The Temptation of Self-Defense

Mark 14:66-71

Peter Denies Jesus

66 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.” And he went out into the gateway[h] and the rooster crowed.[i] 69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”

This week in our devotionals we have spent a lot of time talking about self-denial. What it is, how important it is for our discipleship (following Jesus) as Christians, and some of the things that self-denial can cost us.

But if we are to grow in self-denial, we have to be aware of the opposite that we are so tempted towards. Self-defense.

We love defending ourselves. It’s basically a core American value expressed in our constitution. And to be clear, being a Christian does not mean we are never allowed to defend ourselves. Self-denial in this specific type of situation when we are attacked for something we did or didn’t do is only mandated when it directly furthers God’s plan or increases our commitment to God.

For example, if someone blatantly lies at work and accuses us of saying something terrible that we didn’t say, odds are the right move is to calmly and humbly defend ourselves.

But I don’t need to tell most of us to defend ourselves, we got that part down. Instead, we need to be wary of when we are too quick to defend ourselves.

One example is when we are attacked or accused for something we DID do or failed to do. If we didn’t get our part of the work done, we should own that, not seek to adamantly defend ourselves. If we said something we shouldn’t have, we should be seeking the forgiveness of the person we hurt, not being so quick to remind them what they have done or attempting to justify what we said.

Another example is when defending ourselves will cause more harm than it will help, especially to the cause of God’s Kingdom. This is a more fringe case, but sometimes the best thing we can do is allow ourselves to take the hit or even be slandered for the sake of Christ. This seems counterintuitive, but what if our taking the blame for what someone else did creates an opportunity for a conversation with them about Christ giving us grace that we didn’t deserve? What if allowing our character to be attacked and responding with kindness and grace instead of fighting back makes someone question what they believe about God and those who follow Him?

It’s not pleasant, it’s not easy, but there are times every one of us will face where defending ourselves feels like a necessity, but in reality allowing ourselves to be attacked can better further God’s Kingdom and Gospel work.

We can learn this from Peter’s negative example in our text for today. After every accusation, Peter was faced with a choice. Stand with Jesus in His suffering and allow himself to be attacked, or save himself by sacrificing the opportunity to faithfully follow Jesus. Each time, Peter chose to defend Himself, so we must be wary of falling into the same trap as Peter.