was a true believer indeed.

2. Peter Living The Life Of Self

And yet that wasn’t all there was to Peter.

A. Peter Trusted His Own Wisdom

When Peter had this amazing insight into who Jesus was, Jesus affirmed it and indicated that it was spiritual insight that had revealed it to him. After that, Jesus began to speak of what was to come in Jerusalem. He indicated to the disciples that he would suffer and die. When Peter heard that, he dared to say to Jesus in Matthew 16:22, “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” At this point, Peter was no longer speaking with spiritual insight. He began to rely on and speak out of his own wisdom. The words of Peter at this point were not inspired by God but by Satan because Jesus said to him in verse 23, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

This was Peter in his self-will, trusting his own wisdom about divine things and actually forbidding Christ to go and die.

B. Peter Sought Position

When the disciples were looking for positions of honour and asked Jesus who would sit at his right side, Peter was among them. He was just like the others seeking a place of honour for himself. Once again self seeking was in his heart.

C. Peter Was Filled With Self

The life of self was strong in Peter. He had left his boats and his nets, but not his old self. After Jesus had spoken to him about His sufferings, He said in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” No one can follow Him unless he does that. Jesus told Peter that he must deny self. That is the root of true discipleship. But Peter did not understand it and could not obey it. And what happened? When the last night came, Jesus said to him in Mark 14:30, “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.”

With self-confidence Peter had said: “Even if all fall away, I will not.” In Luke 22:33 it is recorded that he even said, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

The thing is that Peter meant it honestly, and he really intended to do it; but Peter did not know himself. He did not believe he was as bad as Jesus said he was.

When the time of pressure came, self preservation, self will, fear for self came on him and three times he denied that he even knew Jesus. In fact, in Matthew 26:74 it says, “he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know the man!’” In other words he said, "I have nothing to do with Him; He and I are not friends. I deny having any connection with Him."

Andrew Murray says, “We perhaps think of individual sins that come between us and God. But what are we to do with that self life which is all unclean-our very nature? What are we to do with that flesh that is entirely under the power of sin? Deliverance from that is what we need. Peter knew it not, and therefore it was in self confidence that he denied his Lord.”

Jesus uses the word deny twice. In Matthew 16:24 he says to Peter and the other disciples that a person must “deny himself.” Then, on the night he was to be betrayed he said to Peter, “you will deny me three times.” It is either of the two. There is no other choice for us; we must either deny self or somewhere along the line we will deny Christ. There are two great powers fighting each other the self-nature in the power of sin, and Christ in the power of God. Either of these must rule within us.

It was self that made the devil. He was an angel of God, but he wanted to exalt self. He became a devil in hell. Self was the cause of the fall of man. Eve wanted something for herself, and so our first parents fell into all the wretchedness of sin. We, their children, have inherited an awful nature of sin.

3. Peter's Repentance

So the self life was strong in Peter. When the final crunch came, Peter denied his Lord three times. Then, we read in Luke 22:61, “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him.” The look of Jesus and the reminder of the words of Jesus broke Peter’s heart. The terrible sin that he had committed, the terrible failure that had come, and the depth into which he had fallen suddenly opened up before him. Then it says, "Peter went out and wept bitterly."

What a terrible time the next few days must have been for Peter. He had denied Jesus and now he watched as Jesus was beaten and crucified and buried. What hopeless despair must have entered his heart. He probably felt, “my hope is gone.” He might have thought about the last three years and all he had experienced with Jesus – the love, the peace, the help, the hope. Now he had denied him and must have been devastated.

But that was the turning point and the change. On the first day of the week, Christ was seen by Peter, and in the evening He met him with the others. Later on at the Sea of Galilee, He asked him: " Do you love me?" (John 21:17). Peter was made sad by the thought that the Lord reminded him of having denied Him three times, and said in sorrow, but in uprightness in John 21:17 “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” Jesus restored him once again after the devastation of his repentance. If we are to overcome the self life, we must come to the place where, like Peter, we understand that we are filled with self. It is in the place of helplessness that we give up pride and recognize our true nature and truly repent. Romans 7:18 is Paul’s cry of despair when he says, “no good thing lives in me.”

4. Peter Transformed

When he came to the end of himself and realized that there was no good thing in himself and that he needed God, that was the point at which he was ready for God to begin to work in him.

