Jesus Christ was unselfish. He gave two great commandments and he lived them both. Love God; love your neighbour — no word of self. Turn outward to God and man; turn away from yourself.
When he said “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it”, he was advocating the ‘selfless’ life. He was speaking to disciples sent out into the world “as sheep in the midst of wolves”; he was speaking to men who would be delivered up to councils, flogged, dragged before governors and kings to bear testimony for their belief. (Matt. 10). They were to have no thought of personal ambition or self-preservation. Anything they were to own or become in this life would be for a short time by the grace of God.
Is our understanding of giving up all and living in readiness to die for our Master lost, in Australia 1972?
Indeed, we must learn to “lose our life” even if we are never to die a martyr’s death. We have to love God and care for our neighbour till there is no room left to think of self. This will be the marvel of immortality. The Flesh, the I, the Carnal Mind will be taken away. God will be all. But the test is now. Can we, with the help of God, learn to live selflessly? “. . . if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Rom. 8:13 RSV) .
Losing our life, to find life, is a paradox. Those who boast of their own righteousness before God will be denied it; those who admit failure may be clothed in white. God has chosen weak things to shame the wise, “that no person may boast in the sight of God” (1 Cor. 1:27-29. Moffatt) .
Selflessness! We have lost it. We have, as a body (and we judge no individual) so turned in upon ourselves, satisfying our own wishes, that we have forgotten to lose ourselves in the Lord’s service. You doubt our words?? Then read John 13:35 — “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” And how many of us are ashamed to bring friends to our meetings because they would find us at fault by that standard?? Read James 4:1, “What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members?”
The two commands of Jesus teach us to turn outward. To turn to God for guidance and strength, to turn to men and women to offer them the same one-ness with the Father. Jesus taught us to pray day and night for strength, whereas we often feel our own strength is ample. Jesus taught us to give till it hurts, whereas we often love others until it make us feel better. Certainly he gained life for himself, glory and honour for all time, yet his heart was set on the will of his Father, and his hands worked tirelessly for his brethren.
Have we learned the lesson of selflessness?
And external zeal won’t do either! We might imagine that in preaching the gospel we would be so busy as to leave no time for internal strife and self-seeking. But it need not be so. Remember Jesus’ words to the self-centred Pharisees “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” (Matt. 23:15 RSV) . We might imagine that in exhorting our brethren unceasingly we would have no room left for self. But remember the words of Paul as he spoke of some very busy, hard-working preachers —
“For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites . . .” (Rom. 16:18 RSV) .
Have all forgotten to selflessly serve God and man? Is the situation this grim? There are certainly many brethren who are examples to each of us in their selfless dedication to the way of God, but in the over-all picture (and we do not single out any group or faction) we have much to set right. We have turned in upon ourselves.
No Bible study, no fraternal evening, no preaching effort, no Bible School, no ecclesial meeting or gathering should be merely for our own enjoyment. All these things should make us more than ever prepared to give the glory to God and make us more than ever aware of our obligations to others outside.
We go further and say that unless the Christadelphian body is based on a selfless and loving response to the love of God in Christ, it is built on shifting sand. If we are founded on a series of doctrinal differences with others, then we will topple before the storm — we will look for differences even among ourselves. The doctrine of LOVE ought to be our foundation belief — reflected in our love for each other.
How would you answer these questions? —
- Is God’s love in Christ the prime fact of your religion?
- Was the Christadelphian body founded on that great truth?
- Does our body turn from self-interest to a genuine CARING for others?
It’s no trouble to rationalise or overlook our failings. It’s easy to explain our need to be pure, to maintain doctrinal separateness, to avoid the dangers of “charitable” involvement — and of course careful thought would be legitimate along these lines. But the harder task, the real need, is to practically and constantly reflect the wonder of the love of God in dealing with our brethren and our neighbour.
The night is far spent and the Lord is near. Yet the ecclesial ship takes water every minute and is near to foundering. Can we turn to Jesus our leader and live for him? Can we forget our ambitions, our jealousies, our pet ideas, our wish to teach others our personal theme-song? Can we re-institute the upright standards Jesus lived and taught, living his way, not ours? Can we all cease from the half-truths and manipulations that win our cause? Can we objectively examine the Scripture to find truth, even if our personal views should prove wrong?
Man willing, in our strength, all is lost. God willing, God strengthened, we can succeed.
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