"For all seek their own, not the things which are Yeshua ha Mashiyach's."
Philippians 2:21 (Jesus Christ's)
(Some thoughts a Brother in Christ shared:)
Most folks are accustomed to the idea that if you're not being
obnoxiously selfish then you are ok. A person who habitually puts his or
her interests first, without any regard for the inconvenience (or
calamity) they may bring upon others, is generally classified as
selfish.
However, such a definition of selfishness is far from satisfactory from a
Scriptural point of view. The Word of God calls us, not to passive
indifference, but to active selfless service. According to the message
of the New Testament, it is not enough to merely avoid overfly living
for ourselves at the expense of others. Instead it can be stated that
those who are not laying down their lives in devotion to God, & in
service to others, are guilty of “seeking their own.” This type of
selfishness mostly goes unnoticed though because we have been raised up
in such a “me generation” society. So, rather than spending time on the
obvious examples of self-centeredness, let us call attention to subtle
ways in which people are being selfish, living unto themselves.
Not uncommonly we hear people who profess Christianity justify
something they do, or desire to do, with the statement, “I don’t see
anything wrong with that.” Often this is due to failure to take the
Scriptures seriously; they enjoy their sin & will not be deterred
by a few Biblical passages. Sometimes, however it is true that the
particular action they are referring to, in & of itself, is not
necessarily wrong. The problem is that their lives, even in the best
examples, consist almost exclusively of things that “aren’t necessarily
wrong,” in & of themselves. There is nothing blatantly contrary to
Scripture about living in a house, working with your hands, taking a
trip to another state, learning about a particular subject, enjoying
music, passing the time with certain types of hobbies, or keeping
company with like minded people. The goal, the very target of
Evangelical Church folk is to have a life made up of such things.
Nevertheless if your life consists of little more than this, it isn’t
much of a Christian testimony. When the best that a believer can say
about his life is merely that the vast majority of his time is taken up
in activities that “aren’t necessarily wrong,” he is exhibiting a prime
example of what the Scriptures call being “lukewarm” toward Y’shua
(Jesus). (See Revelations 3:15-16)
Nowhere in the New Testament are we taught that Christian life consists
of doing whatever we want as long as it is not violently contrary to the
Scriptures. The primary focus of a true follower of Y’shua is not about
answering the question, “Is what I wish to do necessarily wrong?”
Rather it is about answering the question, “Is what I wish to do
something that God delights in?” The Holy Scripture makes clear the
sorts of things in which our heavenly Father delights (e.g.: purity,
kindness, study of the Scriptures, prayer, sharing our faith, service,
etc.). The actual goal & target of a Christian is to have ones life
consist largely of these types of things.
In Matthew 11, some disciples of John the Baptist came with a
message from John, essentially asking if Y’shua was the Messiah. Instead
of just saying, “ Yes, that’s me,” which anyone could have done, Y’shua
pointed out that he was doing things that to those who knew the
Scriptures would identify him clearly to be Mashiyach (the Messiah,
referring to Isaiah 35:3-6 & Isaiah 61:11 ). He then added,
“And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” Matthew11:6
It would be an understatement to say that many people were offended
at Y’shua, but we tend to forget this fact. After nearly 2,000 years,
being trained by society to picture a Christ who is something like Mr.
Rogers, it is easy to miss that Y’shua was “despised & rejected”,
& eventually killed for what he taught. (See Isaiah 53) Multitudes
came to be healed by him & to hear him; but in the bitter end,
before the resurrection, only a small number counted themselves as his
disciples. Apparently then, most people were offended at Y’shua, for
some reason or another.
Few would have been offended at the Messiah if he had come preaching
only that we need change some of our beliefs, spend a few hours of the
week differently from what we are accustomed to, & abstain from
obvious vices, such as intoxication, brawling, or cheating on one’s
spouse. Religions of the world, whether Catholic, Protestant, Muslim,
Hindu, Buddhist, or otherwise are content to require little more than
these types of things. A quiet, normal life of religious complacency
would have suited people just fine, as it has since time immemorial.
But Y’shua’s words came smashing into people’s worlds with something new
& radical, & this was offensive. He called upon people to go
way beyond the complacent norms of society, & live out selfless
devotion. Y’shua spoke hard sayings: about denying ourselves &
taking up the cross to follow him, about dying to ourselves, about
selling out & leaving all behind, about suffering wrong without
fighting back, obeying his commandments even if it means losing our own
families. The Messiah claimed authority as Master & Lord (Luke6:46
& John13:13) . He taught that we should, indeed must, be willing to
confess him before men, to bear affliction & persecution for him,
& even to die for his sake (Mark 13:9-13).
