“When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. ‘Let me have this power, too,’ he exclaimed, ‘so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!’” (Acts 8:18-19 NLT)
What Simon the sorcerer thought could be bought for his gain is, at its core, no different than what many pulpits across America today are peddling for personal gain. They’re goal isn’t to point people to Jesus, but to themselves, not for spiritual help, but for allegiance to themselves for popularity and monetary gain.
Many years ago, I was asked to attend “church” with someone I cared about and whom I respected. Within minutes of the “pastor’s” message, my heart grew cold, and my spirit was troubled. There wasn’t even any attempt to cover his motivation, Jesus wasn’t honored, He was being used as a means to a much different end, an end that had nothing to do with loving Jesus but loving the “pastor.” And the sad reality was, his hearers loved him and were blinded to his blasphemous intentions.
Their concern didn’t center on getting right with God but being right with their “pastor.” George MacDonald wrote: “To be right with God is to be right with the universe: one with the power, the love, the will of the mighty father, the cherisher of Joy, the Lord of laughter, whose are all glories, all hopes, who loves everything and hates nothing but selfishness.”
Selfishness is a disease that not only robs us of intimacy with other humans, it barricades any hope of seeing Jesus for who He is. It’s no accident the center letter in sin is “I.” Sin isn’t only the sickness that blinds us to the hope of eternal life through Christ alone, it so drives us to self-satisfaction we can hardly see another person except with selfish motives.
At the heart of virtually every sin is “give me more!” More sex, more drugs, alcohol, money, prestige, possessions, pleasure in whatever form it may come. Except for maybe Robin Hood, every crime is for someone’s self-advancement.
See the clear contrast in what Jesus calls us to in Matthew 16:24: “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me.” What does it mean to “take up our cross?” It means the same thing for us it meant for Jesus, death! What Jesus accomplished through His death is on many levels much different than what it means for us, but the point is the same – death to self opens the only pathway to life in Christ.
To pretend we can hold the banner of self as we cling to the Cross of Christ is to fool ourselves and blaspheme the Holy Name of Jesus. There was never an ounce of selfishness in Jesus’ heart when He chose to come to earth as a human being. We have no frame of reference to understand what He sacrificed to become a man on planet earth, especially knowing the only reason for His visit was to die in our place.
And please don’t misunderstand, death for us isn’t literal, physical death, though following Jesus may lead us to that, “death” is dying to anything that would exalt us above Him; anything that would detract from our full allegiance and attentiveness to the King of kings and Lord of lords; anything that would tempt us to believe we have any part in our eternal life in Christ alone by faith alone. To be right with God is fully Jesus and nothing of us.
We make no contribution to our salvation, to being right with God, except the faith He provides.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 