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To Live Or To Die

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TO LIVE OR TO DIE

“Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now, as always, Christ shall be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:18b-21.

This man, Paul, continues to amaze me! His concern was not to get out of prison but to have the courage to stand for Jesus whether it meant life or death. He relied on two things, the prayers of his fellow believers, and the Holy Spirit whom God had given to him at his new birth. Paul saw deliverance, not as freedom from imprisonment in Rome but freedom from his own fleshly nature which cowered at the thought of dying a gruesome death.

Prayer is a mystery, isn’t it? Why should the prayers of his brothers and sisters in Philippi make any difference to his attitude? Surely God was with him and the Holy Spirit in him there in Rome. What difference could their prayers make to him, whether he was courageous or cowardly in the face of impending martyrdom? That was his greatest concern. To face the sword or the wild beasts without flinching was more important to him than getting out of prison or staying alive.

Paul would rather die without shame than deny his Lord, and there was every possibility that he would be called on to make the choice of confessing that Caesar was Lord or facing the consequences. And with Nero there was no mercy. He hated Christians so fervently that no torture was too heinous to make them suffer for their loyalty to a Galilean Jew whom the Romans had crucified.

The thought of dying held no terror for Paul. His hope was in Jesus. He had met Him face-to-face on the Damascus road. He knew He was real, alive and with him. He knew that the moment he stepped out of his mortal body, he would be with Him forever and in the glory of the Father’s presence. In fact, he yearned for that day, the day of his release from the flesh, which had been his enemy from birth.

Living in his human, mortal body was a journey – daily dying to the demands of his sinful nature and learning to rely on the Holy Spirit who energised his spirit with the life of Jesus. He used every opportunity to rely on His strength in his human weakness. Paul was dead to himself and alive by the life of Jesus in him but, nevertheless, he found the thought of martyrdom at the hands of Nero daunting, to say the least.

The thought of the prayers of his beloved brothers and sisters in Philippi comforted him. In a way that only God understood, prayer was God’s way of engaging with His people to do His will. Of course He would give Paul the courage and strength to endure, but how much better when His people partnered with Him through prayer. Instead of feeling helpless, they could do something positive to help Paul face his trials with courage and know that, because God was a loving Father to them and to Paul, they could trust Him to do whatever was necessary to give Paul the victory.

Can you imagine life without prayer? What would it be like if we had no way of engaging with God in our suffering and in the suffering of those dear to us? How could we do God’s will if we had no way of communicating with Him? What would we do with our anxieties and fears if we could not cast them on the Lord? How could we express our love to Him and worship Him if we could not draw near to Him? We would not even be able to offload our misgivings and mistrust of Him if we could not talk to Him.

Prayer means a thousand things to us, and God knew that when He invited us to draw near to Him. Prayer is one of the greatest gifts a loving Father could ever give His child. Unlike many human fathers who are either too busy or too indifferent to listen to their children, God is passionate about our coming to Him, so passionate in fact, that He sent His Son to clear the obstacles out of the way so that we can approach Him without fear.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

In The Nick Of Time!

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IN THE NICK OF TIME!

“You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will one die for a righteous person, though for a good person one might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him.” Romans 5:6-9.

Can one person die for another? Of course! On many occasions all over the world, people have given their lives to save another.

So what was Paul saying? Was Jesus’ death any different? In what way did He give His life to save others? There was no emergency or crisis where He intervened to put His life on the line to rescue someone in danger.

There is a much greater parallel between one human being giving his life to save another and Jesus laying down His life to save us. It is one thing to rescue someone from physical death and quite another to save the whole human race from spiritual death. No human being can do that, but Jesus could because He was a sinless offering in the place of sinners.

Jesus’ death was the greatest demonstration of God’s love that He could ever have given. It’s one thing to say, “I love you,” and another to show it by giving the life of the dearest person in all the world to you. And even more powerful is that gift when it is given to rescue those who have spat in your face, waved their fist at you and shouted, “Leave me alone! I hate you and I want nothing to do with you!”

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him by the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:10, 11.

Jesus’ death achieved much, much more than just the forgiveness of our sins and a place in heaven when we die. That was just the beginning. We were God’s enemies! Imagine being an enemy of God! What hope do we have against Him when He has all the power, all the resources and all the armies of heaven at His disposal to defeat and destroy us? What chance do we have to escape His righeous anger when we have defied Him and broken His holy law.

