Is Self-esteem, Self-love and self-forgiveness a false gospel?

         This is the question. If we are born-again and have received the love, acceptance and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, do we need self to help in His work? I will call these self-works, so to refer to self-esteem, self-love and self-forgiveness.

(Ephesians 1:3-14) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.  (NKJV)

In looking at what Paul wrote in Ephesians one, when receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are: without blame in His love, accepted in the beloved, and forgiven for sin. If Jesus has done all this for us is there any reason to have to add self-works? The answer is no.

Let us put a few scenarios together. If we have offended someone we look to be forgiven by the person we have offended. In each scenario we have offended the law and the penalty of the law is death. How to you go before the court?

Scenario one:  Before arriving at the court, you have changed your ways and are now self-working yourself. You are better a person than you were before. Do you think the judge is going to let you off the hook because now you have added self-works to yourself? No, the offensive must be paid.

Scenario Two: Now the judge hears your case and knows your weakness and your failure to comply to the law and knows you have offended the law, If he in mercy decides to forgive you and not place on you the penalty of breaking the law, do you thank the judge, and then go on your way saying, “I esteem myself, love myself and forgive myself?” No, you are glad to be forgiven and leave being set free from the penalty.

Scenario three: Now the judge hears your case and knows your weakness and your failure to comply to the law and knows you have offended the law, If he in mercy decides to forgive you because Jesus Christ paid your penalty of breaking the law, do you thank the judge, and Jesus then go on your way saying, “I esteem myself, love myself and forgive myself?” No, again you are grateful for the forgiveness and love of your savior and the mercy the judge showed you and you leave without any guilt.

There is no self-works that you can perform to help God in your process of salvation. See the offense you committed was not yourself, though your flesh wants to think this, the offense you committed is against God. Like I said, you cannot help God forgive you, if you think you have forgiven yourself. Self-works are putting your trust in your ability to save or trying to help Jesus save you.

(Ephesians 2:8-9) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  (NKJV)

Looking at Ephesians 2, is there anything you can do to help in your salvation? No. Then what are self- works? It is an offering of our own devices.

These self-works are as the fig leaves where Adam and Eve used the fig leaves to try to cover their shame from their guilt. This is what we do with self-works. What did Adam and Eve do in the garden? They sinned; they offended Gods’ law in the garden by disobedience. When God came down did God accept they works of fig leaves to cover their sin? No, He made a sacrifice and covered them with skins, which was a type of Jesus Christ who was an innocent sacrifice to pay our penalty for sin.

These self-works are also the type of sacrifice Cain brought before the Lord (Genesis 4). Abel’s sacrifice was a sacrifice of an innocent animal which its blood was shed for the remission of sins. Abel offered to God what He prescribed and Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because he responded to God in obedience showing his faith. Cain didn’t come to God in obedience in faith. He had faith in himself and thought he could bring the best of his fruit before God and thought he could change Gods prescription for another prescription he desired to offer. (This would be like taking sugar in place of aspirin for a headache the doctored ordered)

Well you may say, well I believe in God and believe Jesus died for me. Cain believed in God and he knew what God prescribed. We cannot change the prescription, nor can we add to help it. If we add to help it, we will alter the affects of the prescription and we will be found not healed.

(Galatians 1:6-10) I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.  (NKJV)

(Galatians 2:16) "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

When we are trusting in self-works, we are trusting in our works or law to save us and as I wrote earlier, when forgiven by the judge for our offenses we do not leave by our works, but by the grace and mercy of the one who forgave us our debt.

So have you answered the question, is self-love, self-forgiveness and self-esteem another gospel? It certainly is! Because either we are trusting these or Jesus Christ or if we have trusted Jesus Christ we have added to His salvation by these self-efforts and altered His work of salvation..

  You are already loved, accepted and forgiven by Jesus Christ. If you do not know this, then I ask you to ask Jesus Christ to affirm this in your heart by His Spirit or ask to be Born-again. Because being born-again you will know His love, acceptance and forgiveness.

One of the things which amazes me are the churches which cannot counsel their congregants and then hand them over to a psychologist or Christian psychologist and these psychologist  teach  these self-works. So the pastor has handed his people to another gospel.

Then when the congregants has built his life in self-works they have started to trust in self because it brought them comfort. Then when they hear from the pulpit the gospel and Jesus forgiving, accepting and loving the believer, the person who has come to love self will stay with loving self and trusting self over Jesus.

The shepherds have given their congregants to broken cisterns which can’t hold water. Even the congregants which go after this have chosen the broken cistern and have forsaken the living waters. (Jeremiah 2:13)

We need to live by the living waters. When Jesus has forgiven us and accepted us in His love He does not condemn us, it us who continues to condemn us. If we sin, we need to confess them and forsake them, then rejoice that He has forgiven us and washed us by His blood. We are in the sanctification process. We do continue to sin, but we should not be like we were yesterday. We need to be transformed from glory to glory in Christ Jesus. Should we abuse His grace, No! but we do sin and we need to learn that in Christ we continue to battle against sin. It is when we give up and look to self that we are defeated. If we walk in the Spirit we will not gratify the deeds of the flesh.

Repent, confess and praise God for His love, acceptance and forgiveness. He who has begun a new work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ Jesus, if you continue in him. (Philippians 1:7 and John 15:1-11; 8:31-36)