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Overcoming Selfish Ambition
Posted : 5 Sep, 2011 02:38 PM
John 7:18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
When we speak or act for God, what is the intention of our heart? It matters to God and whether it is true service or dead works . Are we truly serving God or are we seeking gain from the world? If we are seeking gain or the approval of men anything we call worship is vanity to God as has been written about often on this blog.
The original me, the one that was born of the flesh is a self-centered human. From this innate selfishness I have sought and lusted after things that bring pleasure to me or promote my standing in the world among my fellow man. This is the very nature we must repent or turn away from if we choose to follow Jesus. By His grace the Lord called me to repentance which means I turn away from my selfishness and turn to serve Him, the living God. As I mature I am putting to death the desires of my flesh which at the core is my selfishness and this is how �we� the Bride of Christ, prepare ourselves for the wedding.
Revelation 19:7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready
Selfish Ambition is the nature of Satan. Because of Adam�s fall, all men inherited this selfish sinful nature. Putting selfishness to death and walking in true humility and love is the call of a Christian walk of holiness. This is the war that is waged between the powers of darkness and our flesh. We cannot win unless we put our full trust and faith with the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil will get us to glorify ourselves, build an earthly kingdom for us, and entice us with fame, fortune, popularity, possessions having us seek the approval of man ahead of seeking the approval of God. Anything we do out of selfish ambition will lead us away from the real Jesus and the devil has been quite crafty at putting religious wrappings on many things and then getting us to pursue them out of selfishness. Our ambition must only be to seek Christ and His approval alone.
2 Cor 5:9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
Denying ourselves, the opposite of selfishness or self-love is what Jesus demands from all who desire to enter His Kingdom. Jesus tells us we must give it ALL up for Him if we want to gain eternal life. Seeking after things of this world destroys us. Read the words of Jesus on this.
Luke 9:23-25 If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
The opposite of denying ourselves is pursuing the lusts of our sinful nature (heart) � the one we are born with and must get rid of by repentance. If we do not give this up, we are saying Jesus is not our Lord with our hearts. Not denying ourselves tells Jesus we love our sin and the lusts of our heart more than Him. We must purify ourselves of these idols and repent and turn fully to God. That is the only way we overcome selfishness and put on the divine nature of Christ. To live otherwise we are just the double minded man who James tells us about. Double-minded people should expect nothing from the Lord!
James 4:8 Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
If we love the world or the things in the world we are not pursuing lusts and not the Lord. We get to make these choices every day. That is the cross we must carry.
1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. These were the three temptations of Jesus and the very same tests that all of us must overcome to prove ourselves worthy of Him. The boastful pride of life is the least obvious to most Christians.
Puffing ourselves up and seeking the approval of man is an acceptable sin but not to God. Anything we put in front of Him or love more than Him is an idol. It is not enough to avoid the immoral vices like sexual sin, criminal behavior, greed, addictions and thoughts that even the pagans know are wrong. We must have a pure heart before God. An awful lot of �religion� is to make ourselves look good to our fellow man. We do things in the name of God but the real motive is to call attention to ourselves and make us the object of esteem. Anything we do tied back to pride will not lead us to love our neighbor as ourself.
Pursuit of selfish ambition is behind the carnal love that has been passed off as Godly love. Wishing not to offend anyone, we tell people what they want to hear instead of speaking truth to them. Having them like us or esteem us is put ahead of rebuking sin or providing them life correcting feedback that can snatch their souls from the fire. This is how false teachers build large earthly kingdoms and are creating many fake Christians all in the name of God. While not the place for a diatribe on that topic know that the Scriptures of full of warnings about false teachers that will come and tickle our ears, especially in the end times. All Christians that strive to serve God are promised they will be persecuted. We must preach the Word in truth and be aware of those that tickle ears out of selfish ambition.
2 Tim 4:2-4 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
If we walk in true faith, we cannot fear or truly care what other people think. We must only fear God and what He thinks. As soon as we fear men or anything besides God, we will not act in true faith, we will change or alter God�s truth to be pleasing to men. The gospels shows this happening during Jesus� ministry on earth. The revelation of Christ and His implanted Word will not bear fruit if it is made subservient to the approval of men.
John 12:42-43 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
We must be careful and not deny our Lord. When we fear men and seek their approval, we deny God by failing to trust in Him. If we are not willing to risk rejection and persecution by man, we are not walking in true faith. Don�t you see this?
If our practice of religion or ministry to others elevates winning the approval of our brothers/sisters above the truth, we are not serving Christ, instead we are serving ourselves. Paul bore much criticism from the early churches that were mesmerized by false teachers that came after Paul left and tickled their ears with a watered down gospel that said sin was okay. Paul taught a much harder message of true repentance and walking in holiness by the grace of God and did not hesitate to rebuke those that erred or practiced sin.
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
By no means should we seek to make enemies or upset people but if we are to serve God, shouldn�t we be speaking the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Even if our words upset people and makes them not like us? Of course we should. Jesus walked around preaching the truth out of love and people wanted to push him off cliffs, stone him and plot to kill him.
This is a tough truth to get a grasp on. On one hand, I see myself pushing people away by the truth I now speak out on. I am not trying to push them away but I am no longer seeking their approval as my ambition. I have been critical of many modern-day churches for they do not teach sound doctrine that agrees with my Bible. I have struggled finding the right heartfelt attitude about what I see as clear apostasy yet not becoming an evil judge.
The Quandary of False Teaching
Far too much pastoring or teaching today is designed to please men, to tickle the flesh and build reputation, names or even make money. Be Alert!
1 Thess 2:4-5 We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed�God is our witness. 6We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.
In Paul�s time, many came preaching Christ to win the approval of men and build their reputations and earthly kingdoms. Paul�s reference in Scriptures about false teachers contain severe condemnation to those that would mislead the brethren and put them on a path to destruction. The warnings against false teaching relate to the truth being taught and not the motivation of the teacher. The motivation of a teacher is less important than the truth of the message being taught. Consider the following words of Paul on this matter.
Philippians 1:15-18 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.
I have come to this realization myself recently. We need to let God do the judging of hearts and speak His truth and not engage in chest beating exercises on who has the most knowledge about God. None of us know it all, we are all just mere men. It is not about us, it is about Him!
This passage seems to indicate that selfish ambition as the motivator behind religion is okay so long as Christ is preached. It is hard to argue since this is what the Scripture seems to say. But we need to be wary of selfish ambition and how the devil uses pride to derail and deceive us.
James 3:14-16 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15Such �wisdom� does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
James makes it clear that selfish ambition is from the devil and leads to disorder and all kinds of evil. That is where a lot of religion has gone today, it is evil at the core and comes from peoples hearts that are pursuing the boastful pride of life.
All mature Christians will need to develop very thick skin. When the rejection and persecution of the God�s truth is thrown back at us, which is a must to confirm ourselves as true followers, we have a choice to make. We either put God first and stand firm on His truth or we give in to selfish ambition and place winning the approval of man above pleasing God.
Are you seeking to please God or to please your fellow man? We should indeed examine ourselves to ensure we are of the true faith. We must indeed do ALL things for the glory of the Lord. God shares His glory with no one we are told and even if we do �good� things, if we are doing them even partially for selfish gain, they are dead works in the eyes of God.
May God Bless You Richly!!!
http://truthinscripture.com/2009/12/12/selfish-ambition-and-approval-of-man/
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