Scripture: Romans 6 v 16: "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness."
Colossians 3 v 3: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
Colossians 1 v 13: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son."
We do not really know who or what manner of being we are! Jesus said those words to His disciples when they wanted to rain fire and brimstone on a town that rejected Him and His message, miracles and mission.
We were born in sin. We were born sinful. We have a past before we became human embryos. We are spirit beings. Our spirits are dead in sin. Lifeless. In Eden God started a new thing. Let us make man in our image. God was not alone. His Son and the Holy Spirit were with Him. He spoke and His Son created it.
He made a man of clay, a lifeless statue. The Father
breathed into this statue and it became a living flesh and blood Man. The first human being with all the proper organs to sustain life. His name was Adam. Out of his side a rib was taken and from that bone a woman was formed. Eve, the wife Adam needed to start the rest of the human race. They were tripartite beings containing a spirit, soul and body.
One of the extraordinary things that God ordained was that spirit beings must manifest in a fleshly body on Earth. That meant that Satan must manifest in a body. In Eden he chose a serpent, in other places a Dragon, or in human beings. He is the master of disguise and deceit. The ultimate conman.
The serpent which was created upright convinced Eve to disobey God to gain His wisdom. She enjoyed the experience and passed this on to Adam who knowingly plunged the whole world into darkness and sin exploded. The most selfish act one man ever did. And the snake lost its legs and has to crawl on its belly forever.
God loved Adam and Eve. He had made them perfect but now they were cast out of God's Presence to fend for themselves. They had opened the door to death and disease, sin of all kind. They had handed control of the Earth to Satan who brought forth the base nature of mankind. From having every need met they now how to figure out farming, water conservation, housing, hunting, clothes, survival against wild beasts and natural disasters. Sound familiar?
1 Corinthians 15 v 45 - 47: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven."
The second Man, Jesus Christ, who is also the Last Adam. The first Man was Adam so every human born between him and Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was in a fallen status. Only the Hebrews were separated into their own land to know God through the many miracles He did to rescue them out of Egypt. They were chosen, given the Law to try keep them disciplined, had covenants with God. Always the apple of His Eye.
By His most unselfish sacrifice Jesus brought mankind back to full stature, forgiven of sin, reconciled to the Father. With a free will to choose whether to accept God's amnesty or reject it to continue living in sin and never seeing Heaven. We must die to self and allow God to conform us to the likeness of His Son. We are His Body and must match tissue perfect or be rejected.
We meet Jesus and receive the gift of salvation without knowing exactly what that gift contains. Galatians 2 v 20 says "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
We have made a song of it: 'Its no longer I that liveth but Christ who liveth in me.' This is the absolute truth. When we are baptised under water an exchange is made and our now alive spirit goes to Heaven where we are seated at the right hand of the Father in Jesus. Part of His body. Ephesians 2 v 5 - 6: " Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:"
The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ entered us to conquer our flesh and soul to bring them into line with His life within our body. This is called dying to self. Putting aside what we want, to be what Jesus wants anytime of the day or night. And for however long He needs us.
In this material world, even the most humanitarian people are selfish at heart. They look after Number One first before they give benefits to others. Jesus isn't like that. He gave everything He had, left his glorious kingdom, and was born in a humble stable to give us His life. His whole life is an intercession for His people.
Jesus took our place - even being an endangered embryo by the fact that His mother Mary was a virgin now presumed to have sinned with a man. They were about to stone her to death when Archangel Gabriel came upon Joseph in a dream, her aggrieved fiance, and urgently sent him to rescue her and marry her. Jesus took our place (that's what intercession actually means!) In the Garden of Gethsemane when the anguish was so great that He sweated blood.
He took our place on the Cross where He became SIN for us, because the wages of sin is death. We are born with a death sentence hanging over us. Satan could take us down whenever it amuses him to do so. We must now live for Jesus who has saved our lives. It's our only way of truly thanking Him. It's called dying to Self.
We have learned to take everything for granted. We are pampered, spoiled, self-loving people full of self-righteousness. I'm ok Jack, tough on your hard life. There is no sacrifice of self in this opulent lifestyle.
There are those who yield to Jesus and allow Him to change them into true Christians. They die to self daily and pray that Jesus uses them as He sees fit. They don't argue against that which seems unpleasant, they do it to His glory. They may never know why they have to do some things but yield to His will by faith so that His plan can proceed.
Dying to self is a process, a discipline and an act of worship to our Father. Selfishness is a sin, all for me none for you, is yielding to the enemy and his evil ways. In Corinthians God says He wants to see equality where those who labour for Christ can enjoy some of the benefits of those who have them in abundance.
The Lord knows who are His and wants to give everyone a chance to be translated out of darkness into the kingdom of light. The character of those who are truly yielded is - Love till it hurts; pray till it hurts; give till it hurts.
In other words even if Christians hurt you keep on loving them; go the extra mile, above and beyond the call of duty; give till you really feel it bite. Always follow Jesus' instructions in every instance. This is the power of the Cross at work within us.
Dying to self means all selfisms must go. Self-righteousness which is pride and superiority must die so the righteousness of Jesus is seen in you. Self-belief must become faith in God. If there are other selfisms in our lives we should see where we need to do some dying. We must kill off that old nature and let Jesus shine through us more and more each day.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we were dead in sin, but You gave us life, and seated us in Christ on Your right hand. Help us to die to what our flesh dictates, and live to fulfil Your will and perfect plan for each one of us. In Jesus' name. Amen.