Am I really dead?

 

 

READ Matthew 25-28

While not every theologian agrees with him, I’ve always liked the way that Watchman Nee, a Christian martyr, defined the difference between the soul and the Spirit. He put them in concentric circles inside a larger circle representing our body. The next circle was the soul which is made up intellect, emotions, and volition or will. The smallest circle represents the human spirit. Because of sin, that small circle is dead to God. Nee defines sin as basing all our decisions and actions on our own understanding, feelings, and desires.

When someone becomes a Christian, the spirit is given new life and we are then able to listen to God and let Him govern, enable, and direct what is done in the soul and outward to body actions. It has been years since reading Nee’s books, but I do remember his comments on this event as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane:

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:40–41)

Nee said the problem with the disciples was not that their flesh (soul) was too weak, but that it was not weak enough. Bodily desires overruled and they slept instead of praying according to the will of that inner spirit. In other words, saving faith is about God’s Spirit giving new life to our spirit so we are dead (not weak) to the appeals of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

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)

Following Jesus means thinking and acting as He did. In the Garden before He spoke to the disciples about their lack of prayer, He said:

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:38–39)

These words reinforce the conflict later describe by Galatians; the spirit and the flesh fight against each other. Jesus knew He must die. He also knew that He must not let His soul overturn what the Spirit of God was telling Him. His emotions are described as very sorrowful, even to death. His will, however sinless it was, must be denied. He knew that He must say no to all else and do as the Spirit of God instructed His Spirit.

This account of Jesus passion and death resulted in resurrection and redemption for mankind. His decision to deny all else but what God wanted is God’s goal for all of His sons and daughters. We know it but we struggle with it. Paul wrote how he did not understand his own actions:

For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:15–20)

Yet he also wrote that he had died with Christ and asked readers, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” This is why Nee concluded that the problem with the disciples was not “weak flesh” that needed to be stronger, but weak flesh that needed to be dead!

This is practical. The NT is full of instructions to consider myself dead to sin and alive to God, dead to the rule of sin and alive to the rule of the Holy Spirit. Death to self means thinking that way about making my own decisions without prayer or direction from God. It means refusing to let emotions govern my actions such as fear, anger, or hate. It also means saying no to the obvious selfish “I wants” and the not so obvious desires that seem okay without checking out what God wants from me.

This means walking close to the Lord, seeking His will from His word, yielding to Him in prayer and understanding, OBEYING Him in every area of life. I’m thankful for Christian writers, pastors, teachers, mentors and friends and that God gives discernment to us so we can help one another more closely follow Jesus. My desire from the heart is to think and act from the heart because my Savior died so I could live an abundant and fruitful life that gives Him glory!

 

Maintain a healthy spirit

A martyred Christian from China, Watchman Nee, wrote several books and developed an understanding of the triune nature of man as body, soul, and spirit. In his thinking, the soul is our self-consciousness and our spirit is our ability to know the depth of sin and to know and communicate with God. While many would say this is too much separation and there is not enough in the Bible to verify all his ideas, some of what he said about the human spirit strikes home.

As I read the Bible, I notice verses that speak of the spirit being “dead in sin” in the lives of those who do not believe in Christ. When faith brings salvation, that spirit is made alive.

One verse also says that the “Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit… discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

Nee’s idea of soul is our capacity to choose, our intellect, and our emotions. In light of the above verse from Hebrews, having discernment between those faculties (which have been marred by sin) and the faculties of the spirit seem very important.

Another verse also gives support to Nee’s ideas. He believed God saves the whole person, beginning with a renewed spirit that is made that way by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. In salvation, that which was dead to God is made alive. Then our lives are to be governed by the Holy Spirit speaking to and working through our spirit, spreading forth life of Christ to our minds, choices and emotions. This explains some of this prayer of Paul’s…

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Today’s devotional verse is about the power of that sanctified spirit to endure whatever the world throws at us. When the spirit is renewed and operating by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, then we can persevere…

A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? (Proverbs 18:14)

The Hebrew word for crushed could also be translated as: smitten, afflicted, broken, stricken, or wounded. This is not about a spirit that is dead in sin (that of an unsaved person) but someone who has the life of Christ in them, but something has happened to pummel that life and put it down, inoperable and unable to endure the hardships of life.

That said, besides being alive in the Spirit, God makes me responsible to keep my spirit sharp and well-fed. I’m to do this by reading His Word. I’m also to be sanctified (set apart for God) by keeping myself focused on serving Him and not myself. I am to confess known sin and be nourished by fellowship with other Christians. My spirit is kept healthy by obeying God’s commands. Other verses tell me to “guard my heart, for it is the well-spring of life.” All of this describes how to keep my spirit from being crushed so that I can endure the tough stuff.

I’ve also noticed that this is true for the daily grind also. God gives me the Holy Spirit that my spirit may be kept in tune and wisely responding to the ordinary trials for even those require sanctification, wholeness and purity of heart.