Why did Jesus say, “Whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39)? What did He mean by this? Considering the fact that all except one of the disciples were martyred for their faith it is easy to surmise that Jesus was referring to the loss of physical life. But was He? As we will see, dying to self is the true essence of the Christian experience.
In 2015 the world witnessed ISIL executing twenty-one Coptic Christian construction workers in Libya. This was a deliberate statement against Christianity captured on a video entitled, A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross. This wasn’t an isolated incident and many other Christians have met with the same fate.
Over the last two thousand years countless Christians have been martyred for their uncompromising conviction to faith in Jesus Christ. Their testimony echoes through the ages as obedience to the point of death as their chosen covenantal obligation to their Savior.
The apostle Paul admonishes believers to imitate Christ and to have the same mindset as Jesus. “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8).
Even Paul himself followed the model that Christ epitomized by remaining faithful until his own execution at the hands of the Romans. But not everyone is faced with this do or die scenario in their own walk of faith. In North America, where we enjoy the freedom to worship Christ openly, most believers never experience this level of testing.
So, does that imply that our faith lacks potency or that our discipleship is not worthy of martyrdom? Or is dying to self what Jesus was intimating when He proclaimed the words recorded in Matthew 10:39? It is crucial to recognize that dying to self implies denying our self-seeking attitude and egoism.
DENYING OUR OWN DESIRES
In Matthew 16:24, we read, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.’” If we are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27), then denying our own desires and aspirations becomes self explanatory.
Yet there are Christian leaders that claim there is no need to die to self and that God loves you just the way you are. They assert that dying to self isn’t biblical and that Christ died for sinners therefore our old self died with Christ, so why would we want to kill our new self. This type of linguistic gymnastics only serves to confuse believers and condone naivety in faith.
In reality, Christians are still tempted by sin, influenced by sin and susceptible to sin because we live in a sinful world. Discipline is required to navigate through life as a Christian in a manner that glorifies God and is a testimony to our faith. That is why it is crucial to walk by the Spirit.
Paul writes in Galatians 5:16-17, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” Furthermore, self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Those who cite Romans 6:6 or Galatians 2:20 as evidence that Christians are dead to sin because our old self was crucified with Christ without acknowledging that we are still accountable for our actions, practice scriptural slight of hand and deceive their audience. Paul states, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” (Romans 6:12).
A CALL TO HOLY LIVING
The context of Romans 6 is a call to holy living and not a license to exploit grace. Christians are not above immoral behavior and are not absolved from it. We reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). Further, we have been freed from bondage to sin but slaves have been known to return to bondage after obtaining freedom.
Additionally, John writes that when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). This message was written to believers and addressed moral laxity. “If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.” (1 John 1:6). True believers struggle with sin but do not practice sin.
We are saved by grace to honor God and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). However, our lives are a testimony to others about the truth of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul teaches, “’Everything is permissible’ – but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’ – but not everything is constructive.”
Our actions must not become a stumbling block to the faith of others. Our freedom in Christ must not be perceived as a license to sin. We are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) but we must not lose sight of the fact that we are not to flirt with temptation. “If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.” (Galatians 2:18).
FALSE TEACHERS
False teachers preach a gospel that is not authentic and contains elements of biblical truth, however, the deficiencies in their message are enough to expose them as heretical. They will declare that you have been made perfect in God’s eyes because you are a new creation when the Bible clearly states that the righteousness of Christ has been imputed upon true believers despite their sinful nature.
Paul proclaims in Philippians 3:8-9, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, hot having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”
This proclamation is markedly different from the notion that God accepts you as you are without the need for repentance that is propagated by many false teachers today. Undiscerning believers become pawns in the spiritual war being fought daily which requires dying to ourselves daily and taking up our cross daily as we engage in spiritual combat.
These subtle differences and minor discrepancies amount to major theological gaffes with the potential to lead many astray. Jesus warned of wolves in sheepskin (Matthew 7:15-20). He said they would appear as true teachers on the outside but their message will be deceptive. They propagate a plausible alternative to the authentic gospel that denies the absolute truth of the Bible.
True believers are called to put Christ first in their lives. This means supressing our own ego. It means putting others above ourselves. It requires dying to ourselves and our need for validation and attention. Dying to fleshly lusts and indulgence. Putting worldly accolades and materialism to death and any sense of entitlement.
Dying to ourselves is a virtue that Jesus exemplified and that we are called to imitate. When we are persecuted, insulted and ridiculed because of our faith yet remain joyous in Christ, we are dying to self. When we refuse to let anger overtake us and patiently endure faithfully by trusting Jesus, we are dying to self.
We must put to death our vanity and pride. When Jesus said, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.”, He was speaking of surrendering our own ambitions to God’s will in the same way that He did when He prayed, “yet not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42).
