Selfishness does not pass the test

This week I challenged a few people to ask God in the morning to give them that day what they need the most. And then pay attention. From personal experience I know that He could surprise with a blessing but He could also surprise with a rebuke.

In doing this, I’m sometimes distressed at my reactions when I ask God for something I need but don't get what I want or expect. Instead of trusting him, I realize how stuck I am in wanting to run my own life.

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?’” (Matthew 16:24–26)

Tozer says, “Affections that do not terminate on God, terminate on self. Men who do not seek the things that are Jesus Christ’s, seek their own. Inordinate self-love is the ruling passion of their hearts and the governing principle of their lives.”

Tozer is right. I remember a woman who professed to be a Christian yet she said how much she loved to help people because “it makes me feel so good.” In pondering her reasoning I realized that so much of Christian service is based on what I want or what makes me feel good or what looks good to others rather than what will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.

One day Jesus will bring me before a throne of judgment. Christians will not be judged concerning salvation but concerning the quality of the work that they have done.

“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:11–15)

The Bible says anything I’ve done that has no value in the will of God will be lost. This includes all those things I’ve done that are very selfish and those where I want the glory rather than bringing glory to Jesus. What shame I will feel standing before Christ watching most of the work that I've done go up and smoke because I did them for my own sake.

If anyone thinks this is easy, try going for even half a day without thinking about your own profit, or thinking, ‘what is in this for me?’ This is why we need a Savior. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. Without Him our lives miss the mark. Without Him we have no hope of pleasing God.

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Lord Jesus, I am so thankful that You are my Savior. I am so thankful that my eternal life is not based on my old self but on the basis of You and what You have done for me. I realize I've been stubborn. I've not allowed You in. I’ve not allowed You to work through me the way I should. Thank You for your mercy and grace thank You for loving me because of who You are rather than what I do. Praise your name.

Not only the best actions, but in the greatest power . . .

It seems obvious that doing anything in the power of the Holy Spirit will have results that fit the will of God but doing anything by my own power will not.

Tozer says this about Christian living in a more vivid way: “When the Holy Spirit is ignored or rejected, religious people are forced either to do their own creating or to fossilize completely. A few churches accept fossilization as the will of God and settle down to the work of preserving their past — as if it needed preserving. Others seek to appear modern and imitate the current activities of the world with the mistaken idea that they are being creative. And after a fashion they are, but the creatures of the creative skill are sure to be toys and trifles, mere imitations of the world and altogether lacking in the qualities of eternity — holiness and spiritual dignity. The hallmark of the Holy Spirit is not there.”

I agree, but this pinches me when I think of my own efforts. Tozer’s selection of Scripture eases the pain of realizing that God will not punish me for all those times I thought I could ‘do it myself’ like an impertinent little child. By God’s grace my folly is not held against me!

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1–4)

Jesus Christ takes care of the guilt, yet there will be a judgment for Christians. It is called the ‘bema seat’ when God examines what I have done and under whose power . . .

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11–15)

Tozer offers this sobering thought: “It is hard to imagine a more painful disillusionment than to come to the judgment seat of Christ and find that all our earthly lives we had been striving after the flesh and never permitting the creative Holy Spirit to work in us that which was pleasing in His sight.”

Many times, I’ve said no to requests and offers from others. Very often they cannot understand why I turned them down. I usually pray and if the Holy Spirit is not in it and God is not indicating that I should say yes, it does not matter how good it sounds, I must decline. God may be at work in their project but He is not telling me I should be involved.

The leading of the Spirit is hard to explain, even to other Christians. This does not make me a super-saint. I’ve made the wrong choices many times, and learning the hard way is not the best way to learn. However, God seems to speak more clearly as the years go by, and the uselessness of the flesh becomes more important to avoid. I do not want the things I’ve done be labeled wood, hay or straw, nor do I want to waste the rest of my life as I’ve wasted much of it already.

Tozer adds, “There is a way of release from the tyranny of the flesh. It is by the cross of Jesus.” As he says, the power to live free from self-centered effort comes from the Holy Spirit.

