Why is Death Necessary
I sat yesterday, the date irrelevant for anyone in the future, in a group of great Men of God. These anointed Ministers, Pastors, Evangelists, Preachers, and the like, were astounding in their nature and character. Many different in lifestyle, culture, ethnicity, and build. No two men the same. I suppose this is what Paul was trying to get us to understand when proclaiming the different parts of the body. Different, still, there was an interesting phenomenon taking place. These men all “seemed” the same. Markedly different absolutely, but a conversation with any, you felt a love, kindness, and Spirit that was all very much the same. All different as men but when engaged beyond their initial appearance all displaying one thing in common, Jesus.
These were all dead men walking.
Not one man there lived for himself or his purpose, but there was an overwhelming unity that spoke only of the will of God. The pursuit of Heaven’s purpose expressed in the lives, fellowship, and encouragement of these men is astounding. This must be what Paul meant when he spoke of the joy that was complete in him as he witnessed the lives and testimony of the churches operating in great faith and the love of God. It was beyond moving and definitely supernatural. God’s Spirit on display amongst the brothers of the body quickly brought to mind this principle that I have been grappling with for many weeks. Today I write to you with an appeal to the heart of the matter of Christian living and, if I might further, our very relationship with God.
We. Must. Die.
The death of a man in his mortal life is a requirement well laid out in scripture but confused by our modern lifestyle. In the consumeristic culture of the west death, in the Christian sense, looks an awful lot like sacrificing weekly time slots to join in the religious tradition of attended services and lives lived with some constraints but often still for the intents and purpose of pleasing ones own desires.
Being a good Christian brings a sense of community, belonging, and of course the American Dream (in its original and purest sense of the phrase). All of this to serve the “healthy” lifestyle of family, comforts, and retirement, in some sense, to serve the hedonistic tendencies of ourselves. Not in the wicked sense of the word but simply seeking our own pleasure and gratifying our own desires.
The call to die laid out to us in Scripture speaks of a much different death; one that would eradicate these personal desires to replace them with the heart and mind of Christ. This transformative power of the Gospel, being partnered together with this mortal body, to accomplish Heaven’s purpose on this earth: to propagate the Gospel and bring Kingdom advancement. This death requires a surrender of our own will for that of God’s will.
So, why? Why is it necessary for us to die.
One cannot experience a new life until they are dead.
Jesus lived the example first. The death of his own will in the garden, the death of sin and flesh on the cross, the burial of the old man in the grave, and the resurrection to glory and new life in victory. This example lived out for us brings a stark and awakening call to our modern “surrender.” Not just a surrender of a social label for that of another and some new traditions. A surrender of my own life for the life of Christ. As He teaches all true things by the power of the Spirit raising us to new life. The Christian man cannot be like Christ until he has died and buried himself.
Three Kinds of Men
Three Kinds of Men is the title of an observational article written by C.S. Lewis in 1943. His declaration of the general state of man is one that still rings true today. I pull from his assessment today to offer a statement of what death looks like. His observation of the dead man.
As Lewis pens in these words, the removal of self altogether is the death that the Bible declares to us is essential for believers. In the appeal that Jesus made to take up our cross and carry it, is the call to die. Repentance, as the declared first step in responding to the Gospel in Acts 2:38, is this death to self. A surrender of the old life, laid to rest, to “turn about” unto the life that God would have in store for us in Christ Jesus. A life of discipleship marked with His righteousness and the love of God unto the obedience of His commandments. This liberty from sin and shame leads to being bound to the life of purpose and passion that comes from being the Sons of God. We now call Abba Father through that Spirit of adoption that makes us joint heirs together with Him. This hope and new life only comes through the death found in repentance. We will return to the joy of this hope in a few moments but first we must understand the choice with which we are presented.
The Available Choice
Paul admonishes the Corinthian church, through his example, that he dies daily. This concept of death is difficult for our western ears to hear as a life lived unto oneself is the promise of happiness in our modern culture. To live a life entirely for the purpose of someone else, who commands us to live entirely for the purpose of others, is jostling to say the least.
My Way or Another?
Scriptures, like that in Romans chapter twelve, that would call us to be living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable unto God. Set apart unto Him and pleasing to His will which is good, perfect, and acceptable. This is where our choice boils down to a simple determination in the morning that would dictate our predisposition throughout our day. Do we want to live our way or God’s way?
The Bible gives us many scripture to encourage us in our daily battle to submit ourselves to the will of God. To war against this flesh that tries to indulge us to our own will.
Paul encourages us that we have already died. That is how we entered into this relationship with Jesus and through Him our living is hidden, or fully for the purpose, of God. He then asks once again to “put to death” the members of our flesh. Take active purpose to ensure our own pleasures and desires are killed on an altar of prayer every morning. This moment of alignment with God’s purpose and plan for our lives is the death that daily protects us from our own indulgence. Praying these prayers of submission are essential to creating a strong foundation to build our lives on every day.
These moments of focus and preparation are essential so when we are tested throughout our day by bad attitudes, hard conversations, moments of pride and arrogance; we have already yielded to the mind of Christ. The Spirit and His word can take those moments and shine forth the glory of God in our lives instead of the undeniable headache that would come from our own response in the flesh.
The Choice of New Life
The reality of this endeavor is that our flesh is unruly and troublesome. Moments of testing often come but dead men can’t succumb to those temptations because their decision has already been made by the new life they live.
The promise of new life in Christ is two-fold. All of the old things have indeed died but, all things have become new in Christ’s resurrecting Spirit. We now become one together with Him as He prayed in John Chapter 17. This is the promised hope of glory that we have; we will move from glory to glory until we reach His image. We have died and with a new purpose to live by those things which are dead stay dead and those things which do not align with this purpose become much easier to kill. Like a weed infecting a garden they become easy to pluck out instead of something we love that is so hard to get rid of. The death of self kills the desire that would want to keep something contrary to God’s purpose because of the joy that comes from His glory fulfilled in our lives.
As I listened to one of the men mentioned at the beginning of this article regale the testimony of God’s provision in his life, I was overwhelmed by the goodness of God. It astounded me that this man, once he made a point to prioritize the altar in his life and die daily so that God’s will would be number one in his mental, received perfectly orchestrated provision to complete everything that God was impressing upon him to do. In man’s logic and orchestration these things could never happen but through the supernatural hand of God, He can make puzzle pieces fit that were not even part of our puzzle. He had pieces we did not even know were missing and placed them perfectly into the masterpiece He is painting. This was the testimony of our brother in that meeting and it was what encouraged me to finally write this article and put these words on a page. God will do everything all we have to do is what He says and remove that pesky business of self like CS Lewis so aptly mentioned.
The Hope of Glory
Now to the hope and joy we have as joint heirs together with Christ. The Bible declares to us that we are being made into the Image of God. Jesus is the express image of God. As we successfully kill more and more of our fleshly members, we are replacing them with the characteristics and nature of Jesus. The more we die, the more He raises Himself up in us.
As the Spirit of the Lord reveals God’s glory and truth to us we are transformed into the image of the Lord, Christ Jesus. Paul’s words here echo often in my mind and my prayer is that each day I would look a little more like Jesus. I submit to you today that adopting the same prayer starts each day by first, dying, really dying, to our own will. Then raising up God’s will in our attention to be the focus and purpose by which our day is lived. Building each block with intention for the propagation of the Gospel and the advancement of the Kingdom.
Let's build together.