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Colin Smith: If you live for yourself, you are actually both the boss and the servant. You're kind of both sides of the ledger, so to speak. The demands that you set are the demands that you must meet. And so you're always in conflict with yourself.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you're with us. And Colin, in a world that tells us to live for ourselves, I hear you saying if we do that, the payoff is not going to be what's promised.

Colin Smith: Yeah, not only will it be disappointing, happiness is absolutely impossible for a person who lives for themselves. I hope to demonstrate why that is in the course of the message today. But of course, our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to a life that's precisely the opposite of living for yourself.

We have that in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 5, that He, Jesus, died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. So that's the life to which we're called, and it's the life in which supreme happiness and joy is going to be found.

Steve Hiller: Well, let's look at this together. Open your Bible to Romans chapter 12 as we continue our message, "Love Involves Sacrifice." Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now very simply, when you became a Christian, you came to be in Christ. And because you are in Christ, what was true of Jesus is also true of you. Jesus died, and Jesus rose again. And when you're in Christ, the same is true of you as well.

The person that you were before, the person living for himself or herself, died. And you have been raised to a whole new life. That's what Paul is referring to here, that you might walk in newness of life. And of course, all of this is beautifully expressed in baptism.

Going down into the water is a sign that the person you were has died. And coming up out of the water is a sign that you are now walking in newness of life. In Christ, you have already died and risen. Now that's the principle. And what I want us to see today is how it works out in practice.

First, you can grow in love because, having died, you are no longer a slave to yourself. What a wonderful truth this is. Because in Christ you have died already, you are no longer a slave to yourself, and that is why and how you can love.

You see this very clearly in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verses 14 and 15. Notice how Paul speaks about love here: "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

Now what a marvelous statement this is. The love of Christ controls us. Who would not want to be able to say that? The love of Christ controls me. What would that mean? Well, it would mean that the love of Christ restrains me from speaking a harsh or a hurtful word. It would mean that the love of Christ moves me to care and to bless and to support others.

A life controlled by the love of Christ would be energized, moved, directed, active. Love would reach into and touch the lives of other people in as much as we are controlled by the love of Christ. Now, how does this come about? That's Paul's purpose in these verses. How is it that a person comes to be controlled by the love of Christ?

Well, notice what he says. The love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all and therefore all have died. You see, he's picking up the same wonderful truth that we just saw in Romans and chapter 6, that if you are in Christ, you have already died.

And what is the effect of the person you were already having died? Well, he says this, that having died they might no longer live for themselves. No longer live for themselves. So you see, living for yourself is actually the default life. That's just how we all start out. That's what we are by nature. The Bible says this quite clearly in Philippians and chapter 2 and verse 21: "All seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ."

Everyone seeks their own interest, and unless something changes, we all default to living for ourselves. Now, living for yourself might sound attractive, but actually, if you think about it, nothing could ever be more miserable. Think about this: to live for yourself.

If you live for yourself, you're the one that's doing the living, and you're the one that's being lived for. So if you live for yourself, you are actually both the boss and the servant. You're kind of both sides of the ledger, so to speak. The demands that you set are the demands that you must meet.

And so you're always in conflict with yourself. If you live for yourself, you're going to find yourself constantly in this very strange position of beating up on yourself. You're going to look at your life and self-the-boss is going to say, "Well, you should have accomplished more," and then self-the-servant gets beat up on because of underperforming.

And that goes on until at some point you say, "Well, this is... I'm not happy. This isn't working. I need to lighten up on myself." That thought will occur to you. "I'm being too hard on myself. I need to give myself a break." And so now you lighten up on yourself.

Except you've still got a problem. Because self-the-servant gets let off the hook, and now self-the-master doesn't get what he or she wants. Living for yourself is an absolute nightmare. When you lay it out as the master, you end up crushing yourself as the servant. And when you lighten up on yourself as the servant, you end up being shortchanged as self-the-master. You can never, never win.

Now what Paul is saying in this marvelous verse is that when you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are actually delivered from the miserable existence of living for yourself. You're now a new creation in Christ. You've been set free from this misery. You've been brought into a new liberty of living for Christ, who loved you and gave Himself for you.

