Essential Readings for A Godly Living

III. Dying to Self Sufficiency

For they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. (Mark 6:52)

As the first disciples demonstrated in their own walk with Jesus, it is not easy to learn to live by faith in God's power. This difficulty of learning to walk wholly by faith in God has prevented many from entering into the life of promise. Fallen man has lived by a self-sufficiency for too long to suddenly begin depending on God for everything. As we shall see, the first disciples had a difficult time adjusting to this walk of faith, even after being taught these same lessons many times during a close walk with Jesus.

The Kingdom-life of God, where everyone lives under the control and power of the Holy Spirit, is not easy to enter. It will therefore be necessary to explain to new converts, as Jesus did, how difficult it is to enter into the life of promise. Jesus said, "Difficult is the way which leads to life {the Kingdom-life where God's children live under the control and power of His Spirit}, and there are few who find it." (Matt. 7:14) If we do not strive to enter into this "rest" where everyone truly lives by faith in God's power, we will be unable to manifest the "light of life" from heaven.

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work... Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest... (Heb. 4:9-11 Emphasis added)

Because of the difficulty involved, Jesus told people to consider the cost before they tried to follow Him into His Kingdom-life. A real decision had to be made. They would need to determine beforehand if they were prepared to devote themselves entirely to the task at hand.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, "This fellow began to build and was not able to finish." (Luke 14:28-30)

Although we seldom hear these words from preachers in this day, they are the words of Jesus. His words and His ways will never change. Men may try to change the Lord's teachings to better fit their own desires, but all they are doing is departing from the Lord.

Everyone who wants to follow Jesus will need to learn these truths. They will experience just as much difficulty following Him into His Kingdom-life today as did the people who first received this warning from Jesus. Let us therefore believe our Lord when He says, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter {the Kingdom-life} and will not be able to." (Luke 13:24)

Even after deciding to pay the price to buy the heavenly Pearl (the Lord's Kingdom-life), which will entail a real turning from the independent and self-sufficient ways of the world, it will not be easy to stay on course. In other words, finding the Pearl and deciding to buy it is not enough! We will need to surrender everything from our old independent and self-sufficient way of life before we can receive it. (Matt. 13:45-46)

So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has {from his independent and self-sufficient way of life} cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:33)

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away... How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord... (Heb. 2:1, 3)

The members of Christ's body will generally require considerable instruction and exhortation before they will be in a condition to have the Lord's Kingdom-life fully established within their hearts. We learn this lesson by the way Paul taught the true gospel message in the first century. He knew there was a need for a real dying out to the old self-sufficient way of life. We therefore find him exhorting his pupils to press forward in their faith until they had entered into the Kingdom-life of promise: