The Great Battle every believer faces in discipleship, in going deeper with God, is the intrusion of Self into the whole business. Self tries to supplant God; Self tries to do for God rather than allowing God to do His own work; Self tries, and works hard, and labours, and strives - and fails. Over and over. Self wants to contribute and, if allowed, to take center stage in every thing whether good or bad. Self wants to be seen; it desires glory; it wants adoration and gratification, whatever the cost. And when Self is thwarted in any of these things, watch out! Anger, bitterness, self-hatred, hatred of others, withdrawal, complaint, sourness, resentment, malice and all sorts of other ugly things boil out.
So long as Self rules in one's life, so long as Self is allowed to intrude on the transforming work of the Spirit, one cannot ever really know and enjoy God. Self and God are at direct odds with each other, enemies, and irreconcilable.
What do I mean by Self? Well, I don't mean you, that is, the basic personality, physical attributes, and intellectual characteristics that make you uniquely you. I mean that person - you - unconstrained by God, without spiritual life, the person Paul described in Scripture:
Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Colossians 1:21
21 ...you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
Philippians 3:18-19
18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.
In these three quotations from Paul's letters, a pretty good description of Self emerges:
1. Spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.
2. Bound under the power of the devil, the flesh, and the World.
3. Hostile in mind toward God.
4. Engaged in evil deeds.
5. Focused solely on the here-and-now.
This person you are apart from God, this "old man" (Romans 6:6), Self-centered and at enmity with God, is incorrigibly flesh-focused, fleshly-minded, and cannot be made to be otherwise by any effort of fleshly Self. Paul explained:
Romans 7:18
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh...
Romans 8:6-8
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Galatians 5:17
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
It is because Self is fundamentally fleshly and unalterably Self-centered and thus utterly opposed to God, that God's remedy for Self isn't to remediate it, to fix Self, but to put Self to death. How? By co-crucifixion with Christ. When Christ died on the cross some 2000 years ago, the born-again believer was crucified - spiritually - there with him. How? I've no idea. And the Bible does not offer a careful delineation of how, exactly, God managed such a thing. But Paul makes the believer's co-crucifixion with Christ a prominent theme in his various letters to the Early Church, establishing it as a crucial, fundamental feature of Christian living.
Romans 6:6-11
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 2:20
20 "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.
Galatians 5:24
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Colossians 2:20
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees...
Colossians 3:3
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
2 Timothy 2:11
11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
So, we have been crucified with Christ and this has put to death the "old man," our spiritually-dead former Self, but does "death" mean eradication? Honestly, I'm not yet sure. It's been my thinking for years that the "death" of the "old man" describes an act of separation, not eradication. Self is not gone; merely held powerless on the cross of Christ. At least, this is how I was taught. It may be true, and I have operated as though it is, but I'm not altogether certain that Self is just rendered powerless. These days, I tend toward thinking fleshly Self is dead and gone and the struggle I have as a believer is with the vestiges, the entrenched habits and reflexes of thought and behaviour, of the "old man."
In either case, the result of my co-crucifixion with Christ - and yours - is the same:
Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Romans 6:7
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
Romans 6:12
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
Okay. So. How do you tell when the old Self-centered way you used to live before you were saved, and died to Self, is creeping in? It can be hard to see that this is happening sometimes. Here, then, are some clues to the encroachment of Self upon your walk with God:
1. Who's the focus of your life as a Christian? Do you think in terms of your effort, your responsibilities, your determination, your self-mastery in walking with God? Do you make yourself the linchpin, the key, to the transforming work of God? Do you change for God, or does He change you? The way you frame up the dynamics of your walk with God, the terms you use to describe your role, often give away a lot about how much in the vein of the "old man" you are in your thinking and living as a Christian.
2. Who gets the glory? Are you content never to be acknowledged for your Christian service? Are you willing, even, to be hated for the sake of Christ, to suffer persecution that he might be lifted up? Do you look constantly for affirmation of your labor in God's service? Is it enough that you have done as God has directed, even if nothing spiritually-productive appears to result? If you can't serve God without the approbation of others, if you are unhappy laboring for God unnoticed, then I suggest to you that you are living according to Self, to the "old man," and not according to the co-crucified, Spirit-controlled person God calls you to be.
3. Are you a fractious, argumentative person? Are you harboring resentments, old grudges, past hurts you constantly drag into the present and rehearse? Are you content to let God change people in His own time and way, without your ultimatums, and threats, and sour attitude "motivating" them to live as you think they should? Are you seeking peace with all men as much as possible - especially at home with your family? Do serve your family with humility, and patience, and gentleness? Or are you a walking thundercloud, constantly darting out spikes of anger and nasty talk, thundering at those you refuse to forgive and love? When you follow the pattern of the "old man" and neglect to live in the truth of your co-crucifixion with Christ in daily submission to him, dissension and temper result.
4. Are you gritting your teeth, straining to be a righteous wo/man, living in a constant, tight cycle of sin>forgiveness>sin>forgiveness, thinking this is the normal Christian life? Or do you find yourself astonished by the subtlety and profundity of the Spirit's transformation of you? Do you start in surprise at the realization that you no longer desire your favorite sin and that new, stronger, godly desires have formed in you in its place? Do you find the gentleness, patience, humility, joy, holiness and love of God forming in you so naturally that you often don't even notice? Or is living the Christian life just a series of short-lived bursts of "holy living," ending always inevitably in failure; just a constant suppression of wicked desires, thoughts and behaviour you can barely keep under control; just obedience to God driven by fear and obligation, not love and joy and the power of the Spirit? All these mark a like that is not living by faith in the truth of one's co-crucifixion with Christ.