On the day of Pentecost God did work in him. On that day, the Holy Spirit came and Peter was a changed man. It was not only a change in Peter which gave him boldness and power and insight into the Scriptures, and the blessing with which he preached that day. That was great, but there was something deeper and better which happened to Peter. His whole nature was changed. The work that Christ began in Peter when He looked upon him was perfected when he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

One way to see the inner change that had taken place in Peter is to compare his earlier statements with the completely different attitude we see in his epistle.

When he said to Jesus, in effect: "You can never suffer” when he denied Jesus at the time of His arrest, we see Peter in his self understanding and his self centeredness. But when we read his epistle and hear him say as he does in I Peter 4:14, “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you,” that it is not the old Peter, but that it is the very Spirit of Christ breathing and speaking within him.

In I Peter 2:21 he also says, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” Now we see that instead of denying Christ, he found joy and pleasure in having self denied, crucified, and given up to the death.

Now instead of shrinking in fear when confronted with his identification with Christ he was able to say boldly, as he did in Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men!”

Earlier he had been ready, with all the other disciples, to take a position of honour and to exalt himself. In I Peter 3:4, we read the words of the new Peter, “Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” and the words of I Peter 5:5, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

So I invite you to look at Peter - utterly changed - the self-pleasing, the self-trusting, the self-seeking Peter, full of sin, continually getting into trouble, foolish and impetuous, now filled with the Spirit and the life of Jesus. Christ had done it for him by the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

What are the lessons which we can learn from the life of Peter? This story must be the history of every believer who is really to be made a blessing by God.

What do these lessons teach us?

The first lesson is this: You may be a very sincere, godly, devoted believer, in whom the power of the flesh and of self is still very strong.

That is a serious truth. Peter, before he denied Christ, had cast out devils and had healed the sick. Yet, the self had power in him. It is because there is so much of that self life in us that the power of God cannot work in us as mightily as He desires that it should work. God is longing to multiply His blessing through us? But there is something hindering Him, and that something is the self-life. We talk about the pride of Peter, and the impetuosity of Peter, and the self confidence of Peter. It is all rooted in that one word, “self.” Jesus had said, "Deny self," and Peter had never understood, and never obeyed. Every failing came out of that.

What an urgent plea for us to cry: “Oh God, show this to us so that none of us may be living the self-life!” It has happened to people who have been Christians for years; it has happened to people who have been in prominent positions - God found them out and taught them to find out about themselves. They became utterly ashamed and fell broken before God. That is a painful place to be, but is also the path to deliverance.

Have you ever tried to play on a teeter-totter with a child? Because, as an adult, you are much heavier, you sit on your side and the child is sitting up in the sky on the other side and can’t come down. If, you move towards the pivot point, you shift the center of gravity and, if you move far enough, the weight of the child will be enough to actually come down again. One writer says, “Jesus stipulated that those who wish to follow him must be prepared to shift the center of gravity in their lives from a concern for self to a reckless abandon to the will of God.”

The second lesson is that it is the work of Jesus to disclose the power of self.

How was it that Peter, the carnal Peter, self willed Peter, Peter with the strong self-love, ever became a man of Pentecost and the writer of his epistles? It was because Jesus brought him to that place. He warned him, he allowed him to deny him, he looked at him in pain, but he did not abandon him. He came to him and restored him and then on the day of Pentecost, filled him with His Spirit.

Is that not also the problem with us? We are filled with the self-life, self comfort, self-consciousness, self pleasing, and self will. How are we to get rid of it?"

The answer of the lesson of the life of Peter is that Jesus will get rid of it in us. No one else but Jesus can give deliverance from the power of self. There are many ways in which God does this. He does it when we fall repeatedly into the same sin and we come to realize that there is truly no good thing within ourselves and we rest in His forgiving and changing grace. He does it when we fall in a relationship and realize that we don’t have the power to fix it and we lack the ability to relate well and we bow before Him and ask Him to change our hearts and our relationships. He does it when we come face to face with our mortality when someone close to us dies or when we face a serious illness and we know that we do not have the power of life within us and we go to Him in hope of life.

What does God ask us to do in all this? He asks that we should humble ourselves before Him. He asks that we should give up on pride and self and place our lives into His powerful and loving hands.

May our prayer be, “God, bring me to the end of myself and fill me with your Spirit.”

Living In Obedience

Introduction

In a few weeks we will meet with for the EMC for a convention in Winnipeg. The speaker who will teach us on Friday, Saturday and Sunday is Ron Sider. The conference has offered the book he has written to church leaders and I have just finished reading it. It is a very disturbing book.

The title of the book is, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience.” The subtitle is, “Why are Christians living just like the rest of the world?”

