January 9, 2020 DO WE NOT KNOW ?
Romans 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
The epic battle, the major question in all of life, revolves around who is it that we are living for. There are only two choices; we either live life with self-interest as our motivation, or we live as for God and according to His plans, His desires. Even as believers, we may have difficulty with the fact that we ‘were made to die’ as Romans 7:4 points out. There is no way around it: before we can live for God, we must die to ourselves. This truth is often the missing message in today’s church where there is often an emphasis on self-fulfillment, etc. It is impossible for us to be joined to Him until we die to the Law. The Law was given to show that we cannot in our own strength keep the ways and laws of God-in that sense, the Law is good. We die when we come to a place that we realize, and we confess that in our own strength and with our best effort, we cannot keep the law of God; only when we come to this place can we discover life in Him. When we finally die to ourselves, we are ‘joined to Him.’ Not only ‘were we made to die,’ the scriptures tell us that ‘we are not our own.’ To the natural man, the thought of dying to ourselves and not being our own, is a thought to be rejected. For the one who knows God, dying to self and not being our own is the doorway to abundant life that comes from God; not living for self, and knowing that we have been joined to Him is liberating. Contrary to what the world says, living according to self is living in total bondage! Once we die to our self and embrace the fact that we have been joined to God and that the Holy Spirit lives in us, we can spend the rest of our days bearing fruit for God and honoring Him with our physical bodies! What a blessing! Being primarily focused on self-interest robs us of life. If you want to have some fun, if you want to be blessed, if you want to fill useful, then go about bearing fruit for God. Note: we do not produce the fruit-God does that in us-we are to bear the fruit that He produces in us. There are endless ways to bear fruit for God, but primarily it is a matter of listening to the voice of the Spirit in us and doing what He prompts us to do. Again, even as believers, we have two choices; we can live our lives focused on ourselves-what we want, what makes us ‘happy’, what makes us successful, etc., or we take the scriptures to heart and die to ourselves and focus on the fact that we are not our own, but have been joined to Him and now called to bear fruit for Him. Dying to ourselves is something that takes place in our hearts, in our spirit. Dying to self does not mean that we must quit our job, stop playing golf, etc.; it does mean that our motives and our focus changes. We have been bought with a price; we belong to God; and our life is not our own. The mystery, and the truth that goes against human nature and ‘common sense’ is that only when WE die to ourselves, we live.
Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
Romans 8:13 “for if you live according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (die to self)
Blessings,
Buddy
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