Sharing in the Death & Resurrection (Part 1 of 3)

“If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” –Rom 6:5-7

We just rearranged our house…it just wasn’t working how we had it.  We moved my office across the house to be further away from the playroom since it was difficult to work in the same room as an adorable 10 month old screaming “papa” (which is what he has decided to call me). 

The other day I was working in my new relocated office when I needed a book.  I stood up, walked across the house, and got all the way to the play room to realize that the book I was looking for wasn’t in this room anymore.  In fact, it was in the room I just walked out of.  I was so used to it being in the other room that I didn’t even think about the fact that the book accessible to me without even leaving my chair. 

We do the same thing in our spiritual lives.  This passage tells us that the old self has been crucified.  Yet we still, figuratively, walk all the way across the house to get something that is no longer there.  Even though the old self isn’t there, we seek to find it.  We, without thinking, go back to our sinful lives, our sinful habits, and our sinful desires…even though that part of us has been killed. 

The death and resurrection has many implications, and one of those is that we share in it.  Our old self has died just as Christ died.  Begin to live out the power of the cross.  Realize that your old self is no longer there!  Stop living like it is there.  It has died, so stop going back to it.  That self was crucified and buried.  Do not dig up what God has buried.  There is a new life you are called to live.  Live it! 

The Resurection...why does it matter?

What if there was no Easter?  What if Christ was born (Christmas) and then died on the cross (Good Friday), and it ended there?  Think about it.  Do you believe that Christ rose from the dead?  that the event was significant for some reason other than what happened on the cross? 

The Apostle Paul realized that there were people having these questions, so he addressed this issue in a letter to the church in Corinth.  Here is Paul’s take on the resurrection: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men…If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (1Cor 15:14,17,19,32b)”

Paul could not make it any clearer: No resurrection, no Christianity.  No resurrection, no eternal life.  No resurrection, no payment for sins.  “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,” Paul declared (1Cor 15:20a).  So there is Christianity, life, and payment.  Let’s think about how this all comes together through the resurrection.

In the Old Covenant, priests would have to make sacrifices day after day for the sins of the people (Heb. 10:11).  Why?  Because the sacrifices that were made were for the sins the people committed…they couldn’t cover future sins.  So, since they (and we) daily sinned, the sacrifices had to continue.  On top of that, the sacrifices they made did not take away sins (pay the penalty for them) they were just a sacrifice to show that sins needed to be paid for (Heb. 10:11).  Jesus, on the other hand, only had to sacrifice himself once (Heb 10:12), and that sacrifice took away sins of the past, present, and future. 

What does the resurrection have to do with this?  First, His sacrifice took away sins because Jesus was able to die in our place for our sins.  This was possible not only through the cross, but the resurrection as well.  Jesus had to die for our sins (the cross) but he also had to conquer sin (the resurrection).  Death is a result of sin, so in rising from the dead, Jesus conquered sin.  His resurrection is victory for Christ and for us.  The cross was the payment and the resurrection was the victory.  The resurrection gives Christ the ability and authority to not just die as a sacrifice for sins, but to take our sins away.  (cf. 1Cor 15:54-56)

Second, Christ’s resurrection doesn’t just take away past sins, but future as well.  Christ is the sacrifice for our sins, and in rising from the dead he has become our living sacrifice.  He is not lying dead on an altar like the animal sacrifices.  He is alive; interceding for us (Rom. 8:34).  His resurrection made his sacrifice one that lives on.  We don’t have to wait for another sacrifice…because of the resurrection we can have life, be forgiven, and have hope that our sins do not get the last say.  The resurrection makes his sacrifice effectual forever. 

Spend some time this Easter season to really think about the resurrection.  Think about what it means.  Think about what it does in you.  Think about the gravity of it.  The Christian faith depends on the resurrection being a real.  Is it real for you?  Not just in your head…but have you experienced the power of the resurrection in you?  Dwell on this.  Let it change you! 

Daily Littles

"The Christian life is a great thing, one of the greatest things on earth. Made up of daily littles..." Horatius Bonar

When we approach the Christian life we usually see it in terms of big decisions, big actions, and big life change.  There are times we make big decisions, such as when to have kids, what job to take, or where to live...but on the whole, life is about the little decisions, and growing closer to God and being faithful to him is directly tied to those little decisions.  

