In our discussion of “Take up the Cross”, we were made aware of our need to die to ourselves if we are to follow Jesus. However, the preaching of Jesus and the Apostles does not end there. We do die — yes — but only so that we can Iive again, in a special new way. If we “die” we are promised that by the power of God we shall be “resurrected”.
At The Last Day
Martha, in speaking to Jesus (John 11:24), stated what we all believe — that God has promised us the resurrection of our physical bodies from the dead. Look at these verses: Matt. 19:29, Mark 10:30, Luke 18:30, 1 Cor. 15, Hebrews 11:35.
All strongly speak of the resurrection of the dead as a physical thing, to take place in the future. This, Paul says, is the cornerstone of our faith. In Heb. 6:2 he calls it a fundamental doctrine. Without this hope we have nothing,’says Paul — “we are of all men most miserable”.
This is a marvellous promise to us, and a source of great joy. To know that we will dwell always with God and our Lord Jesus;
to know that we will see again those who “sleep in Christ”; to know that the denials of this life will result in abundance; to know that the sickness, misery and sorrow of this life will end and we will live in complete happiness — these concepts are beyond our full comprehension and we can only bow before God and say “Thank you”.
Job 2:4 says simply, “all that a man has will he give in exchange for his life”. If this is true of our present life, how much more should it be true of our eternal life. The value we place on our eternal life is measured by the amount we are prepared to give of ourselves to God.
When we talk of resurrection, we do not think of being raised to live as we do now, but rather to live a different kind of life. Resurrection, to us, is not just a raising from the dead of our bodies, it is a raising of our very natures. We will no longer decay, and we will no longer sin.
What About Now?
Although the verses quoted so far refer to resurrection and new life as future things, there are many verses that talk about eternal life, resurrection, and a new life, without specifying the future.
Romans 6:5 is a good example of this. There are some verses, however, which go even further, and talk about a resurrection which is a present thing.
Romans 6:11 says, “Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Christ Jesus our Lord”.
Cerse 13 says, “yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead”. What does all this mean?
Look at these verses: 2 Cor. 4:10-11, 6:9; Eph. 2:4-6; Col. 2:12-13; 1 John 3:14.
All of them clearly suggest that to the New Testament writers resurrection and new life were not just things to be hoped for, but a present experience.
Newness Of Life
We are bombarded through the New Testament by the call of Jesus and the Apostles to have a new kind of life.
Paul exhorts us to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds”, and in the following
verses he stresses the “newness” of the life we now live. Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10.
It is clear, then, that we have to become new creatures. After we die to ourselves and our past lives, we should live in a different way, a “new” way — that no one has seen in us before.
How?
So many of the things we read in Scripture are more easily talked about than put into practice. How do we — still mortal, sinful creatures — live in a new and different way? By going through baptism we haven’t changed our natures, we’ve only admitted our need and our desire to change. How do we do it?
Christ In Us
We are told, and rightly so, that the way to walk in this new life is to allow Christ to dwell in us. Consider Gal. 2:20; John 17:23, 26; 2 Cor. 13:5.
In Phil. 1:20-21 Paul makes this abundantly plain. “So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Here Paul ties together very strongly, as he does on so many occasions, the concept of death and resurrection and relates it to our spiritual death and resurrection. This resurrection, says Paul, comes about because Christ lives in us.
But How?
We still haven’t answered this question. How does Christ live in us and replace our motivations and actions with his? By reading God’s word we become aware of where our motivations, needs, wants, actions, differ from Christ’s — but how then do we change ourselves to fit Him?
The answer is: we submit ourselves to God and allow Him to work this change in us.
We may wish to change (Rom. 7:18); we may try, as we are exhorted, to raise our motives and our conduct (Col. 3:5, 12), but when all is said and when all is done, the servants of the Lord confess that without the inspiration and living presence of Jesus Christ NOTHING is accomplished (Rom. 7:24-25).
Look at these verses of Scripture. What do they suggest is the force by which this change takes place in us? Rom. 8:10-11; Gal. 5:16, Eph. 3:16-17; Eph. 3:20.
Ye Must Be Born Again
This concept of a new life is related closely to the idea of rebirth. 1 Peter 2:2 says that we should begin our life in Christ “as newborn babes” desiring the milk of the word. Jesus himself makes this clearest of all:- “Unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5).
Our rebirth, if it takes place, comes from the fact that we have a power from God, through Christ, which effects that change.
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwelleth in you?” says Paul in 1 Cor. 3:16. Eph. 2:22 says something similar.
Galatians abounds with references to the fact that we should “Walk by the Spirit” (R.V.) and thereby “not fulfil the lusts of the flesh”. Paul exhorts us to show the “fruit of the Spirit”.
These verses suggest that as Christians we should have the Spirit of God dwelling in us — the Spirit of adoption which makes us sons of God; the Spirit which binds us together in Christ; the Spirit which makes it possible for us to be reborn, to be changed; the Spirit which “resurrects” us from the waters of baptism to walk in “newness of life”.
Ye Have Eternal Life
There are some verses in Scripture which speak more positively still. In John 5:24-25 and 6:47 Jesus himself speaks positively of our having eternal life — not in the sense of immortality, but in the sense of a new life given to us by God. Prior to 2 Cor. 5:5, Paul has been talking of our yearning for immortality, and then he says: “Now he that hath
wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit”.
John ties these two ideas together in 1 John 5:4-13, 20. Consider them carefully.
These things I am writing to you, says John, so that you can have confidence in the fact that you have eternal life. Isn’t John in fact saying that the Spirit of God, given to us through Jesus, brings results which are a witness to others of the reality of Jesus in our lives; and also an assurance to us that we are part of the body of Christ?
What a tremendous concept! We know that we are part of the body of Christ because of the seal of the Spirit in us; because we are aware of the work of the Spirit of God in our lives, changing us and making us into new creatures.
What Has This To Do With Preaching?
Clearly, to be effective witnesses for Christ, we must show him in our lives. We should not only be showing that we are dead to ourselves; we should also be showing that we are alive to Christ. Unless knowing Jesus Christ has made an effective difference to our lives we have nothing to offer others.
If we are to preach at all, we must learn not to rely upon ourselves to make it effective. Our words should be the words of God and we should be a vessel for them.
Paul, in 1st Corinthians, has much to say about preaching and our responsibilities in this matter. In 1 Cor. 3:7, he acknowledges the fact that it is God who brings about any success that his preaching may have had. It is the Spirit, working through Paul, which touches the hearts of others and brings about growth.
If we are going to try to preach by allowing God’s Spirit to work through us, we should be aware of some other things Paul says.not appear “wise” to some and we will probably be laughed at by others, to those prepared to listen, the power of God will speak to the heart and show them that what is “wisdom” to man is foolishness to God, and vice-versa. The “most foolish event”, the “greatest defeat” of all time — the crucifixion of Jesus — will appear in all its beauty and truth as a revelation of the supremacy of the wisdom of God. It will bring humility, submission and repentance to the heart of the willing hearer. Clever words, worldly wise explanations, can never do that.
We have to appear humble and powerless when we preach, so that all the power and confidence can be seen to come from God.
This is not easy to do, because the temptations to “impress” others when we preach are great. But remember the words of Paul. It is the “cross of Christ” which converts — a cross before which we can only lie prostrate. How we appear to others does not and cannot be allowed to matter, for “He was despised and rejected by men”. This is the wisdom —the true wisdom of God — which will convert others, if we allow Him to show it in and through us.
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay