My grandchildren were in the house last week. I don’t need to tell you how much I look forward to spending time with my children and grandchildren. When I first started this blog I had one grandchild. Now I have four, and one more on the way. I call that residual income! Judah is three years old, and he loves to be the opposite guy.
“Judah, be quiet.”
“T-Rex said to be loud.”
Oh, yeah, and he has a dinosaur friend named T-Rex. I say “friend.” Actually T-Rex is like an alternative personality .
“T-Rex is going to tear everyone up and eat their heads off.”
“What if Daddy comes to the rescue? He can make T-Rex be nice.”
“T-Rex will eat Daddy’s head off and then I’ll get a new Daddy at the ‘prise store [Wal-mart, the ‘surprise’ store’].”
I found out Judah likes to walk the dog with me. Walking the dog is not my favorite task. Bear is just a little white fluffy Poma-poo, but he makes such a spectacle of himself growling and barking at other dogs that I have to apologize to my neighbors most days. Then there is the little bag, which I regard as an indignity, but it turn’s out that it’s Judah’s favorite part. I filled the bag, turned it inside out and twisted it shut. Judah says, “Momma lets me hold the poop.” He goes running down the side walk, swinging the little bag like a lasso, shouting, “I’ve got the poop! I’ve got the poop!” I guess sometimes It’s how you look at things that matters.
I was feeling sorry for myself the other day . . . No, actually I was angry. I was angry because I wasn’t receiving a good thing that I thought I was owed for a sacrifice I had made. And then I thought,
“Hertzler, you want merit points because you think you have sacrificed and done a good deed. But that’s not how it works.”
And then I realized that I just understood a Bible passage that had puzzled me for years.
"So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’" (Luke 17:10)
You might say, “The meaning looks pretty straightforward , DJ. What is so puzzling about it?” It is perplexing because the context of the passage is “faith.” The disciples say,
“Increase our faith,”
and then Jesus tells this story of an unprofitable servant who shouldn’t expect to be rewarded for doing what he is commanded to do. The word, “unworthy,” or in another version, “unprofitable,” means literally “not needed.” How does that relate to faith? Glad you asked. That is what I am going to try to explain to you. But first I need to talk about “self-denial.”
When I was a teenager, I read Romans 12:1, where Paul said,
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
I was new to the God journey; I was looking to “level up.” And I said to myself,
“That is my next step. I need to put my life on the altar. I need to make a sacrifice of myself for God. That is what is pleasing to Him.”
So, the next time I was in a church service, I walked forward during the altar call, and I declared just that to the adults in the front. I remember that there was a little fanfare over what I had done, and that I was now a leader in training. What was really going on was that I didn’t feel like a good Christian; I felt like I still needed to clean up my act. I thought the secret to the Christian life might be up in the next level. If I served more, gave more, sacrificed more, maybe that was it. What if I just gave it all? Wasn’t that what Romans 12:1 was saying?
There are plenty of people in the Christian community who will urge you on in your journey of self-denial. It goes by other names, as well. We call it, “Dying to self,” or Dying to sin,” “Taking up your cross,” or “Dying daily.” I googled “dying to self,” and found stacks and stacks of Christian posts advocating the necessity of it. I found long lists of Bible verses supposedly supporting it. But I got tired of looking before I found anyone saying what I am about to tell you now.
The Bible is not telling you to keep dying to your self or your sin, it is telling you that you have already died.
It is not an act of your own willpower, it is a matter of believing what God said. I’ve already talked about what “taking up your cross” means, and you can go back and read it here. So what does it mean, then, to be dead to sin? It means to be free from the power and the penalty of sin. Death is the penalty for sin. But you already died with Christ (when you were saved). So your penalty has already been paid! The power of sin is based on the threat of penalty. The fact that you are no longer under the threat of penalty for anything you have done or will do means you have been set free!
Some of you are thinking, “Is he really attacking self-denial? How can that be wrong? The problem, DJ, is that Christians are self-centered and materialistic, and you are just making it worse by telling people they aren’t going to be punished for their sins.”
When I laid my life on the altar, so to speak, and said I would sacrifice everything for God, even though others were cheering me on, nothing happened that I hoped would happen. I didn’t gain power over bad habits and evil thoughts. I wasn’t filled with joy and love. It didn’t help me accomplish great things for God. Instead, I became more aware of all the ways I was still failing to give Him everything. So when other people talk about the need for self-sacrifice, I want to ask, “How’s that working out for you?”
“But, DJ, people have to do selfless things or the world will be a terrible place.”
I agree. The problem, as I see it, is how we look at it. Let’s follow the progression of sacrifice:
I see a need that I can fill by some act of service or sacrifice.
I give myself to that sacrifice.
I feel good about myself.
I look around and compare myself to others who are more selfish.
I seek to cash in my merit points which I have earned through my sacrifice.
I find that there is nothing in my account.
I am hurt and resentful, and eventually burnt out.
This is not cynicism. This is fixed human nature.
So, when Paul, in Romans 12:1 says to present your bodies a living sacrifice, he is not telling you to put yourself on an altar, so to speak, and sacrifice all the things you want for the “more holy” things that God wants. He is telling you that you can make a love offering to God through your service or worship, because God is now pleased with you.
The other way we misread this verse is by thinking we can banish selfishness in our lives with will power. If I had a selfish day, it must be because I crawled off the altar. Back on the altar everybody (my apologies to everyone I’ve ever heard say that in church, Bible conferences, revivals, altar calls, etc. I still love you all!). Self-denial isn’t you trying to be less selfish. It is you forgetting about yourself (for good or bad) and fixing your eyes on Jesus.
Focusing on your sacrifice is, after all, a focus on you. In my case, it was my attempt to keep the two greatest commandments, “Love God with all your heart,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Beautiful sentiments. If you could keep those commandments, you wouldn’t need Jesus.
I think “living sacrifice” is explained by another verse:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Gal. 2:20)
So the life I now live in the flesh (or the body) is by faith, not by willpower. It is not about my sacrifice, but about Jesus’ sacrifice. It’s not about my law keeping, but about Jesus, who already fulfilled the law. And I can trust that He loves me even more than I love myself, because He went to the cross for me.
So, back to Luke 17:10. Remember that:
"So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”
Jesus is saying, “Don’t expect to be rewarded for keeping the commandments. The commandments bring a curse, because nobody can keep them all.” If you happen to keep a commandment or two along the way, you are not building up merit points, you are only testifying to an obligation that you can never keep.
The reward is for faith. And this is where I want to bring this together. The disciples said, “Increase our faith.” And Jesus said, “First quit trying to show God what a great person you are.”
God is honored more in your failures, and this is where faith operates. My daughter will be a little embarrassed that I said her three year old is a heathen, because she lets him carry around doggie doo-doo. But, I want to tell a story about her visit to the house this summer. We arranged for them to visit us for a week, based on my vacation schedule. I was walking around work, the week before, telling everyone about my upcoming vacation and how excited I was to see my family. A co-worker said,
“Are you sure you have that week off? I think that is my week.”
I ran to check the schedule, and, sure enough, I had made a colossal mistake. It was too late. They were coming the week before my vacation. I was crushed. I tried to be philosophical about it. At least my wife would get to spend all week with the grandchildren. I thought, it must be a mistake. Or maybe my boss is out to get me, and changed my vacation. I tried to think of a way to get it changed or beg the co-worker to switch with me. I had nothing. You’re thinking, “First-World problem,” I know, but I was heart sick. [Check out a man who had a bigger problem here.] I complained to God, “Lord, you know I made a mess of this, and I am soooooo disappointed I could cry. But I know you could still do something about it.”
My daughter and son-in-law arrived, with Judah and Ezra, on the weekend. Monday, I went to work, and they sent us home at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, same result. Each day, it was the same thing. Not, “Hey we are only going to work a couple hours each day this week.” But, each day, I went to work and found out we were going home at 10:00 a.m. or before. So, each day I got home about the time everybody was done with morning chores and ready to have fun. I have worked at the same place for almost 29 years, and I have never seen that happen before.
Right after Paul said he was crucified with Christ, he said,
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” (Gal. 2:21)
Rest in Peace, William K. Bol
The problem is that we think that holiness (doing good and being good) is the goal of Christianity. But it is only a bi-product. It is the result of the life of Christ flowing out of you. The life of Christ cannot flow out of you unless grace is flowing into you. And grace cannot flow into you if you are “trying” to be holy.