Alive and Dead at the same time…

At lunch with Christian friends, we discussed the value system of the world, particular some who are often in the news, and the difference between what they want out of life and what we want. Well, most of the time.

That difference mainly amounts to our realization that we “can’t take it with us” so most of what is important to many, like money, power, and fame, is not important to us. Well, most of the time.

This is because of a truth Jesus stated in verses like this one:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:24–26)

Piper puts it this way: “It doesn’t matter what happens to me. . . .  when I am dead, I will not care what they do with my body. It will make no difference to me. I will be home with Jesus. That’s the way it is now, too, if I have died already with Christ, which all Christians have: ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires’ (Galatians 5:24). Crucified means dead. So in a profound sense I am dead on the earth and my life is ‘hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3). So it just doesn’t matter what happens to me here on earth.

However, most of us can say what a young missionary once said: “My problem is that a living sacrifice keeps crawling off the altar.” We so easily forget that we are dead, that is, our old nature is separated from God, cannot bear fruit, and is useless. The world and the Liar cannot make appeals to our new nature, but both will attack and mess with that old dead one. It seems odd that dead listens to other dead entities. Our lunch discussion included personal examples of  this battle.

Piper IDs it by pointing out that we are to “hate this life in this world” at least in the sense that we don’t give it much thought or care what happens to us. It doesn’t matter because we are dead to it… like a dead person is not concerned about possessions, being lied about, being famous, having much or little, and so on. 

Instead, our concern is to follow Jesus. And we do, most of the time. When do we crawl off the altar or come down from that cross? I get side-tracked by ordinary stuff. One friend shared how she tends to second-guess what God tells her to do. Another says, “I just want things to go smoothly.” We have I-trouble and our ears sometimes do not hear that still, small voice. Short term memory loss? 

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. (Romans 6:11–13)

Excuses aside, it is a choice. Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). “Like a grain of wheat, fall into the ground and die.” Choose it. “Hate your life in this world.”

The result is much fruit. Paul said, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things” (Philippians 3:8). Most of us know what that means. Yet many are not happy with the idea of suffering loss. This is what makes me less fruitful than Paul. Not that I live in a different era, or place, or am a woman, or need to take care of my home and family. The real reason is that I-trouble.

PRAY: Jesus, this is a sharp reminder that life is short and if any of it will have eternal value, it will not come from the dead old me, only from the new life that exists and is empowered because of You. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” (Romans 8:7) Make that distinction between dead to sin and alive to You even sharper, and remind me often. I need it, not just most of the time, but all of the time.

Self-Denial

 

The word for today is YIELD. A simple search in the English Bible gives only nine references using almost as many different Greek words. Most of them mean to produce something, or give off something which is what the word used here means:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. (Matthew 27:50)

The only one that speaks of consecration to God in the sense of giving all of me into His care is expressed in a negative sense in relation to false teachers:

… to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. (Galatians 2:5)

A better term is SELF-DENIAL It means to deny myself by repudiating any gratification of self-centered desires and values that are outside of God's will and will not glorify Him. One writer describes it as getting out of the driver’s seat so that God is in that place, denying self any right to master my life. 

Jesus said it this way: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) This “cross” is not about hardships as many use the term, but about dying to our old way of life.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6)

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

These verses make it clear that this is about considering “self’ being separated from God in a state called spiritual death, the state of anyone who is not “alive” through faith in Christ. However…

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Because this is true, I can live accordingly. Being able to deny sin and selfishness affirms that I believe the above verse. It is a faith issue. If I think I have rights and my way is okay, then I am not believing God, at least not for everyday life. Yet God’s Word affirms that those who believe in Christ for eternal life only will learn otherwise:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11–14)

As God teaches me to deny self, He also teaches me to identify self. I want good things, but good may not be best. It is His will to which I must yield, not my own, no matter how good my desires might seem. Jesus did say, “Not my will but thine be done.” For that reason, the goal is to… “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14) and to “present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is my spiritual worship, and to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of my mind, that by testing I may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1–2, personalized)

PRAY: Lord, in the busyness and duties of this day, remind me often that Your will means abundant life and the very best for me. Help me think that way when the challenges come. They always do, and You are always here to guide me into self-denial and being wholly yielded to Your will. Amen.

Considering the toxic parts useless and dead . . .

In the first part of Revelation, the word “angel” could also be translated “messenger” for it refers to the pastors of the churches to whom seven letters were written from the Lord. This understanding is helpful when reading these letters.

The church in Sardis, a pagan and commercial city, received one of those letters. This time, the Lord has nothing good to say about the church except that there were only a few in it that were worthy in their lives and service to Him.

