Glorious Death

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”  -2 Corinthians 4:7

I hardly know where to begin this thought – the beauty of death. The glory of what is revealed into our spirits should we put to death that which is of our flesh. There is so much talk of this concept in Christianity, but so little amount of people that applicably display such a lifestyle as Paul described when he wrote that he was, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”

Paul wrote again and again to the Corinthian church about a very touchy subject within the church: Carnal Christians. These are those of us who have been born again, but live in their old man; those who have received the Spirit of God, but walk according to their own mind, will, and emotions. The Word of God was given to us that it may “divide soul and spirit,” that there may be no confusion in what is of God and what is of our Flesh (that is our mind, emotions, soul, and body).

I do not deem that it is necessary to explain the concept of “dying to self” that has been so exalted within the teachings of most of the Church. Denying self is a concept that thousands of people accept – Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and even Agnostics understand the importance of the death of our own desires that life may be given to another area. If there is some confusion around this concept, I would encourage reading Paul’s letters to the Corinthians – and listen for his rebukes against self and his exhortations to pursue spiritual life.

Having said this, my desire is to bring up those areas in which I was ignorant of my own self-destruction prior to the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. Let us not be deceived – self cannot serve God. The Almighty Creator of the Universe, although All-Powerful, has no desire of empowering your flesh to serve God! Jesus died on the cross, and with Him, our flesh also died! In the resurrection, the Father did not give life to our dead souls; God forbid lest we be forever trapped in this body of sin! Rather, God gave life to our spirits inside of us, that our souls would submit to the direction of His Spirit so that we could actually follow God!

Something the Lord recently enlightened me of was my own inability to serve Him. How often have I caught myself teaching because I have the ability in my flesh to explain concepts, reasoning over scripture because I’m good at analytical thinking, ministering to a certain type of people group because I relate well to them, leading worship because I’m good at guitar! Woe is me! How often do I teach in the flesh instead of imparting the life-giving Word of God through the power of the Spirit under his control? How often do I read the Bible without begging for the Spirit to bring interpretation to me? How often do I witness or refuse to speak because of my own feelings of comfort and fear? How often do I praise God out of my emotions or my logic instead of worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth!

We attempt to process so much of what is spiritual through the means of that which is carnal; and although many of us may experience good things, we fail to experience God things! We go on throughout our daily lives and instead of bearing about the death of Jesus to our souls, we live, move, eat, and breathe according to our souls, not according to our Spirits! And yet, even as I write this – many believers will feel convicted in their spirits, yet conduct numerous scenarios in their minds of how they may overcome carnality! How truly wicked are we! How deep and indebted in our sin have we become! Let us humble ourselves, let us submit to the Spirit of promise, let us be free from the captivity of carnality and experience the free life of the Spirit!

Shall we reach a lost world for Christ? Shall we impart life to those who are dying? Shall we lead lives of holiness and righteousness before God? Let us die to our emotions, and live according to the truth of God! Let us lay down our logic and reasoning and experience the intimacy with the Spirit in our decision making! Let us place aside our self, our people-pleasing, and our comforts and embrace the death and life of Jesus that we impart the same life we have received! For them that will hear, let them hear the good news of Jesus.

Violent Missionaries

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." -Matthew 11:12

This passage, these words, spoken by the Son of God, were not a call to violent arms, but violent living; not offensive strategy, but unrelenting love. John the Baptist, who gained this 'violent' title, was a man who violently opposed his fleshly lusts and violently loved the Lord. He opposed that dreaded nature of man that so often drags humans down, choosing instead to take affliction towards his body and soul that he would be worthy of being a forerunner for the coming Kingdom.

Jesus said of John, "Truly, there is none that are born of women that are greater than John the Baptist; however, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Since this time, many monks, preachers, pastors, apostles, priests and thousands of believers have pondered what exactly it means to live in this way that John lived - how to be least in the kingdom of heaven. Some have forsaken all to dedicate their lives to fasting and prayer; others to the ministry of the poor and hungry; still others have gone off and started great movements of the gospel that has transcended generations. However, there is a countless majority that had a desire, whether soulish or spiritual, and never quite made the connection to see God move in such a way that it deeply impacted this world for Christ. For some, the issue was simply their lack of motivation and perseverance, or maybe it was due to selfish motivations from which their ministries arose - but there are those of us who have not actually realized the applicable truth of Jesus' promises.

I do not claim to have obtained understanding of full reality of Jesus' promises; however, I do want to share what I have learned in this journey of learning what it means to be "least" in the kingdom of heaven and to live "violently" for Christ. I would beg of you - do not attempt to mimic those things which have worked for me - test my words. "Wisdom is justified of her children," Matthew 11:19. The kingdom of heaven is not a list of to-do's, though it does require obedience. It is a spiritual kingdom requiring a spiritual life guided by the truth of the Word of God. It requires submission of our mind, will, and emotions to a governing Spirit - God's Holy Spirit.

This being said - how does what Jesus said about the kingdom suffering violence relate to missional living?

Reaching the lost is never easy, although it is much simpler a task than we, as Christians, tend to make it. However, one key that is required to be make a large impact in the kingdom is humility. Humility to actually submit ourselves to lost people. My wife and I have begun trying different strategies in order to reach the lost based on living violently in submission to the Spirit and to others. These tactics are not so much "to-do's" as they are attitude changes within us.

