Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, 8th August, 2010
We continue a series of sermons based on the idea of “Repeating Themes”. Last time we looked at ‘Covenanting’ and the importance of agreeing with God that God knows best. Previously we talked about ‘Creating’ and the importance for a life of faith in believing that God is in the business of creating order out of chaos. Today I want to reflect on the theme of dying! I’ll give you three reasons why.
- We believe in a Savior who died
- Scripture teaches that we are to die to self and live to God
- Without a death there cannot be a resurrection.
At the center of our faith is the story of Jesus Christ who came to die. Jesus did not die as a defeated hero. He died purposefully and intentionally to defeat the darkness and destructive evil of sin. He teaches in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”.
He was a servant willing to make the ultimate sacrifice that we may know ourselves loved by God. He was One who would rather perish than see our lives destroyed. Romans 5:8 tells us that “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
We believe that His death was not in vain. That in an unexplainable and barely imaginable way His was a death that strangely sets us free to truly live. A death that enables forgiveness to be birthed in our relationships with each other. A death that bridged the gulf between the holiness of God and the wretchedness of the human condition. A death that offers AT-ONE-NESS with God (or using the more traditional theological phrase … ‘At-one-ment’).
His death; paid the price, redeemed the lost, bridged the gap, healed the breach, joins that which was separated, destroyed the devil’s work. In the terminology of one my favorite hymns, His death bought about “Death of death and hells destruction” and through His death we live in the hope that one day we will land “Safe on Canaan’s side”.
In other words... that when this life is over, through the death that Jesus died, we are enabled to enter into a new life reborn, and recreated. In the words of the bluegrass classic, “When I die, Alleluia by and by, I’ll fly away; I’ll fly away, O glory, I’ll fly away’
It is a death described with such words as “Triumph”, “Victory” and “Conquest”, not something that causes us to lose heart but something to inspire and embolden us and grant us the courage to live lives out loud with love. We believe in a Savior who died.
Secondly… We believe that the way to experience the fullness of life He offers is to:
2. Die to self and live to God
Paul, in his letter to the Roman church, expresses it this way. “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11).
To the Corinthians he writes “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (Corinthians 5:17)
To the Ephesians he counsels that “You put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22)
The re-occuring theme throughout scripture is that in order for the new to be spiritually birthed in us, the old ways, the old patterns, the things that haven’t been working, have to be let go. They have to die and stay dead! The self, the old man, the former ways are to be replaced by new life in Christ, by new creation and new patterns for doing things.
This theme is played out in Noah and the story of the Ark. Before a new order can be established the old has to be washed away. The story of Noah’s Ark and the waters of the flood evoked images of baptism for the early Church. The old had gone, baptism symbolized its washing away. The new had come and it was God’s work that had to be responded to through faith.
In the story of Abraham, Abraham and Sarah at first laugh in unbelief when it is suggested to them that they would become parents of a great nation. They had to let their cynicism and unbelief die before the nation could be birthed. The strange story of the call for Abraham to sacrifice their son Isaac seems to reinforce the idea that we have to lay all our hopes on the altar, and be prepared to let them die, before God can truly use us in God’s service.
Moses is brought up as a prince in Egypt with all the privilege that such a position carried. As God’s call comes to him we witness his struggle to determine whose child he truly was, and with whom his loyalties lay. He has to let his allegiance to Egypt die before he can lead the people towards their promised land. The death of the eldest sons of Egypt during Passover was a vivid reminder to the people that in order to be free there was a price to be paid and a sacrifice to be made.
The life of King David reads like a rag to riches story. Yet rumbling beneath the narrative is the notion that David was great only to the extent that he sought to live in God’s way and not the way of unbelief. When later in life he falls into temptation and unfaithfulness the results are painful to witness. There is loss and death before restoration comes his way.
Time and time again the theme of dying to the old and embracing the new is reinforced through the prophets and in the lives of the faithful people of God whose stories are narrated in the Old Testament.
They, in Paul’ words, considered themselves dead to sin, but alive to God. When they lost sight of the source of their spiritual life they lost their way. And the way back was always to say “No… that was then… that was the old way… the old man. That’s the way that needs to die so I can truly live!”
In our lives there has to be a leaving behind of the old if we are to embrace the new life Jesus offers to us. It’s not something that just happens. It’s something we have to apply ourselves to. We seek to replace old patterns of behavior with higher ones. We no longer seek to get even, we seek to forgive. We no longer look after number One. We love our neighbor. We no longer consider ourselves as Rulers and Masters of our own domain. We seek to enthrone Jesus Christ as Lord of our hearts and lives.
We believe in a Savior whose love was shown through His dying.
We hear the call of Scripture that we should die to self and live to God.
In scripture we also see that:-
3. Where there is no death there can be no resurrection.
In John’s gospel Jesus tells would be disciples “ Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’ (John 12:24 NRS). Jesus says this in the context of the journey His life was making towards His death upon the Cross. He asks of His Father if there were any other way of doing things. “What should I say-- 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." (John 12:27-28 NRS)
If there were a better way of doing things or a different path that could have been taken then surely Jesus would have traveled down that road, instead of the one that took Him to the agony of the Cross. He even calls us to take up our Cross and daily be His followers. The mystery is in that when we seek to lose our lives then we begin to find ourselves. Again some words of John’s Gospel illuminate this principle. “Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.” (John 12:25 NLT)
There is pictured here a seemingly foolish abandonment of ourselves to the will of God without any thought for the immediate consequences. It conjures up those moments in Scripture when Jesus called people to follow Him and they just dropped what ever they were doing and said “Yes. O.K. I’ll follow”. Or disciples of old like Abraham who left home to act upon God’s initiative; “Not knowing where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8 NRS) but looking “Forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10 NRS)
Such moments as that are like little deaths. There is no going back. The old has gone. But the new will come because the death called for is a response to the promise of God that something greater is just down the road!
In the life of Christ, had there been no death, there would be no Resurrection. If there had been no Resurrection there would be no Ascension. If there had been no Ascension there would be no Pentecost. If there had been no Pentecost there would be no church. If there had been no Church then there would be no ‘us’ here this morning. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Because Jesus died the fruit and work of His Holy Spirit has transformed the world in which we live. It is He who calls us to turn from the old ways and pursue the ways of His Kingdom.
- We believe in a Savior whose love was shown through His dying for us all at Calvary.
- We hear the call of Scripture that we should die to self and live to God.
- We recognize that where there is no death there can be no resurrection.
Let us be prepared to lay our lives before God to do with us as God wishes. That is how we put to death the old person and allow the new creation to shine through. We abandon our own way and seek God’s way. We stop living by our own rules and values and seek to apply the principles that come to us through the Scripture to have their rightful place in our lives. We turn from the worship of the fading things of this world to the worship of the awesome God who bought all things into being and holds all eternity in His hands.
Throughout the books of our Bible the theme of ‘dying to live’ weaves in and out of its stories and teaching. May such a theme also be a significant part of our own spiritual journeys. To God’s name be the glory. Amen.
Adrian Pratt
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