A heroin addict doesn't get to that point over night, it happens after an extended period of time, making little decision after little decisions...eventually getting to the point of addiction.  An athlete doesn't just think his skill will be there for the big game.  No, the athlete runs, trains, practices...and those little decisions make him succeed.  Why would our Christian life be different?  The little decisions we make take us down a path, for good or for bad, and prepare our hearts for life's challenges.  It's the decicions to be diciplined to read our Bibles, the decision to help your neighbor, the decision to talk with a friend about Jesus, the diccision to not let your anger fester.  All your decisons take you somewhere, the question is, where?

Horatius Bonar challenges us in this saying: "Let us be on our guard against old self in every form, whether it be indolence, or temper, or coldness, or rudeness, or disobligingness, or slovenliness, or shabbiness, or covetousness, or flippancy, or self-conceit, or pride, or cunning, or obstinacy, or sourness, or levity, or foolishness, or love of preeminence. Let us cultivate a tender conscience, avoiding old notions and conceits; yet watching against the commission of little sins, and the omission of little duties; redeeming the time, yet never in a hurry; calm, cheerful, frank, happy, genial, generous, disinterested, thoughtful of others"

Think about your daily littles.  What do they say about you?  Where do they take you?  Where do you fall short of obeying Christ?  

Sayed Musa

I sit at my desk drinking coffee while planning my next youth sermon. Next to the east side of the church is the post office and next to the west side of the church is the municipal building.  Both these buildings are run by the government, and neither have any problem with what I am doing at my desk.  So I sit comfortably and continue my work....

In the mean time, on the other side of the world, a man named Sayed Musa is set to be executed because of his Christian faith.  He has done nothing which deserves government actions...he has simply believed.  Here is a link to an article that describes the situation and is being updated as events unravel:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor?s=Sayed+Musa

With this happening as we speak, there are a couple of questions I want you to ask yourself, as these are the questions running through my mind.

1. Do I pray for persecuted Christians throughout the world?  Because of how easy it is to believe here, we forget that there are people who profess the same thing we do, but because of where they lived are getting brutally tortured.  There is a free magazine called Voice of the Martyrs (click to go to website) that tells the stories of those who are persecuted.  It is a great magazine to have to remind you to pray and make aware to you what others are going through (since our news doesn't find interest in this).  
2. Do I really believe what I say I believe?  If it came down to it, and I was getting tortured like Sayed Musa is getting tortured, would I hold fast to the faith?  
3. Why am I so timid to share my faith?  Brothers and sisters across the globe are getting killed for it...what am I so afraid of?  Rejection?  Being seen as a Jesus freak?  Loosing a friendship?  Having an awkward conversation?  What would Sayed Musa say to us if he heard our excuses?

May Sayed Musa's story remind us of our call to preach the gospel at any cost.  May it bring us boldness to be who we are called to be.  And may it bring us to pray for our fellow brothers and sisters.

Cross to Bear

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." -Mk 8:34

This verse is asking two things of those who wish to follow Christ: deny and take.

Denying yourself requires much more than we want it to.  I doesn't mean denying your personality, dying as a martyr, or denying stuff.*  It means denying you: your selfish desires and hope in the things of this world. It is calling you to not live for yourself.

But we don't just deny, we then take.  Taking up you cross means that you agree to do whatever God call of you, no matter the cost.  This has nothing to do with bearing the troubles life brings you* (death of a loved one, difficult job, family trouble, etc.), but everything to do with obedience to God's will, and accepting the consequences that may follow.  For some this will involve physical suffering and ever death, but for others it might involve a sacrifice of time, money, comfort, friends, or anything else.  The idea is that nothing is to be held back...we take up our cross no matter what it is, and in doing this it shows our love for Jesus surpasses our love for anything else.

The cross imagery here calls to mind a very profound idea:  Someone who carried a cross through the city to their execution would publicly demonstrate their submission/obedience to the authority which they had previously rebelled against.*  This is exactly what we are doing in taking up our cross.  Though we were once far off (Eph 2:13) and enemies (Rom 5:10) of God, we now make a public declaration of our submission to Christ.  We intentionally live for His will, come what may.

Cross bearing denies self and seeks to live out what God calls us to.  The end goal of cross bearing is not the suffering it may require, rather the end goal is obedience to what God calls us to.  Jesus dying on the cross is the ultimate display of this type of obedience, where He gave everything to fulfill what He was called to do.

So what is your cross to bear?    


*Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Salad or a Big Mac?

Sally waits in line with her little boy Jack as her mind races.  What should she order for her boy?  Should she order him a Big Mac, and make his day?  Or should she order him a salad because that would be the healthy option?  Satisfaction or heath.  This is what it all boils down to.  Both have there advantages and both have there drawbacks.  What will it be?

We all know that pursuing Jesus is good, but what is "good."  It is good to order the salad, but that isn't the option that will bring Jack the most joy.  Unfortunately, this is often how we view what it is like to follow Jesus.  We know it is the right decision, but it will lack the satisfaction that the alternatives bring.  We want to change, and become more like him, but are afraid that this change will result in boredom and a lack of joy.  Well, this is because we view things all wrong!

"The secret of gospel change is being convinced that Jesus is the good life AND the fountain of joy.  Any alternative we might choose would be the letdown."*  He is the joy and satisfaction of the Big Mac while being the wise choice like the salad.  He is both!  God created us to live in fellowship with him.  This means that our desires find their true satisfaction in him, since that is what they were created for.  This means that there will be no lasting satisfaction in anything apart from Jesus.  This is good news!  You can have both!

Our problem is that we live in a culture where we want things now.  Yesterdays news is boring, answering an email after its been in your inbox for two days is too late, waiting more than 5 seconds for a webpage to load is frustrating, getting stuck in traffic throws our whole day off.  What is our response to our impatience?  It is wanting satisfaction now.  We would rather have a lesser satisfaction now then a greater one later.  I would rather eat the Big Mac now and deal with the consequences later.  Take a step back and really think.  You will realize that Jesus truly is our deepest longing and joy, we are just too impatient to see it and wait for Him.  Joy in him isn't a quick fix, its a long road...and too often we would rather have the quick fix.  It is like a child who has a deep desire for a bicycle.  But instead of saving up for one, he uses his allowance each week on candy.  It satisfies his current desire, but not one of his deepest ones.  I will end with a quote from C.S. Lewis, where he drives this point home:

"Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink, sex, and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

*Tim Chester in "You Can Change" p15

State of the Union

Tonight, our president will address our nation on the state of the union.  Some will watch confused, unsure what the answers are to our problems, some will watch in support of their party, unconcerned about actual issues,  and some will watch nervous for our nation, knowing there are real issues that need to be solved.

Here is the truth behind the State of the Union: we live in a world plagued with sin, and not matter what happens in Washington, we will have major problems in our society.  It doesn't matter who is President and what party is in the majority, sin will continue to fracture society.  With this in mind, here are some Bibilical ways you can view the government and political issues:

1. God establishes all authority, therefore we are called to submit to government (Romans 13:1).  This does not mean that we must agree, but through our disagreements we are to submit to the ruling authority.  (sidenote: if the government ever does ask for us to do what Scripture forbids, this is when we obey Scripture and disobey government.)      

2. Support issues, not parties.  There are issues on both sides of the isle that the Bible would support, and issues on both sides of the isle that the Bible wouldn't support.  Be someone who cares about Biblical issues, not political parties.

3. Fight for what is Biblical, do not just vote for what is Biblical.  Too many Christians use their vote as their only voice.  (Don't get me wrong, we should be responsible citizens and care about who is elected and what is passed.  We should vote...but that is not our primary task.)  God does not call us to just hope things change through the government...he calls us to action.  He calls us to fight for injustices and make a difference.  No matter what the government does, there will still be world hunger, diseases, abortion, unemployment, pollution, sex trafficking, drugs, education issues, fraud, health care issues, war, corruption, crime, and so much more.  What issues do you care about?  If you care about them and they are Biblical...figure out how you can help!    

4. Know what true change is.  Too many people think that if we can just legislate certain policies, than things will be better.  As Christians we don't believe that things will change through policy changes, but heart changes (which is why laws are broken daily...because the heart is still bent towards sin).  Things will begin to change as hearts are transformed, as the gospel begins to invade hearts.  Change will happen as your fiends, neighbors, and family begin to grasp who God is and what he has called us to.  Change will happen as hearts of stone are changed to hearts of flesh (Ez 36:26).  

Pray tonight as our nation is addressed.  Pray for our leaders, that their decisions would truly impact lives for the better.  Pray for yourself, and how you can make a difference.  And pray that hearts are changed as the gospel is spread...for this is the true hope for the world!