In the first chapter of the book, Sider says, “Whether the issue is divorce, materialism, sexual promiscuity, racism, physical abuse in marriage, or neglect of a Biblical worldview, the polling data point to widespread, blatant disobedience of clear Biblical moral demands on the part of people who allegedly are evangelical, born-again Christians. The statistics are devastating.”

What are those statistics? Regarding divorce he says, “the percentage of born-again Christians who had experienced divorce was slightly higher (26%) than that of non-Christians(22%).” Regarding materialism he reports that “American Christians live in the richest nation on earth and enjoy an average household income of 42,000. The World Bank reports that 1.2 billion of the world’s poorest people try to survive on just $1.00 per day. At least one billion people have never heard the gospel…if American Christians just tithed, they would have another $143 billion available to empower the poor and spread the gospel.” In regards to sexual promiscuity he indicates, “Nationally, 33% of all adults have lived with a member of the opposite sex without being married. The rate is 25% for born again folk.” It is shocking to discover, as statistics reveal, that in regards to domestic abuse, “Theologically conservative Christians…commit domestic abuse at least as often as the general public.” And in regards to devotional practice, “…born-again Christians spend seven times more hours each week in front of their televisions than they spend in Bible reading, prayer and worship.”

These are disturbing statistics! Brothers and sisters, we need to talk about these things. I don’t think we can dismiss them by saying – that is the other guys or those are American statistics. These things impact us and we ought to be concerned!

I. God Wants Us To Live Holy Lives.

As I read this book I was challenged again to realize that we need to reinforce in our hearts and lives that God wants us to live holy lives!

Why is holy living so important for those who claim to be Christians?

A. It Fits Who We Are

Every once in a while, someone mentions that they have been to see a doctor and that he was very insensitive to them. This is not what we expect. The nature of the medical profession and the sensitive stuff that doctors deal with causes us to expect not only scientific competence, but also human compassion. It fits with what seems to be a reasonable expectation.

In a similar way, holiness is a reasonable expectation for those who are Christians. It fits with who we are. This is stated in Scripture in I Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

That suitability of holiness for Christians is reinforced when we realize that the price to make us holy was bought at a huge cost. Paul says it well in I Corinthians 6:19, 20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” It is the blood of Christ that has made us holy and it is fitting for us to continue to walk in that holiness.

Therefore we need to be holy because it fits with who we are.

B. It Is The Way To Life

When we lived up north, I sometimes did some moose hunting. One day a friend and I had been driving in the bush looking for good places for hunting. It was near the end of the day and time to head back home when we came to a fork in the bush trail. We did not know where the two trails went and so chose one. As we drove along, the trail got worse, leading us through soft areas where we almost got stuck. We eventually realized that we would have to turn around and go back because the trail was dwindling out. We came back to the fork and chose the other path and within a short distance were on the main road once again. Had we been able to have a satellite view of the two paths before we embarked on them, we would have saved ourselves a lot of time and trouble because we would have known that the first path did not lead where we wanted to go.

In our life we stand in a fork on the road. One path leads to death, the other to life. But, unlike the bush trail, there is no mystery about which one leads where! We know that holy living leads to life and sin leads to death. Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life.” If we walk down the path of sin, we end up in trouble, in fact we end up dead. If, on the other hand, we walk in holiness, we will end up on the path that is life giving. Why would we knowingly choose the path that leads to destruction. Holy living is important because it leads to life.

C. Without It We Will Not See Him

There are many different types of keys which can be used to open doors. Years ago, many doors had skeleton keys which unlocked the door mechanically. Today, when we go to a hotel, we often get a key that looks like a credit card, which uses a digital code to open a door electronically. In the future, we may open doors with voice recognition software, or iris or fingerprint detection. I suspect that there are already places which are using this method.

What is the key to heaven? The Bible tells us that holiness is the key to heaven because those who are not holy will not be able to get in. I Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21 has a similar list and concludes, “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” In fact, Revelation 21:8 warns that “…the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

So for these reasons – because it fits with who Christ has bought us to be, because it is the way to life and because if we are not holy we will not see God - there is powerful motivation for holy living.

II. Holy Lives

So what does it mean to live holy lives? What are the specifics of holy living? There are many passages in Scripture that speak about this.

I mentioned the list in Galatians 5:19-21 where we read, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”

I invite you to look at some other Scripture that mentions some of the specifics.

We live holy lives when we honour God with our bodies. I Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee from sexual immorality.” I have actually heard about a couple claiming to be Christian who were living together and thinking that there was nothing wrong with it. When we read Jesus words we know that not only sex outside of marriage, but also lustful thoughts are inappropriate behavior for someone claiming to be in Christ.

