POSTED 26 MAY, 2008

The Abundant Life Versus Death to Self

by Mark Huey
mark@outreachisrael.net

reproduced from the McHuey Blog

The other day while having a conversation with a Messianic minister living in the Dallas area, I was amazed that for the past fifteen years, this brother had been receiving the same insight that I had been receiving from the Lord. For the first hour of our conversation, I just sat there listening and agreeing with his soliloquy about how, where, and when He had taken him from a position of high responsibility in an internationally known ministry, to simply ministering every week at a Torah study at his home. It was a breath of fresh air to find someone else who simply wanted to help others with knowledge and understanding which had been imparted to him by the sovereign grace of our Heavenly Father.

Among the many nuggets of wisdom and experience that were shared, there was one statement he made that almost summarized some of the frustrations, which on the surface tend to discourage, and to a certain extent confuse, those pursuing a Messianic lifestyle. In the midst of moving from topic to experience to subject to observations, the simple statement “We are attempting to model and encourage death to self,” while on many street corners there is often a church promoting a so-called abundant life and prosperity, is quite a contrast. In fact, the competition is almost too much for many people to overcome. The more I meditated and commented on his conclusion, the more I realized the profundity of it.

Yeshua the Messiah taught His Disciples things which must be understood from a spiritual perspective. These things are to follow with commensurate actions, indicating that one truly believes what is said:

“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (Matthew 10:38-40).

“Then Yeshua said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’” (Matthew 16:24-26).

A true Believer in Yeshua is required to lay down his own life, ambitions, dreams, aspirations, and if you will—“rights”—in order to gain eternal life. One must commit oneself fully to Him!

As we discussed this reality, it actually struck a chord with something I fearfully did on February 12, 1992. I remember the date vividly, because to this day, I have carried around in my wallet the document/contract that I signed with the Lord in red ink—to remind me of His blood covenant made with us—that I thoughtfully embraced after two days of praying. This is what is labeled a Romans 12:1-2 “total surrender” contract, which absolutely conveys all of your perceived “rights” to the Lord God Almighty. The document I signed concludes with: “I give God permission to do anything He wishes, to me, with me, in or through me that would glorify Him.” By signing this covenant with God, I essentially gave up all of my rights and became His bondservant for life. It was a written commitment for me to serve Him completely.

Sitting there and discussing this, I remembered that earlier in the day, I had actually made a copy of this document for another brother who was struggling through the finalization of his divorce, combined with his desire to serve God in his new life as a divorced man. I just happened to make a few extra copies, and so I gave my new friend a copy so that he could contemplate the reality of total surrender. Glancing at it for a moment, the conviction of the Holy Spirit was intense. He commented that he could already read that some of the items were going to be a challenge to give up, and that he would consider the contents with great trepidation. While that was not my motivation, I am thankful that the Lord used me to give this brother another opportunity to consider the reality of losing one’s life in order to gain eternal life with our Savior, based on the exercise I was convicted to follow in 1992.

Recalling my past experience is always important for me, as I consider the course of life that the Lord has had me follow ever since. Yeshua came to bring us a great and abundant life, one where we would not be taken away as helpless sheep—but rather one where we benefit from His service toward us as the Good Shepherd:

“So Yeshua said to them again, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father’” (John 10:7-18).

Yeshua the Messiah is the Door, through which one must enter to inherit eternal life and enter into God’s purpose. His sheep have the ability to absolutely hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and in accordance with His teachings, willingly give up their own lives serving themselves in order to gain the eternal life and great abundance He offers. The abundant life is not necessarily having a worldly prosperity that gives one temporal, physical things (not that those are necessarily bad). The abundant life is one where a person gets to serve and worship the Lord to his or her fullest potential! Many religious people today have a tendency to emphasize living “the good life,” and if you do all of the things that they recommend, you will live “abundantly.” This means that you will (financially) prosper in all that you do (even if one’s spirituality does not necessarily improve).

Can you see the problem with believing what is often promoted? Does it really benefit a person to have material wealth, but be spiritually bankrupt? Many religious people are not serious about their relationship with God and how they serve Him, lacking eyes to see and ears to hear what is really communicated by Yeshua. Are you able to see and hear what He says, or is the lure of an abundant life of Earthly riches actually worth more than dying to self and inheriting the eternal benefits of believing Him?

If you are interested in a full copy of the contract that I signed years ago, please let me know. But do realize that whatever exercise might get you focused on Him, dying to self is not easy and the pain you may experience is real. On the other hand, the eternal rewards for obedience are beyond anything that can be ruined by moth and rust! If you love Him, you will obey Him and seek to follow Him to the fullest extent. Dying to oneself and being molded by the Lord is a part of following Him, if you are truly of His sheep. Are you presently doing this in your walk of faith?

Until the restoration of all things…

Mark Huey (B.A., Vanderbilt University in History and Graduate Studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) is the Director of Outreach Israel Ministries (www.outreachisrael.net). He is the author of several books, including: TorahScope, Volumes I & II, and Counting the Omer: A Daily Devotional Toward Shavuot. He is also co-author of Hebraic Roots: An Introductory Study.