What about me?

What EP brought up in his post Self-help, self-serve, self-less?? Less-self, really highlighted some critical issues within the Christian walk.

But let's face it, being 'selfless' goes against every fiber of our sinful human nature. The most recent generation has not been the only "ME" generation in the history of the human-race. No, that generation traces all the way back to Adam and Eve. And even through thousands of years, and countless examples of the damaging outcomes of selfishness - WE STILL DON'T GET THE POINT.

Edmund touched on the reasoning behind that fact, and I'll elaborate even further. We don't get the idea that sinful self-centeredness hurts us and our brothers and sisters, because it is cloaked in yet more sin. It is almost as if satan gives us a trojan-horse of worldly satisfaction. Let me attempt to explain:

When we live our lives (Christians not excluded) in service to self, we open the gates of our hearts to sin and satan. Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." When we set up ourselves as idols in our own hearts, be it our future, or our desires, or our career, or our family, or our boyfriend or girlfriend, we are coveting the very thing that Jesus Christ himself laid aside...
Lets look back to the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, Matthew 4: 1-11, and then Gethsemane Matthew 26:38-39:

1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

And in the garden of Gethsemane:
38Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

These few verses in Matthew tell us many things. First of all, we get a fantastic insight in how the devil works in believers' lives. Each time that satan tempted Christ, he twists and mishandles the Word of God; just like he did to Eve in the garden of Eden. Secondly, we see how Christ combats those lies and temptations: He does it with the true Word of God. Do you see in those passages, the lies that Christ rejected? He rejected substinence for his own hunger's sake, he rejected the temptation to 'prove God', and he rejected WORLDLY SATISFACTION.

And are we naive enough to believe that satan is not still tempting us with the very same things today? He is and he does. But be ye not deceived, satisfaction with the world and self - is dissatisfaction with God and His Son. Either we are satisfied in Him, and presented perfectly in Christ Jesus (Col. 1:28), or we are not! Either Christ is the Head or He is not. God plays no games, and pulls no punches when it comes to the estimation of Christ in our hearts. What the beloved disciple stated in John 3:30, was not a mere opinion, nor was it merely a "secret to prosperity" or happiness or whatever else Joel Osteen tells you that it was..."He must increase, but I must decrease" are LIFE ALTERING, Spirit-inspired words. Those words strike at the sinfilled heart of selfish man. They pierce a sinner's soul and leave "nothing but the Blood" to fill the gap. Christ MUST increase in our hearts, and He WILL, but we MUST decrease. We have no other options. Like the gunslingers in those old westerns..."this town ain't big enough for the both of us"....and our hearts aren't either.


Take a moment now to read these short excerpts from Ten Shekels and a Shirt, preached by Paris Reidhead:

"And so it had gotten down to the place where salvation was nothing more than an assent to a scheme or a formula. And the end of this salvation was the happiness of man because humanism has penetrated. And so if you were to analyze the fundamentalism in contrast to liberalism of a hundred years ago, as it developed, it’d be like this:

The liberal says the end of religion is to make man happy while he's alive.

And the fundamentalist says the end of religion is to make man happy when he dies.

Until we find it something like this;
"Accept Jesus so you can go to Heaven, you don't want to go to that old, filthy, nasty, burning hell when there's a beautiful Heaven up there. Now come to Jesus so that you can go to Heaven."
And the appeal could be as much to selfishness as a couple of men sitting in a coffee shop deciding they are going to rob a bank to get something for nothing.

Becomes so subtle ... it goes everywhere. What is it?
In essence it is this: that this philosophical postulate at the end of all being is the happiness of man has been a sort of, covered over with evangelical terms and Biblical doctrine until God reigns in Heaven for the happiness of man, Jesus Christ was incarnate for the happiness of man, all the Angels exist in the... Everything is for the happiness of man!

And I submit to you that this is un-Christian!

Christianity says... "The end of all being is the glory of God."

Humanism says, "The end of all being is the happiness of man."

This is the betrayal of the ages!!

And it's the betrayal in which we live and I don't see how God can revive it!
Until we come back to Christianity.

Isn't man happy?
And God intend to make you happy? But as a byproduct and not a prime product.

Now I ask you, what is the philosophy of mission? What is the philosophy of evangelism? What is the philosophy of a Christian? If you’ll ask me why I went to Africa, I’ll tell you I went primarily, to improve on the justice of God. I didn’t think it was right for anybody to go to hell without a chance to be saved. And so I went to give poor sinners a chance to go to Heaven.

No, I hadn’t put it in so many words. But if you’ll analyze what I just told you, do you know what it is? It’s humanism. But I was simply using the provisions of Jesus Christ as a means to improve upon human conditions of suffering and misery.

And when I got to Africa, I discovered that they weren’t poor, ignorant, little heathen running around in the woods, waiting for, looking for someone to tell them how to go to Heaven. That they were a monsters of iniquity. They were living in utter and total defiance, of far more knowledge of God than I ever dreamed they had. They deserved hell because they utterly refused to walk in the light of their conscience and the light of the law written upon their heart and the testimony of nature and the truth they knew.

And when I found that out, I assure you, I was so angry with God that one occasion in prayer, I told him that it was a mighty, little thing He’d done, sending me out there to reach these people that were waiting to be told how to go to Heaven. When I got there I found out they knew about Heaven, didn’t wanna go there. And they (were) loved their sin and wanted to stay in it.
I went out there motivated by humanism. I’d seen pictures of lepers. I’d seen pictures of ulcers. I’d see pictures of native funerals. And I didn’t want my fellow human beings to suffer in hell eternally, after such a miserable existence on earth. But it was there in Africa that God began to tear through the overlay of this humanism.

And it was that day in my bedroom, with the door locked, that I wrestled with God. For here was...was I coming to grips with the fact that the people I thought were ignorant and wanted to know how to go to Heaven, and were saying “someone come and teach us” actually didn’t wanna take time to talk with me or anybody else. They had no interest in the bible and no interest in Christ. And they loved their sin and wanted to continue in it. And I was to the place at that time where I felt the whole thing was a sham and a mockery and I’d been sold a bill of goods. And I wanted to come home.

And there alone in my bedroom as I faced God honestly with what my heart felt, it seemed to me I heard Him say, “Yes, will not the Judge of all the earth do right? The heathen are lost and they’re going to go to hell not because they haven’t heard the gospel. They’re going to go to hell because they are sinners who loved... their ..sin.. and because they deserved hell. But, I didn’t send you out there for them, I didn't send you out there for their sakes."

And I heard as clearly as I’ve ever heard though it wasn’t with physical voice but it was the echo of truth of the ages finding its way into an open heart. I heard God say to my heart that day something like this:

“I didn’t send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen. I sent you to Africa for My sake. They deserved hell but I love them and I endured the agonies of hell for them. I didn’t send you out there for them. I sent you out there for Me. Do I not deserve the reward of My suffering? Don't I deserve those for whom I died?”

And it reversed it all. It changed it all and righted it all. And I wasn't any longer working for my cup and ten shekels and a shirt but I was serving the living God."


Get over yourself,
><>Bro. Hank