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.’” (Revelation 3:1–5)

This congregation had a good reputation yet Jesus knew them in a deeper way than their outward appearance. They were “dead” which interpreted in the sense often used in the Bible means that they were separated from God. Their lives and their reputation depended on their own abilities and not the power of the Holy Spirit.

The New Testament is filled with exhortation to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. The flesh can look good, even moral and upright, yet those who belong to Jesus have crucified flesh; it is not alive to God.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6)

Jude also mentions what it means to have “soiled garments” when he writes, “save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” (Jude 23) He is talking about sin. Sin can be blatant, but it can also be subtle. Both extremes happen in the lives of Christians. Ask me how I know!

For example, I could take a pie to a new neighbor because the Lord nudged me to reach out. Or I could take the pie to show off my pie-making ability. One is a work of the Lord, the other a work of the flesh, but on the outside, few people would discern the difference. Yet the Lord knows.

These verses remind me that I am accountable to God . . .

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12–13)

He knows my intentions when I do things and when those intentions are pure or fleshy, works that please Him or dead works. I might fool others but cannot hide from Jesus. It is His blood alone that can purify my conscience “from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:14)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord God, the conflict between flesh and spirit is a daily reality yet seldom preached. Many of Your people seem unaware of it and of the ramifications of trying to be good Christians in their own strength, an impossible task. Keep me alert. Keep me in Your Word. You bring me again and again to passages like these and remind me that I must be filled with Your Spirit to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Keep me aware of what motives me, always remembering that my fleshy sin nature is dead and useless. There is no point in being a slave to sin and wearing garments soiled by the flesh; it is the mark of doom.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- God helps me recognize fleshy stuff.

- the Holy Spirit has the answer to it.

- when in the Spirit, I am not really aware because if I was, I’d start patting myself on the back and being back in the flesh!

- an enjoyable sewing day with ladies from our city’s quilt guild.

- French toast using Pane Roma and Brie cheese, a successful experiment!

Value of suffering…

When sin threatens, the bodily form of my suffering Savior at Calvary turns my heart from temptation to humility and resolve — for He bore all the sin that I commit. His death and resurrection made forgiveness of sin and salvation possible. My sin mocks the purpose for which He died.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? (Isaiah 53:8)

The good news of such suffering is about the effect it has on resisting sin. As the Bible tells me, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).

Yet I cannot focus on my sin or even on my part in resisting sin. If I do, I become obsessed with trying to win the battle instead of remembering that this battle has already been won at the Cross. My focus needs to be on Jesus and what He has done and continues to do in my life.

Also, I need to think the way Christ thinks about temptation, sin, and even suffering.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin... (1 Peter 4:1)

Temptation and sin can be appealing, but Christ didn’t think so. He knows how it appears to His eternal and holy Father. It is an affront to all that God is and deadly to those He loves. By arming myself in His way of thinking, I abhor sin and any allure to sin becomes disgusting, vile and repulsive in my mind.

It is the suffering part that is more difficult. I’m not a big fan and prefer comfort by far. However, Christ, the perfect and sinless Son of God had different thoughts about suffering. He used it to learn obedience.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.. (Hebrews 5:8–9)

Jesus, though fully divine, was also fully human. Though always without sin and therefore always obedient, Jesus acquired knowledge and experience by living as a human being. He learned firsthand what it cost to maintain obedience in the trials of life. As He “increased in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52), successive temptations were no doubt more difficult to deal with. As He obeyed His Father, He “learned” fully in His experience what He no doubt knew in His mind. It is His lifelong perfect obedience that is the source for my obedience, the ultimate “perfection” of my spiritual life.

But this is established through faith and obedience in suffering. I don’t like that part. Learning to think about it as Jesus thinks about it seems as challenging as trying to leap across the Grand Canyon or swim from here to Southeast Asia. Even the relatively mild sufferings of my homework assignments this past week were daunting, but I realize that they too are designed to teach me obedience.

This also is about looking at the Cross, at the suffering of Christ. Nothing that I experience will ever be like that. This is why Hebrews 12:3 tells me to “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

Consider what Jesus suffered and stop feeling sorry for myself. Consider what Jesus suffered for me and let the comparison stop my whining and efforts to escape even mild discomforts. Let the Lord teach me obedience, even it means being mocked, attacked by vile temptations, stricken in my physical body.

As Luther writes, I need to look at Jesus and say, “Ah, why shouldn’t I also suffer a little since my Lord sweat blood in the garden because of anxiety and grief? I would be a lazy, disgraceful Christian if I wanted to lie in ease while my Lord was compelled to battle with a painful death.”

Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude — a challenge indeed.