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Lord Jesus, in my sinful humanness I have this self-sufficient tendency and often jump right in when opportunities present themselves. You are patiently teaching me that this is childish and a total waste of effort, redeemed only by the fact that I learn from failures. I know that the Spirit urges me to pray about everything, even those things that appear to be godly choices. I cannot do all that needs to be done in the kingdom of God. If I try things that You have not put on my to-do list, then I miss out on what is needful. Help me to pay attention, listen, and only be engaged by a ‘yes’ from You and by the filling of the Spirit. Only in You do I have the motivation and Your power to move forward.

Judging and judgment

There is an aspect of the Gospel that bothers even Christians; not everyone will be saved. We don’t understand the ways of God in that He chooses some and not others. We know salvation is by grace through faith and not based on our deeds, but His determination. That does not make sense.

Yet there is another aspect of Christian living that does not make sense either. We know God saves by grace, but some of us have the terrible tendency to judge other Christians by their behavior, as if that is the criteria for salvation. God reminds me . . .

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Romans 14:10).

If my sin was put on Christ, judged and punished at the Cross, why then will I appear before His judgment seat? This is a good question, yet resolved by a lesson in the Greek language. There are two terms concerning God’s judgment. They refer to two different events. One is that final judgment of unrepentant sinners at “a great white throne” spoken of in Revelation 20 where the dead are judged according to what they have done. This is not a judgment for those who are “written in the book of life.”

The other is called the “bema” seat of Christ and this is where the deeds of Christians are evaluated. Some will have been done in the power of the Holy Spirit and others in our own strength which will mean some will be acceptable and others like “wood, hay and stubble” and will be burned up. (1 Corinthians 3)

In other words, Christians will stand before the bema seat, not to have themselves judged for worthiness of eternal life, but their work judged to determine its eternal value . . .

If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:15)

Because of this bema judgment, I must walk by faith and in obedience, making it my aim to please God. I will “receive what is due for what (I have) done in the body, whether good or evil. (See 2 Corinthians 5)

That settles the final judgment issue, but also confusing is that Jesus says we are not to judge one another yet He also says we must judge righteously and use discernment. How can that make sense? If I’m to judge, but not to judge, what does He mean?

Reading those commands in their context is helpful. Matthew 7 forbids judging that is based on seeing my own problems in others and pointing fingers at their error instead of dealing with my own. If my life is clear of those problems, then I “can see clearly” to help others who have them.

In the very next verse, Jesus says, “Do not give dogs what is holy . . . .” How can I know who are “dogs” and what is “holy” without making some sort of judgment call? I cannot do that if my own eyes are blinded by sin’s deception, nor can I do it if I think I am forbidden to judge anyone or anything. God does not intend that we be deceived and unable to evaluate such things as false teachers, sin that requires rebuke, etc.

I’ve wondered if I’ve ever used “Do not judge” as an excuse to avoid cleaning up my own life? Probably. If I cannot judge others, then they cannot judge me. This serves to make me accountable to no one. That is foolish too.

The other kind of judgment is about who IS saved and who isn’t. Jesus did say that we would know them (unsaved people) by their fruit (see Matthew 7). At the same time, we have no idea who WILL be saved. The salvation of the Apostle Paul was a surprise to the new church. Also, my sister became a Christian in an African country and came home thinking I would be the last one in the family to be saved; but I was the first. We cannot judge or decide someone is beyond the reach of God’s grace. The Word of God does not allow anyone to judge regarding that!

I’m not sure what that great white throne judgment will be like, only I know I will not be there because my name is already written in God’s book of life . . . .

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done . . . and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done . . . . And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11–15)

Jesus, what can I say that adequately expresses the wonder of being included in Your family, Your kingdom? You took God’s wrath on my sin and purchased for me eternal life without condemnation. Some of my actions have been worthless, yet because of grace some are gold according to Your estimation. I can only bow my head in gratitude that You have blessed me by mercy instead of dismissing me by judgment.