NO ONE WANTS TO DIE - BUT WE MUST!

 I just read the following in Richard and Renee Stearns' book, HE WALKS AMONG US [p.224]:

We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.   Romans 6:4 

"One of the hard teachings of scripture is the notion that before we can become alive in Christ, our old self must first die.  Most of us would prefer to hang on to the old self and just add Christ, but that's not how it works.  Jesus asks us to give Him everything in our life that competes with Him for that number one position." 

Paul's letter to the Romans is a tough one that is a somewhat heavy exposition of the theology of our faith.  But it is essential to keep us grounded!  It's message is so much more than the "just come to Jesus" message you hear in many churches.  

The call of Jesus is always a call to come and die. We don't merely need to be fixed. We need to let the old person die, and be brought back to life, born again by water and Spirit. It is the powerful imagery of Baptism, dying to our old self (for the remission of sin), being buried with Christ, and rising a new Creation and receiving the Holy Spirit

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and pastor who was hanged in a Nazi concentration camp said two things that need to resound through the American church today:

"The first call which every Christian experiences is the call to abandon the attachments of this world."

Jesus speaking to His disciples in Matthew 16:24,25 says,

"If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." 

 Bonhoeffer, perhaps with these verses in mind, said,

"When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die."

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Let's try to unpack this a bit. Obviously, if we preach a message that requires people to physically die, we will not have much of a church! The call of Christ seems to be more of a symbolic death. We acknowledge the lordship of Christ in our lives! We want His will to direct our lives as fully as is possible. That means my will must become subserviant to His will!

Paul seems to describe this in Galatians 2:20 [NIV]:

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

If we don't HEAR much about this in the church today, then that could explain the decline of the American church and the ineffectiveness at being salt and light to our culture.  

But we seem to want it all!  We want Jesus, but we also want the treasures of this world!  We also like control and highly value it in the directing of our lives.  We don't want to come and die!  We'd rather come and dine!  

Every one of us needs to evaluate: Have I died to self-will and self-direction?  Is Christ really the Lord of my life?  Have we really let Jesus take the wheel?  Could this be why we feel so weak and overwhelmed?  Is it possible that we've missed the main point of our faith?  Do we need to make that absolute surrender today?

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’    Matthew 7:21-23  [NASB]

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 Lord of the Church,

We also want You to be the Lord of our lives!  The only way for us to experience Your fullness and have the assurance that we long for is to willingly die to our self-will and fully embrace Your will for our lives.  

We desire to let You have Your way in our life!  We're willing to give up whatever we have been clinging to so that You can direct our lives according to Your will and desires.  We know this is the best course of action that we could take!  And we take it willingly today, Lord Jesus!

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,

And it told Thy love to me;

But I long to rise in the arms of faith,

And be closer drawn to Thee.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,

To the cross where Thou hast died;

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,

To Thy precious, bleeding side.

Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,

By the pow’r of grace divine;

Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,

And my will be lost in Thine.

Amen.

Fanny Crosby