We also live holy lives when our money honours God. Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Materialism is such a prevalent temptation for people today that we have to guard against it in a special way.

We will be living holy lives when our relationships honour God. John 13:34 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This excludes all racism, prejudice, hatred, un-forgiveness and so on.

Holy living also happens when our values honour God. Matthew 6:33 puts it in perspective when it says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The Bible has much to say about how we live holy lives when our mouths honour God. James 3:9, 10 raises the difficult challenge, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.” Then he warns, “My brothers, this should not be.” In other words, if we want to be holy people, we need to learn to control our tongue.

Although we could speak about many other lifestyle issues that give evidence of holy living, let one more suffice for now. Holy living happens when our self is surrendered to God. James 4:7 is simple and direct when it says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God.”

III. Holy Living

The Bible is not mysterious about the requirement to be holy people and it is not mysterious about what constitutes holy living. The only real question is, “are we doing it?”

A. The Temptation

As we recognize the serious requirement for holy living and understand the duties of holy living, we may be moved to do all we can to live holy lives. The temptation when we understand the requirement and our failure is to develop regulations about what is appropriate behaviour and impose them on ourselves and others.

When I know that something I am doing is not holy behaviour, I am tempted to make a rule for myself that I will not do that thing any more. As a church leader, it is tempting for me to seek to impose rules on others. Churches have done that many times. Because of a sincere desire to follow God’s way, churches have defined what holy living is and required those who are members to live in that way. Colossians speaks about this temptation in Colossians 2:21 where it describes the demands of some people who say, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.” The term we have used to define this temptation is legalism.

B. It’s Failure

The problem with yielding to this temptation is that it doesn’t work and can, in fact, be a serious detriment to living in a relationship with God. I mentioned earlier that I have been reading the book by Ron Sider. I have also been reading another book with the title, “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals” by John Piper who is a pastor in a church in Minneapolis. Many of the thoughts I want to share with you about how to live holy lives comes from this book, especially one chapter of the book.

1. It Is Deceptive

First of all legalism is very deceptive as a way to live a holy life. Piper says “It is deceptive because it is so moral.”

Colossians 2:23 speaks about this problem when it speaks about regulations which “have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body…”

II Corinthians 11:14 indicates that Satan disguises himself as “an angel of light.” Legalism is one of the ways in which he disguises himself. Legalism looks like a good thing. It is moral, it promotes what is righteous. Piper goes on to say that Satan “keeps his deadliest diseases most sanitary.”

What is the deception of legalism? It is actually a form of unbelief. Philippians 2:13 says that it is “God who is in us ‘to will and to work for His good pleasure.’” If we depend on legalism, on our ability to pull ourselves up by our boot straps and to walk in holiness by our will and choice, we are in fact denying the power of God which is what really sanctifies us. In legalism, we “use our own power to make ourselves moral” and we “fail to rely on the power of God for the sanctification of others.”

Piper actually goes so far as to say that “Legalism has brought more people to eternal ruin than alcohol has.”

2. It Promotes Self

What becomes evident as we understand this deception is that what legalism and making rules for ourselves really does is to promote self-reliance and self-sufficiency. Legalism helps people succeed in the world, it makes them self-sufficient, depending on no one.

In Colossians 2:18 which speaks about legalism, Paul indicates that those who want to follow this path have “lost connection with the Head.” In other words, they are no longer depending on God, no longer following Christ as their head, but rather they are depending on self and relying on their own resources. This is a serious and devastating revelation. It effectively says that people who seem very moral and are doing a lot of good things may in fact be as far from God as can be because they do not rely on God, but on themselves. Does this describe you and me?

John Piper has a rather shocking quote which I think is an explanation of what Paul says in Colossians 2:18. He says, “For the legalist, morality serves the same function that immorality does for the antinomian or the progressive – namely, as the expression of self-reliance and self-assertion. The reason some Pharisees tithed and fasted was the same reason some university students take off their clothes and lie around naked in the parks in Munich and Amsterdam.” “The moral legalist is the elder brother of the immoral prodigal.(Luke 15:11-32). They are blood brothers in God’s sight because both reject the mercy of God in Christ as a means to righteousness and use either morality or immorality as a means of expressing their independence and self-sufficiency and self determination. And it is clear from the New Testament that both will result in a tragic loss of eternal life, if there is no repentance.”