God saw our pitiful plight and sent His Son to take our place under His judgment so that He could reconcile us to Himself. Forgiveness…reconciliation…two of the many results of what the Jewish leaders and the Romans did to Jesus that day.

But there is more! We have been forgiven and reconciled while we were still God’s enemies. Paul put it this way: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away havve been brought near by the blood of Jesus.” Ephesians 2:13.

God has changed our status from enemies to sons. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1a.

And there’s more! Not only have we been saved from God’s wrath by His death, we have also been saved to a new life by His life. Since Jesus is alive, His life has made it possible for us to live a new kind of life – not the old way of rebellion and disobedience, but a new way of life lived in submission and obedience to our heavenly Father under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

But why should we? What was wrong with our old way of live? Rebellion against God and disobedience to His way brings the disintegration of our lives, both physical and spiritual, the wasting of our potential and the inevitable result of living worthless lives – the rubbish heap! Jesus saved us from that and set our feet on a path back to restoration – the restoration of what God created us to be, sons and daughters made in His image to live for His glory.

And who would not want to brag on God about that!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Dying To Live

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DYING TO LIVE 

“Jesus replied, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves his life will lose it, while anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.'” John 12:23-26 NIV.

Why was the arrival of a few Greek worshippers seeking Jesus the cue for Him to make this declaration? Up to this point He kept saying, ‘Not yet; not yet.’ Greeks…Gentiles…non-Jews. What had they to do with this gear-shift in God’s time-table? Had the Father given Him a signal that would alert Him to the beginning of the process that would end in His death?

It seems that their request plunged Him into a season of sorrow that would culminate in the cross — “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”. He both reassured Himself and His followers that it was necessary for one seed to die to produce a harvest. The seed will remain fruitless and alone unless it is deposited in the ground to begin the process of reproduction. He was the seed of which God spoke when He condemned the serpent to destruction in the Garden of Eden under the heel of the woman’s seed (Genesis 3:15)

Does this mean that all His followers must suffer the same fate as He did? There is a death far more difficult and painful than even the death He died for us. Only those whose minds are deranged will take their own lives. For the rest, death comes upon us unbidden and we shrink from it as an enemy. But there is another death which every disciple must choose or, Jesus said, we cannot be His disciples. This is the death of the “I”, the very core of our lives where we are the centre of our universe.

The Apostle Paul called it “a living sacrifice”. Every animal that was sacrificed in the Jewish ritual of shedding blood as a symbol of the debt owed to God for sin, had its head and limbs cut off and its inward parts washed. There is deep meaning in this action — the head and the limbs are offered to God — the processes of thought and action are no longer under my control but surrendered to Him and my inner parts made clean by the shed blood of His lamb.

Just as Jesus laid down His life for us, so we are called to lay down our lives to Him. Whether that means physical death or not is His choice because we are no longer in charge. We only find our true selves when we submit our lives to Him. As living seeds we are buried with Him and our lives grow up into something that is being transformed into His likeness.

“‘Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.'” John 12:27-29 NIV.

We are privileged to eavesdrop on a conversation between Jesus and the Father. Again we glimpse the heart of a true son. No matter what lay ahead for Him and no matter how much He shrank from the anticipated horror of it, He resolutely submitted to the Father’s will because His concern was for His Father’s glory. He would see it through regardless of the cost.

How He must have treasured the Father’s reassurance that He was right on track throughout His whole life. The Father would provide the strength for Him to complete what He had begun. As long as He kept choosing the Father’s will, He would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfil it perfectly.

The same Holy Spirit that was given to Jesus is at our disposal to enable us to “die” to the relentless self that demands to drive us, and to place our lives at His feet for His glory.

“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:13 NIV.

It Had To Be!

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IT HAD TO BE! 

“Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.'” John 11:45-48 NIV

Wrong! The religious leaders were really being melodramatic! In what way would Jesus’ signs cause them to “lose” their temple and their nation?

Jesus’ miracles, up to that point were in no way disturbing the Romans. What He was doing was evidence that the God who wanted them to worship Him was not the vengeful, demanding and legalistic god of the Pharisees but a loving Father who wanted them to submit to His way so that they would live in harmony with Him and with one another.

Like all the others, including Jesus’ disciples, it seems that their idea of the Messiah was one of a strong political ruler who would restore the Davidic kingdom to its former glory by getting rid of the Romans and setting up His own rule in Israel. Did they think that Jesus’ miracles were His way of getting the people on His side so that, when He made His move against Rome, they would rise up with Him?

