THE UN-ENTITLED CHURCH

Matthew 16:24–27

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“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or

ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden,

meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe,

in order to assure the survival and the success of

liberty.”

John F. Kennedy

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Took my belt up three holes

to relieve hunger.

David Livingstone

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There is a world to be warned. To us has been entrusted this work. At any cost we must practice the truth. We are to

stand as self-sacrificing minutemen, willing to suffer the loss of life itself, if need be, in the service of God. There is a

great work to be done in a short time. We need to understand our work, and to do it with fidelity. Every one who is finally crowned victor will, by noble, determined

effort to serve God, have earned the right to be clothed with Christ’s righteousness. To enter the crusade against Satan,

bearing aloft the blood-stained banner of the cross of Christ–this is the duty of every Christian. (The Review and

Herald, January 31, 1907)5

This work calls for self-sacrifice. Self-denial and the cross stand all along the way of life. “He that will come after me,” Christ said, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” The most difficult sermon to preach and the hardest to practice is self-denial. (The Review and

Herald, January 31, 1907)

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Enmity against Satan is not natural to the human heart. . .” (The Desire of Ages, p. 407)

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On the whole, then, to deny ourselves, is, to deny our own will, where it does not

fall in with the will of God; and that however pleasing it may be. It is, to deny

ourselves any pleasure which does not spring from, and lead to, God; that is, in

effect, to refuse going out of our way, though into a pleasant, flowery path; to

refuse what we know to be deadly poison, though agreeable to the taste. (John

Wesley, Sermons, on Several Occasions, # 48 Self Denial)

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Tell me, if thou hadst a servant, who should neither steal, nor insult, nor contradict thee, who moreover should keep

from drunkenness and every other kind of vice, and yet should sit perpetually in idleness, and not doing one of those duties which a servant owes to his master, wouldest thou not

chastise him, wouldest thou not put him to the rack? Tell me. And yet forsooth he has done no evil. No, but this is in

itself doing evil. (John Chrysostom: Homilies on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus,

and Philemon, p. 126)

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Thus actions repeated form habits, habits form character, and by the character our destiny for time and for eternity is

decided. (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 356)

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It should be pointed out emphatically that “to lay down one’s life” for another means to put the interests

and wishes of others ahead of one’s own. It implies that to obey Christ and carry out His intentions is

more desirable than “doing my own thing.”

It is one thing to put this down with pen and paper. But it is the toughest lesson any of us can learn to live

out in our daily duties.

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It simply is not natural for most of us to love God or love others in the dramatic discipline of a laid-down life. We are selfish, self-serving people. We have the

strange, worldly idea that to be of lowly service is to be used or abused.

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Yet God in Christ came among us to lowly service. He came to minister to us, to give us Himself to us. And

so, because He first loved us, we in turn are to be willing and ready to love Him and others. (Phillip

Keller, Lessons from a Sheep Dog, pp. 54–56)

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