3. It Leads To Spiritual Pride

What happens if we try to live obedient lives in our own power and by our self sufficiency. What happens when we are successful at doing all the right things in our power? Colossians 2:18 says, “Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.” Do you notice some of the things in this passage? Do you notice the mention of “false humility” and the phrase “puffs him up?” What happens if we rely on our own selves to live obediently and if we are successful at it? We become proud of what we have accomplished. The glory goes to us instead of to God.

4. It Makes People Judgemental

The next step after spiritual pride is that we become judgemental of others. If we have been successful at not being an alcoholic, we wonder why someone else can’t do it. If we have succeeded in being faithful to our wife, then surely the other person can do it too. Such attitudes deteriorate to thinking more of ourselves and less of others. This is the point at which the passage in Colossians 2:16 begins when it says, “do not let anyone judge you.” Being judgemental is a natural consequence of legalistic self righteousness and is in fact a sinful and destructive deviation from holiness.

5. It Fails To Bring Holiness

This is clear evidence that making and keeping rules by our own power is deceptive. It looks good, but it is in fact a path to self righteousness and being judgemental. Legalism is also deceptive because, quite frankly, it doesn’t work. It fails to bring holiness. Colossians 2:23 reveals very clearly that regulations “lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

In Piper’s book he has one chapter with the title, “Don’t Fight Flesh Tanks With Peashooter Regulations.” He explains, “The enemy is sending against us every day the Sherman tank of the flesh with its cannons of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. If we try to defend ourselves or our church with peashooter regulations, we will be defeated even in our apparent success.”

C. God’s Answer

Why, as individuals and as churches we have constantly reverted back to the law when the Bible is so crystal clear about the way in which to live a holy life is something that boggles my mind. At least it would if I was not just as caught up in such a weak response as everyone else.

If we ask “what must I do to live a holy life?” we are asking the wrong question. The question is not “what must I do” but rather, “how can I live a holy life?” The answer to that question is given loudly and clearly in the entire Bible. The Old Testament promises in Jeremiah 31:33, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.” In other words, God does it in us.

Throughout the New Testament letters, we are told repeatedly how we can live a holy life. God causes the growth by the power of His Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16-26 speaks about how to live a holy life. The way is summarized in 5:16, which says, “So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Romans 8:1-17 is another amazing passage which speaks about the way to live a holy life. The whole chapter gives us a powerful presentation of the failure of the law and the power of the Spirit who gives life. Romans 8:13 says, “if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Is there a sin in your life that bothers you? The fact that it bothers you is an evidence of God at work in you. How will you get rid of it? Confess it! Admit to God that you do this sin and you like doing it, but you really don’t want it in your life. Then submit it to God and tell Him that you have no power to win over this sin. Acknowledge before God that it is bigger than you and you need His powerful help.

Furthermore, live in a relationship with God. Acknowledge God in every aspect of your life. Recognize that you are loved and spend time in the presence of God praising Him and learning to know Him.

Then see what God will do. If you are a believer, then you have every reason to believe that God will begin to do things that will give you victory. Not necessarily all at once, but in time, God will give you victory because He has promised that He is creating a holy people.

You see this is the point. I don’t want to give you a list of things that you can do so that you can once again point with pride to what you have accomplished. I want to point you to God and invite you to go to Him to see what He will do. If we are able to trust Him in that way, then we will be made holy and the glory will indeed go to Him.

One writer says, “the conduct which conforms to the standard of the Kingdom is not produced by any demand, not even God’s, but it is the fruit of that divine nature which God gives as a result of what he has done in and by Christ.”

Conclusion

I want to acknowledge that I have been wrestling with sin for years. I have tried everything – discipline, mentors, guardians – and none of it has been successful. I want to win and I can’t. I give up. I have accepted God’s forgiveness for all my sin and am thankful for it. Now I want to recognize that I need God’s Spirit to change me and God’s power to renew me.

Guess what. The good news is that God will renew me. He will bring me to holiness by His Spirit because that is what the Spirit does. I am so thankful that holiness will come and I will not be disqualified from the presence of God because of my un-holiness. Glory be to God!

In the last chapter of Ron Sider’s book he writes, “The good news is that a small circle of people with a biblical worldview demonstrate genuinely different behaviour. They are nine times more likely than all others to avoid ‘adult only’ material on the Internet. They are four times more likely than other Christians to boycott objectionable companies and products and twice as likely to choose intentionally not to watch a movie specifically because of its bad content. They are three times more likely than other adults not to use tobacco products and twice as likely to volunteer time to help needy people.”

