The Cost of Living as a Christian Part Two

Dying to Self

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Another cost that must be paid as a Christian lives their new life in Christ is that they must die to self. They must obey the Word, listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and seek to be holy as God is holy. While salvation is the free gift God grants us by His grace and mercy, we must understand that the Christian life does not end there, there is a daily and moment by moment cost that must be paid through obedience and dying to selfish desires. This does not mean we work for our salvation or that this contributes to what Christ did for us. It simply means that out of our love for our Lord we desire to obey Him and seek to become more like Him. The cost involves giving up bad habits and establishing new ones. It means avoiding sinful activities, lustful thoughts, cruel or hateful words that could be spoken and inappropriate actions that are not honoring to God. In some ways this should not be viewed as a “cost” since we should be motivated by love and a desire to please God, but it can be a struggle and seem like a cost as we battle our flesh while we seek to obey and allow God to transform us. To be honest, there are good decisions we make through godly obedience at times that are difficult because we have not fully matured in our spiritual walk and faith. As we grow in spiritual maturity obedience becomes easier in more and more areas of our life. But it is a process and this process of sanctification, becoming holy, is a lifelong obedience in one godly direction. Jesus paid the cost for our salvation and He spoke in John 12:24-26 about this in the form of a parable. He also used this parable to illustrate what was required of those who committed themselves to follow him as servants and disciples.

 

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

 

Here Jesus is not saying that we must “literally” die. He means that we must give up our life and give it to Him. We must hate this world and the sin in it as well as the sinful flesh and seek heavenly things and godly behaviors. We must serve and honor Jesus and place Him not only as the Savior of our lives but also as Lord and Master over them.

 

Many scripture passages speak of the process of dying to self as a Christian.

 

1 Peter 2:24 tells us that Jesus bore our sins on the cross so that by believing in Him we can die to sins in our life and live for Him.

 

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

 

Romans 6:11-14 states that we are to count ourselves dead to sin. In other words, we are to turn a deaf ear to our sinful flesh when it tempts us. We are not to entertain temptations that our flesh puts before us. We are not to let sin have control over our body. We are to let Christ control our actions and thoughts and let the Holy Spirit be our moment by moment guide. This requires discipline and effort on our part to make this choice. Each choice we make costs us some of our own selfish will.

 

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”

 

Romans 8:12-15 instructs us that we have an obligation to our Heavenly Father, not to the sinful nature. We are to put to death the evil deeds that the flesh might call us to do. We are no longer slaves to the sinful flesh, we are sons and daughters of God and we do not have to fear the judgment of God or the control the flesh wants to put on us. We are led by the Holy Spirit and are free as new creatures in Christ.

 

“Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.”

 

Matthew 16:24-26 creatively illustrates that if we wish to save our life we must lose it in obedience to Christ. If we wish to save our soul, we must count the cost and give up the things of this world and the evil impulses that emanate from the flesh. We must take up those crosses that are particularly difficult for us to deal with that are specific to our own lives, count the cost and carry them with the strength we receive from God. It may be a financial hardship, a physical limitation, an emotional handicap, a lack of confidence or possibly even overconfidence in matters that need to be taken captive to the Word and Spirit of God.

 

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?'”

 

Another way to describe dying to self would be to say it is “crucifying the sinful nature.” When we deny ourselves and the sinful passions of the flesh we are crucifying the flesh and obeying God. But we sometimes have a tendency to go back to the crucified flesh and give it life again by either entertaining its sinful ways or by letting it control us. When we do this we are not staying in step with the Holy Spirit and relying upon Him through our day.

 

Galatians 5:24-26 says regarding this, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 compares living the Christian life to an athlete who trains for a race. We all know how intensely Olympian athletes train for their events. They pay the cost of hard work and spending hundreds of hours practicing and staying in shape in order to win the event in which they compete. Paul describes here in 1 Corinthians that Christians must pay a similar cost by training themselves in righteousness and obeying the instructions their “coach” the Word gives them. Paul did not literally beat his body in a masochistic manner, but he rigorously disciplined himself to live by the Spirit and serve His Savior by denying himself.

 

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

 

1 Timothy 4:7-8 is similar to this idea for it talks about how physical training of the body is of some value, but training in godliness has value for all things.

 

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

 

In Hebrews 12:7-11 Paul covers another area of cost the Christian must endure. Living in hardship and coping with struggles requires paying the cost of living faithfully while trusting God. There are times when storms will occur in our life and sometimes these storms are allowed by God to enable us to grow stronger spiritually and sometimes these storms come into our lives because we are being disciplined. Part of the cost of the Christian life is to submit to the discipline of the Lord. He is our spiritual Father and therefore wants us to grow in strength and this may require Him to allow trials to come along in our life. There will also be times when we have wandered from His instruction or failed to deny ourselves and He will discipline us because He loves us. Hebrews covers this truth very well when it says;

 

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

 

Finally in Romans 12:1-2 Paul tells us that we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. This is the main way we worship God, by living our life in total obedience to Him. This is a cost to us. We are not free to do anything we wish without and regard for our Heavenly Father. We are to submit to Him in all we do.

 

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

 

Read Titus 2:11-14 and Ephesians 4:22-24 for your own personal study and put this truth into practice this week. As you strive to die to self remember the words of Charles Spurgeon, “By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” Persevere by dying to self!