We know that all who are born will die. That death follows life. As Christians, we talk about life, new life, abundant life, life to the full, resurrection life. Sometimes (too often) we limit that life to life after death. Life in heaven.
It almost seems that when a person today begins to place their trust in Jesus, that not much will change. Oh, they might start going to church, and maybe reading their Bible and praying, and if they are really zealous, they will talk about Jesus to their friends. But typically, within a few months, old habits creep back in, old ways of living continue. Not much changes.
Why don’t we people who claim to be Jesus followers being radically transformed and changed into new creations? Why don’t we see the “resurrection life”?
I don’t mean bodies of people actually coming forth from the grave. That is the physical resurrection which will happen at the future resurrection of all people.
Just as death follows physical life, death precedes resurrection life. I believe we have forgotten a vital element in the truth of the resurrection, and it is this:
Preaching, teaching, writing, and singing about resurrection is wonderful. It is joyful. It is happy and uplifting. But preaching, teaching, writing, and singing about death? Not so much. Yet by definition, resurrection requires death.
Read the Gospels and the writings of Paul and Peter, look at those references to resurrection, the new life in Christ, and becoming a new creation. In most cases, within a few verses of talking about resurrection, there is talk of death.
We die to our old self before being raised to new life. We are buried with Christ before we are raised with Him. We crucify the old man and the lusts of the flesh, before the new man rises from the grave.
This is a major theme in Scripture. Almost every single time God makes a promise for something great — a new son, a new nation, a new kingdom, a new restoration — the people to whom he makes the promise try to accomplish the promise in their own strength and ability, until finally, they give up all hope, and die to the promise. Only then does God step in and resurrect the shattered dream and the (seemingly) broken promise up out of the ashes into a glorious new life.
Do you want to experience resurrection? Die.
Not literally, of course. Die to your dreams, your ambitions, your goals, your old habits and patterns. Die to yourself. Because resurrection happens only where there is death.
It almost seems that when a person today begins to place their trust in Jesus, that not much will change. Oh, they might start going to church, and maybe reading their Bible and praying, and if they are really zealous, they will talk about Jesus to their friends. But typically, within a few months, old habits creep back in, old ways of living continue. Not much changes.
Why don’t we people who claim to be Jesus followers being radically transformed and changed into new creations? Why don’t we see the “resurrection life”?
I don’t mean bodies of people actually coming forth from the grave. That is the physical resurrection which will happen at the future resurrection of all people.
- But what happened to being raised to new life in Christ?
- What happened to being a new creation?
Just as death follows physical life, death precedes resurrection life. I believe we have forgotten a vital element in the truth of the resurrection, and it is this:
- There can be no resurrection without death.
- Death always precedes resurrection.
- If you want to see resurrection, you must hang out with the dead, and if you want to experience resurrection in your own life, you must die.
“Jesus came to raise the dead. He did not come to teach the teachable; He did not come to improve the improvable; He did not come to reform the reformable. None of those things works.”Yet most of us don’t like to think much about dying.
Preaching, teaching, writing, and singing about resurrection is wonderful. It is joyful. It is happy and uplifting. But preaching, teaching, writing, and singing about death? Not so much. Yet by definition, resurrection requires death.
Read the Gospels and the writings of Paul and Peter, look at those references to resurrection, the new life in Christ, and becoming a new creation. In most cases, within a few verses of talking about resurrection, there is talk of death.
We die to our old self before being raised to new life. We are buried with Christ before we are raised with Him. We crucify the old man and the lusts of the flesh, before the new man rises from the grave.
This is a major theme in Scripture. Almost every single time God makes a promise for something great — a new son, a new nation, a new kingdom, a new restoration — the people to whom he makes the promise try to accomplish the promise in their own strength and ability, until finally, they give up all hope, and die to the promise. Only then does God step in and resurrect the shattered dream and the (seemingly) broken promise up out of the ashes into a glorious new life.
Do you want to experience resurrection? Die.
Not literally, of course. Die to your dreams, your ambitions, your goals, your old habits and patterns. Die to yourself. Because resurrection happens only where there is death.
Comments