What this tells us is that God does make a difference in a life. Does He make a difference in your life? I appeal to each one of us to live a holy life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Power To Be My Witnesses

Acts 1:8
Introduction
Today we have once again emphasized Operation Andrew and have encouraged you to participate in this opportunity to prepare for the Franklin Graham Festival. We as a church are promoting the Festival because we believe it will be a great opportunity to share our faith and proclaim the name of Jesus in southern Manitoba.
Today is also Pentecost Sunday, the day on which we are reminded of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the life of the church.
These two ideas of witness and the coming of the Spirit come together in Acts 1:8 which we want to examine this morning.
A few times in my life I have been with people who were on their death bed. After they passed away, we have had conversations about what they said. When someone says something at the end of their life, we take those words seriously. If they are giving final instructions about the disposition of their property or their funeral, if they are expressing love to family, or dealing with spiritual issues, we understand that these are more important words than many others spoken in a lifetime.
These words in Acts 1:8 are the last words which Jesus spoke before he ascended into heaven and so they are important. They are also important because they mark a significant transition in the life of the people of God. Jesus was leaving and not returning until he would come in the end. Yet the ministry which Jesus had begun was not going to be stopped. In fact, by leaving, Jesus was giving the ministry of proclaiming the kingdom of God over to His disciples. How would they do it? This verse speaks about that by pointing to two aspects – the witnessing task and the empowering for the task.
You Shall Be My Witnesses
The sending aspect comes when Jesus says, “you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem…”
Be Witnesses
John Piper says that being a witness for Jesus fits with the passion of God to bring people to himself. He writes, “The Spirit's all-consuming passion is to exalt Christ to the end of the earth.” In Scripture we see this all-consuming passion of God. Hab. 2:14 says, "All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." In Joshua 4:24 we read that, God brought his people into Canaan "so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty." David commanded us in Psalm 96:1-3, "Sing to the Lord all the earth … Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples!" Isaiah 49:6 gives God's word to his servant, "I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Jesus himself said, "Go make disciples of all nations" in Matthew 28:19 and "This gospel must be proclaimed to all the nations" in Mark 13:10. God’s desire is to be glorified in all the earth and God is glorified when people accept the forgiveness offered in Christ. When we are witnesses, we are in tune with what is most deeply in the heart of God. Do we understand the deep passion God has to make His name known?
If we do, it will come as no surprise that God wants us to be witnesses. But what does it mean to be a witness? Witnessing is not something we do, it is something we are. Notice that Jesus does not say “go and witness.” He says, “you shall be my witnesses.” How will we “be” witnesses? Being a witness is being an example of what God has done. God redeems, forgives and changes us. Since we do not save ourselves, whenever people see us they see an example of what God has done and we are witnesses to the power and grace of God. "Here I stand," says Charles Spurgeon, "myself a proof of what my Lord can do. I, his servant, saved by him, and renewed by him, washed in his blood, it is I who, while I live, whether I speak or not, am a monument of his love, a trophy of his grace." When we live in a relationship with God we bear witness to the fact that Christ can remove despair, that Christ can transform character, that Christ can sustain us in temptation, that Christ transforms our thoughts to noble thoughts, that Christ supports us in times of trouble and that Christ sustains us in the hour of death.
Where?
So as Jesus leaves, he indicates that his disciples will be witnesses. Then Jesus identifies places. He mentions that this witness is going to take place in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost pasts of the earth. Many have noted that this is an outline of the book of Acts. Chapters 2-7 describe ministry in Jerusalem and Judea. Chapters 8-11 describe ministry in Samaria and the rest of the book begins to describe ministry that extends to the ends of the earth.
But we are not in Jerusalem or even Samaria. What does the “where” question mean to us?
The first answer to that question is, “wherever you are!” At the BGSE they did an informal survey to find out how people came to Christ. The results were quite interesting. Can I ask you to respond to the question, “How did you come to Christ?” How many of you came to Christ because you watched a TV program? How many of you came to Christ because you listened to a radio broadcast? How many of you came to Christ through the influence of a pastor? How many of you came to Christ because you read a tract? How many of you came to Christ through the influence of a Christian friend or family member who either spoke to you or brought you to a place where Christ was being proclaimed? This survey reveals that the most powerful method of gospel proclamation is when each of us is a witness where we are. So the first answer to the “where” question is that you have an opportunity to be a witness wherever you have been placed.
Not only do surveys reveal this, but the intention of God also reveals it. God has created each one of us in a unique way and to live in a particular place. We are who we are and where we are by the design of God and that is where we are witnesses. The terms I have heard used are that we are biologically credentialed and geographically positioned.
Do you think that it is insignificant that you have been created with a certain type of racial background, certain physical strengths and weaknesses, abilities and interests? Whoever you are is a unique creation and God has placed you into this world with your particular mix of gifts, personality and relationships because He wants you to be a witness by the very person you are. We sometimes think that our personality and background is a random act, but God is in charge of witness in this world and He has given you all that you have and brought you to be who you are so that you, with your unique personality can be a witness to those around you.
You have also been geographically positioned by God to meet the people you meet and be seen by the people who see you so that right where you are you can be a witness for Christ in your world.
Biologically credentialed and geographically positioned mean that you are a witness right where you are. Make it deliberate. Live in a love relationship with Christ. Look for opportunities. Participate in Operation Andrew. It is a way to recognize that you have a unique opportunity to be a witness for Christ right where you are with the people you meet on a regular basis.
But going beyond where you are is also involved. John Piper points out that in North America there is one Christian church for every 800 people. In India, there is one Christian church for every 8000 people.
An article found on the U.S. Center for World Mission web site contained a graph showing that most missionary effort is expended on the people groups already reached or in a Christian cultural area like North America. Clearly the need is great to send those whom God is calling into areas of mission work among un-reached people groups.
Is God calling you?