What will it take, do you think, for you to live day-by-day by faith in the truth and liberty of your death to the "old man" and your new, victorious life in Christ?
Romans 6:11
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:22
22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
So long as Self rules in one's life, so long as Self is allowed to intrude on the transforming work of the Spirit, one cannot ever really know and enjoy God. Self and God are at direct odds with each other, enemies, and irreconcilable.
What do I mean by Self? Well, I don't mean you, that is, the basic personality, physical attributes, and intellectual characteristics that make you uniquely you. I mean that person - you - unconstrained by God, without spiritual life, the person Paul described in Scripture:
Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Colossians 1:21
21 ...you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
Philippians 3:18-19
18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ,
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.
In these three quotations from Paul's letters, a pretty good description of Self emerges:
1. Spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.
2. Bound under the power of the devil, the flesh, and the World.
3. Hostile in mind toward God.
4. Engaged in evil deeds.
5. Focused solely on the here-and-now.
This person you are apart from God, this "old man" (Romans 6:6), Self-centered and at enmity with God, is incorrigibly flesh-focused, fleshly-minded, and cannot be made to be otherwise by any effort of fleshly Self. Paul explained:
Romans 7:18
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh...
Romans 8:6-8
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Galatians 5:17
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
It is because Self is fundamentally fleshly and unalterably Self-centered and thus utterly opposed to God, that God's remedy for Self isn't to remediate it, to fix Self, but to put Self to death. How? By co-crucifixion with Christ. When Christ died on the cross some 2000 years ago, the born-again believer was crucified - spiritually - there with him. How? I've no idea. And the Bible does not offer a careful delineation of how, exactly, God managed such a thing. But Paul makes the believer's co-crucifixion with Christ a prominent theme in his various letters to the Early Church, establishing it as a crucial, fundamental feature of Christian living.
Romans 6:6-11
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 2:20
20 "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.
Galatians 5:24
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Colossians 2:20
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees...
Colossians 3:3
3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
2 Timothy 2:11
11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
So, we have been crucified with Christ and this has put to death the "old man," our spiritually-dead former Self, but does "death" mean eradication? Honestly, I'm not yet sure. It's been my thinking for years that the "death" of the "old man" describes an act of separation, not eradication. Self is not gone; merely held powerless on the cross of Christ. At least, this is how I was taught. It may be true, and I have operated as though it is, but I'm not altogether certain that Self is just rendered powerless. These days, I tend toward thinking fleshly Self is dead and gone and the struggle I have as a believer is with the vestiges, the entrenched habits and reflexes of thought and behaviour, of the "old man."
In either case, the result of my co-crucifixion with Christ - and yours - is the same:
Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Romans 6:7
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
Romans 6:12
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
Okay. So. How do you tell when the old Self-centered way you used to live before you were saved, and died to Self, is creeping in? It can be hard to see that this is happening sometimes. Here, then, are some clues to the encroachment of Self upon your walk with God:
1. Who's the focus of your life as a Christian? Do you think in terms of your effort, your responsibilities, your determination, your self-mastery in walking with God? Do you make yourself the linchpin, the key, to the transforming work of God? Do you change for God, or does He change you? The way you frame up the dynamics of your walk with God, the terms you use to describe your role, often give away a lot about how much in the vein of the "old man" you are in your thinking and living as a Christian.
2. Who gets the glory? Are you content never to be acknowledged for your Christian service? Are you willing, even, to be hated for the sake of Christ, to suffer persecution that he might be lifted up? Do you look constantly for affirmation of your labor in God's service? Is it enough that you have done as God has directed, even if nothing spiritually-productive appears to result? If you can't serve God without the approbation of others, if you are unhappy laboring for God unnoticed, then I suggest to you that you are living according to Self, to the "old man," and not according to the co-crucified, Spirit-controlled person God calls you to be.
3. Are you a fractious, argumentative person? Are you harboring resentments, old grudges, past hurts you constantly drag into the present and rehearse? Are you content to let God change people in His own time and way, without your ultimatums, and threats, and sour attitude "motivating" them to live as you think they should? Are you seeking peace with all men as much as possible - especially at home with your family? Do serve your family with humility, and patience, and gentleness? Or are you a walking thundercloud, constantly darting out spikes of anger and nasty talk, thundering at those you refuse to forgive and love? When you follow the pattern of the "old man" and neglect to live in the truth of your co-crucifixion with Christ in daily submission to him, dissension and temper result.
4. Are you gritting your teeth, straining to be a righteous wo/man, living in a constant, tight cycle of sin>forgiveness>sin>forgiveness, thinking this is the normal Christian life? Or do you find yourself astonished by the subtlety and profundity of the Spirit's transformation of you? Do you start in surprise at the realization that you no longer desire your favorite sin and that new, stronger, godly desires have formed in you in its place? Do you find the gentleness, patience, humility, joy, holiness and love of God forming in you so naturally that you often don't even notice? Or is living the Christian life just a series of short-lived bursts of "holy living," ending always inevitably in failure; just a constant suppression of wicked desires, thoughts and behaviour you can barely keep under control; just obedience to God driven by fear and obligation, not love and joy and the power of the Spirit? All these mark a like that is not living by faith in the truth of one's co-crucifixion with Christ.
What will it take, do you think, for you to live day-by-day by faith in the truth and liberty of your death to the "old man" and your new, victorious life in Christ?
Romans 6:11
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:22
22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