In short, Y’shuas message & call upon us is to give up our lives
in service to our Creator (Matthew 16:24-25). As the Apostle Paul put
it, we are to offer up our bodies to God as a living sacrifice
(Romans12:1). To become a Christian means to no longer live unto one’s
self, but unto Mashiyach (the Messiah). (2Corinthians5:15) He is
telling us not to merely make a few alterations in our schedule &
beliefs, but to totally & radically change virtually everything
about our life; & become “
new creatures” (2Corinthians 5:17)
In this light suddenly “not necessarily wrong” lifestyle is exposed
as, in fact, all wrong. It is a life inherently & thoroughly
selfish. The parable Y’shua spoke in Luke 12:16-27 illustrates this
point clearly. Here we have a man who worked long & hard &
received abundantly for his labor. Y’shua did not say that man was
dishonest. He made no mention of him keeping wages back from any
workers. From society’s view, it would be very difficult to point out
anything he had done that was “necessarily wrong”. Yet, God was greatly
displeased with him, & the reason is that all his work was for
himself. The modern version of this parable is known as the “American
Ideal”, a life centered around career & possessions. It is the very
epitome of living unto one’s self: planning & working & saving
& investing, with the goal of obtaining things for self. Though
considered so normal, even admirable, through the lens of Y’shua’s
message it is seen as selfishness, pure & simple. The New Testament
message is about giving; the American Ideal is about getting. Y’shua
taught self-denial, self-sacrifice, for the good of others. The American
Ideal stresses self-preservation. The New Testament calls us to live by
faith in an invisible Provider/the American Ideal exhorts rather to
depend on visible securities such as material assets & armed
defenses. The Christian life is about seeking first the kingdom of God,
being willing to suffer affliction, & be content even when
experiencing necessities (See 2Corinthians 6:4 ; 12:10). The American
Ideal as prompted by it’s Evangelical Church world, advocates spending
large amounts of time pursuing comforts & pleasures for self, And
while the early Christians strove to perfect holiness in the fear of
God, (2Corinthians 7:1) modern believers often justify their lives by
saying that the things they do, even in their most optimistic opinions
are merely “not necessarily wrong”.
To those content to live a typical complacent life of
self-preservation, Y’shua’s message has always been greatly offensive.
It threatens their entire world-it’s too scary, too precarious, too
radical & requires too much of them. This is precisely what happened
to the young rich ruler. (See Mark 10:17-21 ; Luke 18:18-23). Rather
than letting his life fall on the Rock of Y’shua & be broken
(Matthew 21:44) his self preservation prevailed upon his heart to become
offended. He concluded that the cost of discipleship was too high. Many
others have come to this conclusion; & this trend continues even
today. Although many are willing to make some changes in their life for
the sake of their faith, most are not in any way planning to lay down
their lives, goals, plans, & careers in order to commit themselves
to selfless, Christ-like service & devotion to God. Instead they are
busy charting out their course of society’s normal, typical,
predictable, secure, lukewarm, selfish lifestyle. To them a selfless
Gospel like the one Y’shua preached is simply offensive.
Consider two outstanding examples in the New Testament, the Apostles
Peter & Paul.(Other non-Apostolic examples could be sited such as
Timothy, or Titus, but these two Apostles will serve the purpose. )
Neither was content with a quiet complacent life, one considered normal
by society’s standards. Instead they gave their lives to carry the
Gospel to the world-they were both determined to live for others. Indeed
this was what first century Christianity was all about.
“by love serve one another” (Galations5:13)
“ I will gladly spend & be spent for you”(2Corinthians 12:15)
“neither count I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my
course with joy, & the ministry which I have received of the Lord
Y’shua to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24) And
it’s a good thing of course that they were willing to live for others
rather than live a quiet life for themselves, or else we may never had
heard about the Gospel today.