You Will Receive Power
As the disciples heard about the task given to them to be witnesses, what was immediately clear is that it was an impossible task. They were to go “to the ends of the earth.” How could 12 or even 120 of them go to the ends of the earth? They had no idea about the task that was to be done. They were still thinking in political terms when they were asking just previous to this, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Furthermore, they still lacked strength of character to be witnesses for Jesus. Just a few days earlier, when Jesus was arrested, they had all fled. After he had risen, they had spent much of their time hidden because they were afraid of the authorities. It was, for them, an impossible task.
The only thing that made it possible was that Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” The power for witnessing at that time came from the presence of God through the Holy Spirit.
Are we any more courageous or able to be witnesses? We may be filled with resolve and desire. We may be well educated and have a good knowledge of the gospel message, but we also are faced with an impossible task. Our resolve isn’t always there. Our ability to say the right word is most often lacking until after the opportunity. The many things which distract us cause us to neglect to see opportunities. It is impossible for us to be effective witnesses for Jesus! For us, the power for witness also comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit. John Piper says, “People are indispensable in world missions, but people alone are useless in world missions. We must have power.”
What The Spirit Does
So if it is the power of the Spirit who makes it possible for us to be witnesses, what is the work that the Spirit does in witness?
It is the work of the Spirit to send people. Throughout Acts, we see that it was the Spirit of God who sent the messengers. It was the Spirit who sent Philip to meet with the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8. It was the Spirit who sent Peter to Cornelius in Acts 10,11. It was the Spirit of God who affirmed the call of Paul and Barnabas to go beyond Antioch to the Asian territories in Acts 13. It was the Spirit of God who closed the door to Bithynia and led them to Macedonia in Acts 16. God’s Spirit directs the work of witness. Are our eyes opened to the way in which God is leading us today?
The proclamation of the word of God is also accompanied by the work of the Spirit. The Spirit empowers those who speak and allows the hearers to understand. The Spirit of God accompanies the Word of God with signs and wonders. In I Corinthians 2:1-5 Paul says, ”When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”
Faith itself comes by the power of the Spirit. I Corinthians 2:10-16 discusses this and tells us that “the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God.” So in other words, it is a miracle of God when people are able to understand the gospel. It is not up to us to persuade them by strong argument, but we are to witness and rely on the power of the Spirit to make changes in the hearts of those who hear. One writer says, “Although it does not fit our logical schemes well, the Spirit is both the cause and the effect of faith.”
It is also the Spirit who converts people. We do not convert ourselves. Although it is true that every individual must repent and have faith, it is also true that faith merely opens the door for the work of the Spirit in conversion. Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit…” Whatever language we use, whether adoption, washing, rebirth or sanctification, all of them are a work of the Holy Spirit.
It is very important that we recognize and embrace this truth that it is the Spirit of God who is at work in bringing people to Christ. If it is our cleverness, power, authority or ability which allows us to be effective in ministry, then we will receive the glory. If it is God’s power which is at work in us and if we are servants blessed to be used by God, then the glory goes to God where it belongs.
Witnessing In The Power of the Spirit.
So why do we not see more of this at work? The question can be answered by looking at the list of missionaries and evangelists who were used of God to build His kingdom in Acts. Many of them were not powerful people, well educated people or highly effective administrators. That was not the factor which made a person an effective witness to Jesus. In Acts 6 the church chose people to care for the widows. The qualifications for this ministry is that they were to be people who were “known to be full of the Spirit.” One of those men was Philip and it was that qualification which also made him suited to be used of God to be a witness to the Ethiopian Eunuch. Charles Spurgeon said, “It is amazing how persons, of very scanty gifts, and very small attainments, have, nevertheless, become wise toward God, their mental faculties being quickened with regard to heavenly things in a very remarkable manner.” What made them so fit to be used of God? It was a reliance on the Spirit of God and a deep relationship to God.
