Doctrine of Absence of Self

There was a pastor of a university campus church whose membership was comprised of mostly PhDs from the school. Instead of preaching soul winning messages, this man tailored his sermons to please the intellectuals in his congregation and he took great delight in his hearer's compliments of his messages. It was important for this pastor to be accepted and recognized as an intellectual.

I was with a pastor who was invited to attend a seminary graduation dinner. This man was to be one of the speakers. As we sat waiting for the program to begin, programs were handed out listing the night's agenda.

My pastor friend felt slighted that his name was not featured in the program as a speaker and it spoiled his mood the rest of the evening. I remember a man I knew in church and every year he would volunteer to go on a short-term mission trip to a certain town in South America and once there he would help build church buildings and after the American visitors would build the church there would always be a banquet at the end of the trip put on by the local natives to acknowledge the work and labor of the short-term missionaries. One year the natives did away with this recognition ceremony and my friend never returned there again to volunteer.

He felt cheated. He put in the work and was not acknowledged. In each of these instances self demanded to be recognized.

The doctrine of self demands. I must have my rights. I must get my way.

I must be promoted. I must be acknowledged. I must be accepted.

I must be recognized. I must be honored. I must be advanced.

I must be elevated. Would we serve in a ministry if we knew in advance there would be no self-recognition? Would we give a large gift to a ministry anonymously? Are we willing to serve God in obscurity? Are we willing to labor year after year without seeing results or making a name for ourselves within our denomination? Are we willing to serve God as a nobody? Do we need to be recognized for our labors? We read of Jesus Christ in Philippians 2, 7, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. Men who have been used of God mightily in former generations were familiar with the doctrine of the absence of self.

Men like David Brainerd and D.O. Moody, who were pleased to become nobodies so an important somebody could live through them. Only those rare individuals who know the doctrine of absence of self can say what Charles Wesley, Keep me little and unknown, prized and loved by God alone. Let us pray.