And the good news is that a life of saying no to self in order to bring blessing to others goes with the grain of the new creation that you are in Jesus Christ. Some of you will know the name of Eric Liddell. His story is told in the movie Chariots of Fire. Liddell was an Olympic athlete, and he said on one occasion, "God made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure."

See, running was going with the grain for Eric Liddell. He was made for it. No doubt training was hard work for him as it would be for anyone else, but God made him fast. God made him to run. Now, when you are in Christ, you can say, "God made me to love, and when you love, you will feel His pleasure."

The last thing you want to do as a Christian believer is to live for yourself. You died to that when you came to be in Christ. You've risen to a whole new life in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And when you love, you are going with the grain of the new life that you now enjoy in Jesus Christ. When you say no to self in order to bring blessing to others, you are being who you are. And that is why you will experience peace and joy when you pursue a life of love.

Steve Hiller: We'll come back and continue to look at how we can grow in love in just a moment. You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And if you're a regular listener to this program, you probably know that this program is listener-supported. So thank you for praying for and supporting Open the Bible financially.

As you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you as our way of saying thank you for your support, a copy of Pastor Colin's brand-new 30-day devotional book. It's called "Grow in Love." It's based on the series that we're listening to right now on the radio, and it's the third book in a series called "Grow in Faith," "Grow in Hope," and now "Grow in Love."

Many of us will feel like we need to grow in love, especially when it comes to loving someone that we disagree with. But you wonder, can I grow in love? Is it possible to do that? Well, the good news is love can be learned. So it's possible to grow in love, and God's Holy Spirit is given to us for this purpose. And this is what Pastor Colin's book is all about. Again, we'd love to send you a copy as our way of saying thank you for your support. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365 or openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: How can we grow in love? You can grow in love because, having died, you are no longer a slave to yourself. And then the second thing I want us to see today is this, and it's very wonderful, that you can grow in love because, having risen, you enjoy an endless life.

It's the Apostle John who records the scene at the Last Supper, the night when Jesus was betrayed, when Jesus beautifully washed the feet of His disciples. It was a stunning expression of humble serving love. How did Jesus do this? Especially on the night that He knew He would be betrayed, the night that was ahead of all that He suffered.

Especially because His disciples, when they should have known better, were getting into a foolish argument about who was the greatest. And what the Lord Jesus Christ does is not thinking of Himself; He gives Himself to this marvelous expression of humble serving love towards His own disciples. How did He do it?

Well, John tells us. In John in chapter 13 and verse 3, he says, "Jesus, knowing that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from the supper. He laid aside his outer garments and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist." Now you see what John's saying? Jesus knew what lay ahead of Him. He knew that He was going back to God. He knew that the endless joy of life in the presence of the Father was what was in store for Him. And knowing this, He was free to serve.

Put yourself for a moment with me in the shoes of someone who does not have eternal life. I want you to think about this. Your life in this world is the best you will ever know. And your life in this world is short. And so you are always worried about it slipping away. If the only good you're ever going to enjoy is what you get here and now, you will live in the constant fear of missing out.

And with so little life, if something should happen in your experience that harms or shortens this little life that you have, you will feel a sense of ultimate loss. All I have is this little stretch of life, and now it's all been spoiled. Without eternal life, you're going to be drawn to one of two alternatives. Either you're going to throw yourself recklessly into a life of indulgence, try everything, eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die, just live it up. Or you're going to live with a sense of constant fear, grasping on to what you have, trying desperately not to let it slip through your fingers.

But brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have life everlasting. Everlasting. Life inexhaustible. Neverending. Pleasures greater by far than anything that we can know in this life and in this world at its very best; they are stored up forever and ever for you in the presence of the Father. And knowing this puts you in an entirely different position throughout the days and months and years of your life in this world.

When you know you have eternal life, you can offer yourself as a living sacrifice. You can give yourself to the service of others. You can offer yourself into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. And knowing His love for you, that is precisely what you will want to do. When you know that, having risen, you enjoy an endless life, you will be delivered from the haunting fear of missing out.

And if the life that you had hoped to enjoy is in some way harmed or spoiled or unexpectedly shortened, you will grieve. But you will do this knowing that you have an endless life of unclouded joy that stretches eternally in front of you. And that makes all the difference in the world.