How can we be filled with the Spirit. One of the problems today is that we are filled with ourselves and our desires. When I say this, I am pointing to myself as well. At the BGSE, someone suggested that the reason is that we have used the language of commitment instead of surrender. The problem with commitment, so it was pointed out, is that we retain control. Commitment speaks about our reaction to God and His work. When we are committed, we make the commitment and consequently, we have the power to choose the level of commitment which we will make. It was suggested that we need to speak in different language. We need to speak instead about complete surrender. When we are surrendered to Christ, then He is in control. We submit to Him and then we are open to what He wants to do in and through us.
When we have settled the matter of control, and we are yielded to Christ, then we are in a position to hear the word of God and to listen to His call to missions and to witness. When we have settled the matter of control, we simply wait for the Lord’s leading in our lives. And He will lead us to the opportunities that He has for us. Because we are yielded, we will be living in an obedient and attractive way. Because we are yielded, our time belongs to Him. Because we are yielded, our mouth and our willingness to speak belongs to Him. When we then are witnesses, it will not be because of our cleverness and ability, but because the Spirit of God has empowered us and worked through us.
One writer says, “The power of the Spirit is unleashed in our lives when we put our confidence in the word of the cross, pray for the Spirit’s help and obey the command to go and to witness.”
Conclusion
Those of you who are following some of the blogs of people in our church may have read Amber’s story. Amber went to Toronto to be with Mike and Martha. Before leaving, she had prayed that God would make her a blessing. In her blog she writes:
“This morning I flagged down a taxi and on the 7 minute drive to the hospital I had an opportunity to share my faith with the cab driver. He was a really friendly man, and we started off talking about the weather, which led to me saying I was from Manitoba. We talked about why I was in Toronto and then he asked me what I did....If I was a student, or worked etc. I explained that I had a one year old daughter back home and she was my full time job :) and my husband & I also ran our business. He then asked how long I had been married and I replied "5 years." I am surprised he didn't pull over on the side of the road right then and there. He was STUNNED...."Married to one person for 5 years?" he asked in his thick accent that was a little hard to understand. "Yes" I replied. He proceeded to ask me questions like how long we dated before we got married (4 years) and how old I was when I got married (18!) etc. He kept questioning me "So, you are telling me you have only been with one man, ever? How did you know that you should marry this man? Didn't you think about travelling around and seeing who else was out there?" I then had the opportunity to tell him that I was a Christian and believed in God and that He brought us together and we felt Him leading us to be together. He was really fascinated in what I had to say. He continued to ask me "Ok, so here you are in Toronto, by yourself, you never want to do, ummmmmm, what they call a one night stand?" Come ON, Mister! So, I told him again, "No, I am completely happy where God has led me in my life, I have never had any desire to be with anyone but my husband....." And it almost seemed like he didn't believe me. As we continued talking and were approaching the hospital he said "You know, I think this is really great. You are doing the right thing....you can teach your children what you have done and teach them that your 'way of life' is good." he continued to say "People don't talk enough about the happiness marriage can bring, it doesn't always have to be a bad thing." As I left the cab I told him it had been really nice talking to him and hoped he had a great day. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I pray that our conversation will have an impact on this man. I don't know where he was at in life or why he thought that my story was amazing, but I do know that he was able to see a little glimpse of Gods love through me. Little ol' me.”
I appreciate Amber’s ending “little ol’ me.” Because we are Spirit empowered, we will be witnesses.
I want to encourage you to recognize and rejoice that you are a witness for Christ, a living example of what God has done in your life and to not be afraid to live that and to share it.
I want to encourage you to submit to Christ and allow His Spirit to direct your path to witness.
If you are not already doing it, I want to encourage you, once again, to become deliberate about your witness by becoming involved in Operation Andrew.