Self- realisatIon v. Christ-realisatIon - Chambers, Oswald
Matthew 16:24
Self-realisation is a modern phrasebe moral, be religious, be upright in order that you may realise yourself. Nothing blinds the mind to the claims of jesus christ more effectually than a good, clean- living, upright life based on self-realisation (see 2 corinthians 4:34). The issue with us to-day is not with external sins, but with the ideal of self-realisation, because jesus christ reveals that that ideal will divide clean asunder from him. If we are going to be his disciples our ideal must be Christ-realisation.
The desire
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself . . .
There is no man awake to life but feels the attraction of Jesus Christ. There he stands, and all men are attracted to him, whether or not they accept statements about his deity or theories about the atonement. What is your desire? Is it to be a fine, sterling, moral, upright character? A grand and noble desire; but watch how Jesus Christ sifts it. Two of the early disciples had the desire to follow Jesus, it was the consuming passion of their lives to come after Jesus, and when he asked them if they were able to drink of his cup and be baptised with his baptism, they said, we are able. They were not conceited or proud, they were devout, humble-minded men, but they were perfectly ignorant about themselves. There are many people to- day who say, yes, lord, ill go with thee all the way. But there are conditions: if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. What is the meaning of these words from the lips of jesus? He is not teaching us to deny one part of ourselves in order to benefit another part of ourselves, which is what self-denial has come to mean. The full force of our lords words is let him deny his right to himself; let him give up his right to himself to me. Jesus laid down that condition to a clean-living, sterling young man of his day, with what result? His countenance was sad, and he went away grieved; for he had great possessions. If any man will come after me, said Jesus, the condition is that he must leave something behind, viz. His right to himself. Is Jesus christ worth it, or am i one of those who accept his salvation but thoroughly object to giving up my right to myself to him?
The devotion and take up his cross . . .
There is a difference between devotion to principles and devotion to a person. Hundreds of people to-day are devoting themselves to phases of truth, to causes. Jesus Christ never asks us to devote ourselves to a cause or a creed; he asks us to devote ourselves to him, to sign away the right to ourselves and yield to him absolutely, and take up that cross daily. The cross Jesus asks us to take up cannot be suffering for convictions sake, because a man will suffer for convictions sake whether he is a christian or not. Neither can it be suffering for conscience sake, because a man will go to martyrdom for his principles without having one spark of the grace of god in his heart. Paul says, though i give my body to be burned, and have not [love], it profiteth me nothing. What then is our cross? Our cross is something that comes only with the peculiar relationship of a disciple to Jesus. It is the sign that we have denied our right to ourselves and are determined to manifest that we are no longer our own, we have given away for ever our right to ourselves to Jesus Christ.
The characteristic of the cross we carry daily is that we have been crucified with Christ. Galatians 2:20 does not refer merely to the fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ; it refers to the glorious liberty we have of sacrificing ourselves for Jesus Christ every day we live. What is sacrifice? Giving back to God the best i have in order that he may make it an eternal possession of his and mine for ever. But something must happen first. The meaning of salvation and sanctification is not only the removal of the wrong disposition, but the radical alteration of identity. Paul says that his destiny is no longer self- realisation, but Christ-identity: i live; and yet no longer i, but Christ liveth in me. We need to remember that we cannot train ourselves to be Christians; we cannot discipline ourselves to be saints; we cannot bend our- selves to the will of god: we have to be broken to the will of god. There must be a break with the dominant ruler. We may be clean and upright and religious, we may be christian workers and have been mightily used of god; but if the bedrock of self-realisation has not been blasted out by our own free choice at the cross of christ, shipwreck is the only thing in the end. We enter into the kingdom of god through the cross of Jesus Christ, and self-realisation cannot get through with us, it must be left outside. We must be broken from self- realisation, immediately that point is reached the real- ity of the supernatural identification with the death of Jesus Christ takes place, and the witness of the spirit is unmistakablei have been crucified with Christ (RV). Jesus Christ can take the man who has been broken by sin and twisted with wrongdoing and can reinstate him, not as an angel, thank god, but as a man, and present him before the throne of god without blemish, through the sheer omnipotence of his atonement. The direction . . . And follow me. We must not dictate to Jesus as to where we are going to serve him. There is a theory abroad to-day that we have to consecrate our gifts to god. We cannot, they are not ours to consecrate; every gift we have has been given to us. Jesus Christ does not take my gifts and use them; he takes me and turns me right about face, and realises himself in me for his glory. The one dominant note in the life of a disciple is jesus only,
Jesus ever, Jesus all in all i see.
There is no devotion to principles or to a cause there; nothing but overwhelming, absorbing love to the person of Jesus Christ. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
God grant we may answer i have made my choice for ever, i will walk with Christ my lord; naught from him my soul shall sever while im trusting in his word. I the lonely way have taken, rough and toilsome though it be, and although despised, forsaken, Jesus, ill go through with thee