Had they only listened without the filter of their prejudice and envy, they would have heard something different from their twisted interpretation of His words and works. Their protests covered up a much more sinister and personal reason for hating Him. Jesus was not shy of showing them up for what they were — greedy and conniving opportunists who used their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the people whom they controlled through their religious demands in the name of God!

This latest challenge, the spectacular and unassailable act of raising Lazarus who had been putrefying in the grave for four days, was the last straw. They had to exterminate Jesus because they did not know what He would do next. What they did not take into account was that nothing He had said or done up to this point, indicated that He had intentions of rising up and taking over. All they knew was that He had great power and they were afraid of Him.

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up. ‘You know nothing at all! You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take His life.” John 11:49-52 NIV.

Caiaphas was high priest and spokesman for the Sanhedrin. Little did he know that what he had to say, out of his puny reasoning, was actually an accurate and profound prophetic statement of the truth. Caiaphas saw Jesus as the scapegoat for themselves and the people. It was either Jesus or them. However, he unwittingly verbalised God’s redemptive purpose for sending Jesus.

John was quick to pounce on his words and explain that Jesus’ death was indeed a substitute for the Jews in Israel and all God’s people everywhere. Were the words of Isaiah which the prophet had spoken centuries before and which Caiaphas would have known so well, subconsciously emerging from his lips?

“Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we were healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6 NIV.

Yes, Caiaphas, you were absolutely right! It had to be, but you were part of it and you were guilty!

You Will Die In Your Sins

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YOU WILL DIE IN YOUR SINS

“Once more Jesus said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.’

“This made the Jews ask, ‘Will He kill Himself? Is that why He says, “Where I go you cannot come”?”

“But He continued, ‘You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

“‘I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins.'” John 8:21-24 (NIV)

‘And go to hell when you die!’ Is that what Jesus meant?

How differently we non-Hebrew-speaking people interpret the Word!  Is it not true that we automatically assume that that is what He meant? Unfortunately, we have come to use “heaven” and “hell” as the measure of salvation. “Saved” people are going to heaven; “unsaved” people are going to hell.

We have already discussed the meaning of “light” and “darkness” in Scripture. Now we need to examine two other contrasting concepts that Jesus frequently used; “life” and “death”. Although it is impossible to treat this subject fully in a short article like this, I will attempt to give pointers to a better understanding of what He meant by “eternal life”.

In His night-time encounter with Nicodemus, Jesus uttered the words of the most well-known verse in the Bible — “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Three things stand out clearly in this statement: Eternal life is a gift; it comes through faith in Jesus; and it rescues the one who believes in Him from perishing.

We have to ask the questions: When does this “life” begin? Is it only for the future or is it a present reality? What is eternal life?

According to Jesus, ‘Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.’ John 5:24 (NIV). Eternal life, then, is not living forever in heaven when a person dies. It is a dimension of being he enters into as a gift from God the instant he believes and receives the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.

Eternal life is a present reality. The other three gospels focus on “the kingdom of God”; John speaks of eternal life. These are inseparable truths about the life Jesus came to model and to give to those who believe in Him. Eternal life is living in the kingdom of God, in the realm of God’s rule, under His authority and in submission to Him, modelling Jesus’s attitude and behaviour in the way we live.

This life is a free gift (John 3:16); it comes to us through Jesus (John 14:6b); it is about reconnection to the Father through Him (John 14:6a); it is sustained by intimate fellowship with Jesus (John 6:35); following Him enables us to understand and live this life (John 8:12); it is about self-forgetful and self-sacrificial love for others (John 15:13).

But what is this life? God is love. Although His love is immeasurable and beyond the limits of our understanding (Ephesians 3:16-19), Jesus came to model the Father’s love so that we catch glimpses of the enormity of a love that gave His only Son to free us from self-destructive lives of self-will and alienation from God; and that we can follow that way through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The more we follow Jesus, the more we move towards the essence of salvation; becoming whole people again; “being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossian 3:10 – NIV).

Because the Jewish leaders had rejected Jesus and refused to believe that He was the Son of God, they were perishing in their chosen path of self-destruction. This was not Jesus’ judgment on them. It was the inevitable result of their selfish and greedy lifestyle. They were destined for the trash heap because they were wasting their potential as sons of God and were living worthless and useless lives.

To everyone who believes in Jesus He offers the opportunity to escape the destruction of self-indulgence and return to the way of life that enables us to become truly human as God intended. Real life is living in loving interconnection with God and with all of creation and is only possible through faith in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Do you have this kind of life?