How can I grow in love? Well, as we saw last week, we can grow in love because we are loved. And today we're adding these two further marvelous answers to this question: You can grow in love because, having died, you are no longer a slave to yourself. And you can grow in love because, having risen, you enjoy an endless life.

Some of you will know the name of Amy Carmichael, a marvelous lady who served the Lord Jesus Christ as a missionary in India for 55 years, an extraordinary life of love. Amy Carmichael wrote an extended meditation on what she called Calvary Love. That is, love that sacrifices. That's what Jesus did when He laid down His life at Calvary. Let me read just seven sentences from what Amy Carmichael wrote.

"If I have not compassion on my fellow servant even as my Lord had pity on me, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I can easily discuss the shortcomings and the sins of others, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If my thoughts revolve around myself, if I am so occupied with myself that I rarely have a heart at leisure from itself, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I do not give a friend the benefit of the doubt, but put the worst construction instead of the best on what is said or done, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If I take offense easily, if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I say, 'Yes, I forgive but I cannot forget,' as though the God who twice a day washes all the sands on all the shores of all the world could not wash such memories from my mind, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

Our series has been entitled "Growing in Love." So I want to close it by saying it this way: Grow in love, and you will be patient. Grow in love, and you will be kind. Grow in love, and you will always have hope. Grow in love, and you will be freed from resentment. Grow in love, and you will be able to forgive.

Grow in love, and you will deny yourself. Grow in love, and you will take up your cross. Grow in love, and you will be a disciple of Jesus. Grow in love, and you will shine like a light in this world.

Steve Hiller: Pastor Colin Smith wrapping up our message, "Love Involves Sacrifice," the final in our series, "Grow in Love." And if you've missed any of the broadcasts in our series, you can come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. And there you can stream the program, or you can download an MP3 for free.

You can also listen if you have the Open the Bible app. You'll find that for free at your App Store, and it's a great way to listen to not just this daily radio program, but our weekend broadcast, our daily devotional, and connect with even more ministry. So again, you'll find the app for free at your App Store; just look for Open the Bible or listen online at openthebible.org.

One other way to listen to Pastor Colin's teaching is to order a copy of this series on CD. Ask about "Grow in Love" when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. Or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org. Well, Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. That's just what it sounds like. It's your generosity that allows us to continue bringing you Pastor Colin's teaching.

And as you give a gift of any amount, we'd love to send you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand-new 30-day devotional book called "Grow in Love." And Colin, what's one thing that you'd like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, I think most of us feel that we need to grow in love, especially when it comes to loving those with whom we deeply disagree. But here's the question: Do you think it's possible for you to become a more loving person than you are right now?

See, the thing is, if it simply depended on what you can generate from within yourself, the answer would have to be no. Our love would depend on our experience, and if we hadn't been well loved by others, well, we wouldn't be able to give love to others. But the good news is that love really can be learned. It's possible to grow in love, and God's Holy Spirit is given to every Christian believer for this purpose.

So the thing I'd want people to take away from this is the wonderful hope that as you experience the love of God poured into your own heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, so you will be better able to love others really well.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you as our way of saying thank you for your financial support a copy of Pastor Colin's new book, "Grow in Love." You can find out more online at openthebible.org, or you can give your gift over the phone by calling 1-877-OPEN-365. Again, that's openthebible.org or 1-877-673-6365. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: This is Pastor Colin. And I love the story of the thief on the cross because it's the best story we have to help people understand grace. You know, many people have the idea that if a person was to get into heaven, they'd get there by living a good enough life. Well, the thief on the cross hadn't lived a good life, and he wasn't in a position to start living a good life either. But Jesus said to him, "Today you will be with me in paradise."

Well, if the thief could get into heaven, so can everyone you know and will ever meet. "Heaven: How I Got Here" is a compelling 60-minute film in which Stephen Baldwin portrays the thief on the cross in a one-person play. We've seen God use this film to help many trust in Jesus as the thief did. So who is there in your life who needs to understand grace? For more information or to watch this film for free, visit openthebible.org/heaven. That's openthebible.org/heaven.