Dying with Jesus
Paul says this to Timothy – “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim 2:1 NIV) And then the rest of the passage is an explanation of how to be strong, ending with a nice little poem - believed by many to be an early Christian hymn or song:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
So let’s talk about that first sentence, where Paul said that it is in dying with Jesus that we come to live with Him.
Die and Rise
The process of becoming a Christian is, in essence, a type of death with a resurrection to new life. Jesus’ dying on the cross and rising again from the dead is a picture of what it means to be born again as a Christian. Each of us needs to die to our old selves and be raised again, a new creation in Christ.
You see, the Christian life is not just a carrying on of the non-Christian life, with the knowledge of God’s love. If that were the case, the whole world would’ve become Christian very quickly when Jesus appeared on the scene. But see, Jesus appeared on the scene and he said die to yourself! Die to your old ways! Crucify your sinful self, take up your cross, and follow me!
And people who flocked to see him and hear him preach often left dejected, because his calling was a hard one. Dying to yourself is not easy, but it is so worth it friends. Because as Paul said, when you die with Jesus (taking up your cross and leaving behind your old self)… You begin to live!
Strange question today: Have you died?... And been reborn?
God wants to offer us new life. And this is not easy, because we like our old selves and our old ways. Living as a new creation in Christ requires faith and it requires discipline and self-sacrifice daily.
So I encourage you today friends: make that choice. Offer yourself to God if you never have, and say make me a new creation. Take away the old, and make me new! And then EVERY DAY. EVERY DAY. As you open your eyes, remind yourself: I am a new creation in Christ. The old is gone, the new has come. And leave your old self buried! Don’t go back and live in your old ways of sin and selfishness!
New Life Begins
Of course, there is an eternal angle here too. When our life comes to an end here on earth, if we are in Christ, we go on living. He conquered death, and so for his followers, eternal life is promised. What a glorious promise this is!
But Christianity is about more than a ticket to heaven. It’s about a new quality of life on earth: dead to your old self. Risen as a new creature. As John Blanchard says: “Becoming a Christian is not making a new start in life; it is receiving a new life to start with.”
Die to yourself today, as you put your faith in Christ. And then rise and live a new life of holiness and love in His name.
