Letting Go

Matthew 16:24-26

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

I heard a story about a group that went white water rafting on a particularly dangerous stretch of river.
The raft came to a spot known as “the hole,” where a powerful whirlpool threatened to spin and then spill the raft.
Sure enough the raft overturned and everyone inside was sucked down by the current.
One woman clung tightly to the raft, frantically trying to keep her head above water.
What she did not realize was that by doing so she was also in danger of being dragged underneath the raft by the current and smothered by the very thing she was attempting to use to save her life.

Her friends, who had let go of the raft made their way to the security of a nearby rock, they pleaded with her to let go of the raft and let the current and her life jacket do the work.
At first she was unwilling to do so.
Finally, she decided to let go, she released her grip and disappeared under the water.
A few moments later she popped up further down the river and was pulled to safety.

Letting go can be a very difficult thing.
When we let go we become vulnerable.
Many people refuse to let go of things in their life because they are afraid of doing so.
Whether it is a sin, some negative trait, bitterness, pride or worry we are often reluctant to simply let go.

Sometimes we feel much safer holding on, but we do not realize, like the woman holding onto the raft that the thing we are holding onto is a great danger to us.

I am reminded of the story of when the disciples were out at sea and a great storm came.
The Bible tells us that the disciples were afraid, they feared for their lives.
At that moment they became even more afraid because they saw what looked to them like a ghost walking out on the water towards them.
As the figure drew closer they saw that it was not a ghost, but it was in fact Jesus.

Then Peter asked the Lord to allow him to come to Him on the water.
Peter climbed out of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus.
Peter is often criticized for his over-zealous moments, but Peter had the faith to let go of the comfort of the boat and come to Jesus.

We all have our boats.  We have those things we are clinging to and refuse to let go of, however before we can get to Jesus we must let go.

What is it today that is holding you back from letting go?
Is it fear of the unknown?
Is it a fear of what others may think of you?
Perhaps some never change because they don’t want others to think less of them.
Is it an unwillingness to change?
Is it your pride?
Jesus taught that anyone who wants to save his life must first lose it.
Before we can find true life, we must deny ourselves.

What Does It Mean to Let Go Of Self?
An old farmer frequently described his Christian experience by saying, “Well, I’m not making much progress, but I am established.”
One spring while he was hauling some logs his wagon wheels stuck down to the axles in mud.
Try as he would he could not get the wheels out of the mud.
Defeated he sat a top of the logs viewing the dismal situation.

Not long afterwards a neighbor happened to pass by and said to the farmer, “Well, I see you aren’t making much progress, but you must be content because you sure are established.”

Letting go of self is more than just being well established.
There may be some of us who are very well established, but who are not growing.
There are some of us who may refuse to let go of self and take up our cross.

Jesus taught that we cannot serve two masters.
A ship cannot fly the flag of 2 different countries.
When we deny ourselves and take up our cross we are allowing Jesus to take over as Lord of our lives.
When Jesus is Lord it means he sets the rules.
It means that we are willing to submit ourselves under his authority.

Jesus taught in Matthew 7 , 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
When Jesus becomes Lord it means we concede control of our lives over to Him.

Romans 6:6-7
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
We learn that at our baptism we not only received the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, but we died.
We died with Christ and our old self was crucified in Him.

As Christians we do not gratify our sinful desires any longer.
In other words as a Christian there are still things that are sinful that I would LIKE to do.
I am still TEMPTED to do wrong things, however, I REFUSE to do them because I am not going to gratify those desires any longer because I am not living to myself.
I am not living my life seeking to make myself feel good.
As Christians this dying to self ought to be marked by a distinct change in character.

Colossians 3:5-10
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.
8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

If we have really died to self then we will not always have to give into those temptations and desires we have.
The new self should be increasingly more like God like in its actions.

Ephesians 4:22-24
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

We No Longer Live To Ourselves
Galatians 2:20
"20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
We need to understand that we no longer live to ourselves.
We have died.
Let us remember that dying to self means that WE no longer live, but it is CHRIST living in us.

Why Is Letting Go Of Self So Difficult?
Mark 10:17-22
17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’
‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’
‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’
‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The idea of Heaven and eternity with God sounds great and perhaps many would volunteer to receive that, however the idea of signing your life away doesn’t sound too appealing, does it?
We love those feel good verses of Scripture, but we begin to squirm a little when we read of the cost of following Jesus.

We love to be in control.
We get a little uncomfortable when we read of denying ourselves and taking up our cross.
That doesn’t sound too appealing.
However, the invitation to be a Christian is totally free, but the call us for us to remove ourselves from the controls.

