A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 1 NO. 43                                        DECEMBER 12, 2004

“DENYING SELF”

PART XI
BY STEVE NIEMEIER

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24).  This statement also applies to us today.  The question that we must answer is this, “Am I willing to deny myself and take up my cross and follow after Jesus?”  Last week we looked at the thought of us denying self as it pertains to those of us that are in the body (church) of Christ thinking that we will automatically be saved in heaven just because we are a member of His body (church).  This week let us examine the idea of “denying self” in my examination of my spiritual life.

As you drive down the road in your vehicle do you glance down at the fuel gauge every now and then to see if you are on Empty-1/2---Full?  Do you also check other gauges to see if there are any problems with the engine?  None of us like car trouble as it always happens at the most inconvenient time.  While we may drive our vehicles a portion of every day, our spiritual engine is running round the clock (oh yes we take time to sleep which allows some rest for our spiritual engine).  Jesus told the twelve as He sent them out in Matthew 10:23; “And you will be hated by all for His name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”  The enduring occurs after one is obedient to the gospel of Christ, putting on Christ in baptism (Gal. 3:26-27), and being added to the church (Acts 2:47).

Paul states in I Corinthians 15:58; “Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that you labor is not in vain in the Lord.”  Paul also told Timothy in II Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  These passages and others teach us the importance of checking our “spiritual fuel gauge” on a regular basis to see if we are “fueled” for the journey of being steadfast, immovable, being diligent, not being ashamed, abounding in the work of the Lord rightly dividing His word.  We need to “deny self” when it comes to our thinking of how much fuel we have for the Lord.  Many of us that are “older” in the faith should be moving along on “premium” (solid spiritual food---Hebrews 5:12-6:2) but find ourselves “sputtering” along still using “regular.”

Our spiritual status in the church today seems to be getting weaker as we have moved to “informal” or “casual” worship services among other things.  We have developed a lack of respect of what serving the Lord truly means and it is reflected in how we live, dress, act, worship and even talk.  More and more of our young people are showing up for services in shorts, ragged jeans, t-shirts with slogans all over them and slumping in their seats like they are “ashamed” to be at services.  Why is this?  Well we do not have to look far as what these young folks see is us older ones wearing our ragged jeans, t-shirts with slogans all over them, slumping in our seats like we are “ashamed” to be at services.  To prove this point let me give the true example of an elder that went to the funeral home one Wednesday evening before Bible Study to view the body of one of the members of the congregation where he was an elder.  He went dressed in a suit and tie to pay his respects to the family and share in their grief.  He left the funeral home around 6:30 pm and showed up at 7:30 pm for Wednesday evening services in a sweat shirt and jeans.  What did this action state to those of the congregation?

Our casual approach to serving the Lord will only generate a generation of younger people that get more casual in their approach to serving the Lord and they will create another generation of younger people that get more casual and on down the line.  My friend let us look at our “spiritual fuel gauge” and “tank” back up with a powerful zeal for the respect of God and His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit and what they have done for us and heed the warnings of “denying self” so that we serve the Lord with all the energy that we have enduring to the end!