“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call.”

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In every one of us there is a person that must be put to death.  This person must be put to death not once, or twice, but daily.  Luke 9:23 – “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  This is hard work to be sure.  Impossible were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit in a person.  What natural, unregenerate person wakes up and says to himself – let my first action of the day be to reject all comforts for myself, all personal desires, all pursuit of joy or happiness, and pursue God wherever He leads me today?  It is the mark of a Christian to pursue God in this way.  We live each day, not for the pleasures it could offer, but looking forward to reconciliation with God and joyfully pursuing the work of our Savior until that day.

Each week I’ll get into at least one conversation with someone who calls themself a Christian, but proclaims that homosexuality is not a sin.  At first I thought that this was an intellectual mistake of the individual, that they simply needed to be reminded that God has called us to pursue sexuality in the confines of a marriage between a man and a woman.  I would go to Matthew 19, 1 Corinthians 6, and the Old Testament to outline God’s plan for marriage.  Inevitably though, the individuals never changed their mind or repented in any way.  It’s not a head issue, it’s a heart issue.  You see someone who truly identifies with Christ in His death and ressurrection has sought to put to death their own will and to pursue joy in God’s will for their life.  Romans 6:1-4 – “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  You cannot walk in newness of life as a Christian, unless you first die to yourself and your sin.  This is a heart issue that many professing Christians have never experienced because they are not truly saved.  If they were, then after being confronted with the Truth of God’s Word, no matter how hard it was, they would desire to pursue joy in God’s will for their life and in His righteousness. 

As we move forward from Easter, considering the great news of the finished work of our Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection, let us consider that we must identify with Jesus fully.  If we are to live in the power of His ressurrection, we must also die the death He died to sin and self. 

Grace and Peace,
Adam