Self-Denial versus Self-Assertion.
"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.--LUKEix. 23.
We might naturally have thought that if there was one thing in the life of the LORDJESUSCHRISTwhich belonged to Him alone, it was His cross-bearing. To guard against so natural a mistake, the HOLYGHOSThas taken care in gospel and in epistle to draw our special attention to the oneness of the believer with CHRISTin cross-bearing; and also to prevent misunderstanding as to the character of Christian cross-bearing, and the constancy of its obligation. The LORDJESUS, in the words we are considering, teaches us that if any man, no matter who he may be, will be His disciple, he must--nothe may--deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow his LORD.
Is there not a needs-be for this exhortation? Are not self-indulgence and self-assertion temptations to which we are ever exposed, and to which we constantly give way, without even a thought of the un-Christliness of such conduct? That we owesomethingto GODall Christians admit; and it may be hoped that the number of those is increasing who recognise His claim to some proportionatepartof their income. But our MASTERclaims much more than apartof our property, of our time, of our affections. If we are saved at all, we are not our own in any sense, we are bought witha price: our bodies we must present to Him; our whole life must be for GOD.
Self-denial surely means something far greater than some slight insignificant lessening of our self-indulgences! When Peter denied CHRIST, he utterly disowned Him and disallowed His claims. In this way we are called to denyself, and to do it daily, if we would be CHRIST's disciples indeed. "I don't like this," or, "I do like that," must not be allowed; the only question must daily be, What would JESUSlike? And His mind and will, once ascertained, must unhesitatingly be carried out.
As believers, we claim to have been crucified together with CHRIST; and Paul understood this, not merely imputatively but practically. That cross put the world to death as regardsPaul, and put Paul to death as regards the world. To the Apostle nothing could have been more practical. He does not say, "I take up my cross daily," in the light, modern sense of the expression; but puts it rather as dying daily; and therefore, as one "in deaths oft," he was never surprised, or stumbled by any hardship or danger involved in his work.
We wish, however, to draw attention to another aspect of self-denial which is often overlooked, and perhaps we shall do this most intelligibly by use of the antithetical expression, self-assertion. What does the Word of GODteach us about our rights, our claims, our dues? Does it not teach us that condemnation, banishment, eternal misery, are our own deserts? As unbelievers, we were condemned criminals; as believers, we are pardonedcriminals; and whatever of good is found in us is but imparted, and to GODalone is due the praise. Can we, then, consistently with such a position, be self-asserting and self-claimant?
It is clear that if we choose to remit a claim due to us by one who is free and our equal, that may not invalidate or affect his claim on his neighbour--no matter whether that claim be larger or smaller than the one we remitted. But what did our SAVIOURintend to teach us by the parable of Matthew xviii. 23-35? There the King and Master and Owner of aslaveremits His claim in clemency and pity (and does so, as our LORDelsewhere clearly shows, on express condition of His servant's forgiving as he is forgiven--Matthew vi. 14, 15); can that slave, under these circumstances, assert and claim hisrightsover his fellow?
And is not this principle of non-assertion, this aspect of self-denial, a far-reaching one? Did our LORDclaimHisrights before Pilate's bar, and assert Himself; or did His self-denial and cross-bearing go the length of waiting for His FATHER'Svindication of His character and claims? And shallwe, in the prosecution of our work as ambassadors of Him whose kingdom is not of this world, be jealous ofour ownhonour and rights, as men and as citizens of Western countries, and seek to assert the one and claim the other,--when what our MASTERwants is witness to, and reflection of,His owncharacter and earthly life, and illustrations of the forbearing grace of our GODand FATHER?
May GODwork in us, and we work out in daily life, not self-assertionbut self-denial--not ease and honour-seekingand right-maintaining, but right-abandoning and cross-taking--and this for the glory of His own holy Name, and for the better forwarding of His interests, whether among His own people or among the unsaved!
All Sufficiency
"The LORDGODis a Sun and Shield:the LORDwill give grace and glory:"No good thing will He withhold from themthat walk uprightly."--PSALM LXXXIV. 11.