I will start with this statement: How difficult it is to reach out to lost people when we separate ourselves from the world in pride! The very act of church has turned into more of a social club for "better" people that often intimidates, humiliates, and even attacks many of the lost people Jesus died for! "Christian" music, "Christian" friends, "Christian" neighborhoods - all of these have the intent of glorifying God, but actually have a harmful affect on His Kingdom. The Lord never intended to take us out of the junk of this world - that's why we're here! He said in John 17 that he "would not take us out of the world." Why has Christian society attempted to do that which Jesus intended not to do? To separate ourselves? To form what we believe are little slices of heaven where sin is cast away and children can grow up uncorrupted? Jesus prayed that God would keep us from evil in the midst of the world - do we so much doubt God's ability to protect his children that we must homeschool, private school, and churchify our families? These tactics of protecting ourselves from evil are not biblical, nor are they good, they are based out of human knowledge and tactics based in fear and pride that actually demonstrate a lack of trust in the truth of God's Word.

Let us be careful that we do not misinterpret what the Word says – there is only one interpretation, that is that of the Holy Spirit. Our intellect cannot interpret or form strategies based out of scripture no matter how hard we try – to experience what God intended for us in this life, we actually need to place our full faith in what the Word of God says. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, it was not because they ate of the fruit that gave them a knowledge of evil, it was because it gave them knowledge of the capability of their soul. It cut off dependence from God, exalted their souls – their mind and emotions – above their spirits and cut off precious fellowship with the Lord! It is the pride of believing we can provide what God has promised outside of God's timing, Will, and Word when we sin. Do not be deceived, when the flesh, that is your soul, is attempting to serve God and do His Will, sin is magnified. You cannot serve God with your un-regenerated self, you need to live into the new life in the new man given by his quickening Spirit and the new identity that this reality brings. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for calling him good, “Only the Father is good,” he replied. Jesus understood that his spirit must be dependent and submissive the that which is good, for there is “nothing good” in our souls – our hearts are deceitfully wicked and must be put to death so that our Spirits may be quickened to experience that reality of what Jesus promised us!

This is the violent part. This is the dying to self and the humility that must be realized in our hearts to live out faith in Jesus. It is this – and it is so much more. It is walking in new life in the Spirit and following Jesus in faith! Our identities in Jesus are a required realization that must take place if we are to experience the reality of what God intended for our lives on mission. It is the relationship with Jesus based out of death to self, violent faith, and humble submission that starts the engine that moves the vehicle of the kingdom.

Humility is required to understand our identity, and our identity is key to reaching out with the gospel of Jesus to a lost and dying world. Jesus told his followers in Matthew 5, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” This was not a suggestion. Nor was this a “work and obtain this title” type of word. This was, this is, a “you are” statement! Your identity in Jesus states that you are the light of the world! This truth can only be a reality in our spirits, though. Our old, dead self cannot receive the new truth of our identity promised to our quickened spirits! In humility, we must embrace this truth and walk in the communion of the Holy Spirit and listen to the quiet direction He brings to allow this identity truth to come out.

Practically speaking, a major part of humility is faith. Two separate verses that talk about pleasing God say these things “without faith it is impossible to please God” and a “broken and contrite heart, Oh God, thou wilt not despise.” In order to receive in humility what God says about my new man positionally requires that I place myself in situations where His promises must be true!

If we truly are the light of the world, we must receive this truth in humility and place ourselves in a position where we can, by faith, experience this reality! Separation from the world will not allow you to receive the promise of being the light of the world. Missionally speaking, a light is only light in a dark place – a city sat on a hill is only noticeable in a pit. To reach a dying world, you must continually jump into it in faith, believing God can protect you from evil and draw the lost to His son by His promises spoken over your spirit!

Strategy will not reach a dying world – maybe a person or two – but to actually transmit the life-giving love of Jesus, we must actually be dependent on this life through the Holy Spirit. Any dependency on our human flesh, our knowledge, our own soul's good will actually fail and fall short of God's perfect Will. God wants to reach the lost, and he wants to reach them through you – but He wants you to do so through submission to His Spirit and faith in His promises.

Practically, my wife and I are trying to jump into this truth. We fall short. We depend on our soul when we should lean on the Spirit. But we are trying to place ourselves in a place where God's truth needs to be true, where our souls are uncomfortable, where only dependency on the Spirit can bring about the results we desire – more importantly, that God desires. This journey is new for us, and the fruit is still young – but we are actually engaging God in our spirits, and even engaging lost people we previously questioned if we could reach simply by placing ourselves in “dark” places and letting the promise of God's light shine through our dependency on Him! How amazing it is when the reality of God's promises transcend into the natural!

Let us be careful to heed the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:

“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”

When one chooses to afflict to soul, to seek after the Spirit, and to live as a light in the midst of the darkness of the world, the religious will oppose you – your own religious spirit inside of you may oppose you! But true violent living and missional living contains a blessing from Jesus – and the fruit of what is done in the Will of God will last forever. Wisdom is indeed justified of her children – the wisdom of this world in failure, the wisdom of God in success. Consider this exhortation, and pray that the Spirit of God will enlighten your heart to understand His intentions. May all that we do be guided by the Spirit and done in humility. And may the eyes of every reader be blessed to see destiny, their ears to hear direction, and their hearts to experience the truth of God's Word. Amen.