It is by understanding this message of selflessness that we can grasp the meaning of the New Testament
exhortations:
to prefer one another, (Romans 12:10) to esteem others better than
ourselves, (Philippians 2:3) & to take the lower seat (Luke
14:10-11) Y’shua himself did not come to be served, but to serve &
to give his life a ransom for many. (Matthew10:28) Paul echoes this by
saying he had made himself servant to all. (1Corinthians 9:19) His
reason for this, he stated, was to win others to Y’shua. Paul’s focus,
& the focus of the first century Christians in general was not on
merely avoiding actions that are “necessarily wrong” but on dedicating
one’s life for the salvation of others, & to be able to help as many
souls as possible. When believers fail to see themselves as servants
both to God, & to all people, they tend to hold themselves more
highly in importance; & this produces little besides selfish
attitudes & actions. Something often associated with placing
importance on ones self is putting great emphasis on being treated
fairly. This manifests itself as: being quick to anger, a consistent
demand for respect, & continual efforts to defend our own
reputation, & to seek retribution when wronged. If such statements
surprise you, they should not. The concern of God’s people in the New
Testament is not about “what is fair for me,” but rather, what is
charitable & holy, & what makes for a truly Christian testimony.
In the last 11 verses of Matthew 5 Y’shua makes this point clear. Now
it is certainly true that Christians are not suppose to do wrong to
others; but how should a Christian respond when he is wronged? Are we to
demand fair retribution?
In 1Corinthians 6, Paul answers this question. Apparently some in the
church had wronged their brethren; & those defrauded had reacted by
taking them to court. This was “utterly a fault,” something horribly
wrong that these brothers did not just bear & forgive.
“Why do ye rather not take wrong?” Paul asks, “
Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?”
Y’shua gave us an example of taking wrong patiently & charitably
(Luke 23:34; 1Peter2:19-23). Stephan followed faithfully in his Master’s
steps (Acts7:59-60). Many would do well to remember more often the
Scripture that tells us to not take heed unto all words spoken
(Ecclesiastes 7:21-22) It is easier to be of this longsuffering attitude
when we are not holding ourselves in great importance. There is to be
sure a time & place to “warn the unruly” 1Thesalonians 5:14) ,
& instruct with meekness those who are erring. James 5:19-20).
However, our reason for acting must spring from charity, out of a desire
to restore someone in need (Galatians 6:1), it should not be out of
merely wanting to defend ourselves.
When self is on the throne, trifling matters best left ignored become
grounds for offense, & even anger & bitterness. “My opinion”
becomes more important, “my way” is assured the best way, “my questions”
are regarded as the ones needed to be answered first, & “my
problems” are the most pressing. Meanwhile, it becomes difficult to see
anything as “my fault”. When several people harbor attitudes, arguing
& resentment are virtually inevitable. Further in this selfish frame
of mind, it is easier to be offended at instruction & reproof than
to receive them. It is with meekness that one receives the saving word
(James 1:21) ; & meekness is not a characteristic of
self-centeredness.
Selfishness is as well present in all desire for vain glory, which
can quickly lead to envy & strife (See Galatians 5:26). It brings
one to thinking much about self, talking about self, & being
concerned about the needs of self rather than “
…looking on the needs of others”
(Philippians 2:4). Each of us of course has needs & our Father
wants us to ask Him for good things (Matthew 7:11). However, when
prayer time becomes little more than presenting a wish list of items for
self, it can hardly be denied that selfishness is involved.
The holy, upright love of God in a Christians heart is something that
leads away from seeking ones own (1Corinthians 13:6). Charity is never
selfish; it is too concerned about others to place much importance on
self. Selfishness is not upright, in fact it is at the base of virtually
all manner of sin. Paul was aware of this connection; in 2Timothy 3, he
refers to those who are
“lovers of their own selves,” &
lists numerous awful things that are associated with that. Few have
pointed out the connection between womanizing & selfishness; but
once considered, the association is inescapable. Pursuing ones desires
without any thought whatsoever for its affect on others. Similar
statements can be made about theft & other forms of dishonesty, as
well as covetousness, murder, & many other sins.
Everyone who chooses the world over service to God is being selfish,
particularly those who leave God & His people, to return to the
world as Demas did in 2 Timothy4:10. The result is universally the same:
serving sin, being a hindrance & stumbling block to those who are
trying to follow Y’shua & troubling others in various ways when they
should be seeking to help. It is always for nothing else than seeking
temporal pleasures for self.
So we can see that merely abstaining from certain things that are
obviously contrary to the Scriptures is not enough. Rather, a complete
definition of selflessness manifests that if we are not actively being
selfless—giving our life in service to Y’shua & for the good of
others—then we are being selfish. If the best justification that can be
offered for nearly all of the activities in one’s life is, “I don’t see
anything wrong with it,” such a life can be classified as thinly veiled
selfishness. It is an attitude that seeks first its own will, not the
attitude of asking what will please God the most.
Are you willing to lay down your whole life for the sake of others?