II Timothy 3:2
William Ernest Henley in his famous poem entitled “Invictus” said, “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”
Many of us have bought into this philosophy that we are the master of our lives.
We like to be in control.
I would much rather be in control of a situation than have someone else in control of the situation.

I am one of those people that would rather do it myself than entrust it to someone else.
That is not a good attribute.
We need to learn to allow Jesus to be the master of our fate and the captain of my soul.

Perhaps some feel like it is a violation of their freedoms to lay aside themselves and let Jesus take control.
Perhaps they feel that is the sign of somebody that is weak and vulnerable.
Jesus taught that we must lose our lives to really find it.
By that he means that we give up the project of making OURSELVES the ultimate reference point in our world.
We are not number one.
The universe does not revolve around us.

We think we know what is best.
A pirate was returning home from a long journey, he had spent many years lying, stealing, and cheating in a far away land. He has accumulated a great chest full of treasure.
The pirate held on tightly to that chest because he saw in it, something of much more value than just jewels and gold, rather he saw in that chest the fulfillment of his dreams, hopes and aspirations.

He knew that the treasure was the key to his “good life”.
Having already obtained a great fortune the pirate decided to return home and after boarding the ship and having traveled a great distance from shore a storm arose.

It did not take long for the storm to overtake the ship and eventually break the ship into pieces.
Eventually, the pirate and his treasure plunged into the sea. He began to sink holding tightly to his treasure.
As he was sinking all that went through his mind was how he could get his treasure safely to shore.

However, he began to realize that if he continued to hold onto that chest he would not be able to make it to shore, and that same chest which he saw as his life... was now causing him to face death.
Reluctantly the pirate let go of that chest and began to swim towards shore.

We are a lot like that pirate.
We hold on to our agenda and ego thinking that they are bringing us life; however that is not the reality.
They are really pulling us towards our death and at some point we must let go.

Sometimes we think we know what is best for our lives. Sometimes we think that we do not need someone else to control us because we are capable of making those good decisions on our own.

However, I do not think we always know what is best. I believe our idea of good has been tainted by sin.
Jeremiah says, “The heart is exceeding deceitful above all things.”

I believe it is that deception that allows us to think we on our own can know what is best for our lives.
We need to learn plainly that the power of a good and godly life is not in us alone, but it comes from Christ.
We need to trust that Jesus knows what is best for us even better than we do.

We live in a very selfish society. The idea of sacrificing and giving up something doesn’t sound appealing to many people.
We are a people that want to know the price of everything and the cost of nothing.
We want to get as much as we can while doing little to get it.

The idea of delaying gratification seems ridiculous to many.
We live by the philosophy, “if it feels good it must be right.”
We do not like to deny ourselves any pleasure or anything in the world.
We think the more we have and the more we indulge in… the more successful we are.

In Genesis 25 we read a story about two brothers
Jacob and Esau.
The Bible tells us that Esau was a rugged man who loved the outdoors. He was a Daddy’s boy.
Jacob on the other hand was a momma’s boy.
One day Esau came home from hunting and was starving.
Jacob just happened to be cooking up some stew.
He offered Esau some stew under one condition.
Jacob would give Esau a bowl of stew if Esau sold him his birthright. Esau agreed.

Now, the birthright would have been a big deal.
It would have meant an extra portion of inheritance.
Esau could not deny himself anything but could only live for the now.

Many of us are like that today.
Jesus came on the scene and called us to be willing to sacrifice, deny ourselves and give up our fleshly desires.

There is a quote that says “The WISE gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”.

What Must We do to Let go of Self?
We must step down.
Perhaps we need to have the mentality that John the Baptist had when he said I must decrease and Christ must increase.
We must be willing to step aside and let Him have the glory and honor of all that we do or accomplish.

We must step down from our position of authority over our lives and give him the reins.
There are many tools we can use such as prayer, Bible study, service, worship, and fellowship, but the reality is we must train ourselves to be godly.

We must understand the reward.
Let us understand that the life of denying self and taking up your cross is the good life.
It is a better life to live.

Philippians 3:7-9
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

Paul was able to say looking back on his life that dying to self was the best decision he ever made.
Did he make sacrifices? Certainly!
Did it cost him? Greatly!

However… it was worth it.
He no longer was living based on his righteousness.
When we die to self we lose the righteousness of our own, but we gain the righteousness of Christ.
It is worth the sacrifice because Jesus is Lord no matter what. The reward is great for those who die to self.

Philippians 3:18-20
18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

There was a psychology professor who walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students.
As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical “glass half empty or glass half full” question.
Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?”

Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.
She replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter.
It all depends on how long I hold it.
If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light.
If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little.
If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor.
In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”

As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued,
“Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water.
Think about them for a while and nothing happens.
Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed — incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.”

INVITATION