Wrestling with Selfishness
Famous theologian and preacher J.C. Ryle once said, "Go to the cross of Christ, all you that want to be delivered from the power of selfishness."
Great, it's a quote. It's a matter of perspective really. It may be meaningful to you, as it is for me. Or you may not feel anything at all when you read it. As someone who wrestles with the power of selfishness in my marriage, work, family and friend relationships, it means something to me. We see quotes all the time, so why does this one matter?
First, I want to think about how the quote came to be. J.C. Ryle was at one point a nominal Christian, that is a follower in name, but not in heart. However, following his conversion to Christianity, his life became primarily about knowing and evangelizing the message of Christ. He spent a majority of his life poring over the Scriptures, seeking the revelation of Christ all the more. So, we can say that one way he came to coin this quote was through receiving the wisdom of God's Word.
Secondly, J.C. Ryle was a man who sought to follow Jesus. Preachers don't often (or shouldn't at least) make comments about the life of faith, if they haven't experienced the situation themselves. I believe it is safe to conclude that J.C. Ryle was a man who fought against the power of selfishness. Wisdom isn't fully wisdom unless it has been a lived experience. We can read something and agree with it, but once we have faced down the situation do we truly gain the wisdom of experience. Truly, one does not know just how selfish one is until he tries to be less so. Drawing up the X's and O's before the game does not give the football player the same experience as being in the speed of the game. Therefore, I believe he learned that in his faith life that going to the cross of Christ was the way to deliverance in the wrestling match against selfishness.
The quote above is born out of wisdom read and wisdom lived. J.C. Ryle had seen this revealed in God's word, but he had also lived out the fight against selfishness, as we all do.
concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others
"Go to the cross of Christ, all you that want to be delivered from the power of (being excessively concerned with yourself, your advantages, and your pleasures with disregard for others)
How does going to the cross of Christ deliver us from the power of selfishness?
I will attempt to argue three ways that going to the cross of Christ delivers us from the power of selfishness.
1. At the cross of Christ, we behold something of a far greater magnitude than ourselves, and we are left in humble awe, for we see the full revelation of God's love for sinners.
When Allison and I went to Banff, Alberta for our honeymoon, we climbed a mountain. Sitting on top of that mountain, and seeing the vast array of mountains surrounding us as we gazed as far as we could see, we were left in a tranquil humility about the majesty of God in creation. In the same way, when we go to the cross, we see the magnitude of God's love for us, and we are left in humble awe and reverence.
The apostle John says, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
(1 John 4:9-10 ESV)
Not only that, but we see what Christ went through for our sake. Jesus was betrayed, denied, falsely accused, abandoned, spit on, struck, slapped, flogged, mocked, scourged, stripped, crucified, derided and killed. God sent his son for that. Christ set his face to do that. For us. In that is love! We benefit from it. We are washed, sanctified, and justified freely by his grace as a gift.
Theologian J.I. Packer writes in his book Knowing God, "God's love to sinners was expressed by the gift of his son to be their savior. The measure of love is how much it gives, and the measure of love is the gift of his only son to become human, and to die for sins, and so to become the one mediator who can bring us to God (p. 125)."
At the cross, Christ was made to be naked and he was shamed for our sake. He bore our nakedness and shame on the cross, he was forsaken so that we may be drawn near,. so that we could be naked and unashamed before Him. It is hard to walk away from the passion of Christ, and the love of God revealed therein, and not be left in humility at something far greater than ourselves.
2. When we gaze upon the cross, we are drawn to abandon all of our self-righteousness.
The old me used to refuse to "agree to disagree." I would never agree with someone that had a differing opinion, I always told them that they were wrong. I always had to win every argument, and if I didn't, I'd walk away embarrassed and frustrated. In essence, I was a huge jerk, because I always had to prove myself superior to others, because my righteousness depended on it. I could not be seen as weak, unintelligent, misinformed, or mistaken in any way -- rather I had to be seen as flawless. (Which was such a huge lie I was perpetrating, because I was, and am, a remarkably flawed individual.) But I lived a life constantly defending myself, so as to show that I was righteous.
I think that one of the hardest parts of accepting Christ as your personal Lord and Savior is that you are admitting that you can't do it on your own. Admitting you need help, that you're weak, or unable is so difficult to do!
When we come to the cross of Christ, however, we are compelled to give up our self-righteousness. We see what Jesus had to do to make us clean and whole, and we admit we need him. We need all of him, and none of ourselves, as the old hymn says:
Nothing of my own I bring,
simply to thy Cross I cling.
Or as the apostle Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and this life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20)."
We see at the cross that Christ's blood has purchased our righteousness, and therefore we live our lives in ways of continual abandonment of self - because of our faith. We trust that God has redeemed us from our sins, that we are forgiven, and now we want to continue to live in the joy of having received that grace. We lay down all of our claims of self-righteousness for the sake of gaining Christ's perfect righteousness, and that could only happen because he made a "propitiation" for our sins on the cross. He himself is our peace, because of the cross..
3. The cross of Christ causes us to abandon our self-seeking ways and unselfishly lay down our lives for the well-being of others.
A great example of someone who worked for his own righteousness until he understood the cross of Christ is the apostle Paul.
First, here he describes himself seeking his own glory through the law in the book of Acts:
“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
(Acts 26:9-11 ESV)
Look at the contrast after he has met the risen Christ and understood the glory of the cross:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
(Colossians 1:24-29 ESV)
In Paul's toil to secure his righteousness by the law, he ended up opposing the name of Jesus to the point where he cast votes against followers of Christ leading to their execution! That is disregard for others, where someone for righteousness' sake will condemn another! That is selfishness!
Then, he meets the risen Christ and sees what has been accomplished by the cross. Now look how he lives! Paul saw Jesus, and learned that Christ had indeed risen from the dead! It changed his entire life. Now, having been saved, he rejoices to suffer for the name of Christ and to toil with all his energy to pour out his life for others as he preaches the gospel of peace. His life was radically changed and he became a man of complete unselfishness, boasting in the cross alone.
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
(Galatians 6:14 ESV)
When we want to be delivered from our own selfishness, we must go to the cross of Christ. There at the foot of the cross we are left in awe, we abandon our righteousness, and we seek to serve others with our lives in a way that glorifies the name of Jesus. Like Paul, J.C. Ryle, and all those who follow Christ live and learn in time, experiencing and remembering the cross is absolutely critical if we wished to be delivered from the power of selfishness.
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