Dying with Christ
Have you died yet? I am not talking about a near-death experience or a future death experience. I am not talking about are you willing to die a physical death for the sake of Christ although we should if it is in His plan to do so. I am talking about a theological statement made in the Bible and what it means. In short, if you are a Christian, you have died to self and alive to Christ. Please consider the following Scriptures: "Now if we have died with Christ..." (Rom. 6:8); "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world..." (Col. 2:20); "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3); "It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him" (2 Tim. 2:11).
Our death in Christ is a death to the old self, the old ways, the sinful life. I we have not then we must realize that we have no hope apart from Christ and we are dead in our sins, as we confess our sinfulness, repent and ask forgiveness from our heart. We must desire and allow Jesus to be both Lord and Savior, then we become a candidate for salvation. We are then indwelt with His Spirit as we become a new creation in Christ Jesus. It is a reality and a hope. We should always be ready to give and answer for the hope that we have in Him. This is truth as well as life. Jesus so completely represented us on the cross, that when He died, it is said that we died. This is why Paul says in Col. 3:5, "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." As His Spirit bares witness in you, you are to meditate on, and think in such a way as to consider yourselves dead to sin.
Of course, we Christians know that we struggle with sin, that it is not dead in us, that we fail, and continually come to the Lord Jesus and ask for forgiveness. We Christians know what we are inside. Jesus knows what we are on the inside. We know we are not perfect and that many of the thoughts of our mind would terribly embarrass and shame us if they were publicly spoken. Such is the reality of our fallen selves. Yet, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin.We are to think of ourselves as dead to sin. The reason we can do this is because of Jesus and what He did on the cross.Only through Jesus can we be delivered from sin. Only through the shed blood of God the Son can our lives be made right before God the Father. The reality of the crucifixion and of Jesus' bearing our sins, all of them, in His body, is realized in the acknowledgement of our deadness to sin. This is an important truth that God wants us to understand. But, understanding it isn't enough. You must practice it. This does not mean, however, that you ignore your sins, or say you have none, or claim perfection. Rather, it is an admission that you are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus and that you are "in Christ" and reckoned as dead to sin because of Jesus. Through thankfulness in realizing that you are were guilty and have been forgiven by Jesus because of his love, His Spirit within us will enable to live for Him.Your mind is an important battleground in the war of sanctification and it begins with your own death. As a man thinks so is he. If you are a Christian, then you have died to sin because of your relationship with Jesus. Therefore, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ. Turn from the deeds of the flesh and seek Jesus. Offer your body a living sacrifice to Jesus. Holy and acceptable for that is our reasonable service. Jesus made us Holy and acceptable before our Father in heaven. As we accept that free gift that was given to us and we realize how he suffered out of love for us, when were yet sinners who were lost and helpless, we can love Him out of thankfulness for that free gift. He gave it all at the cross for whosoever will. He did come to condemn the world but through Him the world might be saved. So if today you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Buried with him in baptism and raised with him to walk in newness of life. Through Christ we can become a new creation, have a new name, have eternal life in Him. We no longer walk in darkness but in His marvelous light. Have you died yet or are you still waiting on a false death other than Jesus to be proclaimed righteous in the site of the Lord.