How pleasant to the heart of a true child to hear his father well spoken of, and to rejoice that he is the child of such a father. We feel that we can never thank GODsufficiently for our privileged lot, who have been blessed with true and loving Christian parents. But if this be the case with regard to the dim and at best imperfect earthly reflections, what of the glorious Reality--the great FATHER--the source of all fatherhood,of all protection--of all that is blessed here, and true, and noble, and good--and of all the glories to which we look forward in the future? "The LORDGODis a Sun and Shield: the LORDwill give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly."
"The LORDGODisa Sun and Shield," and this in the fullest conceivable sense. None of His works can fully reveal the great Designer, and Executor, and Upholder; and the loftiest thoughts and imaginations of the finite mind can never rise up to and comprehend the Infinite. The natural sun is inconceivably great, we cannot grasp its magnitude; it is inconceivably glorious, we cannot bear to gaze for one moment on its untempered light. The source to us of all heat, we have to shield ourselvesfrom its tropical power, though millions of miles from its surface: the sustainer of the essential conditions of physical life, and the great ruler and centre of the solar system--how great and glorious is the natural sun! And yet it may be the very smallest of all the countless suns that GODhas made! What of the glorious MAKERof them all!
"The LORDGODisa Sun." Ah! He deserves the name, Heisthe Reality of all that sun or suns exhibit or suggest. My reader, is hetheSun toyou? Do you countallthat to be darkness which does not come form and accord with His light:allthat to be disorder which does not implicitly accept and delight in His rule? "O LORDof Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth to Thee!" Self-will is unmingled folly, and can only end in injury and loss.
And the LORDGODisa Shield. Dangers encompass us, unseen at every moment. Within us, in the wonderful and delicate organisation of our bodies--around us, when in circumstances of the greatest comfort and apparent safety--are dangers unseen, which at any moment might terminate our earthly career. Dangersseensometimes appal us, or appal those who love us: but they are not more real than many we never dream of. Why do we live so safely, then? Because the LORDGODisa Shield.
Foes, too, are never far from us. The world, the flesh, and the devil are very real; and unaided we have no power to keep or deliver ourselves from them. But the LORDGODisa Shield. It is a small matter then to go to China, a very small additional risk to run; for there, as here, the LORDGODisa Shield. Should war break out, in this we may be confident; for He has said He will never fail nor forsake His own. Only when our work is done will He take us home; and this He will do whether we serve Him here or there. Toknowand todoHis will--this is our safety; this is our rest.
Sweet are his promises--grace will He give, and glory. Grace all unmerited and free--that which is really for our good, for CHRIST'Sdeservings, not for ours. And glory too--gloryNOW, the glory ofbeingHis, ofservingHim in each least duty of life, and glory in the soul. Glory apparent, too, as with unveiled faces we behold and rejoice in His glory, and reflect it ever more and more. And glory to come, when we have done and suffered His will here, and are "for ever with the LORD!"
"Nogoodthing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." Ah! How often, when we have been dissatisfied with the ways of GOD, we ought to have been dissatisfied with our own ways! We did not think, perhaps, that in some matter or other we were not walking uprightly. If not so, however, then the thing we desired wasnotfor our good, and therefore was not given; or the thing we feared was essential to our good, and hence was not withheld. We are often mistaken: GOD, never. "Nogoodthing will He withhold": shall we be so foolish, so wayward, as after this todesirethat which our Father in heaven withholds?
But sweet as are GOD'Spromises, the PROMISERis greater and better. Finite human words fetter the expression of the heart of the Infinite GIVER.Hence if we had claimed all the promises, had opened our mouths most wide, and had asked with all the blessed presumption of loved and favoured children--yet, above and beyond the promises, He would still be able to do exceeding abundantlyaboveall we ask or think. He delights to do so! Let not low thoughts, GOD-dishonouring thoughts, unbelieving, distrustful thoughts, limit His blessings; for "Nogood thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly."