Dear Friends,
As we have entered the time of the church year traditionally called “Lent” (from the Old English word “lencten” referring to the season of Spring) there is always the common idea floating around that, “I should probably give up something for Lent.” The question is “Why?” Why give something up or practice self-denial? And the only good answer is: God in Scripture calls his people to do so, it actually benefits us, is intended to benefit others, and brings glory to God.
As we have entered the time of the church year traditionally called “Lent” (from the Old English word “lencten” referring to the season of Spring) there is always the common idea floating around that, “I should probably give up something for Lent.” The question is “Why?” Why give something up or practice self-denial? And the only good answer is: God in Scripture calls his people to do so, it actually benefits us, is intended to benefit others, and brings glory to God.
We find this idea stated explicitly in Isaiah 58:6-9. There God says to his people who are fasting simply to deprive themselves of something (to prove their earnestness?) or in an attempt to be, “heard on high” (trying to manipulate God into answering our often self-focused prayers?) “This is the real reason he wants His people to fast:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.”
Jeremy Linneman in his Lenten Devotional in Christianity Today, March 9, 2025, picks up on this same theme from the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:24 where he explains the call to self-denial as the road to joy. Hopefully it will be a new way for you to look at the season of Lent – and far beyond just Lent. Enjoy.
“The road to joy, for Jesus, ran through Jerusalem. It was a path of self-denial, sacrifice, and death—before it was the passage into joy, redemption, and glory. So it is for all who would follow in his steps. To walk with Jesus is to take the way of the Cross. To enter his kingdom is to knowingly and willingly choose the joy of self-denial.
How can we say the “joy” of self-denial? True joy doesn’t take the long way around pain; it doesn’t take a shortcut toward glory. True joy moves through hardship. True joy goes with Jesus through Jerusalem. The way is narrow, and the gate is small, but freedom and joy await the disciple who stays on the path.
Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). This is rightly understood to be one of Jesus’ most intimidating challenges. But it is also one of his most subversive invitations. “Get off the road that leads to death,” he’s saying. “Choose instead this unexpected way to the good life—through denying and dying to self.”
Indeed, our denial is an essential step in becoming like Jesus. Dallas Willard wrote that “a shift toward self-denial is needed to reorder the … human self in subordination to God. … Christian spiritual formation rests on this indispensable foundation of death to self and cannot proceed except insofar as that foundation is being firmly laid and sustained.” What is the self-life that is being denied and laid down? It is the old self which needs to be put off. It is the old life that wasn’t so appealing anyway.
To deny ourselves and follow Jesus is the most freeing and wonderful thing. It is to let go of what wasn’t working in the first place. The new, selfless life that takes its place is the truly good life—a new heart devoted to God, a life of honesty, vulnerability, acceptance, friendship, communion, and purpose.
To be sure, self-denial is not the same as self-rejection. Self-rejection occurs when the soul says to itself, “See, everyone was right. I’m an awful person. I’m a failure and a mistake.” Self-rejection also says, “I am not so secure in myself, so I must rise and prove myself, must fight and defend myself.” This is not the way of Jesus, and it’s not self-denial. It is a rejection of what God has made and declared good. How do we know when we are practicing self-rejection and not self-denial? Self-rejection leads to shame, hiding, and self-criticism. It also makes us critical and demanding toward others. (We’re critical of others when we believe God is critical toward us.)
Self-denial, on the other hand, leads to a joyful submission to the Father. It is the freedom to reject the ways of the world—its anger, greed, and envy. Self-denial is an active choice to become like Jesus in his radical inner simplicity and wholehearted devotion to the Father. It is what the late Tim Keller called a, “blessed self-forgetfulness.”
And unlike self-rejection, self-denial frees us to love and serve others purely. (When we believe God is merciful to us, we become merciful to others). Self-denial, then, is both the most difficult thing in the Christian life and the simplest. Laying down our lives can’t happen just once. It’s a complete surrender we make moment by moment, every day. Only if we truly embrace Jesus’ self-denying, non-defensive death on the cross can we believe we are accepted into his Father’s delight.
Yet, in this tension of challenge and invitation, remember who supplies the strength and wisdom for a life of self-denial. It is Jesus. He provides all we need to follow in his self-giving love—namely, his Spirit. As we abide in him, walking by his Spirit, we come out with complete joy (John 15:11).
In a world consumed with earning, showing, and defending, self-denial seems like a radical and dangerous thing. But in the right-side-up kingdom of Jesus, it is the safest, simplest, and happiest place. In him, we lack nothing and have everything. Will you receive it? Will you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus into full and eternal joy?”
Think about it. Ponder it. Pray about it. Is it not part of the Jesus Way that God calls us to live? Would it not honor God and reflect Jesus to the onlooking world? Hard as it is, would Jesus ask us to do it if it would be to our detriment and harm and ruin the fruit of the Spirit?
Or contrary to what is often thought, might it not be possible we will find an unexpected path to joy and liberation from our hard-to-break-worldly-bondage to the things we think will bring us more joy if we cling to them instead of share them? Did Jesus not say we are more blessed when we give than when we receive? (Acts 20:35)
In a World Focused So Heavily on the Self, Just Some Food For Thought, Pastor Jeff
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