Many Christians consider that the Bible tells us that men should be good to one another and that men must learn to fear God, please God, and behave before God. Although this is a common concept concerning the Bible, it is not completely accurate. When I was young, I also held this concept. But gradually, year by year, as I have read and studied the Bible, I have come to realize that the Bible is a book that unveils God's economy. The Greek word for economy is oikonomia. Oikonomia refers to the plan, the arrangement, for the accomplishment of a certain purpose. In the Bible, God's economy is His household administration to carry out His purpose.
The central point of God's administration is the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is the centrality and universality of the way of the Christian life. The Christian life is a life which can accomplish God's economy. On the earth today, it is difficult to find a man who considers that he should live a life for the carrying out of God's purpose and economy. We must live a life which comes up to the standard of accomplishing God's economy. This is what God desires. The kind of life which accomplishes God's economy is a life which is always dying to self and living to God.
Christians may speak about doing God's will, but most consider God's will only in relation to minor things. The Pharisees were concerned with such things. They condemned John the Baptist because he did not eat bread or drink wine. They also condemned the Lord Jesus as a gluttonous man and a wine drinker because He did eat and drink (Luke 7:33-34). Such talks are merely religious and have nothing to do with what kind of person we should be for the accomplishment of God's purpose. In order to live for the accomplishment of God's purpose, we need to die to self and live to God.
In Matthew 16:24 the Lord spoke of our need to deny ourselves. To deny ourselves is to die to self. Our very being is the self.
The self is expressed and manifested in our natural life and flesh. There is a distinction between the words expressed and manifested. To express ourselves is a matter of behavior, but to manifest ourselves is a matter of what we are. In the full-time training, the way the trainees appear in the meetings is very good. This is their expression. But when the trainees go home, they may live in an altogether different manner. This is their manifestation. Every Christian has two faces. In the meeting, we express ourselves in one way, and in our room or at home we are manifested in another way. We must exercise until we are the same in the meeting as we are at home.
The self is expressed and manifested in our natural life and flesh, and our flesh is the embodiment of sin (Rom. 7:17-18). When you do not restrict or behave yourself, you manifest yourself in the flesh. To manifest yourself in the flesh is sin, and sin is one with Satan. According to Romans 7, sin deceives and kills (v. 11). These are the things that Satan did in Genesis 3. Satan deceived Eve (2 Cor. 11:3), and through partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve were deadened (Gen. 2:17). Apparently, it is sin which deceives and kills. Actually, it is Satan who deceives and kills. Sin and Satan are one; sin and Satan are synonymous.
Our being, our self, our natural life, our flesh, sin, and Satan are all one entity. They are like many eggs in one nest. In a nest a mother bird may have a cluster of eggs. When these eggs are hatched, they will form one family, one entity. Our being, our self, our natural life, our flesh, sin, and Satan are like one family in a nest. To die to self means to die to the entire family.
For this reason the Lord said in Matthew 16, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (v. 24). To deny the self is to die to self. The first two lines of a hymn translated by Brother Nee express this same thought: "To the foe my word is always, 'No,' / To the Father it is 'Yes'" (Hymns, #880). To say "No" to Satan is to die to self. When we die to self, our natural life, our flesh, sin, and Satan are finished. When we die to self, Satan is defeated. This is why Satan is afraid of the cross.
Dying to self is dying to our natural life, our flesh, sin, and Satan through the cross (1 Pet. 2:24m). The cross puts us to death. It ends our self. The cross is the centrality and universality of our way to live the Christian life in order to fulfill God's purpose. When we die to self, we die to everything in this universe but God.