The Philosophy of sacrificing - Chambers, Oswald
The quotations are from the book entitled The Following of Christ, by John tauter .
Chapter IX
Matthew 16:24–26
“I Wonder If I Will or If I Won’t”
God does not take the wilful wont out of us by salvation; at any stage we may say, no, thank you, i am delighted to be saved and sanctified, but i am not going any further. Our lord always prefaced his talks about discipleship with an if ; it has no refer- ence whatever to a souls salvation or condemnation, but to the discipleship of the personality. We must bear in mind that our lord in his teaching reveals unalterable and eternal principles. In matthew 16:25for whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it for my sake shall find it (rv )jesus says that the eternal prin- ciple of human life is that something must be sacri- ficed; if we wont sacrifice the natural life, we do the spiritual. Our lord is not speaking of a punishment to be meted out, he is revealing what is gods eternal principle at the back of human life. We may rage and fret, as men have done, against gods just principles, or we may submit and accept and go on; but jesus reveals that these principles are as unalterable as god himself.
I wonder if i will or if i wont. In sanctification the freedom of the will is brought to its highest critical point. A good many people in order to express the marvellous emancipation that comes by gods salva- tion make the statement, i cannot now do the things that are wrong. It is only then we have the choice; when jesus christ emancipates us from the power of sin, that second we have the power to disobey, before we had not the power, we were almost obliged to disobey because of the tendency in that direction. So this principle in its full meaning, i wonder if i will or if i wont, works on the threshold of sanctification i wonder if i will devote myself to jesus christ, or to a doctrine, or a point of view of my own. Jesus says if we are to be his disciples we must sacrifice everything to that one thing.
Innocent light under identification
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, . . . And ye shall find rest unto your souls. (matthew 11:29) but what use doth it bring if a man alway dieth? It bringeth a fivefold use. First, man draweth nigh thereby to his first innocence. . . . They are best in this who have most died to themselves for in that death and denial of self a new delight springeth up, for the death that man suffereth thereby openeth up the hidden joy. Christ also said, take my yoke upon youthat is, my passionand ye will find rest unto your souls.
The only place we shall find rest is in the direct edu- cation by jesus in his cross. A new delight springs up in any saint who suffers the yoke of christ. Beware of dissipating that yoke and making it mean the yoke of a martyr. It is the yoke of a person who owes all he has to the cross of christ. Paul wore the yoke when he said, for i determined not to know any thing among you, save jesus christ, and him crucified. Take my yoke upon youit is the one yoke men will not wear. Have i taken the yoke of christ upon me, and am i walking in the innocent light that comes only from the spirit of god through the atonement? When we are born again of the spirit of god we are made totally new creatures on the inside; that means we have to live according to the new life of innocence that god has given us, and not be dictated to by the clamouring defects of the temple into which that life has been put. The danger is to become wise and pru- dent, cumbered with much serving, and these things choke the life god has put in (cf. Mark 4:19).
Implicit love under identification
Who shall separate us from the love of christ? (romans 8:35)
The second use is, that in each such dying a new life ariseth to man, and with this life every time a new love, so that man is over flooded with grace, and his reason is enlightened with divine light, his will is glowing with the fire of divine love . . . So that no one can any more separate him from god. The natural life of a saint is neither pure nor impure; it is not pure necessarily because the heart is pure, it has to be made pure by the will of the person.
To delight in sacrificing the natural to the spiritual means to be overflowing with the grace and love of god, and the manner and measure of the sacrificing depends oni wonder if i will or if i wont. Never say, if you are a thoughtful saint, since i have been sanctified i have done what i liked. If you have, you are immoral in that degree. If it were true, it would be true of the holiest being who ever lived, but it is said of him that even christ pleased not him- self (romans 15:3; cf. John 8:28; hebrews 5:8). There must be something to sacrifice. Jesus says, if you would be my disciple, you must sacrifice the natural life, i. E. , the life that is moral and right and good from the ordinary standpoint of man. We cannot use the terms of natural virtue in describing jesus christ. If you say that jesus was a holy man you feel at once it is not sufficient; or take the terms of intense saintliness, you can never fit them on to jesus christ, because there is an element of fanati- cism in every saint that there never was in the lord. There is an amazing sanity in jesus christ that shakes the foundations of death and hell, no panic, absolute dominant mastery over everythingsuch a stupendous mastery that he let men take his strength from him: he was crucified through weakness, that was the acme of godlike strength.
Identity of liberty under identification
verily, verily, i say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god. ( john 3:3)
Thirdly, if a man is quite pure he is emptied of all defective accident, and receptive of god alone. God is present in all things; if you accomplish all things so, then god only remaineth to us; but this purity must be sought by dying, and if the soul is freed from everything else, she is in a condition to bring forth the son of god within her.
Bear in mind the audience of jesus when he said these words; jesus said them to a mature, upright, godly man, there is no mention of sin, that will come in due course, it comes in the order jesus said it would, by the holy spirit (see john 16:89). When the son of god is born in us he brings us into the liberty of god. Whosoever is begotten of god doeth
No sin (rv). The only way we can be born again is by renouncing all other good. The old man, or the man of old, means all the things which have nothing to do with the new life. It does not mean sins, any coward among us will give up wrong things, but will he give up right things? Will we give up the virtues, the principles, the recognition of things that are dearer to the adam life than the god life? The nature of the adam disposition in us rebels against sacrificing natural good. Jesus says, if you dont sacrifice natu- ral good, you will barter the life i represent. This is the thing men resent with what paul calls enmity (romans 8:7). The preachers and teachers who have not taken on them the yoke of christ are always inclined to exalt natural good, natural virtues, natural nobility and heroism; the consequence is jesus christ pales more and more into the background until he becomes as a root out of a dry ground. Imagine a pagan who worshipped natural virtues being told that the nazarene carpenter was gods idea expressed in his last syllable to this order of thingsit would be, as paul said, foolishness unto him. The same thing persists to-day.
Infusion of likeness under identification
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light . . . (1 john 1:7)
The fourth use ariseth if god is born in the soul, when god ravisheth the spirit from the soul and casteth her into the darkness of his godhead, so that she becometh quite like unto god . . . So that the man becometh a son of grace, as he is a son of nature.
To be a son of god is to be free from the tyranny of the show of things. Adam preferred to take the show of things for the substance, that is, he preferred not to see that the garment was not the person; he refused to listen to the voice of the creator behind the garment, and when the creator moved quickly, all adam could do was to hang on to the skirts of the garment, clutch at the show of things, and the human race has been doing it ever since. Exactly what jesus said, the spiritual has been bartered because we preferred the natural. The natural is only a manifestation of what is behind. If we walk in the light, not as holy men are in the light, but as god is in the light, we see behind the show of thingsgod. We become the sons of god by a regenerating internal birth, and when that regenerating principle inside takes its marvellous sway over the natural on the outside, the two are transformed into exactly what god intended them to be. That is the full meaning of the redemption, but in order to get there the natural must be sac- rificed. If i prefer to hug my fathers skirt, i must not be surprised at finding myself in darkness when he gives it a sudden pull; but if i let my father take me up in his arms, then he can move his skirts as he likes therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, and though the mountains be moved in the heart of the seas (rv). I am no longer caught up in the show of things. The saints who are alive when jesus comes will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; all the show of things will be changed instantly by the touch of god into reality.
Incorporation of life under identification
for as many as are led by the spirit of god, these are sons of god. (romans 8:14 rv ; cf. Philippians 2:15)
Fifthly, if the soul be raised into god, it reigneth also with god. . . . Thus the spirit can do all things with god; he commandeth all with god, he ordereth and leadeth all with god; what god omits, he omitteth; what god doeth, he doeth with god; he worketh all things with god. This unspeakable perfection we obtain through dying.
Being born again of the spirit is not contrary to gods original plan; for a time it has to be apparently contrary to it because adam refused to sacrifice the life of nature to the will of god and transform it into a spiritual life by obeying the voice of god. The natural has to be sacrificed for a time, but we shall find the redemption of jesus works out via the natural in the endand i saw a new heaven and a new earth. In the meantime to be a disciple of jesus means to be taboo in this order of things.
Remember, it was not the offs couring that crucified Jesus, it was the highest reach of natural morality crucified him. It is the refined, cultured, religious, moral people who refuse to sacrifice the natural for the spiritual. When once you get that thought, you understand the inveterate detestation of the cross of christ.
Where are we with regard to this barter? Are we disciples of jesus? Who is first, or what is first, in our lives? Who is the dominating personality that is dearer to us than life, ourselves or someone else? If it is someone else, who is it? It is only on such lines as these that we come to understand what jesus meant when he said, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself (rv ). What he means is that he and what he stands for must be first. The enemies of the cross of christ, whom Paul characterises so strongly, and does it weeping, are those who represent the type of things that attract far more than Jesus christ. Never put a false issue before men or before yourself.
We begin to compare ourselves with ourselvesoh well, i have always had refined susceptibilities; i have always had an admiration for what is noble and true and good; Jesus says, die to it all. Read philippians 3what things were gain to me, these have i counted loss for christ (rv).
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man would come after me, let him . . . Follow me. The first follow me was a fascination for natural ideals. Are ye able to drink the cup that i drink? . . . We are able (rv). There is no arrogance there, only hopeless misunderstanding. We all say, yes, lord, i will do anything; but will you go to the death of that the death of being willing to go to the death for the noble and true and right? Will you let jesus take the sense of the heroic right out of you? Will you let him make you see yourself as he sees you until for one moment you stand before the cross and say, nothing in my hands i bring? How many of us are there to-day? Talk about getting people to hear that, they wont have it! Jesus says they wont. No crowd on earth will ever listen to that, and if under some pretence you get them and preach the cross of Christ they will turn with a snubbing offence from the whole thing as they did in our lords day ( john 6:60, 66). The abominable show business is creeping into the very ranks of the saved and sanctifiedwe must get the crowds.
We must not; we must keep true to the cross; let folks come and go as they will, let movements come and go, let ourselves be swept along or not, the one main thing is true to the yoke of Christ, his cross. The one thing we have to stand against is what is stated in Hebrews 12:1, therefore let us . . . Lay aside every encumbrance [mg] and the sin which doth so easily beset us (rv ), the sin which is admired (rv mg) in many the sin that gathers round your feet and stops you running; get stripped of the whole thing and run, with your eye on your file leader,9 making straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way (rv).